SERMON TITLE: Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment
SCRIPTURE: James 2:1-13 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 3-22-26
Sermon Discussion Guide
Take notes here
As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
Each week, we spend some time praying for people, circumstances, and situations going on in our congregation, community, country, and world. Today we’ll be praying for our team headed to Cuba tomorrow. We’ll also pray for Pastor Travis Johnson — he’s the pastor of Bible Methodist Church here in Findlay and was hospitalized for a few days this past week with some health issues. We’ll pray for Southport Church — a fellow EPC Church who’s going through a challenging season. And then we’ll pray for some of our ministry partners in Beirut, Lebanon and all that they’re facing with the war going on in that area of the world.
Please join me in prayer.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his loyal love endures! 2 Let Israel say, “Yes, his loyal love endures!” 3 Let the family of Aaron say, “Yes, his loyal love endures!” 4 Let the loyal followers of the Lord say, “Yes, his loyal love endures!” 5 In my distress I cried out to the Lord. The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. 6 The Lord is on my side, I am not afraid! What can people do to me? 7 The Lord is on my side as my helper. I look in triumph on those who hate me…14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me; he has become my deliverer.”...24 This is the day the Lord has brought about. We will be happy and rejoice in it…28 You are my God and I will give you thanks! You are my God and I will praise you! 29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his loyal love endures! - Psalm 118:1-7, 14, 24, 28-29 (ESV)
To you — our good and loving God — we lift up our team headed to Cuba tomorrow to serve the people living in a nation desperate for good news. Give them safe travels. Give them attentive ears. Give them eyes to see. And may their spirits be led by you — Spirit of God — so they do good and loving acts of service to all they encounter in the coming week.
As we turn to our local community, I want to lift up my friend and fellow pastor in Findlay — Travis Johnson. Spending days in the hospital isn’t at the top of any of our “here’s how I hope my week goes” list. As he continues to recover — I pray that the congregation he serves will serve him well. May they come alongside him and his family and lovingly care for them. May you heal him — restore him to wholeness. And may he allow this season of slowing down to be a reminder that it’s not by his strength or might — but by your strength and might — that things of eternal importance are accomplished.
Turning to our nation — God we’re so thankful for the thousands and thousands of churches that are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Regardless if they’re Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Assemblies of God, Nazarene, Evangelical Free, non-denominational, or whatever — like Paul — wherever your gospel is proclaimed is reason for us to rejoice.
Yet often your churches experience challenging seasons because we — your people — are far from perfect. For Southport Church, we pray for the Spirit of unity to bind them together in a deep love for one another. We pray for the leadership to display godliness, wisdom, courage, and holiness. We pray for repentance — where repentance is needed — and forgiveness — where forgiveness is needed. And we pray for the powerful light of Christ to shine brightly in, among, and through this local church whom you love.
And — finally — as we turn to the world — we once again can’t help but be grieved when we hear of what’s happening around the world due to the many wars that are raging on right now. For our ministry partners in Beirut, Lebanon — for Resurrection Church and the Philemon project — we pray for great hope and wisdom in how to minister to the nearly one million refugees that have entered their country. We pray for the resources they need to provide care to so many people. We pray for rest for our ministry partners — may they trust that you are working at all times so they don’t have to. And — ultimately, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — we pray for peace in their land.
And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We’re continuing our series in the book of James this weekend. Once again — we’re learning from the younger brother of Jesus, who believed that his older brother was God. So — if you’re here today and you’re not sure about the validity of the Christian faith — take what I just said into account. Jesus’ younger brother — someone who grew up with Jesus — believed he was God. That’s quite an argument in favor of the truthfulness of Christianity. Imagine what it’d take for you to convince your siblings that you’re God — or for one of your siblings to convince you the same about them. Probably not gonna happen, right? Yet that’s exactly what we find with James and Jesus’ other siblings.
Now — in his letter — James has taken some teachings of his older brother — and is showing us how to apply what Jesus taught to everyday life. Thus — when we read this letter — we’re learning what it means to be wise — for wisdom is taking God at his Word and applying it to life. So let’s see what words of wisdom that James has for us today.
If you have your Bible — please turn with me to James chapter two. We’ll be in James chapter two — looking at verses one through thirteen together today. We’re in James chapter two — beginning in verse one. There we read…
James 2:1–13 ESV
1 My brothers, show no 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 feet,” 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. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
The wisdom that James has for us today will cover a variety of topics — including the sin of being prejudiced, the obedience that God requires of us, and our merciful God who shows no favoritism. That’s where we’re headed today. The sin of being prejudiced. The obedience that God requires. And our merciful God, who shows no favoritism.
So let’s begin. First, the sin of being prejudiced.
James uses the word partiality — but — in our language today — we’d use the word prejudice or showing favoritism. Let me show you. We’re in verse one again.
James 2:1 ESV
1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
If you believe in Jesus — show no partiality, James says. Now the reason why I said prejudice is a better word to help us understand what James is saying — is because of the illustration he uses to make his point. It starts in verse two where he writes…
James 2:2–4 ESV
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 feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
I appreciate how Eugene Peterson translates the scenario.
James 2:2–4 MSG
2 If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, 3 and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” 4 haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?
Now — if you look around Gateway you won’t see men in expensive suits — “men in Lululemon pants” — most definitely — but no expensive suits — but I think you get the point. What James is talking about is making judgments about people based solely on external circumstances — such as physical appearance, social status, or race. Nothing any of us struggle with, right?
Have you seen the articles about the physical features of political candidates and who ends up getting our vote? It’s not always the case — but the data shows that often we’re not voting for the candidate with the best policies — we vote for the person who we think looks the part of a politician.
One person has said, “The world is always assessing people, sizing them up, putting them down, establishing a pecking order. And God, who sees and loves all alike, wants the church to reflect that generous, universal love in how it behaves.” Those of us who believe in Jesus are to reflect God’s generous love — while recognizing that we’re caught up in a culture where prejudice reigns.
This is why we care about how many cameras are on the back of our iPhone — two or three? Most of us aren’t doing anything with our phones that requires the best-of-the-best iPhone — yet we justify purchasing the pro version because of an underlying cultural pressure in which we’re being sized up by each other. We feel pressured to meet others' prejudices — even when it comes to our phones.
Do you wanna hear a ridiculous story? When the iPhone first came out — I didn’t have one. But I did have an iPod Touch. For those not born in the nineteen hundreds — the iPod Touch was basically an iPhone without the phone part. It looked exactly like an iPhone even though it wasn’t an actual iPhone. Well I was at a conference and it seemed like everyone else had an iPhone. So you know what I did? I held that iPod Touch up to my ear like I was talking on an iPhone just to look like I had one.
Ridiculous, right? Silly? What lengths we’ll go to climb the cultural prejudiced pecking order. Since I know I’m not the only one who’s done something like that — I thought we’d spend some time sharing personal stories of trying to keep up appearances. Who wants to go first? I’m totally kidding — save your stories for Life Group.
Social media’s an entire industry built on our sinful desire to compare ourselves with others — even to be prejudiced towards others — and it’s having negative effects on all of us — especially the youngest in our nation.
And — let me lovingly warn you — this is a sin much easier to see in the lives of others than it is to spot in your own life. It’s the Democrat who sees bias and prejudice in Republicans — after all, all Republicans are fascists who favor the wealthy and don’t care about the poor, right? It’s the Republican who sees bias and prejudice in Democrats — after all, all Democrats are Marxists who want to rob from the rich to give the poor undeserved handouts, right?
Living in a world that operates on partiality and favoritism has influenced all of us. Yet — the point James is making — is that — especially in the church — we’re not to demonstrate such partiality or prejudice. And his reasoning is this: When we do this, we’re practicing judgment that comes from evil thoughts. Which takes us back to a point James made in the last chapter — when he told us where the temptation to sin comes from. It comes from within us.
And look at where such prejudice leads. We’re in verse six.
James 2:6–7 ESV
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?
And skipping to verse nine, we read…
James 2:9 ESV
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
The irony in James’ illustration is better understood when we realize that the early church was predominantly made up of those who were poor. There were some wealthy people who believed in Jesus — but for the most part — the message of the gospel was welcomed by the poor to a greater degree than those who were wealthy. Thus — the irony I was speaking of — is that one could easily conceive that the poor person — in James’s illustration — was a fellow Christian — while the rich person — in the illustration — was not a believer. Thus — the sin of favoritism — was actually pushing fellow followers of Jesus to the side to make room for a person who — for no other reason than their wealth — was given top-notch service.
Now — James — in using the rich and poor in his illustration — probably had some Old Testament passages on his mind when he wrote these words. Such as…
Leviticus 19:15 NLT
15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.
Notice how this Old Testament passage warns against showing favoritism to the poor and the rich. Statuses — like rich and poor — are not justification for sinful partiality or favoritism. So too categories like Black and White. As well as male and female. And dare I even say — Ohio State or Michigan — which may be crossing a line for some of you. :)
Which leads us to the obedience that God requires. We’ve been told what not to do — don’t show partiality or favoritism — but what are we to do? We find our answer in verse eight.
James 2:8 ESV
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
The royal — or supreme — law of God is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. This commandment is first found in the Old Testament.
Leviticus 19:18 NLT
18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
And Jesus affirmed this commandment when he was asked…
Matthew 22:36–39 ESV
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
This is often referred to as the Great Commandment — and yes — it’s a two-parter: Love God and love your neighbor. And — as some of you may know — in Luke’s gospel — this commandment was brought up to see if there was any wiggle room when it comes to showing favoritism in who we’re willing to love. Here’s how Luke records the moment.
Luke 10:25–37 NLT
25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ 36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
The expert in religious law — the equivalent of a religious lawyer — like the majority of the Jewish leaders of his day — was prejudiced towards the Samaritan people. The history of Jews and Samaritans went back centuries — leading to a prejudice in Jesus’ day that resulted in things like Jewish people refusing to even cross through the land where the Samaritans lived. And the Jewish people saw no conflict in their prejudice towards the Samaritans and their faithfulness to Yahweh. I wonder how many Christians today see no conflict in their prejudice towards certain groups of people and their faithfulness to Jesus?
But this conflict is what Jesus went right for — Jesus went straight for the lawyer’s prejudiced jugular when he made the Samaritan the hero of his story. The Samaritan is the one who loves the Jewish man who’d been left for dead. It wasn’t the priest who demonstrated love to his fellow Jew — neither was it the Temple assistant — a Levite — which was the tribe of Israel specifically called to a life of service to Yahweh. Neither of these Jewish men demonstrated love for his fellow Jew. It’s the despised Samaritan — he’s the one who loved his neighbor as himself.
Yet there’s even more for us to learn from this commandment. For the commandment — to love our neighbor — helps us understand that showing favoritism and showing honor are not the same. For example, when we read…
1 Thessalonians 5:12–13 NLT
12 Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. 13 Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work.
We’re not showing partiality — or showing favoritism — when we honor, respect, and demonstrate love for those who lead us in the church. Just as we’re simply obeying God’s word when we…
Romans 13:7 NLT
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.
I bring this up because — sometimes in the cry of “don’t show favoritism” — we may intentionally or unintentionally justify disobeying other commands that God’s given to us. And we may even judge others for showing favoritism when that’s not the case.
All that to say: Be careful about playing the favoritism police in other people’s lives. Examine your own life first — and the areas where you’re prone to show favoritism or not love your neighbor. Become an expert in your own heart’s sinful desires and pursue spiritual growth and obedience to all of God’s commands. For if we — those who follow Jesus — spend more time focused on our own spiritual growth — we’d all be pleasantly surprised to discover that everyone else is making good progress right along with us.
Which leads us to the motivation James gives us — what should motivate us to obey the commands he’s given us? We’re in verse five.
James 2:5 ESV
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?
And in verse ten we read…
James 2:10–13 ESV
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Earlier, the command was to show no partiality. And — in addition to all that we’ve already encountered — another reason — really the most compelling reason as to why we’re not to show partiality — is because the God we worship is an impartial God.
And this isn’t just James’ idea. The apostle Paul made this comment about some people in the church who were considered important by others. He said…
Galatians 2:6 NLT
6 By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.
About God’s just judgment — to the Christians in Rome — Paul wrote…
Romans 2:6–11 NLT
6 He (God) will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8 But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9 There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism.
To other Christians, Paul writes…
Colossians 3:23–25 NLT
23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.
If you believe in Jesus, you believe in a God who judges you — not according to what you deserve — but according to his mercy. For what do you deserve? Eternal death. Why? Because you’ve broken God’s commandments. And James makes it clear — it doesn’t matter if you haven’t broken the big ones — maybe you’ve never murdered anyone — but, James says, “If you’ve broken one commandment, you’ve failed.” The standard — when it comes to the law — is perfection. There’s no wiggle room with the law. You either obey all of God’s commands or you fail the test. For it’s all or nothing when it comes to being right with God by the law.
Thus — if God were to judge you based on external appearances — he would’ve found you guilty just like every other human to have lived — because you’ve broken his law. And a guilty verdict is his just judgment for all of humanity. God doesn’t overlook the external factors of some of us. Those who are saved aren’t saved because God winks an eye at the sin we’ve committed, while he punishes others because of what he sees — if he did so, that would be God showing partiality. But God’s not partial!
So, how is anyone saved? For we’ve all sinned — we’ve all broken God’s law and have failed to meet the standard set by his law. If we’re all lawbreakers, how is anyone saved?
We’re saved not because God overlooks what we’ve done — we’re saved because he — in love — looks to what his Son did in our place.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Here’s what this means. On the cross — what the Father saw — when he looked at his Son on the cross — was our sin. Though Jesus was the rich man — to use James’ illustration — he became the poor man on our behalf. And God judged Christ in our place accordingly. But that’s not all. Now — because of our faith in his Son — when God looks at us, what he sees is Christ — he sees us as the rich man — the perfect man. How amazing and baffling and unbelievable — yet it makes your heart sing — believably true is that?
At this point, someone may respond with, “Well, how is any of that fair? If — as James says — God’s done the choosing of who will receive salvation — how isn’t all of this just favoritism on God’s part?” And my response is, “Mercy and favoritism are not the same. In fact, they’re complete opposites.”
Mercy is God giving to someone his good favor — even though they don’t deserve it. And everyone who receives his mercy doesn’t deserve it. And what God has revealed about himself — throughout the Bible — is his plan to be merciful to people of all classes, races, nationalities, genders, ages, and languages — including men who wear expensive suits or Lululemon pants and those who prefer Levi jeans. He’s as unbiased in distributing his mercy as one could ever be.
And — yet — the fact that God isn’t merciful towards everyone makes us think that somehow he’s impartial. Why wouldn’t he just give mercy to everyone? If I had that answer, I’d write a bestseller. But what I do know is this: God isn’t required to be merciful towards any of us. And the fact that he is merciful towards some isn’t a reason for us to demand that he must be merciful towards all. Mercy isn’t mercy if it must be given. For though mercy triumphs over judgment, mercy doesn’t negate God’s just judgment towards those who reject what Christ has done.
But let’s end — not in theological theory — but in real life. As it stands right now, which are you the recipient of? God’s mercy or his judgment?
God’s mercy is being offered to you today — for you’re hearing the voice of God call out to you. God’s words of wisdom are telling you to turn from your sin and turn to Jesus in faith. And that’s undeserved — just hearing this news is an act of God’s mercy towards you. But his judgment will come for those who think there’s no need for God’s mercy in their life. For those who reject his mercy — who hear his voice of wisdom and say, “I’d rather not — I know a better way” — will experience his judgment.
Mercy triumphs over judgment. Which will prove triumphant in your life? Let’s pray.
God, thank you for being merciful. Where your mercy is undeserved — your judgment is what we all deserve. For we’ve all sinned — we’ve all demonstrated prejudice — we’ve all failed to love our neighbors — we’ve all rebelled against you — we’ve all disobeyed your commands. May we — who’ve received your mercy — marvel at this gift that’s been given to us.
Holy Spirit, may you stir in the hearts of many listening to me to respond to your mercy. For they are hearing your voice — right now — saying, “Turn from your sin. Turn from your pride. Turn from doing life your way. And turn to Christ and the mercy of God.” Spirit, do the work of salvation that only you can do so that mercy might triumph over judgment in many lives today.
And — Jesus — our hope in the promise — that mercy triumphs over judgment — is because of the sacrifice you made in our place on the cross for our sins. You — the rich man of Heaven — the One deserving honor and the best seat at every table — humbled yourself. Became poor. Gave up your seat at the table, pulled back the chair, and invited us to sit down in your place. What grace. What mercy. What favor. What blessing to all who respond to your offer and take the seat offered to us and rest — trusting you alone for our salvation.
Father, Son, and Spirit — as you offer us all a seat right now — the seat of faith — the seat of mercy — the seat of eternal forgiveness leading to eternal life — we thank you and now praise you in song. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
As you go, remember that God’s mercy triumphs over his judgment for all who obey his words of wisdom. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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