A little girl who was trying to excuse a sinful act she had committed said, "I haven't broken the commandment, I've only cracked it." How often have we, like this little girl crack, bent, or twisted the law? We may rationalize our behavior thinking that in our own particular situation it is okay. We may suggest that what we have done was told a "little white lie."

I. The World takes some sin lightly.

It is part of our fallen human nature to gloss over sin in our effort to excuse sinful behavior, to fail to admit that certain conduct and speech is wrong, or saying that the sin of others is worse than ours.

In the second chapter of James we find that the author has been dealing with the sin of favoritism, paying special attention to someone because he or she is rich, influential, powerful, or popular. That is catering to a person, not motivated by love, but for personal gain. In verse nine we read, 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. I will admit that from a worldly perspective, few persons would consider showing partiality as sinful, but James clearly does.

Many Jews regarded the law as a series of separate laws. Along with this to keep one law was to gain credit and to break one was to incur a debt. So a person could add up the laws he kept and subtract the ones he broke and end up with a credit or debit balance. However, in doing this they did not figure all of the law were of equal importance. For example there was a Rabbinic saying, "The Sabbath weighs against all precepts." That is they thought that keeping the Sabbath was much more important than some of the other laws. In effect, if they broke some others laws, but kept the Sabbath, they could still have a credit balance.

Don't you think that many people try to do a similar today. They sort of try to keep Brownie points with God. Perhaps even some of us here have tried this approach to our good and bad conduct. Brothers and sister, even though our behavior may sometimes deny it, don't we know that it really doesn't work this way. This is the way of the world. The world takes sin lightly.

What does God's Word have to say?

II. The Word takes all sin seriously.

According to the Word of God, to break one part of the law is to break the whole law. The law is united as a whole. Read verses nine and ten. My understanding of James's writing here is that the whole law is to do the will of God. To break a part of it is to infringe on the will of God and therefore be guilty of sin. To break any part is to become a law breaker.

A person may be a morally good person in nearly all respects, but may spoil it all by one fault. We might compare this to a chain. With one broken link, the chain is broken, even if hundreds of links are intact. When we understand this utter failure for us as human beings to obey the law in its entirety we see how necessary it is for our salvation to depend, not on our righteousness, but on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

In the Word of God all sin is taken seriously, from bending the law, a little white lie, to greed, adultery and murder. Since our God is a just God who takes all sin seriously, the penalty must be paid. He sent Jesus to pay the death penalty for our sin. Jesus is the Savior of all who truly repent of their sins and follow Him. This is God's mercy that triumphs over judgment that James mentioned in verse 13.

These verses of God's Word should make it very clear that we have absolutely no right to pick and choose which laws we obey. Read verse eleven. It does no good to try to excuse our failure in observing part of the law by pointing out how well we observe other parts. Calvin wrote, "God will not be honored by exceptions." It is not right for us to subtract the laws we do not like.

James wrote of our showing obedience to the royal law in speech and action. We might also think back to verse 25 of the previous chapter as James wrote of the "Law of liberty." He is thinking of those who have freely and voluntarily chosen to submit their lives to the authority of Jesus Christ. By this union with Christ a new liberating power is at work within us, enabling us to be obedient to the royal law. This is the law of love that sets us free and enables us to reign like kings with Christ. In this liberty we find fulfillment to be heirs of the kingdom of God.

Conclusion:

The next time you notice that you have fallen into a sin and are tempted to say like the child, "I haven't broken the commandment, I've only cracked it." Remember that even though the World takes sin lightly, the Word of God takes all sin seriously and so should we.

When we blow it and break God's law, don't try to excuse it. Instead, confess your sin to God. That means calling sin what God calls it. And He calls sin just what it is; sin. Then be grateful that our God freely gives mercy and grace to those who sincerely ask for it.

Return