James 2:10
How Good is Good Enough?

I want to start today by asking you a couple of questions. First one is:
How many holes does it take to sink a boat? Usually one. That's all it
took for the Titanic. Did you know that the disaster of the Titanic was
due to one hole in the hull of the ship. This was a ship the size of 3
football fields and the hole was the size of a refrigerator. That
doesn't sound like a very big hole for such a large ship, does it? But
it was large enough to sink the un-sinkable Titanic. How many strikeouts
does it take to ruin a perfect batting average? Just one. How many bad
apples does it take to spoil a barrel? One. This is kind of an old
saying. I've never actually seen an apple barrel, but I've been called a
"bad apple" a couple of times. How many speeding ticket does it take to
ruin a perfect driving record? Just one. How many bad Sunday morning
sermons does it take before everyone thinks, "Isn't it about time for
the preacher to go on a study break?" Maybe one. But it's not this one.
I bring all of this up because today in our study on the book of James,
the Bible is asking a similar question. "How many of God's laws must you
break for you to be considered a sinner?" The answer? Just one. That's
all it takes.
1. Our Struggle
Look again at James 2:10... (v. 10) For whoever keeps the whole law and
yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
James makes reference to a couple of the Ten Commandments, as if to ask,
"How many of the Ten Commandments must you break before you will admit
that you are a breaker of God's Commandments? Just one." If you break
number 1, 3, 5 or 7 or 2, 4, 6 or 8; or any assortment of the 10 --
whatever ones you violate put you squarely in the category of those who
could not manage to keep the Ten Commandments.
A. Sins of Commission
When I first became a Christian, it seemed as if I heard a lot of input,
from church, friends, books, etc., that the number one goal for a
Christian is to not commit sin, to refrain from evil and wrongdoing. I
was told to avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing. I got the
impression that the main thing to being a Christian was to be good. What
I really needed to know was, what exactly constituted sin, so I could
stay away from it.
I was told I should obey the "Thou Shalt Nots" in the Bible. If it said
thou shalt not, and you did it, you were in big trouble. It was a sin,
and that was that.
Then I was told there was another list, the "Probably Shouldn'ts. These
were not as defined as the the shalt nots, but you were in grave danger
of sinning if you did the probably shouldn'ts. These included dancing
and movies. (Maybe Bambi was okay, but anything else was considered too
racy. Suppose you were at the movies when, what? When Christ returns!?
So there!) Other thou probably shouldn'ts included ...
. patronizing restaurants that serve alcohol
. mowing your lawn on Sunday
. long hair (for men)
. skirts too short (for women)
. going to the prom
. swimming in mixed company and on and on
Now that I'm older and know more about the Bible -- I'm not so sure that
the main objective of a believer is simply not to sin. The Bible says...
Anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. (James
4:17)
B. Sins of Omisssion The Ten Commandments fall under the category of sin
known as "Sins of commission -- wrong deeds what we commit." The verse
in James 4:17 is also telling us that there are "Sins of omission --
things we should do, but don't."
The Bible teaches us to pray. If we don't pray, that is a sin. We're
told to obey the law of love. If we fail to act in a loving manner, that
is a sin.
Jesus clearly instructs his followers to go out and share their faith
with those who do not know God. If we don't, that is a sin. Believers
are told to serve in God's church, to give financially to God's cause,
to worship God, to live in community with other Christians. If we
neglect to do these things, we are committing the sins of omission.
What I'm driving at is this: If the primary goal of being a
Christ-follower is to not sin, I would say that none of us is doing a
very good job of it! If we get rated on not sinning, none of us will
make it! No matter how good we get at not sinning, we'll never be able
to do it good enough. Remember, how many sins does it take to become a
sinner? Just one.
So on one side you have us -- the sinners. Yes, all of us. We've all
broken God's laws. Some of us may be pint-sized breakers, and some may
be gargantuan-breakers, it doesn't matter, we are all sinners.
On the other side you have God -- who is totally pure. He is without
sin. And when we sin it grieves God.
For a moment, imagine yourself as a famous classical musician with
perfect pitch. For years you've associated with only the best musicians
and singers -- then suppose you go to a concert with beginner musicians,
all beginners, and it's a two-hour concert! For someone of such
refinement, it would be torture.
There is also a side effect to sin that has no remedy. Sin will be
punished. And it's sort of a self-inflicted thing. There are no set
rules on sin and punishment other than it causes its own punishment in
the form of consequences.
The moral fabric of our country is based on this concept. If you commit
a crime there is punishment for that crime. Without punishment for crime
we would have no justice in our society and our world would be chaos
(look at countries with little or no respect for the law).
2. Our Solution
God is the "Spiritual Judge", and if someone commits a sin, there is a
payment for that sin. Without it there is no justice. People shouldn't
commit crimes and get away with it, and people can't commit sins and get
away with them.
But there is a big difference between society's justice and God's
justice. The thing that makes Christianity so remarkable is, that no
matter what you have done, how awful your past, or what sins you have
committed, there is someone who has taken on the responsibility for the
consequences of your sin. His name is Jesus Christ. As a result of his
death on the cross, the case against sinners has been dismissed. We are
liberated.
How can this be? It is so, because God made the decision to interject
mercy into the spiritual judicial system. God is merciful. He let's the
guilty, you and me, go scot-free. That's why James says...
Mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:13)
A. The level of Rules
How different from the law of the land. Here, if you commit a crime, you
pay. And that's justice. If you're found guilty, then you get what's
coming to you. That's how our criminal justice system works.
1. School/parental rules - Looking back on my childhood, I wouldn't say
that I grew up in an overly strict home, but there were several hard and
fast rules. The schools I attended had lots of rules.
2. Society's rules - The city police had their laws and rules. I bore
the punishment for my wrongdoings.
3. Sovereign's rules - When I became a Christian I was concerned about
the stakes for breaking God's rules. You know, breaking a parental rule
or a school rule is one thing, that's sort of "level one". Breaking the
law would be at "level two". But breaking God's law, now that's serious
business, and I put that at "level ten". God's law says, "The wages of
sin is death."
In a similar way, sin drives a holy God crazy! To him it's like
fingernails scrapping on a chalkboard!
I knew I was a sinner because I didn't do what God wanted me to do. And
for the most part, I didn't care. But the thought of suffering eternal
consequences for my sins definitely got my attention. What could be
worse than to be in a place like hell, forever and ever and ever? That
was when I realized the truth in what we are talking about today. God,
by an incredible act of love, injected mercy into the spiritual judicial
system. This verse from the Bible captures this incredible phenomenon.
Illust. Some time ago a poor woman from London was given a vacation at
the ocean by some people. She had never seen the ocean before and when
she was it, she burst into tears. Those around here thought it was
strange that she should cry when such a a lovely holiday had been given
her. "Why in the world are you crying?" they asked. Pointing to the
ocean she answered, "This is the only thing I have ever seen that there
was enough of." God has oceans of mercy. There is enough of it and God
delights to show his mercy and compassion (Micah 7:19)
He saves us, not because of the good things we have done, but because of
his mercy. (Titus 3:5)
Now that was a "spiritual paradigm shifter" for me. I didn't have to
spend all my time in a frenzied attempt to make up for all of God's laws
that I had broken. I didn't have to lose sleep at night wondering
whether or not I've done enough good to offset the bad in my life. I
didn't have to develop ulcers worrying about landing in hell.
Why, because I was a good guy? No, I knew I was a sinner. It was because
of God's mercy. The Bible says that if I acknowledge my sinfulness
before a holy and pure God and if I accept the payment Jesus made on my
behalf, I could be set free from the penalty of my sin! My address would
change from hell to heaven, forever!
What's not to like about that? Man, there's nothing like mercy! The day
I really understood it, I threw my heart to God! And why wouldn't I? I
hope many of you today now understand what salvation is all about. If
you are willing to admit you're a sinner, and you have broken God's
laws; and you know that there is a price for injustice; and that when it
comes time for the price to be paid, you have two options ...
. You can make your own payment for your moral violations. (sin)
. Or, you can get on the mercy plan, and accept the payment Jesus Christ
made on your behalf.
I urge you today to accept the mercy plan. Why not right now? Look at
(Titus 3:5) one more time. "He saves us, not on the basis of us being
good enough, because we're all sinners, but because of this great heart
of mercy and love."
Eventually there comes a time when you've heard enough, you understand
this core issue ... none of us is good enough. We are all sinners. Our
eternal salvation depends on us humbling ourselves and getting on God's
mercy plan. You can do that today and get this issue settled once and
for all. If you know in your heart this is what you need to do, I want
to give you the opportunity to get it done, as we stand for our closing
prayer.