James 2:1-7

A mature Christian is balanced. In “The Road Less Traveled”, Scott Peck writes that balancing is a discipline required for mature living. James is writing to an early church whose Jewish background is pulling it toward two extremes. On one extreme, you have the rebellious Jews that want to overthrow the rich and powerful. On the other extreme you have, the status seeking Jews who treat the rich with special privilege and honor. James knows that either extreme will be devastating to the church. Rebellion will lead to genocide. Status seeking will lead to a worthless religion. The church must find the middle ground.

In the early part of this letter, James addresses the rebellious spirit by reminding them that their suffering is an opportunity to grow in faithfulness and endurance. Now he takes on the status seeking Christians. He wants them to recognize that the rich are quite often very poor examples of what a righteous man should be. The rich in James’ world abuse their wealth and power. The Jewish elite rejected Jesus and blasphemed his name; poor Jews recognized him as the messiah.

The poor have a wonderful opportunity to grow in faith. Having nothing is an opportunity to trust in God. The poor sincerely pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”. God honors their faith. A rich man seldom has an opportunity to pray that prayer with the same sincerity. His private baker provides his daily bread.

Christians avoid the extremes. We do not hate and rebel against the rich and powerful. We also do not envy them and are not willing to sacrifice our faith to become them. We do not exploit or dishonor the poor. Righteousness does not live on the edges of the extremes. Right relationships do not allow us to prejudice against or show favoritism for others. Righteousness requires us to see each person who enters our church as an individual. Righteousness does not see rich or poor, it sees a brother or sister in Christ.