Week 4: James 2:1-13~Humility & Partiality

RECAP:

• James is writing to people of faith and talking to them about their faith.
• Chapter one says that our faith is foundational for dealing with trials in our life and that our faith will indeed be strengthened as we endure and come through trials and difficulties. Our faith will be the glue that gives us focus and stability in the midst of the storms that life will bring to each one of us.
• Chapter two tells us that people of faith should have an attitude of humility toward everyone.

Week 4~James 2:1-13
The picture from this week's passage is of a teacher in a sanctuary sitting in a chair and a poor man walking in and the teacher full of knowledge just sits in the chair making the poor man sit on the floor. From this passage are three points about humility which we will get to in a minute. First, let's talk about the definition of humility and go over a few scriptures.

Humility is not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.

I mentioned to the class that I am old enough to recognize when there a certain "buzz words" that run trends in Christian circles. These words come and go like clothing styles and basically mean nothing. A word I've noticed lately is "servant leader."  It may sound humble but beware of false humility. Basically, what this means is that person wants to be the leader and you be the servant. Jesus was not a servant leader. He was a SERVANT (Philippians 2:5-11) and THE picture of humility.

Last week we talked about the man that looks at himself in the mirror. Humility looks into the mirror and sees who we are in face of Jesus Christ. THAT is what effects who we are and how we act. Being "knowledgeable" is not the prerequisite for us to praised or exalted NOR whom we choose to associate...quite the contrary (James 4:10). Also, while it isn't necessarily bad to "have" things, the Lord doesn't lift up those with the most money, the best clothes, the most disciplined kids, the coolest friends, etc. (James 1:9).

Personal Reflection: As I was studying to share with you all, I stopped to think about times when I have not been humble and have showed partiality. This is a really hard thing to do because you must admit you were arrogant and wrong. The Lord instantly convicted me of when I was a young mom. I was a Bible Study teacher. My "circle" of friends were all Christians. My kids associated with my Christian friends' kids. My life "looked like" I thought it should. While my intentions were good, I was in a bubble and I became to narrow in my view of others. I did not notice those outside of my circle, reach out to the person in the room that no one was talking to or seek helping those poor in Spirit. I was just fine right where I was. Guess what happened? My husband came home and said, "We're moving!" Talk about an eye opener. :)

In the past couple of weeks, I have repeatedly shared the verse from Hebrews 4:15, "We do not have a high priest that can't sympathize with our weakness." This has been huge encouragement to me through my suffering and trials over the last 5 1/2 years which have given me greater compassion for those that have lost a child, a loved one or something they can not replace and are grieving . Let me tell you! I thought I knew what it was like to suffer in these ways before the Lord chose it for me. In hindsight, I knew nothing until I walked it. This is a strength no class, book or man can cultivate. You must live it and walk through it.

Now, for our three main points about humility...
1. As Christians our attitudes are not to be of superiority but humility. We should never be so arrogant about what we know or have which in turn keeps us from loving someone that is not a believer or does not know or have all we have. Every person and people group need to know Him-- not just people in our circles.

2. Treat everyone with honor especially the poor. Love your neighbor as yourself. We have to remember that this is not just the financially poor person but the spiritually poor person. REMEMBER how poor of spirit you were before you asked Jesus Christ into your heart and life.
Read Matthew 5:3 and see that the very first beatitude is about the poor in spirit.
Read I Corinthians 1:27 and see God's systems and perspective are way different than ours. He considers poor rich. It is a matter of the heart and if the man with money places more loyalty to his money than Jesus, he is to be considered poor.

3. Let faith make your motives pure. Pray that God give you His mind about the people and world around you. Remember:

• You were poor in spirit before Christ. For a perfect picture of this look at Zach. 3 and the man in Joshua's vision. It is a perfect picture of who we were before Christ and who we are after asking Jesus into our lifes.
• Alot of these people were poor because of Christian persecution and no fault of their own yet the rich believers were taking them to court for unpaid debts. It is important that we not make assumption about someone's state and let our main priority be love and bringing people to Christ. If we willingly show partiality to the rich over the poor we have a false value system and are in sin. God honors the poor and weakness of man, in fact He uses it to glorify Himself. Read Luke 12:19-21 and Matthew 25:31-40.      

Time for us to break out and not be fearful! Faith prompts action so let's continue to pray that God shows each of us a person or circumstance where He wants us to extend kindness. It can be an encouraging word, a step to mend a relationship, a meal taken to a sick friend and the list goes on and on. Take action this week and share what happened! I am praying for you.
Here is your homework for next week.