Mercy Is What You Do

Briefly

• When faced with a challenge, there are common responses and Christian responses. They are not always the same.
• Some situations challenge us to respond with judgment or mercy, and the Christian response should be mercy.
• Practically, my observation is that we fail on this point frequently, and we don’t think it is a big deal.
• The church is a safe place to develop responses that are consistent with God’s will, and so let’s learn to exercise mercy.

It’s What You Do

As I’ve mentioned previously, James is a practical guide for Christians. Not only does it bring up common challenges that most everyone faces, but it describes how a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus Christ will respond to those challenges. Thus far, James is contrasting two possibilities when faced with a challenge.

There is a common response to a common challenge.

There is a Christian response to a common challenge.

I know it may seem obvious, but a Christian responds with the Christian response. You can’t help it because you are a Christian. It’s what you do.

This “It’s what you do” is basically what James is suggesting to us. If you are a Christian, here is how you are going to face these challenges that I’ve covered in prior weeks.

If you are faced with the trial of a temptation, you are going to face it seeking the wisdom of God, and you are going to persevere. You’re a Christian, it’s what you do.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you are going to do what He said to do. You are a Christian, it’s what you do.

Similar to the past two weeks, today’s message from James 2:1-12 is going to cover a common challenge based on the topic of relationships. The challenge is this: a stranger has come into your midst. How do you respond?

There is a common response, and then there is the response that a Christian should have. If you’re a Christian, then you have no choice … it’s what you do.

Today’s Scripture

I’m going to go ahead and read through today’s text. I think it is a straightforward text, but it is going to take a little bit of time to explain the difference between how a common person responds to the situation and how a Christian responds to the situation.

This passage from James could be divided up into these 5 parts:

[1-3] A common situation, and an observation of behavior
[4] Pointing out the common path of relationship development
[5-8] Highlighting the Spirit-filled path of relationship development
[9-11] It is not a minor thing, but evidence of a bigger problem.
[12-13] The reason it is a mistake.

Let me begin with the common situation and an observation of common behavior:

¹ My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly [religious community], and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” (James 2:1-3)

James then uncovers the common path of relationship development, where we judge a person by the superficial ways that they present themselves.

⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:4)

And, then, this is contrasted with a Spirit-sensitive view of relationship development

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? ⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. (James 2:5-8)

James points out that this is not just a small matter, but evidence of a bigger problem.

⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:9-11)

More specifically, James is reminding us that we are a people who now engage in the Kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of mercy. Mercy is part of the strategy that God is using to connect sinful people into a relationship with Himself. Judgment, or more specifically condemnation, is a strategy of separation and rejection.

¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12-13)

The Common Path of Relationship Development

I notice this judgmental behavior all the time, but I do not think people are aware of how they are condemning or accepting of others. If a person comes into our assembly, for example, it is mostly an anonymous situation. They are allowed to come in, sit somewhere, and then interact as an audience member. Though we have some interaction, it is optional.

As soon as the “service” is over, I observe how people behave on both sides. First, the guest usually tries to get out of here as soon as possible, though some will linger. Second, I notice the regulars going up to friends they know to greet them. It is not that they think they are doing anything wrong, for (like the GEICO ad would say),

You see a friend in the room, you go up to them and talk to them. It’s what you do.

After the time of worship and teaching, there is a lunch.

You see a friend at the table, you go sit beside them. It’s what you do.

At no time, would it even enter our minds that we are doing anything that dishonors God because it is the common behavior that we’ve done since we were kids on the playground.

Do we go play with the new kid or the kids that are our good friends?

Do we want to play with the awkward kid, or the cool kids?

Do we want to be seen with the socially rejected kid that everyone hates?

We all know this because it’s what we do.

Sociologists have observed this typical behavior, and have tried to characterize it with a package of thought called Social Exchange Theory. You don’t really have to be an expert to understand Social Exchange Theory at a top level, because we do it all the time. Simply, with every potential relationship, we consider the benefits of the relationship and what it might cost. Generally, we desire relationships that maximize benefits and minimize costs.

And, as goes the theory of Social Exchange, we are always evaluating whether or not our relationships are a benefit or a drag on us, whether it be with a person, a group of people, or an organization.

• In our jobs, could we work less and get paid more if we switched from company A to company B?
• Is this friendship mostly one-sided? If so, maybe my time would be better spent around others who are less needy.
• In our Christian relationships, does this person have anything to offer me spiritually? If not, shouldn’t I invest my time elsewhere?
• Does my church “feed” me? If not, maybe this other church has better programs for me and my time.
• In dating, if I want to get married, should I continue to invest time and energy in this relationship if I don’t think it will end up at the altar? Or, what if this person has a life-vision that is incompatible with me? If the answer is no, then I might end the relationship.
• Also, in dating, you may stay in an unhealthy dating relationship even if it is sucking the life out of you because you don’t believe that there is a better alternative.

In all of these examples, we are doing a relational form of commerce, where we are putting a value on a person’s life based upon how they might have a positive or negative contribution to my life.

This is what James is describing when he talks about the poor man and the rich man coming into the assembly. He is saying that you are judging wrong, or that your eyes are looking to your own benefit in a superficial manner, which is not consistent with the Spirit of God. [1]

Paul, for example, wrote:

³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:3-5)

The mature in Christ will not do an evaluation merely on how others can serve them, but on how they can serve others. And maturity comes about because you participate in a training environment that is challenging your unspiritual tendencies, and encouraging the seed of the Spirit to grow in you.

That seed tends to grow in the fertile soil of humility and weakness and challenge. Throughout the literature of Scripture, we see God specifically working through those who are weak in the world’s eyes. Paul describes this:

²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)

The Challenge Environment

Church communities are well-known to attract people of the same affinity. Rich people go to church with other rich people, the poor with the poor, blacks/whites/Hispanics/Asian all tend gravitate toward racial familiarity. A lot of churches align politically to the left or the right. It just feels nurturing. Affirming.

Affirming relationships. We all need nurturing and supportive relationships in our life. These are the types of relationships that we put on like a pair of sweat pants at the end of a day filled with uncomfortable shoes and formal wear. I get this. I would never suggest that you avoid these.

Challenging relationships. But we also need challenging relationships that will exercise and strengthen our relationship with Jesus – pushing us out of our comfortable ways of thinking. And, honestly, we are ineffective if we are unwilling to enter into these relationships. James even calls it sinful. Without challenge, we tend to keep doing what we have always done. The stranger coming into the assembly is an example of challenge.

In this particular discourse from James, the relational environment of the Kingdom of God is at its heart an environment that is founded on mercy rather than judgment. James writes:

¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12-13)

When God reaches out to us through his son Jesus Christ, he is giving us both mercy and grace. James is saying that if you have received mercy from God, and you have as a Christian, then mercy becomes part of your DNA … replacing judgment.

The 'Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:21-35 details the story of a servant who was forgiven a massive (unrepayable) debt, only to refuse forgiveness to another servant who owed a relatively small debt. The lesson of the parable is that we are to become like we have experienced. We experienced mercy, so we become merciful.

And if we aren't merciful when challenged? Then at best we are immature and need growth; at worst, we've never genuinely encountered the mercy of Jesus and we need Him to be our Lord and Savior.

So, when we see a person, we are not to judge them according to Social Exchange Theory. We actually need to put on spiritual glasses, tap into our new spiritual makeup, to see reality. The reality is that weak people have the least barriers to spiritual benefit, and they are just as valuable to God as anyone with worldly status. So, as we’ve experienced mercy, then we are to be merciful … not judgmental.

Judgment is free.

Mercy costs you.

On a practical note, how can we exercise this aspect of our relationships with one another within the context of the church? I can think of three ways: greet guests rather than your friends, at lunch sit with those who you don’t know, an be proactive with people by developing your relationship with them beyond Sunday.

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NOTES:

[1] The cultural context of rich/poor that James is addressing here is broader than what we might be thinking. In that ancient culture, being rich was frequently thought of as more than an economic condition, but also a social and moral condition. A rich person holds a social position of “honor” rather than shame, but a rich person also has the power to oppress those who are poor and absorb more for themselves (greed). A poor person, on the other hand, is one without honor and so this is why they would be told to sit in places that have no honor. James here is painting a picture whereby the honor should go to those whom Jesus lifts up, and not those whom are lifted up by the world.

But, James knows the common response of the culture. Honor opened doors for prosperity, for one’s honor gave them access to business dealings, living locations, marriages, and even religious roles that one can play. So, showing favor to someone with honor, is a way to court honor for oneself and their family. Since the poor man has no honor, then there is little self-benefit to show him any courtesy, for the poor is unable to elevate another.