Today in our series, we move to chapter James 2 where James, the little brother of Jesus, and the leader of the Jerusalem Church, is going to teach on the sin of favoritism. So let’s think about that word for just a minute…favoritism. The word favoritism actually means to give preferential treatment at the expense to another…and according to James, the preferential treatment is made on the basis of outward appearance. This past week I was at Walgreens and I was intrigued by all the magazines at the check-out counter. And in looking at these magazines, you begin to get a sense of who the world considers beautiful. This week it was obviously all about the Royal Family with pictures of not only the Queen, but Prince William and Princess Cate, Prince Harry and Princess Megan…each splendidly displayed in all their glamour. We’ve recently seen magazine covers with J.Lo and Ben Affleck, Hugh Jackman, Selena Gomez, and even Princess Diana. And these magazine are not JUST about who the world thinks is beautiful. You’ll know who’s in, who’s out, who’s up, and who’s down. You’ll discover whose marriage is on the rocks, which couple is no longer a couple, and so on.
My first thought was, “Do people actually buy these magazines?” And the answer is obviously YES or else the stores wouldn’t waste such valuable real estate. But a glance at any of these magazines, gives testimony to the fact that the world is impressed by outward beauty, money, and all the trappings of earthly power. In fact, that’s exactly the language that Scripture uses when it says that “man looks on the outward appearance…” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Turn with me this morning to James 2, where James is going to give us the test of impartial love (review first 3 tests that help reveal the genuineness of our faith. And we’re going to explore this idea that “man looks on the outward appearance…but God looks at the heart.” And James is going to show us how we tend to make snap judgments based on appearance…and how this is not only dangerous, but that it’s also sinful.
James 2:1-9
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.
James uses the same words to start this paragraph that we saw him use last week – “My brothers…” Once again, we’re reminded that he’s talking to his spiritual family…his brothers and sisters in Christ. Literally, he’s talking to those who have been “justified” (those who have been saved from the penalty of sin) and are in the process of “sanctification” (those who are in the process of becoming more and more like Jesus). And James has a serious challenge to those who are being conformed to the image of Christ, and it’s this—Do not show partiality.
And so as we look at James challenge to HIS church THEN, and OUR church NOW, the first challenge we see is to…
1. CHECK YOUR THEOLOGY – vs 1-4
Let me read verse one from the King James version: "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect to persons." This term—"respect to persons"—in the original language literally means to accept the face. In other words, James is saying, if you’re a person of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will NOT accept people based on the appearance of their face. One translation (Amplified Bible) reads like this: "My fellow believers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of partiality [toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery]."
And so in order to get his churches attention, James uses what would have been a shocking illustration—one pastor (Ray Pritchard) calls this "the strange case of the snooty usher" (and I liked that so much that we’ve titled the sermon as such). The strange case of the snooty usher who gives preference to the rich man when it comes to finding a seat. The teaching space in the early church was probably a covered patio of sorts with a short stone wall around the perimeter. And the stone wall created seats for those with any level of prestige, and everyone else would sit crisscross-apple-sauce on the hard floor. And you can almost picture this usher, stepping all over himself to strut over to the rich man and lead him to the last seat.
Now, here’s the crazy part. In that culture, you could actually rent gold rings and expensive jewelry that you could wear to impress your friends. So imagine the sham that’s taking place here – in struts this stranger dripping in gold chains and diamond earrings, and it was all a big show. And the snooty usher fell for it and tripped all over himself to help this cat find his seat. I love how James is actually borrowing from his big brother Jesus’ storytelling ability…clearly using hyperbole and over-the-top illustrations to drive home the point of how ridiculous it is that someone would fall for and stoop to this level of snobbery. But James says that’s exactly what we do when we judge someone at face value…when someone’s wealth, or good looks, or even their I.Q. becomes the basis of how we treat them.
There was an interesting phenomena that was taking place 10-12 years ago in the Mason/Liberty Twp area. Young pastors from all over were flocking to the area to plant churches. At one point, almost every auditorium or gymnasium or cafeteria of almost every single school in the Lakota & Mason School District, had a church plant using their space. Guys were tripping all over themselves to do outreach in the neighborhoods and school districts with large, expensive homes (funny how that works). It was so awesome (said with sarcasm) to see God moving churches towards those with lots and lots of money while at the same time, very few people were “being called” to the poorer neighborhoods in the surrounding areas of Hamilton, or Middletown, or Franklin.
But praise the Lord for those, like Pastor Michael Callahan (Middletown Mission Campus), and Pastor Eber (Hispanic Congregation), who recognized these trends and, in turn, accepted the call to focus their gospel efforts towards people that have been marginalized in our communities. I think we can call this “Kingdom Math,” where we recognize someone’s value, not based on their socioeconomic class, or the color of their skin, or their I.Q., but based on the fact that they were made in the image of God—Imago Dei.
In some ways, I wonder how impressed we would be if Jesus himself walked into our church. The prophet Isaiah said that “he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Jesus was an ordinary guy from a blue-collar family…and there was nothing about his appearance that was attractive. Would Jesus get one of the good seats, or would he have to sit on the floor? James is saying that we need to check our theology, because favoritism and partiality is not only disrespectful, it is sinful and will lead to judgment, he says later, if left unconfessed.
Here’s the next challenge from this passage…
2. SEE PEOPLE THROUGH THE EYES OF JESUS – vs 5-9
I love these words from the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” I love the aspirational value of these words. Now sadly, hundreds of years later, the tension is that they haven’t always played out to be true. And here’s why – we don’t all have…
• The same background
• The same culture
• The same language
• The same IQ
• The same economic conditions
• The same abilities
And while we continue to sort through these differences to find equality for all, the statement that “all men are created equal” IS actually a true statement. In fact, the Bible teaches us four crucial facts that we can’t ever forget:
1. All people are equally created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27)
2. All are loved by God (John 3:16).
3. All are stained and tainted by sin (Romans 3:23).
4. All are able to be redeemed (Revelation 22:17).
These four facts form the basis of the doctrine of Christian equality.
I think it’s interesting to note that the actual name of Jesus is only mentioned two times in this entire letter…but it’s very likely that within this church, many would have actually known Jesus while he was still ministering on earth (his death was only 14-15 years earlier). And people could probably personally attest to the fact that Jesus’ life gave testimony of these four facts that I just listed. That ALL people, regardless of their background are significant, loved, fallen, but redeemable! I love that Jesus only ever saw two groups of people – those that were saved, and those that were lost.
James very easily could have been thinking specifically of Jesus when he wrote verse 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? Again, James is saying that partiality disregards Kingdom Math. Do we value the outward or the inward?
James was probably thinking about the poor Christians of the first century church who were rich in faith, even though they had little of the world’s goods. You see, when God chooses members of his team, he usually starts with the poor, so he can show what he can do with the people the world considers hopeless. God delights to take drug addicts, prostitutes, broken people, and hurting people of all kinds and redeem them by the blood of Jesus.
Sometimes we get discouraged by the differences in our culture and the difficulty of not always being able to see people through the eyes of Jesus. Here’s the good news…this isn’t unique to us as the early church wrestled with these differences too. In fact, the New Testament repeatedly gives witness, not just to the difference outside the church, but WITHIN the church. Listen to this list of differences within the NT church that constantly led to problems:
• Jews vs. Gentiles
• Greeks vs. non-Greeks
• Rich vs. poor
• Slave vs. free
• Circumcised vs. uncircumcised
• Male vs. female
• Young vs. old
• Vegetarians vs. meat-eaters.
• Sabbath-keepers vs. non-Sabbath-keepers
• Wine drinkers vs. total abstainers
We could probably come up with just as long of a list of differences within the modern church. And why DOES the sin of partiality raise its ugly head in the church? It goes back to what we say over and over. We do what we do, because our heart believes what it believes. And one of the lies that our hearts believe is that those on MY side of the list have value, and those on YOUR side of the list do not. And James says that when we do this, we dishonor (vs 6) those that were made in the very image of God.
As we alluded to earlier, it’s fun to see the connection of how James learned from Jesus how to utilize the power of storytelling. But he also would have witnessed Jesus’ masterful use of the Old Testament Scriptures. We see this on display in verse 8, as James is about to go old school. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. James reached back into the OT for one of God’s laws, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18).
During Jesus’ ministry, Jesus quoted this same passage when he was questioned as to what were the most important commandments. You may remember this exchange in Mark 12. "28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' 29 Jesus answered, 'The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
So why did James refer to this commandment as the Royal Law in verse 8? Because of what Jesus said right there in Mark 12 – “There is no other commandment greater than these” (vs. 31). It’s really that simple. And do you know what it’s called when you treat someone differently than you would treat yourself, simply because they appear different than you? You guessed it – partiality. You may treat them differently because you see them as being ABOVE you in some way and you want to impress them…or you may treat them poorly because you think they have nothing to offer you. But whether you are looking up to them in amazement, or looking down at them condescendingly, you are practicing partiality. You are failing to love your neighbor, because you are treating them based on something external. You are failing to see them through the eyes of Jesus.
And that brings us to the last point that James wants to make, and it’s this…
3. TAKE PREJUDICE SERIOUSLY – vs 10-13
You may have noticed that I just slipped in the word prejudice instead of the word partiality. And here’s why – because when I place value on people on MY side of the list, and remove value from people like YOUR side of the list, this is really the sin of prejudice. It’s a little shocking to hear this word used. And James uses this same degree of shock value to get his church’s attention. Listen as I read the rest of this passage.
James 2:10-13
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.
Partiality is a really bad sin precisely because we don’t think it’s all that bad. We don’t typically put it in the same class as adultery or murder, but that’s exactly what James is doing in these verses. In fact, ANY sin breaks the WHOLE law, according to verse 10. You can’t say, “I didn’t commit murder so it’s okay if I favor the rich over the poor.” Favoritism, partiality, or prejudice (whatever you want to call it) is wrong because you HAVE murdered that “poor” person in your heart when you unfairly judged him.
What James is saying is that we are so blind to the sin of partiality…that we are so blind to the sin of PREJUDICE…that we don’t take it seriously. James uses the rich man/poor man illustration to make his point. But maybe that’s not shocking enough in our culture to totally understand, so let’s make it a little more personal:
• What do we do when encounter someone that votes differently than we do?
• What about someone that agrees differently on moral issues on which we take very strong stands?
• What about somebody that tries to hurt someone we love?
Can I tell you what I’ve observed? These are ALL specific things that I’ve seen in recent months within my circle of Christian friends. And I can give specific examples of how we as Christians have removed value from the people with whom we disagree…how we have removed value from the hurting people that have hurt us. We have dehumanized them, and in many cases have tried to destroy them…the very people that Jesus loved enough to die for. And when that happens, the world rightly accuses us of being hypocrites. And James says that when this happens, even if you keep EVERY SINGLE OTHER PART OF THE LAW, on judgment day, you’ll be lumped in with the murderers and adulterers.
In closing, let me tell you how we get to this point…where we devalue those on the other side of the list (whatever your list looks like). It starts when we begin to think that I’m responsible for where I am in life. That I worked my butt off to get here. I studied hard. I invested wisely. I got up early and went to bed late. I made big sacrifices. I made good choices.
And we forget the lessons from Daniel 2 that God changes the times and the seasons, that God removes and sets in kings in place, that God gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. We forget the lessons from Job that God gives and takes away. We forget the lessons from James 1 that every good gift comes from the Father of Lights. And we forget the lesson of the entire New Testament that while I was dead in my trespasses and sins, God made me alive in Christ (Ephesians 2).
This passage ends in verse 13 with James giving us a good news/bad news picture. He starts with the bad news first. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. But then he gives us the good news. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Every single time, church, mercy triumphs over judgment.
I remember hearing a pastor once tell the following story about a conservative, fundamental church that was operating during the hippie era. Does anyone remember those days? Anybody need to confess anything? But the story goes that a young man with long hair during the Jesus Movement felt God tugging at his heart…and so he did the only thing he knew to do. He went to a church and walked in. He had never been to church so he had no idea what was acceptable and what was not. Since he was totally unchurched, the denominational name of the sign meant nothing to him, and so he had no idea that he was walking into a very uptight, ultra conservative church. He walked into a room filled with people in suits and dresses. In his bellbottoms and bare feet, he walked all the way up to the front of the auditorium, in front of the pulpit, and sat down in the middle of the aisle with his legs crossed. As you can imagine, the service came to a dead silence.
About that time, the most respected and distinguished man in the church, a white-haired deacon in his 80’s, got up out of his seat and everyone thought, “Uh-oh, here it comes.” Without saying a word, he walked up to the young man, lowered his arthritic-riddled frame slowly onto the floor next to the young man, slipped off his wing tipped shoes, and put his arm around him. And he sat there through the entire service…until the very end when the long-haired hippie gave his life to Christ.
What a perfect picture of the gospel. That anybody and everybody who walks through the doors of the church, should be made to feel like a somebody, even if they look like a nobody. Church, let’s commit today to ALWAYS do that.
