The Crisis Favoritism Causes
James 2:1-13
October 1, 2006
Evening Service
Introduction
Dodie Gadient, a schoolteacher for thirteen years, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, “Please God, send me an angel . . . preferably one with mechanical experience.”
Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and, without even glancing at Dodie, went to work on the truck. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached
a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the whole 56-foot rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.
The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: “Hell’s Angels – California.” As he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say, “Thanks so much,” and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you’re talking to.” With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared.
Looks can be deceiving. There are times when we believe that Christians have to fit a specific mold or a specific picture that we have created. In reality, often our ideas are based in areas that we have favoritism
A. We Judge People By Their Appearance - Just as the congregation in James 2 judged two visitors by how they looked we often do the same thing.
B. We Judge People By Their Achievements – What has this person accomplished?
C. We Judge People By Their Ancestry - Where did they come from? What is their race? What family are they a part of?
The idea of playing favorites in church seems relatively foreign to us today but it was a major issue when James writes his letter. The issue of favoritism is still alive and well in the church today. We seem to forget the old saying that the ground at the foot of the cross is level.
Favoritism is simply this: favoring one side or party over another. This sounds a great deal like discrimination. It happens in churches all of the time, including this one.
1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If 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,"
I. The reality of favoritism (1-3)
Back in James day, and still today, believers were judging people based on externals. One of the Jewish practices of the day was to put the important people closest to the sacred scrolls. You saw how that evolved over time. You can still go to churches today where you might see anywhere from one or two to half a dozen or more chairs up on the stage. Some of the people sitting in them won’t even have a role in the service but they are given a place of prominence based on their title or position in the church.
James addresses the readers as “my brothers,” reminding us that the problem he is about to discuss is a family concern. When-ever he uses that term he is ready to point out something that needs to be changed in their lives.
The issue is “favoritism.” The literal meaning of this word is “to receive one’s face.” Favoritism, partiality or as it is translated in some versions, “respect of persons” is mentioned several times in the New Testament. But in every other case the subject of the verse is God and it is expressed negatively. “God does not show partiality.”(Acts 10:34) “God is not a respecter of persons.” “God does not receive people by face.” “God does not judge by externals, he judges the heart.” (1 Pet. 1:17)
The sad fact is that we are often quick to pass judgment by various external factors, when we do not know the entire situation. We judge people by the way they dress, the way they look, the vehicle they drive or the kind of house they live in.
There are a number of ways in which favoritism shows up in the church today.
We can favor people based on their gifts and abilities. Who is the most important, the preacher or the sound man? The board member or the Sunday School teacher? The nursery worker or the greeter? The truth is that one is not better than the other, they are just utilizing different gifts.
Break this down. If the preacher is utilizing a spiritual gift of leadership and the power point operator is utilizing a spiritual gift of helps. . .one isn’t better than the other. I would even argue that one is not even more dispensable than the other. If the Sunday School teacher is utilizing a spiritual gift of teaching and the trustee is utilizing a spiritual gift of craftsmanship. . .one isn’t better than the other. Again, I would even argue that one is not more dispensable than the other.
To argue contrary to that would be to suggest that there are parts of the body of Christ that are dispensable or unimportant.
We can show favoritism on the basis of personality, or looks or economic standing. But none of that has any place in the church of Jesus Christ.
I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. 1 Timothy 5:21
James uses an example of wealth in his illustration of favoritism.
Thomas Lea says in the Holman New Testament Commentary that “the word describing the ring of the rich man indicated that he was ‘gold-fingered’ . . . The word ‘fine’ was used to describe the rich man’s clothing, and means ‘sparkling’ or ‘glittering’ . . . The word ‘filthy’ was used to describe the poor man’s clothing, and pictured clothing which was dirty or shabby. The man may have come from work, his clothing stained with the evidence of his labor. The handsome apparel on the rich man earned special treatment for him. The greeter gave him a place of special honor. The soiled clothing of the poor man earned indifference to his comfort or feelings. He received the options of standing in some undesirable place or sitting on the floor near the greeter.”
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Psalm 82:3
When in attendance, then Governor Ronald Reagan and Nancy usually sat in the same seats just off the center about two-thirds of the way into the sanctuary. On this particular morning the governor and his wife were late and by the time they got there, two college students had occupied those seats. An usher came down the aisle and asked the students if they would take different seats off to the side. They moved, and Ron and Nancy Reagan were brought in and seated. To his credit the pastor got up from his place on the platform, walked down and over to the college students and said, ‘As long as I am pastor of this church, that will never happen again.”
The sin was in treating the poor visitor differently. There is a distinction in the way that the two visitors are received, the rich man is received cordially and the poor man is received carelessly if not crudely.
Conclusion
When Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes moved to Washington, D.C. he transferred his membership letter to a Baptist church in the area. It was the custom for all new members to come to the front of the sanctuary at the close of the worship service. The first to be called that morning was Ah Sing, a Chinese laundryman who had moved to the capital from the West coast. He took his place at the far side of the church. As the dozen or so other people were called forward they stood at the opposite side of the church, leaving Ah Sing standing alone. But when Chief Justice Hughes was called, he took his place beside the laundryman. When the minister had welcomed the group into the church fellowship he turned to the congregation and said, "I do not want this congregation to miss this remarkable illustration of the fact that at the cross of Jesus Christ the ground is level."
You see, Jesus doesn’t care about our socioeconomic, geographical, or racial background. He doesn’t care about how many sins we have committed, or how pretty or how ugly we might be. Jesus comes to us just as we are, knocking on the door to our hearts, and then he asks us to receive him into our hearts just as we are.
