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Good morning. If you hear any strange noises this morning, it's not I that has the indigestion, it's the public address system. We have a number of scriptures to read this morning before we come to our central passage, so let us begin in the book of Leviticus, chapter nineteen. The book of Leviticus, chapter nineteen and verse fifteen. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment.
Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale bearer among thy people, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. Thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor and do not bear sin because of him. Thou shalt not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
I am the Lord. And then the Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty two. The Gospel of Matthew chapter twenty two and verse thirty five. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question tempting him. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.
This is the great and the first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hangeth the whole law and the prophets. Next, the Gospel of John in chapter thirteen. John's Gospel, chapter thirteen and verse thirty four. A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. We're working our way through to James, but one more stop on the way, the Epistle to the Romans and chapter thirteen. Romans thirteen and verse eight: Owe no man anything, save to love one another, for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet.
And if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. So now we come to James and to the passage that will be central to our thinking this morning, James chapter two beginning in verse one. My brethren, hold not the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Just let us pause to make sure we have understood that translation. It doesn't mean the Lord's faith, his personal faith with regard to this respect of persons. It means do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, do not hold that, and at the same time, and along with that, indulge in respect of persons, for the two things are contradictory and cancel each other out. So then, my brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, together with respect of persons.
For if there come into your synagogue a man with a gold ring in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing, and you have regard to him that weareth the fine clothing and say, sit thou here in a good place, and you say to the poor man, stand thou there or sit under my footstool. Are you not divided in your own mind and become judges with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?
But you have dishonored the poor. Do not the rich oppress you and themselves drag you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme the honorable name by the which you are called? How be it, if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well. But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all.
For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now, if thou dost not commit adultery but killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak you and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy. Mercy glorieth against judgment. And so J.
James calls us, with the authority of the Lord Jesus, to consider a matter that lies at the very heart of our Christian faith, and that is the way which we believers treat each other and value each other. We are studying, you see, James's vision of a perfect man and woman. And in past mornings we have considered wrong and sinful attitudes that will impede our progress towards spiritual maturity.
And on the first occasion we considered one of those false attitudes, which is double-mindedness when it comes to facing trial and temptation. And yesterday we thought together, with James' help, of another difficulty that lies in the path of our advance towards spiritual maturity. That is the ever-present danger that we should use religion and spirituality not to d- to eradicate and crucify the flesh, but rather to spare it and excuse it and trick it out in the clothes of spirituality, so that we use our very spirituality to perpetuate our ugly tempers and envies and jealousies instead of getting rid of them.
This morning, James will call us to face another ugly attitude that sometimes could mark us even as believers and spoil our spiritual progress. The names that you could give to this sin are varied. You could call it, if you will, partiality or favoritism, or discrimination. Discriminating between people, discriminating between believers, making a great fuss of somebody and giving the cold shoulder to the other. Making discrimination on grounds of social status, maybe, or the strength of one's bank balance and the cut of one's suit, or on the grounds of class, introducing class distinction into the brotherhood of God's people.
Making distinctions on the ground of sex and treating men as if they were all the important ones and consigning the bishop women to washing up the dishes after the conference. Social discrimination, therefore, among believers. But so that we might get this thing in proper focus and in due proportion, we ought to spend five minutes or so thinking first of the special form that social discrimination took among the believers of James' day. It could conceivably take a different form in our day.
The special form it took in James' day, as you hear from his talk about what happened in the synagogue, was a discrimination in favor of the rich against the poor. And it is evident from how James describes it, he is thinking of the economically rich and the economically poor. He pictures the possibility that a rich man comes into the synagogue. He could be an unbeliever, or he could be a believer. From what he subsequently said, it is apparent that James, uh, uh, uh, conceives the possibility that unbelieving men who were blasphemers of the name of Christ would nevertheless on times attend the synagogue.
And he envisages a case where a rich man comes in, believer or unbeliever, and the Christians make a tremendous fuss of him simply because he is rich, and they give him a prominent seat, and they fawn on him and toady to him. And presently there comes in a believer, a dear believer in the Lord Jesus, but he is poor, economically poor. His clothes are of a very poor cut, and they've been worn far too long, and he doesn't know how to use the right aftershave lotion. And so it is suggested to him that here is a drafty seat down behind somebody's chair, that if he wouldn't mind, he could conveniently sit down on the floor where he couldn't be seen.
Discrimination is made on the ground of economic poverty and economic riches. Economic poverty, of course, is not the only kind of poverty, is it? There's less of it around today than there used to be. But then we can think of other kinds of poverty, of people that are not very well endowed with a splendid physical physique, poor as to the body. They might have oodles of money, but that's a different thing. Or people that are not very well endowed with artistic gifts or intellectual gifts, poor in that sense.
Or poor in status. There are some lordships and ladyships, are there not, in the British Isles that have eminent status and very little money. I happen to know some, do they? And that to them is a great embarrassment, but they are rich in status, and many of us are very poor in status. There's all kinds of poverty and riches, and the temptation is that if we're not careful, we shall fall into the way that many in the world have of showing favoritism and partiality and discrimination on the ground of riches or poverty.
On the other hand, we must bear in mind that when James writes this paragraph, he is writing against what was the particular sin in the synagogues to which he wrote. They were actually discriminating against the poor. And therefore, James's paragraph is totally taken up with a very fierce and strong rebuke and an exhortation to stop discriminating against poor believers. But of course, in other circumstances, we should have to be careful to go, not to go to the other extreme, should we not?
If it is wrong to discriminate against the poor, then it is wrong also to discriminate against the rich. James quotes us from Leviticus nineteen: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And James surely hadn't forgotten the earlier verse that says, you shall not discriminate in favor of the poor any more than you discriminate in favor of the rich. You must treat all alike. And that would hold good, wouldn't it, still, not only with economic poverty, but with other kinds of poverty and riches.
Sometimes the Lord's people, observing that intellectual, uh, uh, equipment can sometimes lead people astray, even to the extent of denying the truth of Holy Scripture, get it into their head that there is some benefit in being ignorant and unlearned. And believers have been known to say, we don't want any educated people here. That is a sad and a ghastly mistake. We are not to discriminate against the poor. We are not to discriminate either against the rich.
Of course, it is far easier to discriminate against the poor, isn't it? And James rightly, uh, talks about it. Then let us notice, before we come to the meat of our study, that whereas, uh, James warns us not to discriminate against the poor, and points out in the course of his remarks that God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith, let us notice that there is nothing particularly good in itself in being poor, is there? And certainly nothing wrong in itself in being rich.
There's a very strong rumor going about, and I've reason to think it is true, that the circumstances in which our blessed Lord now is are fantastically and fabulously rich, beyond all description. And there's no sin in that, I suppose, is there? There's no sin in being rich. And we must be careful that we do not read James out of his context. It is the exhortation of the Old Testament as of the New, that if God has blessed us with material riches, then we have a duty to help the poor, and so get the poor out of being poor.
And if there was some essential benefit in being poor, it would be wrong to help them get out of their poverty, wouldn't it? There's no particular blessing in and of itself in being poor. Nor is there any sinfulness in and of itself in being rich, though to be sure, riches are accompanied with greater dangers and are much more difficult things to handle in a right way, perhaps, than is poverty. But some the Lord has entrusted with wealth, and many of those they are using it as good stewards of the Lord's, uh, possession.
There are two German businessmen known to me. One of them owns a thousand shoe shops. He is sizably rich. He owns them in Germany, he owns them in America. And another such man owns one, two, or three factories, I know not how many. He is sizably rich too. You'd never guess it to look at the second one anyway, but there he is. And he, uh, he and his fellow are the men who are proposing, if they get permission to put the articles to which you've heard reference, to put the articles in Pravda, they will spend two thousand five hundred dollars for each article.
They propose not one, but they propose a whole series of articles in that paper. There's no sin in being rich in itself, is there? If the rich brother uses it as a good steward for the benefit of God's people and the spread of the gospel. We should remember that there are some poor who, like the rich, blaspheme the name of the Lord Jesus. Not all poor are believers. And then there's another matter we ought to, to consider as a preliminary to our study this morning.
Whereas we are not to show favoritism, we're not to show partiality in our evaluation one of another. Yet there are certain distinctions, are there not, that are perfectly right. Indeed, they are, uh, uh, charged upon us. If Her Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth II came to Newcastle Bible Week and turned up in the tent, then I'm sure you would have the organizers give her the very best seat in the tent, though I can't think for the moment where that would be. We should honor her beyond all others, not because she is rich, and as some say, ought to be taxed, but uh, but because of her office.
God has put her in the office of the sovereign monarch of England and commanded us that we honor the monarch. Or again, Paul would tell us that, uh, such servants of God as Epaphroditus, who risk their very lives in the cause of God's work, we are to give them special honor. And if one turned up here this morning, we would very rightly give him a place of honor in our midst, should we not? And still again, we're not to show discrimination, are we, between one believer and another.
Sometimes that poses people a problem. A good man said to me, miles from here, in another country completely, just the other week, he said, you know, is it right for believers to have special friends in the church? Have some believers that they're more friendly with than others? And lost for a sensible reply, I said, well, I thought it was a command that gentlemen, by and large, should only have one lady that they regard more than all others. They are allowed that, I do believe, and it wouldn't do, would it, for a gentleman in the meeting to, in the church, to love all the ladies the same way.
We are allowed to have special friends of various kinds. Of course, what the gentleman wouldn't be allowed to do is to show partiality in the church towards his wife just because she is his wife, and push her into position, even if he has to tread down some other sister who is more gifted in some respect or another. So let us remember these things, as we come now to what is, of course, the serious matter, the main matter of our study. We are not to show partiality between believer and believer.
We are to value all the same. Why is favoritism, why is partiality, why is discrimination wrong? Because, says James, it conflicts with the very basis of our Christian faith. Our Christian attitude, our value, our estimate, our treatment of one another as believers must be according to the great values that God has shown us in the glorious gospel of our Christian faith.
My beloved brethren, he says, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and at the same time show respect of persons. Because if you do, you show that your very heart is divided. One moment you are basking in the wonder of your faith that your blessed personal savior is none other than the Lord of glory. But the next minute you're treating one of his brethren shamefully. And you show, if you do it like that, that your heart is divided, with some standards taken from the gospel and some standards taken from the wretched practices of the world.
What then is our faith? Here is the key to the matter. Let us spend some time this morning thinking about it. Fundamental to our gospel, to our whole salvation is this, says James, that Jesus is the Christ, the Lord of glory. And this morning, if I am to get you to behave as a Christian should behave to all your brothers and sisters, then first somehow I must bring it home to your heart, what this means, that Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory.
Oh, help me, Michael the Archangel, or someone or other, for how shall I begin to tell you what it means that Jesus, your Savior, is the Lord of glory? I hear the Psalm fifteen with its majestic cadences and rhythms, raise the question, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up the everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? And the answer comes back in those majestic words, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of hosts, the Lord mighty in battle, he is the King of glory.
With my faint powers this morning, I must bring it home to your heart, God's Holy Spirit helping me. Who is this King of Glory? How would you have, have me tell you of his exploits, of his might, of his victories, of his wonder? Would you have me paint the glory of his ascension when serid rank upon serid rank of mighty angel principality, power and dominion, folded their wings in reverence and bowed their head as Jesus, the once-timed carpenter of Nazareth and he of Calvary, was bidden by the Father to rise and sit at the pinnacle of glory, at the very right hand of God.
Who is this King of glory? No angel is comparable to him, for to which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet? And yet to him who is your savior, God has said it, sit at my right hand. Would you have me tell you of his coming conquests? When he shall come to be admired in all them that believe. When he shall come as the rider of the great white horse, his garments spattered with blood, as he comes to consume his enemies and put down his foes and reign triumphant from shore to shore.
When again it shall be said, lift up your gates, lift up your heads, oh you gates. The King of glory may come in, and Jerusalem, ancient Jerusalem, shall lift the head of her gates, asking the question, who is this King of glory? And the answer shall come back, that very same who outside your city wall hung upon a cross. The triumphant Messiah, Son of God, mighty in conquest. He is the King of Glory, and he shall enter in.
Or would you have me tell you again that conquest of his that lies ever nearest your heart? And sing the words of R. C. Chapman's hymn. The Lord of Glory. Who is he? Who is this King of Glory? Only the Son of God can be the Christ, the King of glory. Consider all his wounds and see how Jesus' death upon the tree proclaims him king of glory, and I hazard to guess this morning that you don't know scarcely which to decide, which you think the more wonderful, the mighty diadems that now crown his brow and shell, or that ugly crown of thorns
that he wore when the King of Glory died for you. That is our gospel. Stand up, the poorest believer here, and let the rest of us observe that the King of Glory died for that dear brother and sister. Oh, my fellow believers, whatever should we do? If one day the Lord of Glory appeared in our assembly and said, where is Mrs.
Smith? Where is Mr. Jones? And you say, oh, uh, well, you see, they they happen to be sitting on the floor down here by the chair here, you see. Actually, you see, Lord, we had a very distinguished visitor this morning. He's very, very rich, you see. And Mr. Jones, well, he's only a brother, but he, you know, his suit is has been worn this last ten years, and uh, smells a bit actually, and he hasn't got very good taste, and he doesn't know the right aftershave lotion to use, you see, and uh, he, well, we felt a little bit ashamed of him, you see, so we uh put him where he couldn't be seen. And the Lord would say, you mean to say that you took a man for whom I, the Lord of glory, was not ashamed to die, and you asked that man to sit on the floor.
What would you say? Surely, if we were guilty of that kind of behavior, we have come judges who, when they assess people's value as people, are moved by evil thoughts. We've not finished with the topic yet, have we? There is a translational difficulty in verse one of this chapter, and how tiresome those preachers are that keep referring to Greek and things, aren't they? And translational problems.
We'll get rid of those kind of preachers as soon as we can. But it is the fact, Dorset. And so the learned translators don't know whether to translate this verse, Jesus Christ, uh, the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, or whether simply to translate it, the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory. That is, whether James means us to think of Jesus as the Lord of glory, or whether he is simply using the noun the glory as a title of the Lord Jesus.
You say, what would it mean if James referred to the Lord Jesus as the glory? Oh, my good friend, it would mean something almost unspeakable. It would then be a title of the transcendent Lord, creator of the universe, the ineffable glory. That glory from which all other glories and splendors, be they of the sunset or the majesty of a monarch, the beauty of the human form, or the beauty of a machine, that uncreated glory from which all other splendor and glory is derived.
And whether that is how James would have us translate the passage or not, the thing is true. Let John remind us, the Word, the uncreated Word through whom all things were made. The Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory. And the faith of our gospel is this. How almost incredible that the uncreate transcendent glory stooped to bear the shame and nakedness of Calvary for us.
Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in, when the incarnate Maker died for man, his creatures, sin. The rich and the intellectuals of the day got their values astoundingly wrong, didn't they? Oh, what impossible ignoramuses they were. They knew not the wisdom of God, the hidden wisdom. Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Sure they wouldn't. We could get our values very wrong, couldn't we? If in the church we made a fuss of one believer because that believer happened to be rich and well turned out, and we gave the cold shoulder and undervalued and despised the poor believer because they were poor, when our very gospel tells us that the Lord of glory died for that poor believer, just as he died for us.
I haven't finished with it yet, nor has James. Who is this Lord of glory? James has the modesty not to tell us that actually the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, was his brother. I know there is some doubt, but all the best commentators, and they are the ones that agree with me, hold that the writer of this letter was James, the Lord's brother. Oh, come back, anything wrong I've said about James? Have you heard anything wrong I've said about James? Well, don't tell him, will you? I hope Luther has repented over what he said about James.
Said his epistle was an epistle of straw. My brothers, you don't treat a brother of the Lord Jesus like that, do you? You say, why then didn't James tell us he was a brother of the Lord Jesus? Because, my brethren, he is a remarkable example of what he preaches. For if he had come and said, I'm a brother of the Lord Jesus, we should have given him a prominent place, shouldn't we? Simply on that ground. Whereas the fact is that in a far more important sense, every believer is a brother of the Lord Jesus. And here is the wonderful fact, says the Epistle to the Hebrews, that this Lord of glory is not ashamed to call us his brothers.
For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Wherefore he is not ashamed to call us brothers. For he that sanctifieth and those that are sanctified are all of one. I wonder if you thought recently why it is the Lord Jesus isn't ashamed to call you his brother or sister. Could you, if you began to think hard and dredged up the bottom of your brain, could you come up with at least one small reason why the Lord Jesus might be ashamed of you?
I only have to ask the question, and a thousand and one reasons will come chasing themselves to our brains, wouldn't they? Imagine when we have our days off, when we're nasty, evil-tempered beasties. And the Lord, amidst the angelic intelligence there of the universe, is called upon to own us as his brothers. Why isn't he ashamed of us? And all our wrong ways and little-mindedness and nasty habits.
She said, I've got an idea. He's not ashamed of us because he's very humble. Come, come, come. You're not saying very much now, are you? We all knew he was humble. Of course we did. Meek and lowly of heart. Notice the real reason why he is not ashamed to call us brethren. Here it is. For he, that is the Lord Jesus, who sanctifies, and they who are sanctified are all of one. They are indeed.
For by his grace, he not only died for us at Calvary, but in order to die, says Hebrews, he took our humanity and became truly human. He's really human. For as much as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself also likewise partook of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. He's not using empty words, is our blessed Lord Jesus, when he calls us his brothers and sisters. He is not using religious sentimentality. He is referring to the wonderful reality that for our salvation he became human as we, and there's more to it, isn't there?
For now, in resurrection, he takes all those that trusts him, trust him, and makes them one with himself. Oh, don't ask that poor brother to sit down on the floor with you. You might as well ask the Lord Jesus to sit on the floor. Don't shun that dear poor brother, that poor sister, because they're poor. Maybe not as educated and gifted as you. You might as well ask the Lord, shun the Lord Jesus might enjoy. Because he's one with that brother, and he's not ashamed to call him his brother.
The world is in for a very big shock one of these days, when the nations are gathered and the Lord divides them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. And he shall say, they are to those on his right hand, blessed are you, for I was in prison and you visited me. And they shall say, when was that, Lord? We don't remember having you been in Crumlin or anywhere like that. When did we see you in prison and visit you? And when did we see you naked and clothe you? And he shall say, in as much as you did it unto the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.
Don't let sentimentality carry us away into wrong interpretation here. Our Lord Jesus isn't saying that every old scoundrel under the faith as a son is, is his brother. Of course not. Who are the brothers of Christ? Our Lord was asked it once. He said, who is my mother, my sister, my brother? They are these that hear the word of God and do it. They are his brothers. And, uh, those on the left hand shall be told, depart from me into the everlasting fires. Why, sir? For I was in prison, and you didn't visit me, and I was naked, and you didn't clothe me.
And they shall say, but when, Lord, did we see you in prison? And he shall say, you remember that time when Paul was in prison? Oh. Oh, but you're not going to say Paul was a, a brother of the Messiah, are you? Yes, indeed, yes. But I didn't know he was. To be honest, he looked a very funny fellow. He was beaten black and blue, and he squinted out to you, at you with half an eye. Uh, uh, you'll say he wasn't a very good orator, and his speech was contemptible. Uh, how were we supposed to know that he was a brother of Messiah?
They didn't, did they? And they shall find out too late. For the judge will say that the way they treated his brethren is to him an infallible mark of what their attitude to Jesus himself was. Oh, now how careful I must be, if that's what the judge is going to take out of it. How careful I must be, and I treat you, my brother, my sister, for the Lord is watching, and according as I treat you, he's judging how I treat him.
Hold not the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, along with partiality, favoritism in the church. And if you think James has said enough, he hasn't. So now here's another argument. Says he, Hearken, my beloved brethren, did not God choose them that are poor, as to the world, to be rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him.
But you have dishonored the poor. So now James reminds us of that glorious truth, that not only the poor, but all believers are chosen of God. Oh, what a lovely thing that is, isn't it? Chosen of God. Sit back a moment, let the old tent flap, as it likes. Sit back a moment, my beloved, and, uh, enjoy it for a minute, you see. You don't always have to be stern, uh, at your duties. Enjoy it for a minute. Remember what James told us in chapter one when he was talking to us about temptation and warning us not to be deceived.
He says, don't you say when you're tempted, I'm tempted of God, for God cannot tempt anybody with evil. And anyway, he wouldn't, would he? And James begins that lovely description of God that shows him constant and faithful, says James, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no inconstancy or shadow cast by turning. His attitude never varies. If he gives you a good gift today, it's because his heart is good, and his heart will be the same tomorrow, whatever he gives you. He never changes.
Thou changest not. And the glorious fact is this, that the God who never changes of his own will brought us forth that we should be a first fruits of his creature. He did it for man at the creation, making man the lord of creation on this planet. God did it of his own will, didn't he? Uh, or was it you who suggested to the Almighty that he might create the world and, and make man the, the head of the, of the caboose? No, I think it wasn't you, you weren't there.
Ah, ah, but it's true at the level of redemption, isn't it? Of his own will, he brought us forth. We should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Who raised the wondrous thought? Tell me, do. Who raised the wondrous thought, and who did it suggest that blood-bought saints to glory brought should with the Son be blessed? Father, the thought was thine. Thine only it could be, fruit of that wisdom, power divine, peculiar unto thee.
God has chosen the poor. James brings home his exhortation by saying, and you have from time to time been known to despise the poor. You better be careful. It sometimes happens, not very often, I do believe. Oh, it's a rare thing that a young gentleman falls in love with a young lady and, uh, and proposes marriage and marries her. But some of his friends, some generous friends, mutter to themselves, you know, and they say, I don't know, I can't think what he saw in the woman.
They'll say, what on earth did he see in her to go and marry a woman like that? All right, gentlemen, if you must say it, say it, but be careful not to let your friend who's married the girl hear it. You won't do that, will you? You won't say it in his presence, I can't think, my dear Tom, whatever you saw in that woman. You won't say that when he's chosen her, will you? Not unless you want to insult his choice. Oh, my brother, I better be careful.
You better be careful what you say about me, you know. For if God has chosen me. Oh, pray be careful what you say, lest you criticize God for his choice. Chosen the poor to be rich in faith. That doesn't mean that all poor people are believers, does it? But a believer who is poor, on the whole, is generally like to have stronger faith than people who are not poor.
You say, why is that? Well, because they're obliged to trust God anyway. The miners in Northeast England, amongst whom I once lived, used to tell me what it was like in the days of the terrible depression, when they had no unemployment benefits and husbands could be work- out of work for ten years on a, on a strip. And the women have told me they used to have to get down on their knees and pray God for the next meal. And you know, if you're in difficult circumstances, poor economically, poor physically, poor in any sense, it'll take much more faith to believe that God loves you than when you're surrounded by riches galore, won't it?
And yet you know, faith is the most valuable thing in all God's universe. Faith is the thing that holds the universe together. Faith is the thing that holds God and his people together. If we're thinking about values, then let us get Peter's perspective on it. Our faith is much more valuable than gold. Next to the blood of Christ, it is the most valuable thing in all the universe. A poor brother could be remarkably rich in faith.
That faith will outshine all other riches. And he's promised the kingdom to them that love him. Ah, how would you put a value on love? Do you suppose God values the love of the rich more than he values the love of the poor? Love is love, isn't it? And God, I say it reverently, has bought our love. Why it bothered him to have it, I don't know. But God has bought our love with Calvary's lifeblood.
God has chosen the poor, rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom that God has promised to them that love him. And if we're going to be selfish for a moment, ha, and want to be in with the right people, well, let's make a good job of it. Get in with the right people, whatever you do. Get in with the people that are going to be heirs of the kingdom that God has promised to them that love him. And finally for this morning, let us notice James' next argument, where he pleads with his fellow believers not to become absurd.
He says, you'll say, do not the rich oppress you, uh, and drag you before the judgment seats? Do they not blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? Now, not all rich do this. Of course not. Some rich have been benefactors. But over the centuries, it has often been the rich who ri- it has often been rich people who have done this kind of thing, exploited the poor, made their fortunes on sweated labor, and because they can, uh, they know all about the law and the courts, can wangle their way out of their duties to the detriment of the poor.
And do not the rich blaspheme that honorable name by which you are called? Well, again, not all rich do. Some have a great respect for it, but in James' day, there were a lot of rich people that did blaspheme the honorable name by which believers were called. What sense does it make if such a rich man comes into your church and you fawn on him? Then he's a very man that denies the dignity that God has conferred upon you.
It would hurt you to hear the name of the Lord Jesus blasphemed. Yes. But pray also remember your own dignity. We are called upon to be humble. We're not called upon to be worms. Think only, my brother, my sister, you be as poor as you like. Think only of the dignity of your posi- position and the name that is called upon you. Its name is nothing other than the name Christian. The name of the Lord of glory.
When I was a youngster and I was going forth to do this or that, my father had no great claim to social high position, but he used to waggle his finger under my nose and say, now remember, my boy, if you misbehave, it's not your name you're bringing into this repute, my name, William Gooding, you're bringing into disrepute, you see. The lesson lasted to this day. Diana and her red-headed friend, eh, you'll say they have to be careful, at least that is a theory, how they behave. They can't even do what the likes of us do always. Why? Because of the royal name they carry.
Don't be proud, will you? But don't be ashamed of your dignity. You are a veritable princess and a prince. You carry the royal name itself. One day you shall appear in glory with him. Then let God's Holy Spirit make these things real in our hearts. This is what our gospel says. We who have believed it, let us seek God's grace, that we shall act upon it and not hold the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, along with hurtful, harmful, sinful favoritism and discrimination against our fellow believers.
The Lord bless you. Let's sing just a couple of verses of a lovely hymn that might be in keeping with what we have been listening to. Two seven one, Who is he? The question is asked and the answer is given. 'Tis the Lord, O wondrous story. 'Tis the Lord, the King of glory.
