NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
› Engagement
Most of you have probably heard this adage before - or at least something very close to it:
You Can Easily Judge the Character of a Man by How He Treats Those Who Can Do Nothing for Him
The quote has been attributed to a number of people, including Ann Landers, Abigail van Buren, Charles Spurgeon, and Malcom Forbes, but no one really knows for sure where it originated. But it is certainly a pretty good summary of the passage we’re going to look at this morning.
› Tension
If I were to be able to spend a day with any of you without you knowing I was there, I think I would be able to determine pretty quickly how well you live by the principles we’re going to study today by observing how differently you treat those who can do something for you compared to how you treat those who can’t:
• If you went to the doctor’s office, I’d look to see if you treated the receptionist and the lab technician and the medical assistant with the same respect you showed to the doctor.
• If you went to a restaurant, I’d watch how you treated the server and the busser and see how that compared to the way you responded to the chef when he came through the dining room.
• If you went to the grocery store, I’d see how you treated the cashier who was dealing with long checkout lines.
• If you went to the bank to apply for a loan, I’d watch to see how you treated the teller compared to the way you treated the loan officer who was going to make the decision about your loan.
• If you went to Jim Click to get your car serviced, I’d want to see how you treated the service manager or the mechanic and see how that compared to the way you responded to Jim Click when he wandered through the waiting room.
• And if I accompanied you to church, I’d watch to see how you treated those who are different than you - those who are older or younger than you, those who are of a different race, those who dress differently than you, or who have tattoos or piercings that you don’t approve of, those who drive a more expensive, or less expensive, car than you drive.
That last example is the one James is going to address specifically in the passage we’ll study today.
› Truth
So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to James chapter 2. This is the fourth message in our current series - Faith Works. So far, James has addressed how to handle trials, how to triumph over our temptations and shown us why good intentions alone are not enough. In each of those sections, James has given us one primary command and then provided a lot of practical guidance on how to apply that command. He uses that same structure in today’s passage and we’re going to see that main command right off the bat.
James 2:1–13 ESV
1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
The main command is obvious - “show no partiality”. Based on the form of the verb used there, we could accurately translate the command “Stop showing partiality!” In other words, James is addressing an ongoing problem among his Jewish Christian brothers.
The word translated “partiality” in verse 1 literally means “to receive a face”. It conveys the idea of making a judgment about someone and deciding how to treat them based on outward appearance.
I’m sure we’d all like to think that we don’t do that - either individually or as a church. But the reality is that this is something we all have a tendency to do. Every day we make judgments about people based on external factors - their appearance, the way they dress, the car they drive, the talents and abilities they have. But as we clearly see here, that is not something that we are to do as disciples of Jesus. But rather than phrase today’s main idea in negative terms, I’d like to turn it around and make it much more positive:
Genuine faith causes you to love everyone equally
Before we move on, I need to clarify what I mean with this statement. Sometimes it is appropriate to treat people differently because of who they are or the position they hold. For instance, I will make no apologies when I give more attention to my wife than I give to any of you. Because of her position as my wife she has a higher priority when it comes to my time and attention. The same is true with my children and grandchildren. You and your family don’t have an equal claim to my time and attention as they do. So if you come to me and want to schedule a meeting at a time when I’ve already committed to go on a date with my wife or go watch one of my grandkids’ games and I say we’ll have to do it another time, that is not the kind of partiality James is addressing here.
We see that clearly with the illustration James uses here. Two visitors show up to church. I’m going to take a little artistic liberty here and make this a little more current.
One of the visitors pulled into the parking lot in his Tesla. He got out of his car and was very well dressed and had a nice gold chain, a Rolex and some fancy rings on his fingers. And when the greeters saw him they immediately introduced him to the pastors and elders. They cleared out part of the back row, since for many in our times, those are the prime seats, and they seated him and brought him a fresh cup of coffee, served in a real mug instead of a paper cup. And they told all the families with kids to make sure they didn’t bother him.
The other visitor pulled into the lot in an older model car that seemed to be held together with bailing wire and duct tape. And it was pretty obvious that he bought his clothes from Goodwill. He had several tattoos and body piercings and it smelled like he could use a bath. So the greeters tried to whisk him off to a corner where no one would see him and once the service started, they suggested he might be more comfortable watching from the lobby.
Both of those visitors have a right to be treated equally. But they are judged according to their outward appearance and treated much differently. And that is inconsistent with genuine faith in Jesus.
James helps us avoid engaging in that kind of partiality in two significant ways:
1. First, he is going to show us why partiality is such a “big deal”
2. Then he is going to reveal the motives behind such partiality and show us how to recognize and deal with those motives effectively so that we don’t engage in that sin.
WHY PARTIALITY IS SUCH A “BIG DEAL”
• It violates the character of Jesus (v. 1)
Even though James was likely Jesus’ half brother, he refers to Jesus here as “the Lord of glory”. James uses that description to call attention to two important ideas:
• Compared to the glory of Jesus, every person is a sinner who needs to experience the grace of God and therefore we are not in a position to judge others, especially not merely based on outward appearances.
• It pictures the future return of Jesus in power and glory to judge the earth. James is pointing out that Jesus alone has the ability to judge others justly because He is able to judge the heart and not just the outward appearance.
So when we engage in the practice of judging others, especially when that judgment is based on outward appearances, we are essentially usurping the role that God has reserved for His Son, Jesus.
Before we leave this principle, I need to point out that avoiding partiality does not mean we are never to make judgments within the body of Christ. Some people have taken this and other passages out of context and tried to make the case that we are never to make judgments about others. However, the clear teaching of Scripture reveals that we not only have a right, but actually a responsibility, to make judgments about those who are part of the body of Christ. Here’s what Paul wrote about that:
1 Corinthians 5:12–13 ESV
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
Within the church, we are to judge those who are living in open, consistent, unrepentant sin. But even then, we are not to do that based on external appearances, but rather by making an evaluation of their lives based on God’s Word.
• It violates the sovereignty of God (vs. 2-7)
The key point here is found in verse 5 where James asks, “...has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?”
James is clearly stressing the sovereignty of God here. It is God, in His complete sovereignty, who chooses us to be part of his kingdom completely apart from anything that we have done to merit such a great gift. So partiality is a big deal because when we engage in it, we are guilty of violating the sovereignty of God by rejecting those whom He has chosen.
• It violates the law of God (vs. 8-11)
James’ readers were guilty of violating God’s command to love their neighbor as themselves. James calls that command the “royal law” primarily because it is the law that governs the kingdom of God. When Jesus was asked what is the most important command, He replied:
Matthew 22:37–40 ESV
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
So the command to “love our neighbor as ourselves” is also the royal law because it is second only to the command to love God and along with that command, it rules over all the other commands.
For those who were tempted to think that partiality just wasn’t that big of deal, James points out that it is just a bad as the sins of murder or adultery. In some ways it could even be more harmful than those sins because it can be a barrier that keeps people from coming to faith in Jesus and becoming a part of His kingdom.
› Application
HOW TO LOVE EVERYONE EQUALLY
• Remember who I was
We just said that the sin of partiality is just as bad as any other sin. But let’s step back for a moment and take a look at the even bigger picture. We are reminded here that we are all sinners in need of God’s grace. At one time every single one of us were slaves to sin and in need of a Savior. Paul provided this reminder to the church in Ephesus:
Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
At one time every single one of us was dead and we could do nothing to bring ourselves back to life. Like the rest of mankind, we were deserving of God’s wrath. So whenever I’m tempted to judge someone else, I need to remember that without Jesus I am no better than they are. Before I put my faith in Jesus I was in exactly the same boat they were and that is true regardless of how different we might look on the outside.
So I need to constantly remember that I am just as undeserving of the gift of God’s mercy and grace as the most offensive person I know. I need to remember that without God’s gift of salvation I would be just as offensive to God as the homeless man on the corner, or the prostitute, or the drug dealer, or even a lawyer or politician.
• Check my motives
James addresses this in verse 4
James 2:4 ESV
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
He points out that the reason we make distinctions and engage in partiality is because we have evil motives. When we show favoritism based on outward appearances it is almost always motivated by selfishness and the desire for personal gain. In this passage those who welcomed the rich man were looking for him to do something for them, either personally or for their church. Maybe they thought he would give them a well-paying job or invite them over for a nice steak dinner. Or maybe the church needed some new pews or needed to replace a broken air conditioner and they saw someone who might be able to fund those needs.
What is really ironic in this case is that the rich in that culture had often become wealthy by preying on the poor. The same is often true today isn’t it? The very people that we want to impress so that they will do something for us are often the same ones that wouldn’t hesitate to run right over us for their own benefit.
There is a very practical and easy way I can check my motives and it goes back to the idea that I shared the beginning of this message. How do you treat those who can do nothing for you? Do you treat them differently than the people who are in a position to provide you with something you want or need? That is probably a pretty good litmus test of whether or not your motives are right.
• Look at every person through the lens of the gospel
James ends this section with this statement:
James 2:13 ESV
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
The Bible reveals that in his holiness, God is righteous and just. Therefore He must judge people and punish them for their sin. And, as we saw earlier in Ephesians 2, all of us are deserving of God’s wrath.
At the same time God is also merciful and gracious and slow to anger. In our human, finite minds those two ideas seem to be contradictory, but the Scripture reveals clearly that God is characterized by both justice and mercy at the same time.
But the message of the gospel is the triumph of mercy over judgment for those who have trusted in Jesus. Mercy simply means that God chooses to withhold that which we deserve. But that mercy came at a tremendous price – the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus satisfied the requirement for righteous judgment by taking upon Himself the punishment that all of us deserve. I am reminded of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 53:6 ESV
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Knowing that I have received God’s mercy through the operation of the gospel ought to cause me to look at other people the same way that God has looked at me. That means that I have to look beyond the exterior and see each person as someone who God loves and wants to experience His mercy.
I’m going to give you another test that you can use to evaluate how well you’re doing with this principle. When you look at another Christian do you see their faults and shortcomings and sins? Or do you see the blood of Jesus? When you see a lost person, do you see their sinfulness and their behavior? Or do you see someone that Jesus loves so much that He was willing to die for that person?
› Action
We have seen this morning that...
Genuine faith causes you to love everyone equally
Or maybe I could rephrase that idea like this:
Since everybody matters to Jesus, everyone must matter to us.
Last week, we talked about how the idea of being “slow to anger” applies to our approach to the Bible. And frankly this is one of those areas where a lot of us are going to be challenged by what we’ve learned today, because I am pretty sure all of us have been guilty of this sin of partiality somewhere in our walk with Jesus. So we can either choose to build up some deep seated resentment to the light that the Scriptures have shined into our lives today and just go on with our lives or we can choose to humble ourselves and repent.
So as we close today, I’m going to give you some time to reflect on what we’ve learned and to ask God to remind you of any times in your walk with Jesus that you’ve been guilty of this sin of partiality. Perhaps you have even done that towards someone who is sitting in this room with you right now. Maybe you’ve formed judgments about them based on external things like race, or the way they dress or the car they drive, or the music they like or their tattoos or body piercings.
If you haven’t already dealt with what God reveals, then you need to do a few things:
• First you need to confess. There is no question you need to confess that to God. But you might also need to confess that to the person you’ve judged and ask for their forgiveness.
• Second, you need to ask God to help you see that other person through the lens of the gospel. Ask Him to help you understand how much He loves them and how much He desires for them to put their faith in Jesus.
• Third, I want you to pray for that other person. If the person is already a disciple of Jesus, pray that God will bless that person. Maybe God will even provide an opportunity for you to do that face to face with the other person. If that person is not yet a disciple of Jesus, pray for God to draw that person and for them to respond to the gospel and receive God’s mercy and grace.
[Prayer/reflection time]
› Inspiration
Earlier I shared a passage from Ephesians that paints a pretty bleak picture of who we are without Jesus. But as we close I want to encourage you with the words that follow:
Ephesians 2:4–7 ESV
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
That’s what Jesus wants to do for everyone, regardless of what they might appear to be on the outside. Let’s just make sure we don’t get in the way of that by failing to love others equally.
