Introduction
We continue in our examination of the poor person and the rich. Following similar themes, James makes defining arguments for the place of each one both physically and spiritually. James pulls no punches in these 3 verses either. His indictment to the brothers, as well as his deep compassion reign throughout. To see the wondrous nature of the command of verse 8, we must first see the sin and the mire that flows through verses 5-7.
Before we start, have you ever been tempted to elevate the rich person to certain heights because of his wealth?
Verse 5
Contrast between the poor man and the poor man
There are two descriptions given about the poor man in verses 5-7. This one is poor, monetarily speaking. The world would title such a one as at the poverty line or far below the poverty line. This is the same poor man that is in the dirty clothes. In the same vein there is a contrast between the poor man and the poor man. Doesn’t seem to make much sense, does it? However, there are two ways to view this poor man: physical and spiritual. What does it mean to be a poor person with a spiritual lens in view? It means that this poor person is one of whom the gospel of Christ has been preached. The poor person is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is not the case for every poor person on planet earth. For there are many poor people that will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is not what the Scripture is getting at. This understanding of the poor person, as a believer in Christ, is going to be immensely helpful when we look at verse 6 and the injustice done to the poor person. Neither does this insinuate that every Christan believer both in James’ day and ours is to live a life of poverty. This was known well in the Monastic movement (the movement of the Monks). It was the monks who lived lives of solitude, devotion, and poverty. In the same way we saw how it is not wrong for Christians to be wealthy it is not wrong for Christians to be poor. The same is also true that we should not condemn the person who is wealthy, and we should not condemn the person who is poor. These things I say materially speaking. Just as there are many examples of wealthy believers in Yahweh/Christ, there are many believers that are poor. Paul gives a great example of both sides of the coin. Philippians 4:12 says, “I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in abundance; in any and all things I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” This is true of every Christian. Yet, for Paul being poor or rich was not the main aim. The purpose of being poor or rich, is that whether one or the other, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
The brothers and being poor
The way that James seems to incite the believers in verse 5 is to bring forth a sense of similarity. I ask, ‘how rich do you think people were who were dispersed among the nations?’ It is very plausible that James is reminding the dispersed brothers that those who are poor, materially, resonates with them. Imagine the scene. James is kind of hunched over and he is saying, “did God not choose the poor…” with a slight twinkle in his eye or head nod to the brothers. The same is true with the spiritual transaction that is applied to those who are “the poor of this world.”
A most wonderful spiritual transaction
The greatest transaction ever to take place in this life is a dead person being brought to life. The way that the Scripture brings that forth is by replacing dead and alive with being poor and made rich. The world can only see the poor as those who are maligned by poverty and financial misfortune. However, God sees the poor as much more than those who are in dire financial straits. Kent Hughes emphasizes this saying, “The fact is, the materially poor are so much more likely to truly realize their spiritual need—and to entrust themselves to the grace of God.” This is the spiritual transaction. Consider these words spoken in 1 Corinthians 1:26-28, “For consider your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God.” The train of thought between these verses’ points to the spiritual transaction that takes place in a dead person to make them new. Further, this is not a spiritual transaction given by God because He merely ‘feels bad’ for the poor person. His love for those who are afflicted goes far beyond thoughts of just ‘feeling bad.’ Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Here, Jesus clearly defines the ‘poor.’ The same is true throughout the Psalter. “For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever” (Psalm 9:18). In this verse, David is not referring to those who are poor financially. This poor person is one under affliction from evil men, not one who is suffering a financial disaster. This is something that is seen throughout history. Whom do people tend to go for first? The weak, the poor, the helpless, and the fearful are those who are gone after first. Therefore, this should not be of any surprise to us that those who are first gone after are the poor. But the poor do not go through these things in vain, for it is the one who is afflicted that will inherit the kingdom of God, not because of any work done. No! But because of God’s love for those who are poor in spirit. The fact is that this was the starting place for every person in this room who is a believer in Christ. We come from the womb spiritually dead in desperate need to be made spiritually alive! Praise God that He has done this work through His Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!
The connection between poor and love
What distinguishes the spiritual aspect of verse 5 is seeing the poor person who is rich in faith and the person who loves God inherits the kingdom. This tells us two things. 1. This is the same person, and 2. The poor person is the one who loves God, therefore, implicitly loves others. This loving of others is seen in the section of verses below known as ‘Faith and Works.’ But for our consideration, what is important to know is that the poor person is one who loves God. And anyone who loves God loves others as Himself. Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Again, this is far different from the poor person that we may see in our neighborhoods or asking for money on a busy highway. Poor people are not just poor financially, they are poor spiritually. The same is true for the rich. The rich person is poor, if he is poor spiritually, that is. Simply put, those who are heirs of the kingdom of God are spiritually rich.
Verse 6
A rather harsh indictment
James pulls no punches as to what has been going on in the church. Remember last week that it was debatable whether this story was allegorical or not? I think verse 6 tips the scales in the direction of the story referring to the local church. You cannot get much more direct than James does in verse 6. You could say that he is bringing their sin into the light. There are two sins that they are guilty of, 1. Dishonoring the poor man (v.6), and 2. Showing partiality (v.9). Verse 9 we will look at next week, Lord willing, but for this week, I ask, what does it mean to dishonor someone? What would it look like? The Greek defines dishonoring as ‘dishonoring.’ Two passages show the severity of committing such an act. The first is a response to the Pharisees after they accuse Jesus of having a demon. “Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me” (John 8:49). Notice the sharp disparagement in this text. Jesus honors God the Father, and the Pharisees are guilty of dishonoring both the Father and Christ! The Pharisees claimed, repeatedly, that they followed the law of Moses, but were guilty of dishonoring God the Father and God the Son, to Whom Moses looked to. The second text comes from Paul indicting the Jew who would rely upon the Law for his salvation. “You who boast in the Law, through your transgression of the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written” (Romans 2:23-24). Again, what an indictment! In both cases God is dishonored because of hypocrisy and unrepentant sin. Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what James is getting at in verse 6. The church of God is living and claiming to live for God. They live as a testimony as exiles who are dispersed all over the place. But there is an ugly sin in the church, hypocrisy. On one hand the church claimed to love God, but on the other their partial treatment of the poor person showed otherwise.
The depth of the hypocrisy
What we need to understand is that the hypocrisy goes farther than a love for God and not loving others. The brothers that James was writing to were guilty of dishonoring their own brothers in Christ! Those who claimed to love God were being partial to those who God loved! Remember the poor person in verse 5? He is the one who inherits the kingdom of God, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scattered churches were doing dirty to their own brother! Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.” The Lord loves the poor, not circumstantially alone, but those who are poor in spirit. As you and I are gracious to the poor and needy regarding physical needs, must we be all the more gracious to the poor and needy concerning their spiritual need! Maybe you have experienced this kind of malignment in the church before. Maybe it was the way you dressed or your background, or the behavior of your children. Whatever the case may have been, there is no justifiable reason to be treated this way. This being said, we must not look at verses 5 and 6 and say this ‘only’ is rightly attributed to the poor person who looks the part. In addition, as Christians if this is true of us, even in mind and never in action, it must be repented of. For God did not and does not look at you this way!
A right smack in the face
The end of verse 6 returns to the rich person. As is true with the fancy and upright garments that the rich person wears, the same is true for how a rich person treated the dispersed exiles. Amazingly, the exiles would gladly and cheerfully welcome a rich person among their assembly viewing them with high regard. Yet, these same rich people were the ones who went after them and oppressed them. One way that they were oppressed was by being brought into court, not being able to afford legal fees and basically being at the mercy of a paid-off judge. The dispersed exiles needed to be reminded of what they were doing. It was very possible that they had forgotten or become callous to this reality.
When we think of oppression today, we don’t give it the due that we should. We confine it to slavery in the human sense because that is what we are told. However, in Scripture, the Greek word for oppress is used here and in one other passage which is found in Acts 10:38. Listen to how the word ‘oppress’ is used… “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, cand how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Oppression, biblically speaking, is found in the works of the devil. Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees when comparing whose father was who? “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:44-45). The Pharisees hated the truth just like the devil hates it. In the way, human beings follow oppressive tactics just like their father the devil. And these are the people that the dispersed believers were propagating. Implicitly, you could say that the believers in the church were promoting evil instead of good. This, too, we must be wary of.
Verse 7
The worst kind of sin
What was most despicable about the rich person was their openness to blaspheme the name of Christ. Yes, to sin against the body is wrong and deplorable. But to blaspheme the name by which Christians are identified, is a far worse crime. Why? Because when you are sinning against another human, you are doing so against someone that is far inferior to God. Yes, we are identified in Christ, but we are not Christ Himself, nor are we divine in any way. But when you blaspheme the name of Christ, you are committing sin against the Holy One Himself. The sin of blasphemy is committed against the One who made them! This blasphemy committed in James 2:7, according to Bill Mounce, was not verbal alone. He writes, “Any act of disobedience is considered blasphemy because it resists God’s will and damages the reputation of the faith.” In the Jews dishonoring of God through transgression of the Law (which we saw earlier in Romans 2:23), they were guilty of blaspheming the name of God (Romans 2:24). Therefore, it is not verbal blasphemy that is the only kind, but physical action can produce blasphemy as well. In the case of James 2:7, the way that the rich people treated the children of God that were exiled was a form of blasphemy against God. Psalm 73:1-12 shows us, in further detail, how the rich person blasphemes the name of God. Notice how the loftiness of the rich and the treatment of the people of God is like our passage in James 2… Does this not sound like our day? Especially with the laws that are passed for the benefit of those who are very wealthy. We may not be under oppression in this country like others, but don’t think for a second that because we have a new administration in government that everything will radically change in the Christian’s favor overnight! We need to move past this futile means of thinking and remember that the people who are in charge of this country as they live in sin are “haters of God” as Romans 1:30. Whether a blasphemer in word or in deed, this is a most disturbing sin in the sight of God!
Blasphemy in the church
Because the rich were permitted to worship alongside believers in Christ, blasphemy was openly accepted in a hush hush manner. Because James has made it obvious that the rich were known for and were blasphemers, there is no way that the scattered believers could have missed this reality. It is, however, entirely possible for them to have overlooked it. Wealth and the desire for it blinds, just as any sin does. Consider this warning given by our Lord, “For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and return and I heal them.” These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke about Him. Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God” (John 12:39-43).
It is as if James is saying, “How dare you openly receive these rich people into your assembly who openly hate God?” Question, “How do we discourage this kind of practice in the local church today?” I think this is a fair question to ask in our day. For James, and for us, we must be content with whomever God brings into our assembly. That means that if there are open blasphemers of the name of our Lord, we must do our due diligence to remove them from the assembly. We cannot take them in just because they would help out the financial state of the church. It must be said of this church, and every bible believing, God fearing church, that we would rather be pure in our worship of God and our practice of loving and serving Him, than compromise on anything that would be contrary to the praise, honor, and glory that He deserves! And this might mean that we purge the unbeliever from our midst (1 Corinthians 5:13).
Conclusion
The text we saw this evening is quite severe. And, again, we see the practical nature of the epistle of James on display. However, I hope that you have seen the spiritual implications of this text, and James’s emphasis on it. James is known as a very practical epistle, but the words written are also deeply spiritual. This book is a wonderful blend of doctrine and practice. It is also an epistle that is helpful for us with many implicit warnings. Although we do not see a direct warning given by James in verses 5-7, we can look at it as such. For we must be careful not to be guilty of what the dispersed believers were in their day. We are no different from them, and we are prone to be partial at times especially if we see it as a benefit to the local church. Thus, our reliance must always be upon God Himself, for He will build His church (Matthew 16:18)!
