Mercy Wins: A James 2:10-13 Devotional

¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:10-13 (NASB)

Today many people live lives of judgment upon other people. If people we see or know pollute the earth by throwing rubbish into the street or river, we judge them. If a girl is out late with her boyfriend, without knowing the details we judge they slept together. If a person made an “A” on an exam, but was known as a slacker, we judge he cheated.

This is not the way of God. God did not say one sin was worse than another. He said if we sin against any of them, we have sinned against Him. In Deuteronomy, Moses taught the Israelites to be faithful to all God’s laws and commandments and that any breaking of them would bring God’s punishment or curse. No one law, say murder, is greater than another, say adultery. All laws are equal in God’s eyes.

James made this same point in his letter, James 2:10-13. He said in verse ten, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all.” James wrote to the dispersed Jewish Christians. Because God gave laws and commandments to the Jews, they knew right from wrong, righteousness from unrighteousness. Righteousness only came from a perfect life unstained by sin. Obeying the 613 Jewish laws became somewhat of a competition among the Jews. The Pharisees made a point to show their piety by wearing sack cloth and ashes in the street and praying loudly so every person would see and hear their so-called piety.

James made the point that no sin was greater than another. Added to this, He told them to speak and act with mercy toward other people because they themselves are sinners, too. Show the other person mercy - kindness with an earnest desire to help the other person. Do not point them out as sinners against your own supposed smaller sin. Life is not a competition, but a striving to live in the liberty the Lord Jesus gave us. His liberty gave us the power over sin and death through His indwelling Holy Spirit. Through this liberty, we should strive to live as Christ did, with mercy and love, not competition and pointing out another person’s sin.

James further said, when we live by the law of liberty, we will be merciful and will receive mercy from God the Father who will judge each of us. Jesus stated in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). God’s love and mercy triumphs in the end. He will judge every person on his or her sins. No sin is greater than another. They each separate a person from God. Yet, God’s mercy and love wins out.

How does God’s mercy win out and affect us? When a person accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, they accept the love and mercy of God’s provision of a perfect sacrifice for the judgment of his or her sin. That person’s sin is atoned for in the death of Jesus Christ. Whether the person sins or not the rest of his or her life, Jesus Christ’s blood atones for that person’s sins. God’s judgment of a Christian’s sin will not involve death, permanent separation from Him, because Jesus blood paid for our penalty. We can never be separated from God. That is God’s love gift – His mercy. Despite our sinfulness, He chose to love us, provide the perfect sin sacrifice, and show us mercy by washing our sins away so we would not receive our just sin penalty – death. We did not deserve God’s grace and mercy. He gave it to us because of His love. God wants to be in a relationship with each of us.

What happens to a person who sins then? If the sinner is a Christian, God will judge that person when he or she dies and goes to heaven. His judgment on the person will not be permanent separation from God because Jesus bought our freedom from that judgment with His death. God’s judgment will occur though in some way. Maybe we will not live in a great a house or sing in the first choir when in heaven or perhaps we will live with the consequences of our sins while on earth – polluted land, poverty because of gambling, sickness due to life choices, etc. We cannot fathom the depths of God’s thoughts and can only conjecture what may be.

But what happens to the person who sins who is not a Christian? Once again, God is merciful. He gives that person their whole life to hear about Him and respond to His love shown through the Gospel – the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. If during the person’s life, using the free will God gave him or her, the person chooses not to follow Jesus Christ, that person will experience permanent separation from God when he or she dies. A chasm will exist for eternity between that person and God. Permanent separation is hell.

Getting back to James then, we should understand what he taught the Jewish Christians of the first century. He taught them not to judge other people. Judging is God’s job. Everyone would undergo judgment by God at the appropriate time. Instead, these Jewish Christians must realize every sin is equal. Each sin creates a wedge, a separation, in their relationship with God. Because each person is imperfect because of sin, they must be kind and merciful to other people. The Jewish Christians’ sins were not “better” than the sins of a non-believer; therefore, they could not and should not judge another person. Instead, show mercy just as they would want to receive mercy. Love and be kind because God has shown love, kindness, and mercy to them. Remember, since mercy triumphs over judgment, they knew as believers they would win out in the end because Jesus Christ won the victory for every believer.

Show other sinners the victorious life. Show them love, mercy, and grace so they will want to believe in and follow Jesus, too. Mercy wins in the end.

What will you do today?

Will you compare yourself to another sinner to make yourself feel better than that person?

Or

Will you praise God for His grace and mercy that won you victory over sin and death?

Then will you turn to the other person and show him or her the love, grace, and mercy of God

so he or she can have the victory of Christ, too?

Once again, you get to decide.

David, God's Man to Rule: 2 Samuel 8

2 Samuel 8

King David was called a man after God's heart by God. He was a regular man. He sinned against God as we all do. He sought the Lord as many of us do. He repented. He followed. He gave God the glory and praise. He waited on God. Most of the time.

In 1 Samuel 8 we read of David expanding his borders. His kingdom grew much in this chapter. Why was the favor of the Lord on him so evidently in this chapter? Here are a few possibilities:
1. He sought and followed God.
2. He dedicated the winnings to the Lord.
3. He did not totally annihilate his enemies, but left a remnant so they could see and hear about Yahweh God and choose to follow Him.
4. He had vision. He sought what God wanted to give him.
5. He was just and righteous.
6. He gave praise and glory to God.

Do you want to be considered one of the saints of the Lord like the roll call of saints in Hebrews 11? We need to each look to our hearts and lives and see if we are doing the things David did in this chapter (minus the annihilation of enemies because we have the victory now that the Messiah has come).

Are you seeking and following God? Are you looking for His vision for your life? Are you dedicating the things in your life to God for His purposes? Are you praising and giving God all the glory? Are you just and right with God and man?

We must each come to God asking these questions and seeking to be made right before Him. Then we can know we are growing and seeking to have a heart for God, too.

Attitudes and Actions: A James 2:1-13 Devotional

Oh, we know this one! We have heard preachers and teachers preach and teach it if our parents took us to a Christian church. Even if your parents did not raise you to be a Christian, your mom or dad probably taught you to be kind to every person.

James, as the head of the Jerusalem church, led the Jewish Christian people. He understood and knew the Jewish Christians understood of the laws of God, how they affected one’s relationship with God and with one’s relationship with other people. That is how the Ten Commandments are divided. Taking care of the poor, widow, orphan, and alien is a big part of the Old Testament Jewish laws. Moses spoke about them many times in Deuteronomy.

Still, the Jews considered the poor unclean and not to be touched. With the arrival and teaching of Jesus Christ came a closer understanding of caring for one’s neighbor. One Pharisee asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered him with the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). The man answered the question for himself after the parable. The man stated the neighbor was the one who had mercy toward another man. Whether Jew, Greek, gentile, Roman, Samaritan, Jesus’ point was that a neighbor is anyone you meet. Considering whom Jesus called a neighbor, we must realize then when Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” He meant to treat them with mercy – treat them as you want to be treated. The Jews understood helping a person with physical needs.

 James went deeper in this passage. He told them not to show partiality among the people who enter the church/assembly to worship. Do not give the better seat to the rich and clean person and make the poor and dirty stand at the back or sit on the floor. Do not give preferential treatment. Showing bias like that is a heart action. Prejudice is a bias of the heart. When Jesus came to earth, He taught attitudes are to be changed as much as actions. He told the people what is on the outside of a person is not what makes him unclean, but what comes from the inside (Matthew 15:11). From within a person comes a person’s attitude, which determines the person’s actions. When a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit indwells the person and changes the person from within so that the heart becomes changed.

When James told the Jewish Christians not to show partiality to the rich and give the poor the lowest place, he reminded them of what Jesus taught that everyone is their neighbor and they were to show mercy. James directed their thoughts to consider their actions in church towards another person just as important as their actions outside of church. The Jewish Christians and all Christians are to love everyone and show mercy at all times whether in church or out. James told them showing partiality was a sin and any sin, no matter which one, made them transgressors of the whole law. God will judge the person who sins, whether in adultery, murder, prejudice, or against any of the other laws of God. For those who do not show mercy, James said God would show no mercy to them either.

Following Jesus requires 100% obedience and love of Him and every person. Whether a person is in church or living in his or her daily life outside church, the love Jesus showed to him or her and the love of the Father must be lived out within his or her life. Prejudice for gain or for supposed “religious” purposes is sin. To combat this, we each need to examine our own hearts, ask the Lord to show us our sin, confess it, and ask for the strength of the Spirit to empower us to overcome it. In this way, we can show the love of God and His mercy to everyone we encounter, not just people like ourselves.

Are you willing to look into your heart and allow God to change you from within? It will affect the way you live. By it, you will show the love and mercy of God.

Humiliation and Exaltation: A James 1:9-11 Devotional

James 1:9-11

On my spring day today, this passage of the Bible stands out well as being illustrated by nature. The people of the world strive to get by, many on less than $.01 per day to feed and shelter themselves. The rich man though should humble himself/herself and aid these people who are poorer.

James said, if the rich strive for praise and exaltation, gaining more and more things and congratulations as the goal, they will be like the flower, which fades, withers, and dies. The rich person's pursuits will be useless to his ultimate goal of reaching heaven.

We should aim to show our faith by works, to care for the poor, widows, and orphans. We should be humble even when we have excess and use it to help those who are humbled by their poverty in life to bring them up and give them hope.

Riches and striving to get them will not give you heaven and a relationship with God. Seeking God first and living out your faith no matter your material circumstances will give you a strong relationship with the Lord and He will exalt you for it. Your reward in heaven will be great.

Dedicated to God: Deuteronomy 34

Introduction

Moses ended chapter thirty-three with the proclamation of Israel being unlike any other nation. He blessed the tribes in that chapter, but explained their greatest blessing was the LORD who saved them, was their shield, helper, glorious sword, and refuge, before whom their enemies would cower, and by whom they would depart. Moses spoke these things to the Israelites before his own death to remind them of who God was and had been for them and who He would be for them in the future. It was a way to recall them to remember and reflect on the LORD and to rededicate themselves to Him.

The latter is the reason for Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is a book of revival that calls the people of Israel to remember, reflect, and rededicate themselves to the God and His will. Moses taught the Israelites who God was, how He had acted in their lives on their behalf, and would be for them because of their covenant with Him and He with them. He was the representative of God to the Israelites and the mediator and priest for the Israelites to God. Moses brought to the Israelites the covenant of the LORD and they agreed to abide by it. Obedience or disobedience to it brought consequences – prosperity, life, and possession of the land or poverty, death, and dis-possession of the land. The Israelites agreed to the covenant with the LORD at Mount Sinai and renewed their vows to God before their crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

With chapter 34, Moses life ends. Yet it is particularly important to understand God’s interaction with Moses in the last moments of his life and immediately after his death. We should consider the LORD’s actions towards Moses in these final moments. Besides that, consideration should be given when we look to the future of the Israelites as they prepare to cross the Jordan River.

Moses and the LORD

The first seven verses of this chapter tell of Moses’ final moments of life on the earth and what occurred upon his death. It tells of his relationship with the LORD – his obedience, God’s righteousness and mercy, God’s favor upon him.

Moses showed the LORD’s faithfulness to His people throughout Deuteronomy. To expect anything less at the end of a person’s life shows a lack of understanding of the character of God. Moses, as God’s chosen spokesman/priest/mediator for the Israelites, worked faithfully for the LORD during the exodus period. When the Israelites disobeyed the LORD and made a golden calf, Moses was angry, but spoke for them to the LORD appealing to the LORD’s desire to be known to the nations around them as a great and loving God. God withheld his judgment of immediate annihilation of the whole of the tribes of Israel, but required the punishment by death of the priests who led the people to build the calf. At other times, God spoke through Moses to protect them from their enemies. Still other times, Moses worked God’s signs and wonders to bring God’s food provisions to the Israelites. God’s favor rested upon Moses. Yet when he sinned by taking God’s glory at the waters of Meribah/Massah, God declared punishment upon Moses and Aaron. The punishment was death.

Though Moses knew of God’s punishment, he did not stop serving the LORD. He realized his time was short and determined to be obedient to the LORD from that time forward. Moses learned his lesson and wanted the favor of the LORD to be upon him again. His obedience included following God’s command in chapter thirty-two verses forty-eight through fifty-two to climb the mountain and face his death. Moses was obedient to death. How many of us could or would have followed God’s command to get to the top of the mountain so He could enact His punishment? Moses was obedient to death.

In the first four verses of Deuteronomy 34, we read of more than Moses’ obedience. We recognize God’s favor and mercy upon Moses. If Yahweh God had been vengeful, He would have killed Moses at the time of his stealing God’s glory. He may have waited and not allowed Moses to see the Promised Land towards which he led the Israelites. Yet in God’s mercy, even though Moses sinned, He allowed Moses to go up to a high vantage point and see the entire land God was giving to the tribes of Israel for their inheritance. From the top of Mount Pisgah, Moses saw the Promised Land - north to south and east to west. The LORD told him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’” Even in His enacting punishment on Moses, God’s mercy and favor showed forth. God showed His faithfulness to Moses again. Moses could relax and realize he had brought the people to receive their inheritance and know, at the final moments of his life, God was still faithful to him and the Israelites.

In verses five through seven, we understand the love and care the LORD had for Moses. God allowed Moses to see the fulfillment of His promise to his ancestors and He took care of Moses’ remains after his death. We do not note Moses dying violently. We note God’s care for him by burying him in the valley of Moab at a place where no one knew. The LORD loved Moses enough to care for his body so that animal would not mutilate it, people would not find and worship it heretically, and the Israelites would not be defiled and unclean by its nearness to them. God protected Moses in life and death. He is righteous and was just towards Moses as He is to each of  His children throughout the millennia.

The Israelites and the LORD

The people of Israel realized after Moses spoke to them and climbed the mountain they would not look upon him again. They heard the voice of the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting in chapter thirty-two. The Israelites understood the LORD was righteous and learned His righteousness required justice when a person or people disobeyed Him. They realized from Moses’ teachings and God’s pronouncement of judgment on Moses that he would not return from the mountain. Moses had been their leader, shepherd, priest, prophet, and mediator for forty years. They would miss him as a person and as the man of God who spoke God’s words and interceded for them. So when verse eight says the sons of Israel wept for Moses for thirty days, we can understand their pain. We recognize, too, this was another teaching moment for them. God did not forget his judgment on Moses for taking His glory and would not forget His judgment of the Israelites when they sinned.

We read with verse nine, God continued His favor on the Israelites. He did not leave them without a leader. From chapter thirty-two, the Israelites and later readers knew God appointed and Moses anointed Joshua as the next leader of the Israelites. With his anointing, a spirit of wisdom came upon him to enable him to lead the people as they entered and conquered the Promised Land. We read, too, in verse nine, because the people recognized Joshua as their new God-appointed leader, the Israelites listened to him. The word “listened” comes from the Hebrew word shama, of which we have learned means to hear, listen, and obey. This was not something new, but a continuity of what they did under Moses’ leadership. It led them continue to follow the words of Moses as the LORD commanded Moses to teach them – to keep His commandments, statutes, laws, and ordinances. To take over the Promised Land, the Israelites would need to continue to hear, listen, and obey the commands of the LORD. He gave them Joshua as His appointed leader for them.

Epitaph of Moses

The Israelites did not forget Moses. To this day Jews continue to remember him. In the final three verses of this chapter, a second writer (probably Joshua) penned Moses’ epitaph. Three things the writer said of Moses. Moses knew the LORD face to face. He stood in the presence of the LORD first at the burning bush and then on Mount Sinai. No other prophet did this before or after him.

The writer said, too, Moses did signs and wonders. The LORD sent him to do them in Egypt and he went there, believed the LORD, and performed them. No other person of the Israelites’ recall ever did this – was blessed to be so close to the LORD and was given power to do such wondrous things.

At the end, the writer of this last chapter stated no other prophet since that time could perform with “all the mighty power and all the great terror” that Moses performed. Moses, as God’s servant and chosen leader, had at his disposal, given by God, some of the power and might of God so he could do the great things God commanded. Moses was God’s appointed servant to bring the people out of Egypt, perform great miracles and terrible things to help acquire their freedom, and teach them while leading them to God’s Promised Land. Being a leader of God requires being in God’s presence and sometimes wielding His power.

Recap

With the enacting of the judgment of Moses, people would expect an empty leadership position to occur. God appointed another leader before He enacted the punishment of Moses so the Israelites would not be leaderless and turn away from Him. Along with providing a new leader for the Israelites, God continued to show His love and mercy to Moses. He allowed him to see the Promised Land, the goal for which he spent forty years of his life leading a hard-headed people. The same love, mercy, and favor God showed Moses, He showed the Israelites with the appointment of Joshua as their new leader. Even when God requires punishment or discipline, those actions come from His love and mercy. He wants to bring people in line to be faithful to Him so He can bless them.

Throughout Deuteronomy, we read of God’s interaction with the Israelites in both their obedience and disobedience. Through those interactions, we recognize God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness even while disciplining or punishing them. They each were for the purpose of bringing the people back to Him so He could bless them.

Moses wrote Deuteronomy, which means “revival,” to call the people back to the LORD. He called them to remember, reflect, and rededicate themselves to Him. Over the hundreds of years after Moses and Joshua wrote Deuteronomy, prophets and priests used it to remind the people of Israel and Judah to return to Yahweh God and be faithful to Him before and after their conquest by foreign nations.

Relevance and Conclusion

The compilers of the Bible used the requirement that a writing must speak about God to be included into the Bible. Deuteronomy speaks continually about God and the obedience of His children to Him. This book is as applicable today as it was then. It recalls to us to remember the Lord and obey Him.

This book leads us to a point where we must decide to dedicate ourselves to God or walk away from Him. We can choose to do either. That is the free will God gave to humanity when He created Adam and Eve at the beginning. With each person’s decision comes the reward from choosing to follow the LORD or not. If a person chooses not to follow the Lord, he or she chooses to make him or herself his or her own god and, thereby, relegate him or herself to receive the reward of that – death and eternal separation from God. If a person chooses to follow God, the reward he or she receives is abundant life – now on earth and forever with the Lord in heaven. The latter is eternal union with God, not separation.

Each person must choose for him or herself who they will follow – who will be god and guide of his or her life. I urge you – I encourage you – choose life. Choose to give your life to the Lord to save from sin and death and lead to abundant living and joy. Choose life as Moses encouraged the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30. I leave you with this one impassioned statement of Joshua from Joshua 24.

14 Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14-15 [NASB])

Choose today who you will serve – the LORD God or yourselves.