My Favorite Church Member Series

It took a long time for the old man to reach the boy. The church was utterly silent except for the clicking of his cane. You couldn’t even hear anyone breathing. All eyes were on the deacon.

But what they saw next was a greater surprise than seeing Bill come down the aisle. As they watched they saw the elderly man drop his cane on the floor. Then, with great difficulty, he sat down on the floor next to Bill and worshipped with him. Everyone in the congregation choked up with emotion.

When the minister finally regained his composure, he told the people, "What I am about to preach, you will never remember, but what you’ve just seen, you will never forget."

James 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

James is talking here to the church, all of us who have accepted Jesus as Lord. We give glory to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. But though we may all be saved, we are not all on the same level both spiritually, mentally and physically. We are all different. We worship differently and we often see things differently. But regardless of all of those differences, we are all alike in the eyes of God. To God, though we may be different, he treats us all the same. And that’s the way we are supposed to treat one another.

When you think of how our nation was founded and our Declaration of Independence, a nation was born on the idea of complete equality. This is what it says; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Yes, we are all created equal in the sight of God. At least that’s the idea. But is that true in America? Is there equal rights for all men? The idea is right but the reality is that there is no true equality in our court system, or in any other part of our society. We have lost the meaning of equality in our land.

In the eyes of God we are all equal but in the eyes of man there is no equality at all. In God’s eyes, wealth, popularity and power mean nothing at all, but wealth, popularity and power create vast divisions within our society and favoritism rules in the hearts of men.

James 2:2-4,”For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”

James is referring to the meeting place where we all come together to worship. In some ways he is also referring to the courts of the Jews where every man was supposed to have an equal representation under the Jewish Law. No one was to have an advantage, or a disadvantage, when they appeared before the judge.

Under Roman occupation, when someone had a gold ring on his finger, it was a symbol of dignity and wealth above the common man. Roman Senators and high ranking military or government officials were the only ones allowed to wear a golden ring. This was sign of their office and gave them great privilege as they traveled throughout the land. A golden ring meant that someone of rank had arrived so give him special treatment.