Christian Faith in Action

God wants Christians to show true love and treat others fairly irrespective of their status. James 2:8 - If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. The followings are discussed: Avoid Discrimination; Keep the Royal Law, and Work Your Faith.

Avoid Discrimination: James warned Christians in the early Church against treatment of believers based on social prominence which resulted in discrimination. He made it known that favouritism and other wrong practices such as giving special attention and offering seats of honour to the wealthy while the poor were treated in a different way were a grave sin before God (James 2:1-4). Some Christians today may experience similar treatment in a society that values status and recognises people based on their wealth. Churches must not indulge in practices that overvalues things that are less important. Christians are called to treat people fairly especially those who are often rejected by the society. We must conform to Christ's value system as his true representatives in the earth.

The early Church was not rich in wealth but very rich in faith. As a result majority of the wealthy individuals were opposed to the gospel, oppressed and took advantage of the followers of Christ. They rejected Christ's message that preached fair treatment and care for those in need, and chose instead to amass wealth for themselves at the expense of the poor (James 2:5-7). James wanted Christians to know that the rich people they sought to impress had rejected faith they held in high esteem, pointing to hostile attitude the rich held toward the faithful. James wasn't saying that riches made people evil, but they are made evil when they reject God and pursue riches. Therefore Christians must not view the rich as a special class because of their status, but as those in need salvation.

Keep the Royal Law: James reinstated the need to keep the great commandment as the only condition for respecting and treating people fairly (James 2:8 ). This is what he called 'royal law'. It is about loving others as oneself and God with the whole heart. He was referring to what Jesus had described as the greatest commandment (Deut 6:5; Mathew 22:37-40; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-28). It is not possible to please God without keeping His commandment. We can only keep it when we treat all people fairly, including those who are rejected and despised by the society. God values them and wants us to do so as well because our salvation through Christ's death wasn't linked to wealth or status. God's offer of eternal life is for all people. Believers must not neglect any aspect in keeping God's commandments as disobedience to the commands brings judgement.

Work Your Faith: James makes it known that faith without work is dead and useless. Godly works and actions are required to live by faith in Jesus. Godly actions involve exhibiting characters such as love, mercy and justice which help believers to walk with Jesus. We can demonstrate true faith by participating actively in God's service and saving lives through what we say and do. Those who walked with God and acted by faith were declared righteous individuals in the old testament (James 2:20-26). Faith and good works are required for Christians to live righteously, honour God and experience His salvation. Lesson texts: James 2:1-26.