Playing Favorites Series

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

› Engagement

Most of you have probably heard this adage before - or at least something very close to it:

You Can Easily Judge the Character of a Man by How He Treats Those Who Can Do Nothing for Him

The quote has been attributed to a number of people, including Ann Landers, Abigail van Buren, Charles Spurgeon, and Malcom Forbes, but no one really knows for sure where it originated. But it is certainly a pretty good summary of the passage we’re going to look at this morning.

› Tension

If I were to be able to spend a day with any of you without you knowing I was there, I think I would be able to determine pretty quickly how well you live by the principles we’re going to study today by observing how differently you treat those who can do something for you compared to how you treat those who can’t:

• If you went to the doctor’s office, I’d look to see if you treated the receptionist and the lab technician and the medical assistant with the same respect you showed to the doctor.

• If you went to a restaurant, I’d watch how you treated the server and the busser and see how that compared to the way you responded to the chef when he came through the dining room.

• If you went to the grocery store, I’d see how you treated the cashier who was dealing with long checkout lines.

• If you went to the bank to apply for a loan, I’d watch to see how you treated the teller compared to the way you treated the loan officer who was going to make the decision about your loan.

• If you went to Jim Click to get your car serviced, I’d want to see how you treated the service manager or the mechanic and see how that compared to the way you responded to Jim Click when he wandered through the waiting room.

• And if I accompanied you to church, I’d watch to see how you treated those who are different than you - those who are older or younger than you, those who are of a different race, those who dress differently than you, or who have tattoos or piercings that you don’t approve of, those who drive a more expensive, or less expensive, car than you drive.

That last example is the one James is going to address specifically in the passage we’ll study today.

› Truth

So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to James chapter 2. This is the fourth message in our current series - Faith Works. So far, James has addressed how to handle trials, how to triumph over our temptations and shown us why good intentions alone are not enough. In each of those sections, James has given us one primary command and then provided a lot of practical guidance on how to apply that command. He uses that same structure in today’s passage and we’re going to see that main command right off the bat.

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.