A night of service...

TNT had a great night of service last night. We started with a very hearty meal provided by Jen, which everyone enjoyed. I am going to butcher what it was, but it was a Mexican soup over cornbread and was just delicious! (Seriously hoping that Jen posts the recipe right here.) It was a great time of fellowship and I found it very relaxing after a hectic day at the office. (Lots happening with my fantasy football team...plus the waiver wire was busy....)

Then we got to the jobs. Three persons who were more "cooking inclined" took to the kitchen and baked up a storm. 350 cookies later, and they were finished. The gauntlet was laid down for the cleaning portion of the evening, with myself talking smack about my crazy cleaning skills (or skilz as the kids say...). Let me just say that Kyle and Clark answered the bell, and came out swinging... Clark tackled cleaning two windows at a time, one with each hand, cleaning in a clockwise manner with his left hand and counter-clockwise fashion with his right. (Did you just pick up your hands to see how easy that is??) Kyle answered by cleaning three (!) windows at a time, spraying them down with his right foot, using both hands and his tongue. It was impressive. He said it was a little trick he picked up in the Sioux Center plant. I thought I would go above and beyond the call of duty and pick up some trash, but Clark, cleaning some of the windows outside, found a chunk of concrete misplaced under the prayer tower, so, I kid you not, the man picked up the entire tower! I mean, it was just a couple inches off the ground, but I was impressed. The Tower looked a lot better after he put it down too. (See picture depicting the effect.)

All in all a great night of fun and service, answering James' claim that faith without works is dead. "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."

(Feel free to use the windows at Third Church to see a perfect reflection of yourself, because those bad boys are clean!)

Favoritism and judgment

The other question that we didn't get to last night was "How do judgment and mercy relate to favoritism?" In other words, how do verses 12 and 13 fit in with the rest of the passage??

Showing favoritism, or partiality, IS judging another person's worth or value. Of course James is making the point that we are judging their worth based on things like clothing, social status, money, appearance, attractiveness, etc. INSTEAD of the things that truly matter (their faith). In that sense we are treating their outward appearance/wealth/etc. as more valuable than Christ.

James sees the opposite of favoritism (or judging) as being mercy. Mercy is at the very essense of the "Royal Law" that he speaks about in vs. 8. James is applying the teaching of Jesus. For more on this you can read the parable of the unmerciful servant found in Matthew 18:21-35 and see that he calls the merciful "blessed" in Matthew 5:7.

Until we meet again I'm praying that the Holy Spirit will continue to mold and shape us to be more like Christ. May we show mercy to others~whether that be to the ornery student in the classroom, the smelly patient who doesn't bathe regularly, or the waitress doing her best to serve us.

Judgement and freedom

Another question that was raised concerns vs12. How are we judged by the law that gives freedom?

All of us are going to be judged after we die but as Christians we are to "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom." This is Christ's law. As Christians we are covered by the blood of Christ and will receive mercy instead of condemnation in the final judgment. BUT, we will still give an accounting of what we have done so James is reminding us to speak and act as though we're remembering this! The law gives freedom from our oppression from sin. Thank you Jesus!!!

Follow up from 10/1

Hi All!
We had a great discussion last night on James 2:1-13. I loved the questions that you raised. Questions are how we learn~think of how many times Jesus answered a question with another question...anyways, your questions have had me thinking and I hope have done the same for you as well!

Here's the first question that we didn't get to...it is a TOUGH question!! I'd love to hear other's feedback on this too. The question was...How do we determine right and wrong without being judgmental??

This is an interesting question that I've been struggling with for awhille now. I did some research and here's what I came up with so far (by no means does it completely cover the subject). I think we are all scared of the verse in Matthew 7:1-2 where Jesus says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." I looked up a little about this verse and here was a good quote from biblegateway.com..."Many people have ripped this passage out of context. Jesus warns us not to assume God's prerogative to condemn the guilty; he is not warning us not to discern truth from error" (see 7:15-23). Discerning truth is a must for those of us who know truth. But, as we talked about last night we have all sinned and broken the "royal law" and will all be judged by Christ. Aren't I thankful that He is FULL of mercy?!? So how much more should I show mercy to my fellow sinner!! AGAIN this seems to be all about our heart and our motives (whether or not we are condemning others/judging vs discerning right from wrong).

There is so much more that I could write about this topic but I'm curious to hear some thoughts from YOU!!