Pride and Prejudice - James 2:1- 13
Thesis: The church team needs to ruthlessly root out the disease of pride and prejudice in its body because it is infecting others and they are dieing. We therefore need to create a vaccine that will stop the spread of these deadly plagues. The vaccine was created by the Lord and all we need to do is use the vaccine of Love.
Opening movie illustration from Remember The Titans.
This clip reminds us how important it is not to discriminate against others whether it is based on race, social status, money, power or the like. We need to treat each other with respect or we all lose.
Text: James 2:1-13:
1My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don¡¦t show favoritism. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If 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, 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right. 9But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11For he who said, ¡§Do not commit adultery, also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Illustration: The four hats sermon illustration from Bore No More page 49. The point of this illustration is to remind us that God wants us to love and honor everyone not just the rich or prestigious but everyone equally and a like.
Side Note about the series: Archeology discovery confirming James as Jesus Brother found just recently. KTIS talked about it.
Introduction:
I like what Jesse Duplantis says about pride and prejudice, he says that we were all made of dirt, that there’s white dirt, red dirt, yellow dirt, brown dirt, and black dirt, so we all came from the same place, we’re dirt. We would think that it crazy if we saw one clump of dirt telling another clump of dirt" I’m better than you are. "That is exactly what we do, when we tell someone who’s not the same color that we are, I’m better than you, or I’m so different than you that we can¡¦t associate with each other. We’re all just dirt and no matter what color dirt we are, we’re still just dirt.
I recall the times in my own life when I encountered the disease of pride and prejudice.
The person who led me to Jesus was an African American brother. I ended up attending his church which was a African American Pentecostal Church. Wow was it different from White Catholic Church I had known growing up. When I started attending the church I felt warmly embraced by all the brothers and sisters.
But I do recall times when I came in contact with the diseases of Pride and Prejudice. I became infected by the disease when my parents threw me out of the house because I started dating an African American Girl. I came home one day and my stuff was packed in my brother’s truck and I was told to leave.
I ran into the disease again one day in North Mpls. when a bunch of black guys told my girl friend Violet who was African American that light and dark don’t mix and that girl was to stay away from me. I came in contact with the disease again in my church one day when one of the brothers informed me that you we were instructed in the Bible that you were not to marry outside your race. I went to Pastor Nate and he instructed me that the brother was wrong. I once again ran into the disease by a sister when she made this comment, "Mike’s not white he is black on the inside and just white on the outside." I know she meant it as a compliment but the thought that I was not really white but really black. The truth is I am a Christian.
In my life I have encountered these two diseases over and over. It happened this week with one of the guys from Chicago who came with Danny this week. He encountered this hideous virus of death. The sad fact is I have come in contact with this disease in the church and out of the church. This should never happen because
"God is no respecter of person!" And James in our text tells us that our faith is to have an action attached to it and that action is to be LOVE Driven Deeds towards all people.
T.S.- We are never to allow favoritism to cloud our view of others especially in the church.
I. How does this disease work its way into a person¡¦s heart and into a team.
a. It uses the infectious method of deception and distortion of the mind.
i. It warps the common sense of people by messing up their minds.
ii. The Word tells us about the world’s blindness.
1. Note especially II Cor. 4:1-4:
a. 1Therefore, since through God¡¦s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man¡¦s conscience in the sight of God. 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The 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, who is the image of God. 5For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
b. The world is once again blinded in seeing the truth about what is right and wrong for Example: Note the comparison charts of the one struggle.
c. Information from charts taken from J.C. Willke’s book ABORTION AND SLAVERY: Slavery Dred -- Scott 1857-- 7-2 Decision.
i. THE RULING
1. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that black people were not legal persons. They were the property of the owner.
ii. RESPONSE TO DECISIONS
1. The response of the Abolitionists was, "The ruling was outrageous", they said it was immoral and discriminated against an entire class of living Americans solely on the basis of skin color.
iii. DEHUMANIZATION
1. Courts ruled that a slave was biologically inferior and only considered three-fifths of a person.
iv. ECONOMICS
1. Why keep slaves? Money is the bottom line. Slaves’ worth - money on plantation and also tax revenue for government.
v. RESPONSES BY CHURCH
1. "It is shocking public policy to permit men to commit adultery and then enslave their own children, and a strange doctrine of the Christian Church that forbids ministries to condemn sin simply because it is authorized by the government." (Barrow)
b. People have allowed these diseases to infect their minds and distort the truth about reality. The result is a mindset that shows a lack of respect for others.
i. A man called the church and asked if he could speak to the Head Hog at the Trough. The secretary said, "Who?" The man replied, "I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!" Sure that she had heard correctly, the secretary said, "Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will have to treat him with more respect and ask for ’the reverend’ or ’the pastor’. But certainly you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!" The man responded, "I see. Well, I have $10,000 I was thinking about donating to the building fund." The secretary exclaimed, "Oh my, hold the line, I think the big pig just walked through the door!"
1. I was born to a woman I never knew and raised by another who took in orphans. I do not know my background, my lineage, my biological or cultural heritage. But when I meet someone new, I treat them with respect. For after all, they could be my people. --James Michener
ii. James tells us clearly and plainly Not to show favoritism to others.
1. We are not to discriminate.
2. We are not to be a racist.
3. We are not to put others down based on sex, social status, or economics.
iii. People are longing for respect and acceptance everywhere in our country but few show it toward others.
1. The next time you go to the zoo, notice where the lines are longest and people take the most time in front of the cage. We tend to walk briskly past the deer and the antelope, with only a passing glance at their graceful beauty. If we have children, we may pause to enjoy the antics of the seals and the monkeys. But we find ourselves irresistibly drawn to the lions, the tigers, the elephants, the gorillas. Why? I suspect that without realizing or understanding it, we are strangely reassured at seeing creatures bigger or stronger than ourselves. It gives us the message, at once humbling and comforting, that we are not the ultimate power. Our souls are so starved for that sense of awe, that encounter with grandeur which helps to remind us of our real place in the universe, that if we can’t get it in church, we will search for it and find it someplace else. --Harold Kushner, Who Needs God.
2. Rev. Magazine notes this "Rudeness Rules"
a. The rude service you received from your local store’s sales clerks isn’t anything personal against you-they’re rude to everyone. Eighty percent of Americans say the lack of courtesy they’re experiencing is a serious problem. Almost half of the more than 2,000 people surveyed by Public Agenda said they’re walked out of a store in the last year because of bad service, 56% are bothered by the use of vulgar language in public, and 66% are very disturbed by reckless drivers. Yet while bad manners seem to get on people’s nerves, it doesn’t stop them from acting the same way-41% of those surveyed admitted they’ve been disrespectful of others themselves. The one bright spot is that most of those surveyed said Americans are becoming more polite to minorities and people with disabilities. It’s a start (94).
b. But we need to make sure that within the walls of this church that we show no favoritism or discrimination toward anyone.
c. The Bible is very clear on what happens when one person in the Body of the Lord decides to discriminate against another.
i. Numbers Chapter 12 shows us what happened to Miriam and Aaron when they criticize and discriminated against Moses choice of an Ethiopian wife.
1. How did the Lord respond?
2. Lets look at Numbers 12:1-16: 1Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked.Hasn’t he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this. 3(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) 4At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, "Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you." So the three of them came out. 5Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6he said, "Listen to my words: When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" 9The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.10When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam¡Xleprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11and he said to Moses, ¡§Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away." 13So Moses cried out to the LORD, "O God, please heal her!" 14The LORD replied to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back." 15So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.16After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.
a. Notice what disease God placed on Miriam?
i. Leprosy!
1. The Story behind the incident. Leprosy in the Jewish setting of the time came with grave consequences. If you had Leprosy you were banished out of society because of the disease.
2. This disease was contagious so those who were infected with it were discriminated against for their condition.
3. Those found with a certain type of Leprosy were called unclean and removed from the others so that others were not contaminated.
a. Thought could God have placed leprosy on her to teach her a lesson on what it feels like to be discriminated against like she was doing to Moses wife?
i. Remember she experienced this disease for 7 days outside the camp. This is a good lesson for those who like to put others down. Put them in the place of the one being discriminated against.
b. Could it be if Moses did not intercede for her she could have received a disease to get her out of the camp because the disease she had was more dangerous than the leprosy?
ii. Jonah also was affected by this disease and his story is recorded for us in Jonah 3:10-4:4: 10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. 1But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
1. Jonah the prophet of the Lord was mad at God because God is no respecter of persons! He loves everyone and desires that everyone would come to Him!
a. God will use various means to wake us up if we fall prey to the disease of pride and prejudice.
i. He may use a whale, a storm, a disease or place you in a position to see what it feels like.
2. But many times the church people get in the way of the Lord but the Lord has a way of helping us see the error of our way!
a. God has provided us an antidote to the diseases of pride prejudice and discrimination it’s called Love.
b. Jesus showed us how to use it. Stretch out your arms and die to your self so someone else may live.
T.S. - The disease of pride-prejudice and discrimination toward others needs to be rooted out of the Christian team and we need to get the vaccine of love injected into our veins to keep out the these deadly diseases.
II. The Christian needs to have the vaccination of Love in their veins and this vaccine is the key to eliminating this disease from the face of the earth and out of the church.
a. Loving others is the key to being who Christ wants us to be.
i. We are instructed to Love others as we love ourselves!
1. James tells us, "Love your neighbor as yourself!"
a. This is the right thing to do!
2. Have you ever noticed individuals who just love themselves.
a. They are always kissing their muscles.
b. Staring in the mirror.
c. Boasting about all their accomplishments
d. Stroking their own chains
e. Letting their Ego rule their lives.
f. They are great at telling others how great they are.
g. They are always focused on themselves.
h. Life revolves around "ME!"
i. And there whole life centers on themselves but never on others. This is the wrong way to live!
3. We are told to not be like this but to love others as ourselves. We are not to show favoritism (discrimination) to those that we think we can benefit from.
a. We are not to cater to the rich or wealthy we are to treat all people the same. We are to treat everyone equally. With dignity and respect! That is the way of God and the right way to live.
b. What does love look like?
i. II Thess 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God¡¦s love and Christ’s perseverance.
ii. I John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
iii. Psalm 63:3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
iv. Psalm 57:10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
v. Proverbs 21:21 He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
vi. I Cor. 16:14 Do everything in love.
vii. Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
viii. I Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
c. The choice to love is up to you!
i. ..."Love is not blind--it sees more, not less. But because it sees more, it is willing to see less." --Rabbi Julius Gordon
1. When love is surging through our veins it’s amazing at what happens to the senses. When love is injected it helps us to really see for the first time. It should effect our perception of others.
2. It not only should affect our eyesight but it should affect our tongues as well.
a. Sometimes the simplest things we say convey the strongest messages to loved ones, says Boston marriage and family therapist Ellen Dunn, Ph.D. Some of these powerful words and phrases are: Nice going! - Terrific! - I’m proud of you! - Wow! - Way to go! - I really appreciate your help. - You’re the best! - Awesome! - Great job! - I know you can do it! - Most excellent! - Couldn’t have done it better myself!
3. Quote: "If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in others happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know." --Harold S. Kushner
ii. Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. "--Franklin P. Jones in Quote Magazine.
iii. Leadership magazine’s illustration:
1. Lee Iacocca once asked legendary football coach Vince Lombardi what it took to make a winning team. The book Iacocca records Lombardi’s answer;
a. There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: if your going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and be saying to himself: If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his. "The difference between mediocrity and greatness!", Lombardi said that night, "Is feeling these guys have each other." In the healthy church, each Christian learns to care for others. As we take seriously Jesus’ command to "Love one another," we contribute to a winning team. (Christopher Stinnet)
Conclusion:
Mercy always triumphs over the diseases of pride- prejudice- and discrimination because mercy is the stronger force. This force is supported by the creator of the Universe and therefore it is what will be standing in the end. So either we vaccinate ourselves against it today or we end up being infected by it. If we allow it to infect us because we refuse the vaccine of love it will distort our perception of truth. It will affect us in the future and who knows maybe the Lord will allow you to get leprosy so you get a wake up call which will save your life.
