Welcome to Chapel City Church! This week we will open up the second chapter of James with an example of what love looks like. He closed chapter 1 by pointing out that pure and undefiled religion meant caring for the outcast and the other, as well as being unstained by the world. Chapter 2 works through personal favoritism, and how that response goes directly against what they know to be true of Christ and his gospel. Ultimately, obedience works itself out in what we love. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God, and second to that was to love others as yourself. James takes that truth and points out that in loving others, the whole law is kept. If we love others, we will naturally do the specific things that the law requires of us. But breaking one point in the law makes us guilty of the whole thing. We don’t get to pick and choose our areas of obedience. The same God who called us to be obedient in one thing also demands our obedience in other things. And we all fall short. But James will remind us where we find hope. It isn’t in our perfection, it’s in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It’s not our obedience that drives God’s mercy, it’s God’s mercy that makes our obedience possible. If there are questions that we can answer, or if there is a way that we can be praying specifically for you, please reach out and let us know!
If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. James 2:8-10
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