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  The Sin of Partiality (James 2:1-9) “… have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts.” (James 2:4) Words like “racist”, “white supremacist”, “Nazi”, “fascist”, etc. are thrown around so much they have lost much of their original meaning. Our politics are often reduced to “kill the messenger” vs “listening and evaluating the message”. As James wrote to the dispersed tribes of Israel, he paid special attention to hypocrisy, pure religion, and partiality. As Jews, the twelve tribes had strict rules of worship, assembly, family, work, diet, etc. Judaism was a very legalistic, outward presentation of what should have been an inward condition of the heart. Lifestyle was to mimic the holiness and purity of God. As Jewish Christians, their outward legalism had been converted to a new condition of the heart where the Holy Spirit was their guide. Evidently when they came together to worship and fellowship; power, prestige, position, and ...

  Mid-Week Bible Lesson August 24, 2022 Pure Religion - “caring for orphans and widows and being separate from the world”. That is the definition that James gives for “pure religion” in James 1:27. I wonder what your definition might be? Regular church attendance? Believing the right things? Doing good works? Being a good person? These things are good, but DO THEY RISE TO THE LEVEL OF “PURE RELIGION”? Before this verse, James says “if you think you are religious and don’t bridle your tongue, you deceive your own heart, and your religion is worthless.” (James 1:26 My Paraphrase) Later James describes the tongue as “a little member that boasts great things… it’s a fire, a world of iniquity.” (James 3:5-6) First, we see the tongue reveals the condition of our soul. What we say and how we say it comes out of the heart. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool everyone all the time. Beyond that, YOU CAN NEVER FOOL GOD! “Taming the tongue” is one of th...