Playing Favorites (James 2:1-4) Series

Command: No Favoritism

One of the most unsettling things that can happen when I read the Bible is when I discover that something is especially important to God, and it is not really a big deal in my thinking. For whatever reason, there are certain sins that we are all very aware of, and there are others that are barely on our radar. They matter a lot to God but they don’t matter very much to us. One sin you just don’t hear much about most of the time is the sin that James devotes the whole first half of chapter 2 warning us about: favoritism.

Favoritism

James 2:1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.

The word translated favoritism literally means to accept the face. It is when you make a judgment about a person based on their face - the things you can see about them just by looking at them. It is when you decide how you are going to treat someone based on superficial factors - like wealth or physical attractiveness - instead of factors that really matter. Favoritism is when you treat someone a favor (or have a favorable attitude toward someone) on the basis of something that should not be the basis.

In all the years we have been doing the prayer groups I have heard a lot of sins confessed, and all kinds of different prayer requests, but I don’t think I have ever heard somebody ask for prayer to overcome the sin of favoritism. You don’t hear a lot of sermons on this topic, I don’t know of any books on the subject, nobody ever comes for counseling to overcome their favoritism - it just is not an issue that most people see as a very big deal. And yet it is a big deal to God. There are at least seven different places in the Bible where the writer gives an explicit statement that God does not show favoritism. God really wants us to know that about Him.

And that really became clear when God put on human flesh and dwelt among us. In Mark 12, some Pharisees and Herodians came to Him and said this:

Mark 12:14 Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

Even Jesus’ enemies had to admit that He never showed favoritism. God doesn’t show favoritism, and He commands us to follow His example.

Leviticus 19:15 Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.

And if this is a topic that just doesn’t really matter that much in your heart, listen to how much it mattered to Paul:

1 Timothy 5:21 I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

Favoritism is a big deal. And so is discrimination.

Discrimination

It is a double-sided sin. The other side of the coin of favoritism is always discrimination.

James 2:4 have you not discriminated among yourselves…

When you show someone favor because of superficial things, that is favoritism. When you show someone disfavor because of superficial things, that is called discrimination. Favoritism is like a judge taking a bribe. Every time a judge takes a bribe, there are two injustices. One is that the rich person gets special treatment that he shouldn’t be getting. And the second is that the poor person is denied justice.

So that gives you the basic definition, and then in verse 2 James gives us an example.

Example: Favoring the Rich in Church

2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes

In that culture, that was a display of unusual wealth. The average person did not wear gold rings. This would be like if a visitor coming into our church wearing a Rolex. Or he rolls up in a Bentley. He’s wearing $5000 suit.

2 …and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

There are different words for poor; this one is the most extreme. It is the word for beggars – people who were so destitute that they depended on others for survival. Picture a homeless person walking in to church. The word translated shabby is actually the word filthy. It is the same word translated moral filth in chapter 1. A homeless beggar who is filthy and smelly walks in right behind the guy with the $5000 suit and Rolex.

3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?