Catering to the Rich & Influential
James 2:1-13
6-1-08
Intro
Have you ever been in a church that catered to the rich? There was a mega church back west where a pastor was leading a corporate prayer meeting. His prayer went something like this, “Lord, send us successful people. Send us the doctors, and lawyers, and CEO’s. Send us movers and shakers who bring strength to your work here. Cause our church to grow in numbers and in financial strength. We ask it in Jesus name.” Anybody see a potential problem in that prayer? It’s not my place to judge the pastor or the work that is going on there. Interestingly, that church did grow and attract a lot of upper middle class people. The attendance was about 1,500 when that prayer was offered and the church runs about 10,000 today. But the prayer raises some concerns in me. It may reflect some wrong thinking. It sounds more like the thinking of the world than the mind of Christ. I’m cautious about following that example because it sounds too much like something James talks about in our text.
Look with me at our text in James 2:1-13.
“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?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
I. James IDENTIFIES a Problem.
James is addressing a problem that existed in the early church. It is a problem in the church today—partiality—treating one person different from another because of the money and influence they have. James illustrates the point with a hypothetical story. Two people visit the church. One is wearing an expensive suit. The ring on his finger obviously cost a lot of money. He is well-known in the community. The pastor rushes over to greet him and make sure he feels welcome. The usher walks the man to a nice comfortable place to sit and let’s him know just how glad we are that he came this morning. None of that is bad in and of itself. But the motive gets revealed by the way they treat the next visitor. He’s a beggar with no social standing. He doesn’t even have a job. His cloths are not just worn and dingy; they are down right stinky. The guy obviously hasn’t shaved in a week. On the surface he has nothing to offer the church but a whole lot of need. He doesn’t get greeted by the pastor. The usher ignores him at first. But then he leads the guy to worst seat in the house. James says he tells the guy to “stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool." They don’t care if the guy comes back or not.
I think we all get a pretty good picture of what’s going on. But why is this happening? James says in verse 4, “have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? The Living Bible says “shows that you are guided by wrong motives.” What is the motive behind this show of partiality? Pure selfishness. Why are we tempted to kiss up to influential people? We think they can do something for us. Maybe this wealthy guy will join the church and start putting in a lot of money. Maybe that will lift some of the financial pressures we’re dealing with.
Nobody needs to take this message to heart more than we pastors. We are in a place where our livelihood depends upon the prosperity of the church. Everybody wants the church to prosper. But pastors especially feel that pressure. So they have to especially guard themselves against this temptation. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Wealthy people usually keep their wealth. It’s the faithful rank and file of the church that carries the load. I’ve pastored churches with well-off people in them. They were a blessing when they were there. When they left nothing changed. I had two millionaires leave our church in a matter of a couple of months and the finances of the church stayed almost the same. They had been giving—not sacrificially; but they gave. But when they left God brought in others who took up the slack. The work of God will continue if we trust Him to take care of it.
In contrast, the poor man coming in looks like he is going to be a drain on the church. What does he have to offer? We may find that he has a lot to offer. One day Jesus watched as the crowd put their offering into the temple treasury. There were rich people dropping in large amounts of money. But then a poor widow put in two small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Jesus wasn’t embarrassed to talk about money. He called his disciples over and said to them, “...this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on” Mark 12:41-44 (NIV). Maybe this poor visitor in James 2 would be like her—maybe he is more of a giver than he appears to be. Maybe his very presence in the church would bring a smile from God and favor on the congregation.
It’s been my experience that God will send both wealthy and poor people into a church to test our hearts. Both are a test as to how we will respond to them. Both have needs. Both should be treated with respect and love. The central issue is this: Are we concerned about their well-being or are we just seeing them for what we can get out of them. The fundamental issue is selfishness. Most churches talk a good talk about love and serving. Most don’t walk the talk. A lot of churches we deal with in our consulting firm think they have hired the pastor to do all their serving. They want their church to be a loving, serving church; they just don’t want to do any of it. It’s a revolutionary day in a Christian’s life when his fundamental orientation changes from getting to giving. There are two ways to read our text. One is to focus on our own needs and wonder why the church doesn’t give me more and wonder why the church isn’t more loving toward me. The other way to read the text is this. I am the church. If not me, then who? “God, am I fulfilling my responsibility to be loving and caring toward other people.” When we read the text that way, it can feel a little uncomfortable. For who of us is as loving and caring as we should be. But when we read it that way; we’re reading it right. If all you can think of when you read James 2 is “why don’t people do more for me”—you’re missing the point entirely. The root problem behind showing partiality is selfishness.
Now before I move on too quickly I want to apply James’ teaching to other arenas of our lives. Certainly the setting in our text is a church service. But the mindset James is talking about should permeate our whole lives. The other day I was in a business setting where there were several people who could use my help. But there were also people there who could help me advance my business. Guess which group I was trying to talk to? It’s not that I was rude or disrespectful to the other group. But my focus was building rapport with the influential group. I felt convicted about that as I prepared this message.
The world tells us, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” The only way that’s right is if you understand the who to be God. If God is for you—the rest will be taken care of. You don’t have to kiss up to the boss. You don’t have to cater to influential people. Yes, we should be respectful to those in authority. We need to be considerate toward everybody. I’m not talking about a license to be obnoxious. But the ulterior motives behind flattery and all this behavior James is talking about should not be motivating us—especially in the church—but in other areas of our lives as well. If we trust God to give us favor where we need it and to take care of us, the need to show partiality to wealthy and influential people goes away.
It is God’s unchangeable nature to be impartial. A person’s education, looks, job position, economic status, social connections, none of that matters to God. God shows no respect of persons for these superficial things and neither should we. There are several passages in the Bible that tell us that God is not partial. He is no respector of persons. Let me give you a couple of passages that verify that. Deut 10:17-19 “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” 1 Peter 1:17 “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.”
II. James REASONS with these Christians about the Problem.
Look at how James reasons with these Christians in next few verses. In verse 5 he shows how inconsistent their behavior is with kingdom reality. “Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith. Most of you are not rich. Most Christians are not powerful, influential people in this world. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:26 “...not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” That doesn’t mean there are none. Paul himself was wise according to the flesh. Barnabas had been a wealthy man. Lydia had money. There were women of wealth that gave to Jesus’ ministry. But James is calling attention to the fact that the vast majority of Christians are poor, common people. So to treat them with disrespect makes no sense.
James confronts them about the way they have dishonored the poor man. Its right to give honor to whom honor is due. Peter tells us to “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17). In the next verse he tells servants to be respectful toward their masters. If President Bush visited our church we wouldn’t just ignore the fact that he’s the president of the United States. James is addressing motive. It’s one thing to give due respect to someone; it’s another to cater to them in hopes of personal advantage.
But it’s never right to be dishonoring to anybody. “Honor all people” Peter tells us. Don’t do it as a form of manipulation but simply respect the dignity of every human being. James is specifically talking about partiality and favoritism shown because of the wealth and influence a person appears to have. But there is plenty of scripture to condemn partiality because of race, or gender, or a whole lot of other things. Jesus confronted the prejudice Jews had toward Samaritans and visa versa. He confronted the disrespect and unfair treatment of women. Judging people based upon superficial appearances and stereotypes is a sin that has brought hurt to a lot of people. We are to receive people graciously no matter how different they are from us. So in verse 5 James addresses the way they are dishonoring the poor.
Then he reminds them how the rich are usually the ones oppressing them, dragging them into the courts, taking advantage of them. In verse 7 he even says they are often the class of people who blaspheme the noble name of Christ—by which you are called. In other words, it’s quite strange that you would cater to the very class of people who give you so much trouble. Not every rich person did those things. But in general the wealthy, powerful people are the ones that can bully the poor around and take advantage of them. So this is both strange and inconsistent that you would be catering to the rich and despising the poor. “Most of you are poor,” James seems to be saying, “so why would you mistreat poor people.
But their behavior is not just illogical. It is sinful.
III. James Points Out the SERIOUSNESS of the Problem in verses 8-13.
Verse 9 “but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” It is these kinds of sins that rob the church of God’s favor and power. They are sins that we dismiss as no big deal. Whoever got thrown out of a church for showing partiality? Partiality is like the sin of covetousness in the church. It is often ignored. In fact, covetous people are often given powerful positions in the church. From the way James is talking, I don’t think these Christians understood the seriousness of the sin of partiality. But James has a way of waking them up to that.
First in verse 10 he reminds them of the holistic nature of the law. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” Obedience is complete or its not obedience. If the boss tells me to change the lock on the front door, replace the back bedroom window, and paint the garage, I can’t just do the best two out of three and please him. I am expected to do it all. I can’t dismiss the sin of partiality as no big deal. It’s a big deal because it’s inconsistent with God’s nature. It’s a big deal because I am transgressing a point of the law which makes me guilty of it all.
As a side note, this truth should inform our theology about losing our salvation. How much sin does it take to lose your salvation? How big of a sin does it take to lose your salvation? I’m not going to answer that question this morning. But whatever answer we come up with cannot ignore what James has told us in verse 10 here. Early in my Christian experience I was taught that if I committed a sin I would lose my salvation. I finally figured out that if that were the case, I was losing it pretty often. There is more involved than committing a sin.
But James wants these people to see the seriousness of partiality as a sin. So in verse 11 he illustrates his point in verse 10 using two sins that most would recognize as serious, adultery and murder. According to the law both those sins carried the death penalty. He says if you commit murder but don’t commit adultery, you can’t use your innocence with adultery to justify the murder. If you murder (whether you’re an adulterer or not) you are guilty and subject to judgment. So they need to keep that in mind.
And in verse 12 he tells them they should live as people who know they will one day stand before God’s judgment. That’s a good word for most of us Christians in America. We have almost lost sight of the fact that we will one day stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and give account of the deeds done in this body. It will matter the choices we made as Christians. It will matter whether the faith we professed actually proved to be the real thing. It will matter how we treated people. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.” That’s what James is talking about in verse 13. If you want mercy on Judgment Day then show some mercy to people now. Don’t dishonor and mistreat poor people. Be merciful to needy people. Do what you can to help them. On that Judgment Day it’s not going to be a matter of what the institution did—what the church organization as a whole did. You’re going to give account for what you did. I’m going to give account for what I did. James is about to go into that much more in the second half of this chapter. But Christians, there is a Judgment Seat of Christ. Christianity is not just, I got a free pass called salvation—a ticket I will give St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. Christianity is about a relationship with God and with people that is pleasing to God.
IV. James Identifies the Cure for the Problem.
What is the perfect cure for the partiality James is talking about? It is the law of liberty given in verse 8 “If you really fulfill the royal law (that’s talking about the law given by King Jesus) according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.” Remember when Jesus stated that rule of the kingdom. He was quoting from the last part Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Just prior to that Lev 19:15 says, “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.” Love is the rule of the kingdom. Love God and love your neighbor. That’s the overarching principle that holds all the commandments together. That’s the command they were transgressing. Dishonoring the poor is not love. Treat people the way you want to be treated. We all want to be treated with respect. It hurts to be ignored or demeaned. That should not be happening in the church. Christians should not do that wherever they are.
Before I close I want to briefly put this chapter in the context of Scripture as a whole. James is addressing a partiality that judges by external appearances and is selfishly motivated. God is no respector of persons in that regard. However, there are things God does respect. And these are things we can respect as well.
One is CHARACTER. God does respect a heart that is toward Him and submitted to Him. In 1 Samuel 16 God sent Samuel to anoint the next king. God selected a person out of all Israel to lead that nation. Samuel had difficulty finding the next king because Samuel was looking at the outward appearance of people in his judgments. In 1 Sam 16:7 God corrects him. “But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." God saw something in the character of David, something in the depths of David’s heart that pleased Him. So God called him into a place of leadership and service.
Secondly, COMMITMENT. There are many examples we could pull from Scripture. God was pleased with the commitment He saw in Mary, the mother of Jesus. He was pleased with the commitment He saw in Barnabas and in Paul. The angel of the Lord said to Daniel, “You are greatly beloved....” How many others in his generation were told that? Not many, if any others. Daniel wasn’t poor. He was affluent and influential. This opportunity to serve God is for whosoever will: rich or poor. The poor usually feel their need for God and more respond than the rich and powerful. But all are invited. When I think of commitment I think of Phinehas in Numbers 25. God’s judgment in the form of a plague had fallen on Israel because of their unfaithfulness to Him. Phinehas had responded in a way that pleased God. Listen to what God says about his commitment, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 11 "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. 12 Therefore say, ’Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’"
Another thing God respects is CALLING—the calling He places on a life. And whatever that is He equips us to do it. So we respect the gifting God has given someone for a particular task. Who did God have build the tabernacle in Ex 36? Those gifted by God to do that kind of work. The skill and wisdom God gave them matched the assignment. Rom 12:6-8 “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
James is not setting up a Communist community where everybody has exactly the same assignment. There are many members but one body. He is addressing a heart problem—a response to external appearances that is selfishly motivated. He is pointing those people to the royal law given by the King of Kings—“love your neighbor as yourself.”
Conclusion
As we come to the Table of the Lord this morning we want to confirm that royal law in our hearts. In 1 Cor 11 Paul had to confront the same kind of partiality and social stratification that James is dealing with in our text. But in 1 Cor 11 it was showing up in the way they partook of the Lord’s Supper. Paul calls them to unity and to the royal law of loving one another. There is an equality and honor that we give to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. The cross is the great leveler. There wealth and social status don’t matter. We are one in Him. May God fill us with that love for each other and even for those who do not know Christ.
Pray
For Footnotes/Sources go to www.crossroadsnixa.org
Richard Tow
Gateway Foursquare Church
Nixa, Missouri
www.GatewayNixa.org
