Sunday, September 9, 2018
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon Text: James 2:1-10, 14-18

"[1] My brothers, show o partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. [2] For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, [3] and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ while you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there,’ or, ‘Sit down at my fee,’ [4] have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? [5] Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? [6] But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? [7] Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? [8] If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. [9] But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. [10] For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. [14] What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? [15] If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, [16] and one of you says to them. ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? [17] So also faith by itself, it if does not have works, is dead. [18] But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
Sermon Theme: "The Cure for Partiality"