Scripture: From the New American Standard Bible James 2: 1-10
1 My brothers, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
3 And you pay special attention o the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
4 Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
5 Listen, my beloved: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
8 If, however, you are fulfilling 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 and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
The sin of partiality – one that we all are guilty of! Studying this scripture brought back so many unpleasant memories for me; even from the time I was a young child I was exposed to this sin, and I committed this sin.
Story – I remember when I was in elementary school. We integrated with African Americans when I was in 3rd grade. My teacher had me to help tutor the black children because she believed that they were slower than the white students. We had three black girls in my 3rd grade class. They got to school late every morning and left early every day – because they had to ride a special bus that went back to get them after everyone else had already gotten to school. I didn’t quite get that since I knew that my bus went right by their house! I had seen them playing out in the yard! I also didn’t understand why I had to help out Cheryl or Elnora. They ended up knowing the answers way before I did and could read just as well as I could! Sarah needed a little help, but so did many of the white kids in my class. I ended up going all through school with those 3 girls. We were friends from the beginning. Elnora was our class Salutatorian at my high school graduation. I knew that she was smarter than I was from the beginning! They dressed like we did, they laughed with us, they studied with us, but I never asked them over to my house for supper. I never had a sleepover at their house. It just wasn’t done. Our society was committing the sin of partiality because of skin color.
My sister was in 1st grade when I was in third. They didn’t have KG back then so this was her first experience of school. She had both black and white students in her class. I remember when she brought home a picture of her best friend. We’d heard her talk about her best friend and all that they did together at school. And then they had the school pictures made and traded one with the other. Her best friend was black. I don’t even remember her name but I do remember that my sister was punished for bringing that picture home and for making friends with that little girl. Oh the sin of partiality that we force on our children.
Don’t play with him – he comes from a bad family.
I don’t want you to hang around those girls – their momma is the town gossip.
We don’t associate with Asians – or Mexicans – or African Americans – because they aren’t like us. Heck, we don’t even associate with white people if they aren’t like us!
This isn’t a new problem! Even in the Greco-Roman culture that the letter of James was written in people were grouped according to status. When you went into an assembly, there was often a meal or you sat and listened to a teacher. Those sitting at the head of the table or at the front had status of some kind. Those standing in the back or sitting on the floor had no status. The further away from the speaker you were, the further away from the head table you were – well, then you really were low on the totem pole!
You could also tell the status of a person by the clothes they wore – kind of like today too! If they had no cloak over their tunic – poor. Or if the cloak was just plain, no color – poor. If they had a cloak and it was purple or red – wealthy. If they wore gold jewelry – wealthy. If they had an entourage with them – wealthy. Status and putting people into groups was a big issue then and it still is now.
Being part of a group isn’t a bad thing. The Israelites were part of a group! They stood out as different from many of the peoples they came into contact with. But God called them to be a light into all the nations. They were called by God to share God with whomever they came into contact with. But they began to see themselves as special and set apart – but not for ministry. We have all been called to share God. We are special and we are set apart – but not to be separated or segregated! But for a high purpose - to bring God and His love to all!
God shows no partiality! And God’s Word tells us that showing partiality is a sin! Both the rich man and the poor man in the text today were created and loved by God. And both deserved to be honored guests at the assembly. The writer also points out that the poor man isn’t the one who drags you to court because you don’t pay your mortgage! The poor man isn’t the one who sues you because you can’t pay your medical bills! The poor man isn’t the one paying starvation wages and not providing medical insurance to droves of part-time people who wished they could work full time. The poor man is the victim of oppression – not the cause of it.
But the rich man – the guy in the suit – he has the real power. He has the power of money and the power of status. This guy can hurt you if he wants. But at the same time, he could possibly pay of the church’s building debt with one check!
So what do we do?
(At this time, a homeless lady (someone I asked to play this) comes slowly toward the pulpit area and comes to stand beside me. She begins to tell me:
Pastor, ___# of people spoke kindly to me this morning.
_____# of people prayed with me when I asked them to.
_____ # of people invited me to worship with them.
I thank her and she departs).
We are all guilty of the sin of partiality. We all need to confess our sin and ask for God’s forgiveness. The altar is opened. Our sin is ever before us. Come, seek and receive the forgiveness that only God can give and then be renewed to go and show partiality no more.
Altar Call …
**Children’s Sermon: Bring a candy bar for all the children, put them in a bowl and show to them. Then tell all that only the ones with blue eyes can have a candy bar. Then go on with a distraction asking, “What kind of candy do you like best?” Talk briefly about candy…then stop suddenly and ask them 1) How they felt when they were the ones who did or did not get candy because of their eye color, and 2) did they feel badly for the others i.e. were they angry, or did they want to share?
The scripture reminds us in James 2 that we are not to have an attitude of favoritism if we are followers of Jesus! We must not treat others differently just because they look different, have different skin color, have different clothes…because all are created and loved by God. Sing “Jesus Loves the Little Children”
