We are ready to start the second chapter of the book of James. This chapter is so important because it is one of the only two times that Jesus is mentioned in the whole book. When we look at the scripture we don't want to slide over this. We are going to do some serious Bible study because everything in James is based on the title given to Jesus: the Glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Open your Bibles to James 2:1-4. "My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor person in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the one who is poor, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" Notice 'believers' is plural. You can't do Christianity by yourself. So much of what is in the church is privatized faith. There is no such thing. Everything about Jesus is about restoration of community. Favoritism has no place in the house of God. Some important words to see there are favoritism and discrimination. The best definition I know for prejudice is "judges with evil thoughts." "Guide us, Lord Jesus, through Your Holy Spirit we pray. Amen."

We all have been in groups when someone asks the question, "Are you prejudice?" The knee-jerk immediate response is, "I am not prejudice." But you listen to that person for a while and eventually the area of discrimination will come out. If you would ask, "Mike, what's your theme?" It's exorcising, not exercising, exorcising my personal prejudice for it has no place among the people of God.

If I asked you right now what your personal prejudice was, you might be pretty careful. But Dave Nelson, who is one of the young guys on our staff, I asked him what his was, and he got really honest and this what he said. Let's listen.

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Dave Nelson: I grew up despising Democrats. I grew up in a straight ticket Republican household. I would sit and listen to Rush Limbaugh for three hours a day. It was part of my curriculum as a home schooler. I believed that the Republicans were the good guys and the Democrats were the bad guys. Kind of like the light side of the forest and the dark side. I lumped them in with the Soviets, like during the Cold War in the 80s when you were watching the Olympics and you would boo the Russian gymnasts and the Russian figure skaters with their mascara and their bread lines and their gold medals. Of course, according to my parents the Democrats hated Jesus just like the godless Russians, so they were all together in my cauldron of evil. It was very much "us versus them" - kind of unChristlike.

(end video)

Wow, he was serious on that. I said, "You have to share this on tape, because this is powerful." All of us in some way can identify that there is discrimination or prejudice in our life. In James, the two times he mentions Jesus in the whole book of James, believers in our Glorious Lord Jesus Christ, those words say everything about God's intent for who we are. I want to go back to one of my first statements: you can't do Christianity by yourself. So much of what is portrayed as Christianity, especially in the Western world, is this privatized faith. But everything for God is about community. It's about the restoration of relationships. The Bible is one continuous story, and if you sum it up quickly, the Bible is the story of paradise lost and paradise regained. How the Bible depicts this incredible event of creation and of human beings is that God created family, community and unity. As this family expanded, it worked together to build the City of God. It is much more complicated than this. How do you tell it quickly in a story form? How the Bible depicts this whole brokenness of community is in Genesis 11, and it is called the Tower of Babel. "Now the whole world had one language and a common speech." There was one people with one purpose and one God. Doesn't that sound good? "As these people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there." Here is the part I want you to get, verse four:  "They said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" Up to this time, they were building the City of God. They forgot. Whoa! Spend your life making a name for yourself or a city for yourself and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Verses 8 and 9, "So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city." The City of God. That is why it is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. "From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth." God's intended purpose is community, unity and the family of God. The family of God working together to build the kingdom of God with one purpose and one God. "For God so loved the whole world that he gave his only begotten Son."

What happened as a result of human beings building for themselves was division. There was not one people, but many nations. There were divisions among nations, among races, among languages, among socio-economic groups, among political parties. There were tribes and not just one God, but warring gods. This division continues. I don't know if you are paying attention, but even in Islam, Muslims are killing Muslims. Let's not get down on just Muslims. What about Christians? How do we keep dividing ourselves? There are Protestants and Catholics; and then even as Protestants, we keep dividing. I think there are 18 denominations of Baptists. I think there are five denominations of Presbyterians. When you see this word favoritism, it means that we assign greater value to one group over another. One of the most segregated places on Planet Earth is the church. Not only are we segregated racially in the church, we are segregated socio-economically. God's redemptive response, what God is doing is restoring community. He's building a countercultural community on earth that would demonstrate the priorities of heaven. It's a new city; it's the City of God and will be led by a Messiah or a God king.

Scripture in Isaiah 9:2, 800 years before Jesus was born, said, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned." Verse 6, "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders." It's not talking about a child who will come and take us to heaven, but a child who will come and restore the reign of God or the order of God on earth, the government of God. "He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isn't it interesting that 800 years later this happened? Isaiah also said, "You will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end." It might look like the people of God are going backwards. It's not going backwards. Do you know 30,000 Chinese make a commitment to Jesus Christ every day where Christianity is virtually illegal. It is going backwards in America, but it is not going backwards in the rest of the world. During the Olympics, they are being tolerant, but it is virtually illegal. "There will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."

If James mentions Jesus only twice, we don't want to skip through this too quickly. Those four words: Glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Glory means reflection of, the visible reflection of the invisible god. In the earliest church there was one creed. Every time they saw each other, they had this greeting. They didn't say, "Hello, how are you?" They would say, "Jesus is Lord." It's how Christians identified themselves to one another. Jesus is Lord. It wasn't a religious expression. It was a declaration of allegiance in a Roman empire. People today say those words too casually. When you say "Jesus is Lord," it is a declaration of allegiance - for this person I am willing to die, for his cause I am willing to give my life. Many Christians who made that declaration went to the coliseum (and death) because of that, because they said they didn't have a divided allegiance, one allegiance to Caesar and another allegiance to Jesus Christ. There was one all-consuming allegiance, and that allegiance belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am going to read Colossians 1:15 about who Jesus is: "The son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." Firstborn doesn't mean he was born first. He always existed. Firstborn means the one with authority and power, the oldest child in any family, the firstborn was the one who inherited or stood in line. Who's in line to be king of England? The firstborn. "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

Right now, the only way you breathe is through something called a diaphragm. You can't control that diaphragm. It's an involuntary muscle. So not only did he breathe in you the gift of life, right now every moment, he makes your diaphragm and heart work that you have no control over. I wonder how many times my heart has beat in 56 years. It's a math problem for someone. Not only through him "that all things were created, but in him all things hold together."

Verse 18, "He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn among the dead, so that in everything, he might have supremacy." Now what does it mean that he might have supremacy? For me to say Jesus is Lord means that every thought I have, every value I hold, every prejudice that I might have comes under the authority of Jesus Christ. Everything is taken captive by the Lord Jesus Christ. When you say "Lord Jesus Christ," it is not a religious phrase. It is a declaration of the One, and the cause for which I am willing to die.

Darfur is a radical Islamic country, and Bibles are illegal there. The first time I went to Darfur, I had to make a decision. First of all, by going to Darfur, you have made the decision for the One, and the cause for which you are willing to die. You don't go there if you haven't thought out that possibility ahead of time. As a matter of fact, probably about nine out of every 10 people in the church who I ask to go with me, tell me no. Because you realize the cost of what that might involve. So the first time I went, I had my backpack together, and I thought, "Do I throw my Bible in this backpack?" I was wrestling with this. I can go and still not be stupid enough for someone to find my Bible. You go through checkpoints with all government soldiers and if you don't stop at the checkpoint, you are shot. Everyone that comes along that road, the soldiers break down everything you have. There was a bus ahead of us and they had all of the people out of the bus. They had all of their luggage taken apart. They had some seats out of the bus on the ground. Dave, you went with me, did you have your Bible in your backpack? Dave: Yes. Mike: I had my Bible in my backpack, too. I made that decision a long time ago, because Jesus is Lord. It's not a religious faith. It's a declaration for who and what I am willing to die. Dave, people think I make up these stories. Do any of you think I embellish these sometimes? So we were driving to the checkpoint and they are there with rifles, they are ready to shoot. Not only do we have Bibles, I have it tattooed on my back. In that country, if they catch you and it is tattooed on your back, they cut it out. My tattoo is somewhat large. Dave, what happened when we got to the checkpoint? Dave: Because we had the flag of UMCOR on our Jeeps, we went right through every checkpoint. Mike: Every checkpoint. They just waved us right through. There are angels among us. Jesus is Lord!  

Mao Tse-Tung, during the cultural revolution in China, closed down the church, made it illegal. They estimate that when he closed the church in China, there might have been 20 million Christians in China. When the reign of Mao Tse-Tung was over, they found 200 million Christians in China. It had grown 10 times when it was illegal. Chinese men and women declared that Jesus is Lord, that there is no other authority but the Lord Jesus Christ, and when they said Jesus is Lord they declared for whom and what they were willing to die. They meet illegally in house churches and 30,000 people a day in China accept Jesus Christ as Lord. Every week in America, we close three United Methodist churches. Christianity in this country is not infectious because people say Jesus is Lord as a religious statement, not a declaration of ultimate allegiance. In this room, we say we are Christians and yet we live with someone and do all kinds of stuff. We say Jesus is Lord and still do what we want to do. Every value, every thought, every action, every prejudice is taken captive to the authority of Jesus Christ.

I was in Mississippi speaking to a convention of pastors. I won't tell you the denomination. I was 54 years old. In all my life, I have never spoken at a conference that was all white. I showed up two years ago in Mississippi to a denominational group - all the pastors of that denomination in Mississippi. Every person in the room was white. I thought, "I have died and gone to hell. What has happened here? O Lord Jesus, give me another chance." So I said, "Why is everybody in the room white? I speak out like this and Carolyn gets nervous. They invited me because it was the first time this denomination in 40 years had shown a decrease. When they have a Methodist speak, you know they are in trouble. So I said, "Okay, I'm not seeing heaven here because heaven is a multicultural community, it shows the diversity of all people." One of my favorite paintings of Jesus - if you look really hard, up close, it is made up of diversity of every nation, every race. In this painting, it comes together and makes the picture of Jesus. This is truly what the body of Christ looks like. So I said, "Why aren't there any black people in the room?" They said, "To tell you the truth, Mike, if black people attended our churches, that would be okay, but if they come forward to join our church, they wouldn't be allowed to join our church." In this particular denomination, you vote for people. I said, "I'm out of here. God is never going to bless anything other than the total, inclusive, redemptive community of God."  

I want to show you a scripture that will prove biblically that the only way the Spirit is going to come into your midst is when everybody is welcome and included. Turn to Acts 2:1 in the New Testament. The Day of Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit came to its people, the church. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place." You can't do Jesus by yourself. God wants to demonstrate on earth what he originally had in mind in heaven and that's people from all diverse backgrounds, including Republicans and Democrats. Being together, not out of their ideology, but out of their oneness in Jesus Christ. They were all together in one place. Verse 4, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." This was not by accident. Verse 5, "Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing people from every nation under heaven." Why does God mention every nation out of heaven? Go back to the Tower of Babel, and the consequence of sin was division. God is a redemptive God of healing. Unless everyone is included, God's not there. Verse 11, here's what tongues is all about; at least on the Day of Pentecost what tongues was all about. There weren't speaking in a heavenly language, like the book of Corinthians. "We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own language."

Yes, I do believe in that kind of tongues, the heavenly kind of language. At one time, I didn't believe in that kind of tongues and I knelt down to pray one time at my bed and then God started speaking through me. Don't ever think you know more than God; and don't ever tell someone else they are wrong in their expression of Christian faith, because God will do one those Balaam's ass things on you. He will!

There were Arabs and Cretans - Cretans were known as pagan people, they came from my tribe. Not only was everyone gathered, "We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own language." In other words, every person from every tribe on the planet was present when the Spirit fell. We just don't sing English. We have to speak into the cultural context of every person present.

Last Sunday, we were at our mountain cabin. My sister, brother-in-law, and my mom and dad were there. There were only 70 people in our mountain church the week before; but out of humility of everything God has given me, I want to go and thank God wherever I am. It doesn't have to be entertaining, I want to be with the people of God and I want to give praise to God. Getting everyone going is hard, so I said to my sister, "Go to worship with me this morning." I had on my jeans and sandals, and my mom said, "Michael, are you going to church that way?" I said, "Mom, I preach this way." She said, "Yes, Michael, but now we are in the South, and in the South, people don't do this." So I told my mom this story. Just like we are reading in scripture, there was this ragged, old, dirty man who came into this beautiful church. The guy kind of smelled and people looked uncomfortable. So after the worship celebration, the pastor went to this rumpled person and said, "You know, sir, if you ever come back to this church, would you really try asking God what would be the appropriate way to express honor." So the man went away. The next week he came back the same way - rumpled, torn, ripped-up clothes. So afterward, the pastor went to the man and said, "Sir, I thought I told you to ask God what God thought about the way you were dressed and how you should enter his house and show honor." He said, "Well, I did ask God, and God said, 'I don't know because I have never been to that church.'"  

We have two mandates on us by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. To proclaim is to demonstrate and to name the Lord Jesus Christ as the authority of the kingdom. The temptation in scary times - I know, I just put gas in my car today at $3.99 a gallon - the temptation is to begin to live out of fear instead of faith. As long as we keep proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the sick, not only will God provide, God will multiply. Jesus Christ is Lord which means every value, every action, every thought, every prejudice is held captive to the authority of Jesus Christ.

Will you bow your head in prayer with me? "Lord Jesus, we do not say Your name lightly, but as a declaration of our allegiance. We declare our commitment to You for whom we are willing to die and Your mission for which we give our life. It's in Your name, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen."