backfired. People became upset and many rebelled. Now there’s nothing wrong with driving a Lincoln Con^ tinental. It must be a lovely car, al though I can’t remember ever having ridden in one, much less owning one. We realize that this is an automo bile generally associated with wealth and affluence. When God’s people sacrifice to invest in the Lord’s work, they don’t expect their money to be spent unwisely on things which they themselves can’t afford. James tells us in this first verse, “My brethren, have not the faith of YOU CAN’T FOOL GOD You can fool the hapless public, You can be a subtle fraud, You can hide your little meanness. But you can’t fool God! You can advertise your virtues, You can self-achievement laud, You can load yourself with riches. But you can’t fool God! You can criticize the Bible, You can be a selfish clod, You can lie, swear, drink, and gamble, But you can’t fool God! You can magnify your talent, You can hear the world applaud You can boast yourself to be some body, But you can’t fool God! our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” In our everyday life, in attendance at church, we recognize that there are some people who dress elegantly. They have money and social promi nence because of their success. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that. There are others, however, who may dress like the proverbial “little old lady in tennis shoes.” Per sonally, I abhor such a definition, which I think is most unfair. Yet we all probably understand w hat it means. Looking at those who, hu- 15
have a tendency to look at and con demn the sins of others. We know all about their faults and problems, while at the same time we’re so prone to overlook our own. It’s a sad but tragic fact. James is “the Epistle of right liv ing.” He underscores the fact that not only what a man believes is im portant but also that how he behaves is equally important. Notice how this first verse of chapter two begins, “My brethren.” You can mark it down that whenever any problems which arise, whenever any difficul ties need to be corrected and brought to the attention of his hearers (and certainly we all fall into that cate gory) this is the way he starts, “My brethren.” It is a term of deep af fection and meaning. As a matter of fact, this is the fourth time he uses this phrase, among the 17 times which it eventually appears in these five chapters. . Someone might observe, “Well, everybody shows preference to one person or another.” The truth of the matter is that whether it is this sin or some other spoken of in Scripture, it is still transgression of the law of God. Keep in mind that wrong is wrong, and sin is sin, even if every body does it. Why do some people try to impress others? We here at Biola are far from perfect, I know that, but as our stewardship representatives go out and contact the public, we under score with them the fact that often it is those who have so little who do so much for the Lord’s work. Not too long ago, an individual who had been employed by a Christian organi zation had to give up his job. He said that the financial situation was too discouraging and pressured for him. He had been instructed by the leader of the organization to drive a Lincoln Continental, so as to im press those wealthy businessmen on whom he would call. The idea was to show success. Evidently, the idea
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