As much as I can I like to post my notes from a sermon at our church, perhaps highlighting some thought that struck me as I listened. Sometimes I like to think about practical application. Here are some thoughts and notes from Pastor Greg’s sermon on James 2:1-4:
How many people do you see in a day? How many people do you interact with in a day? Why are we excited about seeing some people…but not others? James 2:1-4 helps us with answering these questions.
- My Brethern – Getting our attention
- Why might James be using the phrase “my brothers” to get our attention? Perhaps we’re wandering in our mind – fading out already.
- James uses “my brothers” 15 times in this epistle.
- Maybe he is demonstrating who we are in Christ!
- Maybe because we tend to love ourselves more than anyone else – we want to be comfortable more than anyone else.
- Simply a preference or playing favorites?
- What is partiality? When our preferences get in the way of that which is acceptable to God
- The problem isn’t necessarily with preferences (we all have them), but rather, when we ungraciously defend our own preferences…when we decide we are better than the next person.
- This usually happens when we interact with our “fallen” feelings rather than authoritative Truth
- My faith
- What part of your life is not connected to your faith?
- We cannot “set aside” our faith in any circumstance – we can ignore it, suppress it, but always it is there.
- Who is our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
- Jesus didn’t just exist on earth, He came also as an Example for us. (meditate on His sayings about dealing with others)
- Meditate on the Person of Christ. James did not just say “Christ”…He said glorious. Lord. Jesus. Christ.
- The example: a Rich man and a Poor Man
- This examples helps us to understand two practical applications:
- Our Task – we need to obey always even if we don’t understand; we need to get out of our comfort zones
- Our Heart Attitudes – We need to understand that our emotions are deceived; we sometimes need to go against our feelings in obedience to Christ.
- This examples helps us to understand two practical applications:
In what way were you challenged by Pastor Greg’s message? ME? Well, I realize that as a pastor myself – I tend to gravitate toward my own comfort zone in dealing with people. I realized that I need to be more pro-active in seeing people in need in our congregation and move toward them to minister to them. I’m working on action steps to see this through currently.
