James 2

I’m so glad you’re here! As we move into our second week of our James Study, we are diving deeper into all the ways that Jesus calls us to live as followers. James 2 teaches us that we should love all people as Christ loved us and how our faith must be met with our works to glorify Him!

Love All People

As I have taught many times before, it is hard to love all people especially to the extent of how Jesus loves us. James 2 focuses on the idea of favoritism and how we as people can tend to love those who are like us or are in our social group more than those who are not. Verses 1-4 provide an example of how we as humans favorite those who are “rich” in our eyes over those who are not. The harsh truth that we as Christians must overcome. In James’ teachings, verse 8 refers to Mark 12,

Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

God calls us to love all people equally in the same way he loves them! To do this we must get rid of the social labels that we as humans put on others and learn to identify people as children of God! I know it can be hard at times when people aren’t very nice, but look through the lens of how Jesus died for you AND for them as well. Loving both of us equally and perfectly. In verse 13 James says,

James 2:13, “For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James urges us to show not only love to others but mercy! Mercy is defined as showing compassion or forgiveness toward someone who may have done wrong and you have the ability to punish. God shows us this mercy each day as we continue to sin against him and he calls us his children anyway!

Faith & Works

The second portion of James 2 teaches us how our faith must align with our works. Before we dive in, I want to make it clear that this is not saying that our salvation is dependent on our works! Our salvation is a gift and a blessing from God that we could never accomplish on our own and that we could never lose. In James 2 the focus is how we should live out our faith through works that glorify God! James begins his second teaching by asking,

James 2: 14, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?”

Do you remember back in Sunday school when we sang, “This Little Light of Mine”? Same concept. We as Christians are called to spread the Good News and shine our light for Christ through our good deeds! What good does it do if we keep our little light to ourselves and never act on the faith we have in Jesus? Verse 18 says,

James 2: 18, “I will show you my faith by my works”

The idea of not just saying but doing is very evident in this scripture. Our faith can move mountains if we trust in the Lord and act on the faith he has given us. Faith and works go hand in hand as we can all tell, it is evident in verse 22 when James references Abraham’s great faith and works throughout his life,

James 2:22, “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”

The harsh truth is that faith without works makes it impossible to be able to spread the Good News. We see it in Abraham’s life how his faith and actions were used to glorify the name of Jesus and were made complete together!

I hope that you have enjoyed our time in James 2 and I encourage you to study the chapter on your own as well. I pray that you open your heart to all that the Lord wants to teach you through his word. I pray that we can learn to love others as Jesus did. That we may be led by the Holy Spirit to glorify Him through our works here on Earth. Join us March 12th for James 3!

Lots of Love,

Georgia Zeleskey