Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? --James 2:5-7
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
You cannot practice partiality and be consistent with calling yourself a Christian. You cannot hold the Christian faith which is centered with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. God shows no partiality. (See Romans 2:6-16; Romans 10:1-13) See previous study on James. Go James 2:1-4
James asks in verse 5: "Has God not chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love Him?" He is pointing out their inconsistency. Generally speaking, God has chosen the poor of the world. The have nots. That is not to say that there are not rich people saved but the preponderance of those who come to faith are not rich. When Jesus walked on earth, it was the common people who heard Him. When you look at the ministry of Jesus Christ, without question the great bulk of it was to poor people, people who had little or no resources, humanly speaking. Our God has a special affection and love for the poor. James is saying that they are despising the very people God has chosen. How in the world can you look down on the poor, James says, when God has chosen the poor to be the eternally rich? Not only are they looking down on them...they are despising them! He is telling them that their behavior is very much unlike their Father in Heaven. Uh oh. There are so many verses in the bible that speak to God's love for the poor as well as His plea for them. (see verses at the end of study)
Salvation is not based on merit but grace. Ephesians says "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Grace involves God's sovereign choice of those who cannot earn and do not deserve salvation. (that would be us) Read what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, "HE WHO GLORIES, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD." 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Christ does not choose us because we are wise or rich or for any other quality. Our God is sovereign. First Samuel Chapter 2 tells us He kills and He makes alive. He brings down to the grave and He brings up. He makes poor and He makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. Our God, girls, chooses us based on the decision we make for His Son. He saves those who come to Him, confess their sin and need of a Savior and believe. He looks upon a broken and a contrite heart— these, the bible says, He will not despise. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. God promises the kingdom to those who love Him!!! (See verse 5.) There is the criteria. Do you love Him? If you love Him, you will obey Him. Your actions will follow what your heart believes.
James points out in verse 6 that their behavior toward the rich was not even appropriate to the reality that they were facing daily. The people we try to impress, usually are the ones that care the least about us. The wealthy were, in fact, the very people who the rulers of the Jews used to oppress the Christians and persecute them for their faith.
And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.--Acts 13:49-50
Jesus, Himself was poor and a victim of injustice and oppression by the rich religious leaders and rulers of His day. They treated the very ones who slandered and helped crucify Jesus with deference and ignored the poor...the chosen of God.
Girls, we are saved by God's grace alone. To treat those around us based on anything else is utterly and totally inconsistent with the doctrine of grace and with the Lord of glory. If we really believe that we are saved by grace and it is nothing of ourselves, than that is the basis we will relate to others. We will be good stewards of the manifold grace He has given us and show His grace to others. Jesus broke down the wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile and brought peace. Grace keeps the wall of separation down and provides the opportunity for the Spirit of God to work. Read the following passage in Ephesians 2 and remember that it is by grace that you yourselves have been saved.
"Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. --Ephesians 2:11-22
Love
Mom
When we love the poor, the weak, the helpless and the unloved around us we reflect the very heart of our God. Read the verses below.
"Blessed is he that considers the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble and the Lord will preserve him and the Lord will keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies, the Lord will strengthen him on the bed of languishing, thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." --Psalm 41
"O God, thou hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor." --Psalm 68:10
"He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy and break in pieces the oppressor." --Psalm 72:4 I love that...God is the defender of the poor. He meets their need and He goes after their enemies.
"He shall deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also and him that has no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy and save the souls of the needy."--Psalm 72:12
"Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his maker."--Proverbs 17:5
"Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he shall also cry himself but shall not be heard."--Proverbs 21:13
"He that gives to the poor shall not lack but he that hides his eyes and says, I didn't see that, I don't want to get involved, shall have many a curse. But if you give to the poor you won't lack anything."--Proverbs 28:27
"The righteous considers the cause of the poor but the wicked doesn't regard it." He doesn't want to know about it. --Proverbs 29:7
"Plead the cause of the poor and needy, plead the cause of the poor and needy."--Proverbs 31:9
"She stretches out her hands to the poor, she reaches forth her hands to the needy." --Proverbs 31:20
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