Let’s Put away Partiality
FAVORITISM
There’s a wonderful story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment. The Boston investment house could not say enough about the young man. His father, they wrote, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowell. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and other of Boston’s first families. His recommendation was given without hesitation. Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: "We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work." Neither is God a respecter of persons but accepts those from every family, nation, and race who fear Him and work for His kingdom (Acts 10:34-35). Kathleen Peterson.
God’s warning against partiality or favoritism is strong.
Three warnings:
Showing partiality is sin; it violates the royal law of love (James 2:8-9).
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: [9] But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. James 2:8-9
The great law of God is the law of love:
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18; cp. Luke 10:29-37).
How important is this law?
It is said to be the great “royal law according to the Scripture.”
It is royal because:
a. It is the royal law of God’s kingdom. It was given by God Himself and reinforced by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He came to earth.
“And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39; cp. Luke 10:25-27).
b. It is the great law that embraces or includes all other laws. That is, if a person loves God and loves his neighbor as himself, he will automatically be obeying all the other laws.
“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31).
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8-10).
c. It is the very commandment that leads to eternal life.
“And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:27-28).
“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23).
“Beloved, let us love one other: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another. God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:7-12).
“And we have known and believed the love that God to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
The point is that we believers are to love people, not show partiality, discriminating against some. Showing partiality is sin and it makes us a transgressor of the law.
Showing partiality makes a person guilty of the whole law of God (James 2:10).
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James 2:10
How is this possible? How can a person be guilty of all the law if he breaks only one law?
Men follow God or else they do not, no door #3.
We can’t throw away the words of God that we don’t like, as many Religious denominations and individuals do today.
Gods complete word and law are given by God. They form a whole pattern, a complete style of life. They are all necessary to point one in the right direction and toward the right goal.
Simply stated, if a person breaks one law, we violate the law of God, the whole package of God’s law.
In doing so we stand as a transgressor before God and must be forgiven by God just as much as any other transgressor.
This is significant for us to notice and heed, for it means...
· we cannot pick and choose what laws we will keep and what laws we will violate.
· we cannot build up a merit system with God by keeping most of the laws and be allowed to break a few of the laws.
· we cannot become more acceptable to God because we keep most of the laws and break only a few.
· we are more righteous than other people because we keep more laws than they do and break fewer of what men call the more meaningful laws.
You see when we show partiality we become a terrible law-breaker, the most serious offender imaginable.
Þ We are guilty of breaking the great royal law of God, the law of love, the very basic law of God’s kingdom.
Þ We are guilty of breaking all the laws of God. We stand as guilty as the the most base transgressor of God’s holy law, and we are just as liable and subject to punishment as any other transgressor.
“He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he” (Proverbs 14:21).
“The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men” (Proverbs 24:9).
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4).
“All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17).
Showing partiality is just as serious a sin as adultery and killing (James 2:11).
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. James 2:11
Just as serious as adultery and killing?
Partiality selects and favors one person over another.
It ignores and neglects a person.
It casts one into oblivion,
wipes one out;
treats one as though he is nothing, absent, or non-existent.
So, it is comparable to murder. It is the same root, the same cause, the same selfishness, the same lust, the same sin as killing.
We are not to show partiality or favoritism to anyone. We are to love all people no matter their social standing or wealth.
“Let love be without dissimulation [hypocrisy]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Romans 12:9).
“Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification” (Romans 15:1-2).
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14).
“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8).
Why Shouldn’t we show Favoritism
There are two things that should stir us to love and care for all people, showing no favoritism whatsoever.
We shall face the judgment of God.
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. James 2:12
We should speak and act like people who will stand before God and give account for what we have done.
We should speak love and kindness to all people.
We should do or show love and kindness to all people.
Who a person is—his social standing and wealth, clothing and appearance—are to have no effect upon us whatsoever. We are to receive people, actually reach out to them through our speech and behavior, no matter who they are. God is going to judge us on the basis of how we have loved and reached out to people, regardless of who they are.
“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day” (2 Thes. 1:7-10).
“And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day” (Deut. 11:28).
We will receive a reciprocal reward for our behavior.
God will treat us exactly as we have treated others.
If we have shown mercy, He will show mercy; if we have not shown mercy, then He will not show mercy to us.
Only one thing will rejoice victoriously over judgment mercy.
The judgment of God is going to swoop down and consume a person who has not shown mercy. Our only hope against the burning fire of God’s judgment is mercy. Therefore, we must be merciful in order to escape the terrible judgment of God.
“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:1-2).
“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35).
So let’s put away partiality today in order that we may do what is that “Good and Perfect” will of God in our process of “Go ye therefore”…
