Do You Show Partiality?

Last Sunday was recognized on the SBC calendar as Racial Reconciliation Sunday, and so I want to share something applicable today. I’ve entitled our message, “Do You Show Partiality?” and this is actually a question for each of us here today. According to Noah Webster, in the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, partiality is the “inclination to favor one party or one side . . . more than the other,” and it is “an undue bias of mind toward one party or side, which is apt to warp the judgement.” Webster continues to say, “Partiality springs from the will and affections, rather than from a love of truth and justice.”(1) The definition of partiality sounds like that of discrimination; and, this morning we are going to view four different kinds of discrimination.

Class Discrimination (James 2:1-4)

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

James sets us up for an understanding of partiality, as he uses the word “partiality” two times here. The first kind discrimination that we will examine this morning is class discrimination, as in social and economic classes. This passage tells us that two individuals attended a Christian assembly or church. One man was rich and the other was poor. The rich man had on gold rings and fine apparel, and the poor man was dressed in filthy clothes. So, we see here two different classes of people – the rich and the poor.

The Holman New Testament Commentary says that “the word describing the ring of the rich man indicated that he was ‘gold-fingered’ . . . The word ‘fine’ was used to describe the rich man’s clothing, and means ‘sparkling’ or ‘glittering’ . . . The word ‘filthy’ was used to describe the poor man’s clothing, and pictured clothing which was dirty or shabby. The man may have come from work, his clothing stained with the evidence of his labor. The handsome apparel on the rich man earned special treatment for him. The greeter gave him a place of special honor. The soiled clothing of the poor man earned indifference to his comfort or feelings. He received the options of standing in some undesirable place or sitting on the floor near the greeter.”(2)

It’s easy for us to see something wrong with this picture – that the treatment of this poorly dressed man is unfair. James said in verse 1, “Do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.” James called Jesus Christ “the Lord of glory.” I think that James was saying that Jesus is too glorious to keep away from others. His glory is so awesome that it is to be shared with everyone, not just one particular class of people. And then, down in verse 4, James stated, “Have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” He basically said, “Who made you the judge of other people?”

In Matthew 7:1, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” In John 7:24, He stated, “Do not judge according to appearance,” and in John 8:15, Jesus said, “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” In John 12:47, He stated, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.” So I want to ask, “If Jesus did not come to judge, then why do we feel that we have the right to judge people?” We don’t have that right; and as James said, whenever we discriminate against someone our mind is full of evil thoughts.

So, let me ask you: How do we usually react when someone comes into the church that looks like he hasn’t shaved or cut his hair in two years? What would we do if a rough and tough looking biker walked into this sanctuary at this very moment? I want to read a short story for you from a newsletter entitled Our America:

Dodie Gadient, a schoolteacher for thirteen years, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, “Please God, send me an angel . . . preferably one with mechanical experience.”