Favoritism Series

Series: Jesus’ Half Brother- James [#4]

FAVORITISM

James 2:1-13

Introduction:

What does a Christian look like? You don’t know what’s inside a person by what they look like. Many people make their decision about a person based upon their appearance, or their color of skin, or their age, or their affluence. Beauty is everything in our world. If you’re cute, you’ve got it made. If you’re plain, tough.

James 1:9-11

Many people make their decision about a person based upon the situation. James gives us a picture of what favoritism looks like in a Church.

James 2:1-4

Favoritism is inconsistent with…

1. God’s character.

If you want to be like Jesus, you can’t play favorites. God loves everybody. If there is 1 place in the world where there shouldn’t be any kind of discrimination, it should be the Church. There is discrimination everywhere in the World; but there ought to be 1 place no matter who you are or what your background is that you’re welcome.

James 2:5

Favoritism is inconsistent with…

2. God’s methods.

Favoritism is unreasonable. It doesn’t make sense. James says that God has chosen the poor. He’s not saying that it’s good to be poor and bad to be rich. He’s not saying that only the poor will be saved. Everybody in this room is rich compared to the majority of the world; but it doesn’t make a bit of difference to God. Aren’t you glad God doesn’t check your wallet before He saves you? Aren’t you glad your salvation isn’t based on your savings account?

James 2:6-7

Favoritism is inconsistent with…

3. People’s actions.

James was writing during a time when the poor would be charged excessive interest for even the basic necessities of life. It was the upper class that were persecuting the Christians. James says, “Why are you worried about impressing them. They’re certainly not worried about impressing you”.

These same people that they were trying to impress were making fun of their faith in Jesus Christ; but they let it slide. Why would they do that? Because favoritism ignores the sin in order to benefit from it either on a material level or just to be socially acceptable.

James 2:8-11

Favoritism is inconsistent with…

4. Scripture.

James repeats God’s standard from Scripture; “Love your neighbor as yourself.” How I relate to you proves how much I love God. Few of us know how to love unconditionally. In verse 9, James says that it’s not the type of sin that designates a sinner. It’s going against any commandment of God. How many laws do you have to break to be a lawbreaker- 1. How many crimes do you have to commit to become a criminal- 1.

James ends this section by telling us how to see the true person and avoid this trap of judging a book by its cover.

James 2:12-13

* Let the Bible be your standard.

* Let love be your law.

* Let mercy be your message.

Conclusion:

How do we have a church that is growing- A Church that people want to come back to? We are a Church that loves people. It’s love that reaches people. You don’t argue people into Heaven. You love them into Heaven.

How do you love them into Heaven?

* Accept people.

* Appreciate people.

* Affirm people.

Let me ask you a tough question. “Would people come back to this Church because of you?” Together we need to make a commitment that this Church will receive people unconditionally. We don’t expect people to act like believers until they are believers. I want our Church to have a reputation for love.