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?
That might strike us as a little extreme. We would never tell a visitor they have to sit on the floor at our feet. But in that culture, it was probably standard practice. Rich people get seats of honor, and poor people sit on the floor - that’s the way it was.
In our culture, where God’s Word has had a strong influence, we usually don’t take it quite that far. But even in our culture, there is a difference between the way we treat rich people and poor people. What do you think would happen if Peyton Manning came here to visit on a Sunday? If you are not into football, just fill in whatever super rich celebrity you know of - Prince William, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie - just imagine one of them actually came here to church this morning and said, “I’m looking for a church home.” And on the same Sunday, a filthy homeless person also wandered in. Do you think there would be any difference in the way we treated those two visitors? You are here about 10 minutes before the service starts and you see them walk in.
Looking, Thinking, and Feeling
Look at the beginning of verse three. He says if you show special attention… The word literally means to look at with favor. So to begin with, it has to do with the way that you look at them. Before there is any good or bad treatment one way or the other, the beginning point of this sin is the way that you look at them. It is an attitude. Would you look at the celebrity with favor more than the homeless man?
You see that again down in verse 4.
4 …You have become judges with evil thoughts.
Discrimination is not just a matter of how you treat people; it is fundamentally a matter of how you think and feel about people, and how you look at them. You could treat the rich man and the poor man exactly the same, but still be guilty of discrimination in your thoughts.
Wrong Criteria
There are a lot of bogus, superficial criteria that we use to assess people. James just mentions two of them – one is attractiveness.
Attractiveness
He mentions the clothing of both men. One guy has filthy clothes, and the other guy has fine clothes. The word translated fine is literally shiny. The point is, his outfit is dazzling. He is much more pleasant to look at.
Physical attractiveness probably plays a lot bigger role in how we treat people than we realize. If there’s a couple, and the wife is really pretty and the guy is a big, tall, strong, good-looking guy, and someone else is just really funny looking or ugly - which one are you more likely to invite over to your house for dinner?
What if someone is extremely overweight? Do you look at them differently? God doesn’t. God never shows anybody favor or disfavor based on superficial criteria.
Wealth
The other factor in James’ illustration is wealth. The rich guy is given a good seat. And I think that is probably more than just giving him a good view of the platform. Very often in Scripture a seat of honor is a place of power and influence. There are some churches where you will never see a poor person on the elder board - only wealthy people who are successful in the eyes of the world. But even beyond official roles of leadership, it is very common for wealthy people in the church to have a greater voice than poor people. There might be a prominent family - not holding any office of leadership or anything like that, but they are really big givers. The church budget depends on them in a big way. If we lose them, we will really be hurting financially. And now the church is trying to make a decision, and that family really wants option A. And you have some other guy in the church who is unemployed - no income, so he doesn’t give anything. In fact, we have to help him out with the benevolence fund. And he really thinks we should go with option B. Which one is going to carry more weight? Sadly, there are churches where the rich guy’s opinion will rule the day regardless of his knowledge of Scripture. We just need to keep him happy.
So those are a couple of examples of bogus, superficial reasons to discriminate - money and attractiveness. But there are plenty of other kinds of sinful discrimination.
Education
That is a really big one in our culture. Do we show more respect to someone with a PhD than we do to someone who dropped out of high school? Our culture certainly does, but that has no place in the church.
Intelligence
How welcoming are you to people who are developmentally disabled? Maybe they have Asperger’s Syndrome or something and so they don’t have the ability to know how to properly relate to people. Or maybe they are just kind of slow compared to everyone else. Do you treat them differently than you treat someone with a really high IQ?
Occupation
Does someone with a really successful career get better treatment than someone who flips burgers?
“He’s obviously more successful; he must be a better man.”
Power
What if the guy who is in charge of Building and Zoning in Thornton became a member of this church? He is the one that could say yes or no to our building plans. Would we go out of our way to keep him happy more than we would someone else who has no power?
Chuck Colson, in his book Kingdom in Conflict, talked about how they would win people over to their side by bringing them to the White House and dazzling them with all the pomp and splendor. Usher them down a long corridor door lined with saluting soldiers into the beautiful executive dining room with all the mahogany paneling, and the walls lined with navy stewards and red jackets. Point to the door on the right and say in hushed tones, “That is the situation room.” It was the situation room in World War II but after that everything had been moved to the Pentagon. But he found that just saying the words “situation room” impressed the people deeply. Then he would take them into the Oval Office to meet the President, and after that even Nixon’s enemies would be practically bowing when they left.
None of that is really surprising. But here is the sad part. Colson said of all the people he brought in, none were easier to impress and none were more compliant than the religious leaders. You would think of all people they would be the least overwhelmed by the pomp and protocol. But sadly, they were the easiest to impress. Even Billy Graham, in his own autobiography, admitted that his great weakness was access to the presidents. Power can be quite the enticement.
Prestige
Would you treat someone who is famous differently than an ordinary Joe Lunch Bucket?
Physical Ability
Our culture worships people who can throw footballs and dunk basketballs - but not people in wheelchairs. If someone comes to church with a physical disability are they included in your circle of love just like everyone else? Or do you give them a polite hello and keep them on the outside?
Skin Color
That has got to be the shallowest criteria of all. From a strictly natural standpoint, you could understand why people would treat rich people better than poor people. Rich people have something to offer and poor people don’t. But skin color is such a bizarre factor to consider when you decide how you are going to treat people. If you look at history, there have always been nations that hate other nations. But generally that is connected with a person’s identification with a particular country. What you don’t see a lot of in history is discrimination based purely on skin color, without reference to any particular nation. I think the reason that kind of discrimination has popped up in the last couple hundred years is mainly because of Darwin. Once Darwin convinced everybody of the concept of evolution, racial discrimination made perfect sense. Human beings are really just animals and so the higher ones should have supremacy over the lower ones. People always want to talk about all the killing that has taken place in the name of religion. But they seem to be blind to all the killing that took place in the name of evolution. What Adolf Hitler did was to simply act consistently with the theory of evolution. If every species makes progress through the survival of the fittest, then it makes perfect sense for the strong ones to exterminate all the weak ones so we can clean up the gene pool. That was exactly what Hitler was trying to do. Racism is a direct result of evolutionism.
But you cannot be a racist if you believe what the Bible says about creation. If all human beings bear the image of God, then darker skin or lighter skin is absolutely irrelevant.
James 3:9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 … My brothers, this should not be.
If people are just animals, then go ahead and kill them. Animals kill animals all the time. But if somebody is walking around in the image of God, that is not an animal. That is a whole different kind of being. That is someone you had better not kill or even dishonor with your words or attitudes, lest you dishonor the One whose image that person bears. And that applies to every form of discrimination - whether it be on the basis of skin color, intelligence, ability, attractiveness, or wealth.
Proverbs 17:5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker
If you have a bad attitude toward any human being based on superficial criteria, you are showing contempt for their Maker.
And none of it is more superficial than racism. I don’t even like the term racism, because it implies that there are different races. There is only one human race. And there is absolutely no place in the church for dividing up according to so-called “racial” differences. I love it that there are so many marriages in this church with mixed ethnicity. If you are one of those people who would raise an eyebrow at one of your children marrying someone with a different skin color, you need to know - that kind of attitude does not come from the Bible. One of the things that makes the Lord Jesus Christ so glorious and so worthy of worship and praise is the fact that He included people from every ethnic grouping in His church.
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because … you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Part of what makes Jesus so worthy of worship is the fact that He has brought together people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Notice it doesn’t say every color. Skin color is such a bizarre way to discriminate; I don’t even think they thought in those terms back then. But it is very natural for people to divide up according to ethnic background or national identity. It is natural, but it has no place in the church. In the church, we are not only one race; we are one family. We are siblings in the same household with the same Father.
I just love it when I look out and see all the diversity here. Africans, Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Russians, South Americans… Are the various cultures different? Yes, no question about that. We grow up in different places with different customs, different experiences, different languages. But however extreme our differences, they are nothing compared to what we have in common. That applies to ethnicity, and it applies to social standing and economic status. If a homeless person comes into this church with filthy clothes, and he loves the Lord Jesus Christ, you have more in common with him then you have with any unbeliever - including your own blood relatives if they don’t love the Lord.
So I love the ethnic diversity in this church because it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. But we still need to ask ourselves, “Are there some areas where I do show favoritism?” Is there anyone in this church that I can’t imagine myself ever having over for lunch? If a rich, celebrity came here, and a homeless man came, would I look at them and think about them and treat them differently? Jesus wouldn’t.
The story is told of a church that was in a wealthy part of town where all the respected people and big shots went, and there was a woman who was from the other side of the tracks who didn’t really fit in that kind of a church. But she came there and wanted to join. The pastor took one look at her and she could tell, he was reluctant. He told her, “Why don’t you take an extra week and really pray about it?” So she did, and while she was praying the Lord said to her, “Don’t worry about being accepted at that church. I’ve been trying to get into that church for the last 20 years.” Don’t expect to find the Lord in a church that shows favoritism.
Wrong Solutions
So what is the solution to this problem of favoritism and discrimination?
Reverse Favoritism
Some people think the solution to discrimination and prejudice is to show favoritism to the poor. If someone has been mistreated in the past, make up for it by giving them especially good treatment now. Sometimes this is called reverse discrimination. This is the philosophy in much of the civil rights movement today. Martin Luther King had a dream of a day when society would be color blind when it comes to skin. But many in the movement today reject that goal. They don’t want color blindness – they want strong distinctions made based on skin color. They believe that because of the horrific injustices done in the past to minorities (especially blacks), that the only way to make it right is to give preferred treatment now. But God’s Word forbids us to take that approach.
Leviticus 19:15 Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
The solution to favoritism toward one side is not to turn around and show favoritism to the other side. The solution is not to show favoritism at all. Martin Luther King had it right – judge by character, not skin color.
Equality
Another solution the world has come up with for discrimination is to make no judgments at all – just treat everyone the same. But that’s not a good solution either.
Valid Distinctions
There is nothing wrong with making distinctions between people and treating some people differently than other people. We don’t treat the hero the same way we treat a criminal. Scripture teaches us that there are some people who are deserving of special honor - like the elderly. It would be perfectly right if we asked an eight- year-old to sit on the floor so an 80-year-old might be able to have a seat. If Pastor Saeed, who has suffered for the name of Christ, came into our fellowship, would it be appropriate to give him a special seat or show him honor? Absolutely!
Philippians 2:29 Welcome [Epaphroditus] in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30 because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life.
We are commanded to give special honor to certain people. It is fine to show someone special favor if it’s for the right reasons. That is not favoritism, because it is favor based on valid criteria rather than superficial criteria.
God shows no favoritism, and yet God most certainly does treat different people differently. But He always does so for good reasons, never superficial reasons.
If two men are accused of a crime, and the judge treats them differently – sends one of them to jail and lets the other go free, is that a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on his criteria. If the judge does that based on guilt or innocence, then it’s a good thing. If he sends the guilty guy to jail and lets the innocent guy go free, that’s good. But if he says, “You drive a stick-shift so you go to jail. And you drive an automatic, so you get to go free,” that would be favoritism. He is showing favor to somebody for a reason that is irrelevant.
The World’s Standards
Favoritism is not treating people differently. Favoritism is treating people differently on the basis of the world’s standards.
2 Corinthians 5:16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
If you have an unbeliever who is an actor and makes millions of dollars and who is so famous that he is a household name, and standing next to him is a missionary who spent the last 30 years trying to bring the gospel to an unreached people group, the world would say the first guy is important and worthy of royal treatment and the second guy is nobody. God would say it’s the other way around. According to the world, the things that are really important are things like good looks, money, business success, fame, political power, athletic skill, education. According to God, the things that are really important are things like humility, faith in Christ Jesus, love for God, obedience, and godliness. Two very different standards. Favoritism is when you assess people and treat people based on the world set of values instead of on God’s.
Stained
This is a perfect example of the kind of thing James was talking about in 1:27 where he mentioned being stained by the world. If you evaluate people the way the world evaluates people, it is because your soul has been stained by the world’s way of thinking. If you are the type who would raise an eyebrow if one of your kids wanted to marry somebody with a different skin color, that is pure worldliness. You have got some stains on your heart from this world’s thinking.
God’s Solution: Seek Christ’s Glory
Those are some wrong solutions to the problem. So what is God’s solution to the problem of favoritism and discrimination? It is in verse 1. Look again at the very first thing James says in this section. He doesn’t just say, “My brothers, don’t show favoritism.”
1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.
And the emphasis in that phrase is on the word glory. It is actually very awkward Greek. Of all the writers in the New Testament, James is one of the most skilled and proficient in writing proper Greek. When a writer like that puts something in an awkward construction, it’s on purpose. The point is to emphasize the part that is awkward by drawing your attention to it. We do the same thing in our language by underlining or putting something in italics. The word that appears in an awkward structure is the word glory.
Here’s a literal translation: my brothers do not hold your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ of the glory with favoritism.
He is our Lord Jesus Christ of the glory. James emphasizes His glory, and then he tells us not to hold our faith in Him alongside favoritism - don’t mix them together. The point of that is that there is something about Jesus’ glory that makes faith in Him incompatible with favoritism. So let’s talk about Jesus’ glory.
The Quest for Glory
So what is it about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that rules out favoritism? To answer that, think for a second about why we show favoritism.
The reason we show favoritism is because we see someone who is glorious in our eyes, and we want the benefits of that glory. There is a glory that can be gained from this world. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness he offered Jesus that glory.
Luke 4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their … glory, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
When we treat rich people better, it is because we are hoping to get something from them. Peyton Manning walks in here and someone thinks, “Can you imagine if he came here and started tithing? That would be over $1 million a year.” Or maybe you think, “If I got to know him, maybe eventually I would be invited over to his house.” When we show special treatment to the rich it is because we want to gain something from them.
When we show special treatment to people with power, it’s because we want some of the benefits that we might be able to get from that person. When we show special attention to the beautiful, it’s so that we can gain their favor and enjoy their beauty. When we show special attention to the famous, it’s because we want to benefit in some way from their fame. Now I can brag about having met that person. He is really important, I had lunch with him once, therefore I’m important. In Luke 14:10, honor in the eyes of important people is referred to as a kind of glory. We are really no different than the false teachers in Jude.
Jude 1:16 These men … flatter others for their own advantage.
We favor the people we see as glorious because we want to benefit in some way from their glory.
And the point James is making here is that you cannot be enamored with earthly glory if you truly have faith in Jesus Christ who is the Lord of true glory. Every person in this world has an idea of what is truly glorious. And that is what they chase after.
John 12:43 they loved glory from men more than glory from God.
That’s the way the world is. As Christians, the thing we see as truly glorious is the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 2:6 We were not looking for glory from men
We seek our glory from Christ not from this world, because Christ is the one we see as truly glorious, and because the world’s glory is so temporary.
1 Peter 1:24 All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field
If we really believe that, why would we be dazzled by someone with earthly glory? And why would we treat someone poorly who didn’t have any earthly glory to offer?
You see, the whole issue boils down to this: Whose glory do you want? Which does your heart crave the most – the world’s glory, or Jesus’ glory? Which one seems more beneficial to you? Which one dazzles you and impresses you the most? Which one has the strongest tug on your heart?
The World’s Glory
The world’s glory can be pretty impressive. The glorious people in this world can give you money, they can take you out on their yacht or invite you over to their $5 million home, they can fly you to Hawaii in their private jet, they could give you a new car or pay off your mortgage. The powerful people in this world can make life a whole lot easier for you or a whole lot harder for you based on whether or not you have their favor. The famous people in this world, if you have their favor, can cause people to be impressed with you.
Christ’s Glory
Those are the benefits of this world’s glory. What are the benefits of Christ’s glory? One facet of Christ’s glory is His grace. Another is His amazing love. Another is His tremendous power. Some others are His wisdom and patience and creativity and gentleness and knowledge and faithfulness and perfection and eternality. There is also the fact that He forgives those who repent, and redeems those in bondage, restores that which was ruined, strengthens the weak, and cares for the helpless.
He is also the Author of life. He is the Source of all beauty, all pleasure, and all goodness. He is a person, with awareness, emotions, will, intention, desire, and motivation. He communicates. He reveals Himself. He is never limited to any location, never contained by any space, and His presence is available wherever His children are. He never sleeps, never grows weary, never makes a mistake, is never surprised, never even slightly frustrated. He has total, sovereign authority over all things, and His decisions can never be overturned by anyone. He has no rivals, nothing threatens Him, and He never runs out of anything. He listens to the prayers of His people and responds to them. And like a father He cares for us, provides for us, guides us, teaches us, disciplines us, and loves us.
Those are all facets of His glory. Another thing that is true of Him – for His children, He is easy to please. He is so easy to please that pleasing Him is within the reach of every single person on the planet who will believe– no matter how limited the intellect or what the background. He is a refuge for those who are in trouble, and soothes the soul of the brokenhearted. He searches the hearts of men and knows our thoughts and actually cares about them. He is the final Judge to whom every human being who has ever lived must give an account. He decides every person’s eternal destiny. He determines the course and outcome of human history. He is self-existent – the only being there is who actually possesses the power to exist in Himself – not dependent on anything else. He not only created all things, but He sustains all things – so they remain in existence only by His power. He is transcendent – the only reality in existence that is not part of the creation. And yet He became a part of the creation 2000 years ago. He is both above and beyond the creation, and at the same time as nearby and as close as your own breath. He is supreme and the highest standard in every category. All movement in His direction is an ascending and all movement away from Him is a descending. He makes promises to His people and always keeps them. His presence satisfies the human soul like food and drink to the body, and is always more rewarding and more satisfying to the human soul than any pleasure of any sin. He hates evil. He only does good things. He is beautiful. He is awesome. He is holy. He is generous. He is just. He is merciful. He is a rewarder of those who trust in Him. He cares for His children like a shepherd, like a mother, like a father, like a king, and like a friend. He has a special love for the humble and lowly, and He hates the proud. He is worthy to be feared and served and obeyed and praised, trusted, hoped in, and worshipped. To know Him is to want to obey Him. And to fear Him is to love Him.
Those are some of the facets of Christ’s glory. You will spend all of the rest of eternity discovering the rest of them.
The Benefits of Christ’s Glory
And one of the things you learn about God’s glory as you read through the New Testament is that it is supremely beneficial. Really good things happen when someone beholds God’s glory.
Romans 6:4 … Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father
That is a pretty good benefit. Someday when you die and they put you in the ground, Christ’s glory can get you back out of the ground back up on your feet with a glorified body that is like His glorious body. In Ephesians 1:17 we see another benefit that comes from His glory - wisdom and the ability to know God better. And in the next verse His glory gives us enlightenment, hope, and the riches of His inheritance. In Ephesians 3:16, His glory strengthens us with power in our inner being. In Philippians 4:19, His glory supplies us with every single thing that we need. In Colossians 1:11 it strengthens us with all power so that we can have great perseverance and patience and joy. In 2 Peter 13 it supplies us with everything we need for life and godliness.
Our Glory
And not only will we receive benefits from His glory, but He will actually give us His glory so that we become glorious.
John 17:22 I have given them the glory that you gave me
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all behold the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Importance
This is something that is of supreme importance in the heart of the Lord.
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me … to see my glory
Romans 9:23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—
The devil understands how important it is that we see Christ’s glory, so he works hard against that.
2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ
But if we will believe the gospel, then our eyes will be opened to see His glory.
John 11:40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
And the whole thrust and goal of our lives is to look forward to that day when His glory is fully revealed. That is what enables us to make it through all the suffering in this life.
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
All of that is behind James’ comment about Jesus’ glory in verse 1. And, as usual, he applies that to our lives in a very practical way. If you have a glimpse of His glory, you will not be moved by the sparkle of someone’s designer purse, or Rolex, or Bentley. Compared to Christ’s glory, all the glory of this world is just so much bling. The most spectacular wonders of the riches of the wealthiest person in the world is just costume jewelry. A little girl might be enamored with a plastic ring from a Cracker Jack box, but once a woman has seen a real diamond ring, she will never go back. She will never be impressed with a plastic one again. Christ’s glory is the diamond. All the riches in this world are silly, cheesy, plastic toys, and so they should not impress us or affect the way we treat people.
Benediction: Psalm 96:3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. 4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise … 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. 7 Give to the Lord … glory and strength. 8 Give to the Lord the glory due his name
Application Questions (James 1:25)
1. Which aspects of the world’s glory tend to be most alluring to you? (Wealth, attractiveness, education, intelligence, occupation/success, power, prestige, physical ability, etc.)
2.
3. Name one or two aspects of Christ’s glory that you would especially like more of at this time. (It may help to refer to the list from the sermon notes under the heading “Christ’s Glory”).
4.
5. Was there ever a time when you were on the other end of discrimination. Share your experience with the group to help them understand how painful it can be.
6.
Devotionals
Day 1
Preparation:
Pray S.I.O.U.S.
S is for Seek
Psalm 119:176 I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.
All our seeking after God will be worthless if He does not seek us. Begin by asking God to come near to you.
I is for Incline
Psalm 119:36 Incline my heart toward your statutes.
Inclination has to do with what you like and dislike. We do not observe life with a detached, robotic analysis. We have a sense of liking and being attracted to some things and disliking and being inclined away from others.
Before you open your Bible take a moment to remind yourself that you could begin reading, come across some wonderful truth about God, and be bored by it. Horror! What could be worse than being unable to be delighted by the glory of God? Before reading, ask the Lord to incline your heart toward whatever it is He is about to show you so that when you see it you will love it.
O is for Open
Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
When you read something in Scripture about God and it does not thrill your soul and cause great joy, peace, comfort, or awe, there is only one explanation: your eyes are blind to what is wonderful about that truth. Every truth about God in Scripture would absolutely thrill you if your eyes were opened to see what is so wonderful about it. And only God can do that. So before reading, pray—“God, open my eyes.”
U is for Unite
Psalm 86:11 Unite my heart, that I may fear your name.
When we come to the Word of God, we usually come with a scattered, distracted heart. We must pray, “Dear God, please unite my heart so for this brief little time I can focus my entire being on You.”
S is for Satisfy
Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
The presence of God is like food—it always satisfies the soul. If you go away from your time in the Word unsatisfied, then, it is because you did not experience the presence of God. It is good, before we open the Bible, to remind ourselves of the purpose of coming to God’s banquet table. The goal is not just to gather information, but to leave the table with our souls satisfied!
Read:
Read carefully and prayerfully through Matthew 25:31-46.
Meditate:
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 with favor (or have a favorable attitude toward someone) on the basis of something that shouldn’t 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. It just isn’t 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. It is a double-sided sin. The other side of the coin of favoritism is always discrimination.
James 1:4 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’s 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. The other is that the poor person is denied justice.
So that gives you the basic definition, and then in verse2, James gives us an example.
James 1:2 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?
That might strike us as a little extreme. We would never tell a visitor they have to sit on the floor at our feet. But in that culture, it was probably standard practice. Rich people get seats of honor, and poor people sit on the floor - that’s the way it was.
In our culture, where God’s Word has had a strong influence, we usually don’t take it quite that far. But even in our culture, there is a difference between the way we treat rich people and poor people. What do you think would happen if Peyton Manning came to visit on a Sunday? If you’re not into football, just fill in whatever super rich celebrity you know of ? Prince William, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie ? just imagine one of them actually came here to church this morning and said, “I’m looking for a church home.” And on the same Sunday, a filthy homeless person also wandered in. Do you think there would be any difference in the way we treated those two visitors? You are here about 10 minutes before the service starts and you see them walk in.
Look at the beginning of verse three. He says if you show special attention… The word literally means to look at with favor. So to begin with, it has to do with the way that you look at them. Before there is any good or bad treatment one way or the other, the beginning point of this sin is the way that you look at them. It is an attitude. Would you look at the celebrity with favor more than the homeless man?
You see that again down in verse 4.
4 …You have become judges with evil thoughts.
Discrimination is not just a matter of how you treat people; it is fundamentally a matter of how you think and feel about people, and how you look at them. You could treat the rich man and the poor man exactly the same, but still be guilty of discrimination in your thoughts.
Memorize:
Review James 1:19-27. Memorize James 2:1. Say it 10 times word for word from memory, and then at least two more times later in the day.
Pray:
Talk to God about what He said in Matthew 25 and in James 2. Ask Him to show you what changes you may need to make in your life based on these passages.
Share:
Try to have a conversation with someone today about the most helpful thoughts that came out of your time with the Lord today.
Do!:
? Is there someone you have not shown warmth or care for because of superficial reasons? If so, write down one act of love you could do to correct that.
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? Check this box when you have done it.
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Further Study:
For more on some specific things you can do to care for the poor, read the book Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road by Tim Keller.
Day 2
Preparation:
Pray S.I.O.U.S.
Read:
Read carefully and prayerfully through 1 Timothy 6:6-19.
Meditate:
There are a lot of bogus, superficial criteria that we use to assess people. James just mentions two of them – one is attractiveness. He mentions the clothing of both men. One guy has filthy clothes, and the other guy has fine clothes. The word translated fine is literally shiny. The point is, his outfit is dazzling. He is much more pleasant to look at.
Physical attractiveness probably plays a lot bigger role in how we treat people than we realize. If there’s a couple, and the wife is really pretty and the guy is a big, tall, strong, good-looking guy, and someone else is just really funny looking or ugly - which one are you more likely to invite over to your house for dinner?
What if someone is extremely overweight? Do you look at them differently? God doesn’t. God never shows anybody favor or disfavor based on superficial criteria.
The other factor in James’ illustration is wealth. The rich guy is given a good seat. And I think that is probably more than just giving him a good view of the platform. Very often in Scripture a seat of honor is a place of power and influence. There are some churches where you will never see a poor person on the elder board - only wealthy people who are successful in the eyes of the world. But even beyond official roles of leadership, it is very common for wealthy people in the church to have a greater voice than poor people. There’s a prominent family - not holding any office of leadership or anything like that, but they are really big givers. The church budget depends on them in a big way. If we lose them, we will really be hurting financially. And now the church is trying to make a decision, and that family really wants option A. And you have some other guy in the church who is unemployed - no income, so he doesn’t give anything. In fact, we have to help him out with the benevolence fund. And he really thinks we should go with option B. Which one is going to carry more weight? Sadly, there are churches where the rich guy’s opinion will rule the day regardless of his knowledge of Scripture. We just need to keep him happy.
So those are a couple of examples of bogus, superficial reasons to discriminate - money and attractiveness. But there are plenty of other kinds of sinful discrimination, such as looking at people differently based on education, intelligence, occupation, success, power, prestige, physical ability, or skin color. If all human beings bear the image of God, then none of those things are valid reasons to treat people differently.
James 3:9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 … My brothers, this should not be.
Proverbs 17:5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker
If you have a bad attitude toward any human being based on superficial criteria, you are showing contempt for their Maker.
And none of it is more superficial than racism. I don’t even like the term racism, because it implies that there are different races. There is only one human race. And there is absolutely no place in the church for dividing up according to so-called “racial” differences. I love it that there are so many marriages in this church with mixed ethnicity. If you are one of those people who would raise an eyebrow at one of your children marrying someone with a different skin color, you need to know - that kind of attitude does not come from the Bible. One of the things that makes the Lord Jesus Christ so glorious and so worthy of worship and praise is the fact that He included people from every ethnic grouping in His church.
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because … you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Part of what makes Jesus so worthy of worship is the fact that He has brought together people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Notice it doesn’t say every color. Skin color is such a bizarre way to discriminate; I don’t even think they thought in those terms back then. But it is very natural for people to divide up according to ethnic background or national identity. It is natural, but it has no place in the church. In the church, we are not only one race; we are one family. We are siblings in the same household with the same Father.
That applies to ethnicity, and it applies to social standing and economic status. If a homeless person comes into this church with filthy clothes, and he loves the Lord Jesus Christ, you have more in common with him then you have with any unbeliever - including your own blood relatives if they don’t love the Lord. We need to ask ourselves, “Are there some areas where I do show favoritism?” Is there anyone in this church that I can’t imagine myself ever having over for lunch? If a rich, celebrity came here, and a homeless man came, what I look at them and think about them and treat them differently? Jesus wouldn’t.
So what is the solution to this problem of favoritism and discrimination? The solution is not reverse discrimination (Lv.19:15), nor is it treating everyone the same (Php.2:29-30). Favoritism is not treating people differently. Favoritism is treating people differently on the basis of the world’s standards.
2 Corinthians 5:16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.
If you have an unbeliever who is an actor and makes millions of dollars and who is so famous that he is a household name, and standing next to him is a missionary who spent the last 30 years trying to bring the gospel to an unreached people group, the world would say the first guy is important and worthy of royal treatment and the second guy is nobody. God would say it’s the other way around. According to the world, the things that are really important are things like good looks, money, business success, fame, political power, athletic skill, education. According to God, the things that are really important are things like humility, faith in Christ Jesus, love for God, obedience, and godliness. Two very different standards. Favoritism is when you assess people and treat people based on the world set of values instead of on God’s.
This is a perfect example of the kind of thing James was talking about in 1:27 where he mentioned being stained by the world. If you evaluate people the way the world evaluates people, it is because your soul has been stained by the world’s way of thinking. If you are the type who would raise an eyebrow if one of your kids wanted to marry somebody with a different skin color, that is pure worldliness. You’ve got some stains on your heart from this world’s thinking.
Memorize:
Review James 1:19-27. Memorize James 2:2. Say verses 1 and 2 ten times word for word from memory, and then at least two more times later in the day.
Pray:
Talk to God about what He said in 1 Tim.6 and in James 2. Ask Him to show you what changes you may need to make in your life based on these passages.
Share:
Try to have a conversation with someone today about the most helpful thoughts that came out of your time with the Lord today.
Do!:
At least three times today, pause to consciously transfer your confidence and hope from earthly wealth to eternal riches.
? First time
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? Second time
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? Third time
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Day 3
Preparation:
Pray S.I.O.U.S.
Read:
Read carefully and prayerfully through Matthew 6:19-24.
Meditate:
Those are some wrong solutions to the problem. So what is God’s solution to the problem of favoritism and discrimination? It is in verse 1. Look again at the very first thing James says in this section. He doesn’t just say, “My brothers, don’t show favoritism.”
1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.
And the emphasis in that phrase is on the word glory. Here is a literal translation: my brothers do not hold your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ of the glory with favoritism. He is our Lord Jesus Christ of the glory. James emphasizes His glory, and then he tells us not to hold our faith in Him alongside favoritism - don’t mix them together. The point of that is that there is something about Jesus’ glory that makes faith in Him incompatible with favoritism.
The reason we show favoritism is because we see someone who is glorious in our eyes, and we want the benefits of that glory. There is a glory that can be gained from this world. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness he offered Jesus that glory.
Luke 4:5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their … glory, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
When we treat rich people better, it is because we are hoping to get something from them. Peyton Manning walks in here and someone thinks, “Can you imagine if he came here and started tithing? That would be over $1 million a year.” Or maybe you think, “If I got to know him, maybe eventually I would be invited over to his house.” When we show special treatment to the rich it’s because we want to gain something from them.
When we show special treatment to people with power, it’s because we want some of the benefits that we might be able to get from that person. When we show special attention to the beautiful, it’s so that we can gain their favor and enjoy their beauty. When we show special attention to the famous, it’s because we want to benefit in some way from their fame. Now I can brag about having met that person. He is really important, I had lunch with him once, therefore I’m important. In Luke 14:10, honor in the eyes of important people is referred to as a kind of glory. We are really no different than the false teachers in Jude.
Jude 1:16 These men … flatter others for their own advantage.
We favor the people we see as glorious because we want to benefit in some way from their glory.
And the point James is making here is that you cannot be enamored with earthly glory if you truly have faith in Jesus Christ who is the Lord of true glory. Every person in this world has an idea of what is truly glorious. And that is what they chase after.
John 12:43 they loved glory from men more than glory from God.
That’s the way the world is. As Christians, the thing we see as truly glorious is the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 2:6 We were not looking for glory from men
We seek our glory from Christ not from this world, because Christ is the one we see as truly glorious, and because the world’s glory is so temporary.
1 Peter 1:24 All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field
If we really believe that, why would we be dazzled by someone with earthly glory? And why would we treat someone poorly who didn’t have any earthly glory to offer?
You see, the whole issue boils down to this: whose glory do you want? Which does your heart crave the most – the world’s glory, or Jesus’ glory? Which one seems more beneficial to you? Which one dazzles you and impresses you the most? Which one has the strongest tug on your heart?
Memorize:
Review James 1:19-27. Memorize James 2:3. Say verses 1-3 ten times word for word from memory, and then at least two more times later in the day.
Pray:
Talk to God about what He said in Matthew 6 and in James 2. Ask Him to show you what changes you may need to make in your life based on these passages.
Share:
Try to have a conversation with someone today about the most helpful thoughts that came out of your time with the Lord today.
Do!:
At least 3 times today, pause to consciously transfer your confidence and hope from earthly wealth to eternal riches.
? First time
?
? Second time
?
? Third time
?
Day 4
Preparation:
Pray S.I.O.U.S.
Read:
Read carefully and prayerfully through Psalm 73. Ask the Lord to give you insight.
Meditate:
The world’s glory can be pretty impressive. The glorious people in this world can give you money, they can take you out on their yacht or invite you over to their $5 million home, they can fly you to Hawaii in their private jet, they could give you a new car or pay off your mortgage. The powerful people in this world can make life a whole lot easier for you or a whole lot harder for you based on whether or not you have their favor. The famous people in this world, if you have their favor, can cause people to be impressed with you.
Those are the benefits of this world’s glory. What are the benefits of Christ’s glory? One facet of Christ’s glory is His grace. Another is His amazing love. Another is His tremendous power. Some others are His wisdom and patience and creativity and gentleness and knowledge and faithfulness and perfection and eternality. There is also the fact that He forgives those who repent, and redeems those in bondage, restores that which was ruined, strengthens the weak, and cares for the helpless.
He is also the Author of life. He is the Source of all beauty, all pleasure, and all goodness. He is a person, with awareness, emotions, will, intention, desire, and motivation. He communicates. He reveals Himself. He is never limited to any location, never contained by any space, and His presence is available wherever His children are. He never sleeps, never grows weary, never makes a mistake, is never surprised, never even slightly frustrated. He has total, sovereign authority over all things, and His decisions can never be overturned by anyone. He has no rivals, nothing threatens Him, and He never runs out of anything. He listens to the prayers of His people and responds to them. And like a father He cares for us, provides for us, guides us, teaches us, disciplines us, and loves us.
Those are all facets of His glory. Another thing that is true of Him – for His children, He is easy to please. He is so easy to please that pleasing Him is within the reach of every single person on the planet who will believe– no matter how limited the intellect or what the background. He is a refuge for those who are in trouble, and soothes the soul of the brokenhearted. He searches the hearts of men and knows our thoughts and actually cares about them. He is the final Judge to whom every human being who has ever lived must give an account. He decides every person’s eternal destiny. He determines the course and outcome of human history. He is self-existent – the only being there is who actually possesses the power to exist in Himself – not dependent on anything else. He not only created all things, but He sustains all things – so they remain in existence only by His power. He is transcendent – the only reality in existence that is not part of the creation. And yet He became a part of the creation 2000 years ago. He is both above and beyond the creation, and at the same time as nearby and as close as your own breath. He is supreme and the highest standard in every category. All movement in His direction is an ascending and all movement away from Him is a descending. He makes promises to His people and always keeps them. His presence satisfies the human soul like food and drink to the body, and is always more rewarding and more satisfying to the human soul than any pleasure of any sin. He hates evil. He only does good things. He is beautiful. He is awesome. He is holy. He is generous. He is just. He is merciful. He is a rewarder of those who trust in Him. He cares for His children like a shepherd, like a mother, like a father, like a king, and like a friend. He has a special love for the humble and lowly, and He hates the proud. He is worthy to be feared and served and obeyed and praised, trusted, hoped in, and worshipped. To know Him is to want to obey Him. And to fear Him is to love Him.
Those are some of the facets of Christ’s glory. You will spend all of the rest of eternity discovering the rest of them.
Memorize:
Review James 1:19-2:2. Memorize James 2:4. Say verses 3-4 ten times word for word from memory, and then at least two more times later in the day.
Pray:
Talk to God about what He said in Psalm 73 and in James 2. Ask Him to show you what changes you may need to make in your life based on these passages.
Share:
Try to have a conversation with someone today about the most helpful thoughts that came out of your time with the Lord today.
Do!:
Select three to five attributes from the list above. At least 10 different times today, take a moment to remind yourself of those truths about God. Put a tic mark on a piece of paper each time.
? Check this box when you get 10.
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Day 5
Preparation:
Pray S.I.O.U.S.
Read:
Read carefully and prayerfully through John 17. Ask the Lord to give you insight.
Meditate:
And one of the things you learn about God’s glory as you read through the New Testament is that it is supremely beneficial. Really good things happen when someone beholds God’s glory.
Romans 6:4 … Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father
That is a pretty good benefit. Someday when you die and they put you in the ground, Christ’s glory can get you back out of the ground back up on your feet with a glorified body that is like His glorious body. In Ephesians 1:17 we see another benefit that comes from His glory - wisdom and the ability to know God better. And in the next verse His glory gives us enlightenment, hope, and the riches of His inheritance. In Ephesians 3:16, His glory strengthens us with power in our inner being. In Philippians 4:19, His glory supplies us with every single thing that we need. In Colossians 1:11 it strengthens us with all power so that we can have great perseverance and patience and joy. In 2 Peter 13 it supplies us with everything we need for life and godliness.
And not only will we receive benefits from His glory, but He will actually give us His glory so that we become glorious.
John 17:22 I have given them the glory that you gave me
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all behold the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
This is something that is of supreme importance in the heart of the Lord.
John 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me … to see my glory
Romans 9:23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—
The devil understands how important it is that we see Christ’s glory, so he works hard against that.
2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ
But if we will believe the gospel, then our eyes will be opened to see His glory.
John 11:40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
And the whole thrust and goal of our lives is to look forward to that day when His glory is fully revealed. That is what enables us to make it through all the suffering in this life.
1 Peter 4:13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
All of that is behind James’ comment about Jesus’ glory in verse 1. And, as usual, he applies that to our lives in a very practical way. If you have a glimpse of His glory, you will not be moved by the sparkle of someone’s designer purse, or Rolex, or Bentley. Compared to Christ’s glory, all the glory of this world is just so much bling. The most spectacular wonders of the riches of the wealthiest person in the world are just costume jewelry. A little girl might be enamored with a plastic ring from a Cracker Jack box, but once a woman has seen a real diamond ring, she will never be impressed with a plastic one again. Christ’s glory is the diamond. All the riches in this world are silly, cheesy, plastic toys, and so they should not impress us or affect the way we treat people.
Memorize:
Review James 1:19-2:4.
Pray:
Talk to God about what He said in John 17 and in James 2. Ask Him to show you what changes you may need to make in your life based on these passages.
Share:
Try to have a conversation with someone today about the most helpful thoughts that came out of your time with the Lord today.
Do!:
At least three times today, pause to consciously transfer your affections from earthly glory to Christ’s glory.
? First time
?
? Second time
?
? Third time
?
