Showing Faith In Our Relationships

Today let's ask if our faith shows through in the relationships that we have. When we talk about relationships, racism and prejudice enter the scene. And unfortunately, racism and prejudice can be found in most any church setting.

Racism and prejudice are far more common than they should be among those who agree that all are created equal. Of course, we can be prejudice in more ways than with just skin color. Whether the distinctions we make are racial, socioeconomic, religious, or political, we often treat people differently because they are different than us or cannot do something for us. In James's writings, he pointed to a better way. He taught that we should treat everyone the same. And isn't that true? Prayer.

*****

Let me share a true story with you. There is a man that serves as a church consultant to help and assist churches. On occasion, he would ask some of his friends to visit a church and let him know their perception.

In one particular case, he had two of his friends visit a church. The two people had extremely different experiences at the same church on the same day. One was warmly welcomed, given some materials, and introduced to the senior pastor. The other sat alone without any interaction from anyone. Now it could just be a coincidence, but the guest who was given the warm welcome happened to be of the same race as most of the attenders of that church. The other individual was not. The church appeared to play favorites based on outward appearances, which is a clear violation of the principle in James's writings.

We should know and understand the rights and wrongs of prejudice. But evidently this is a problem that God anticipated when He had James write about it. Let's begin our message today in James 2.

James 2:1-4 – “My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 2 For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, 3 if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” 4 haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

These verses are telling us that we should refuse the temptation to judge others based on outward appearances. James clearly says do not show favoritism. Then he gave an example that his initial readers could easily relate to - and it's an example that translates very well into our culture today.

In James's case, believers were gathering for a meeting and two guests arrived. Apparently, they were new to the meeting because they needed help knowing where they should sit. Their newness was not the only thing that made them stand out. Neither of them conformed to the normal socio-economic standing of everyone else. One was outstandingly rich; the other was desperately poor.

The rich man's wealth was obvious. He had a gold ring on his finger and that could have been a sign of great authority, like a signet ring that officials used to seal important documents, or perhaps it symbolized social standing. He was dressed in fine clothes.

In contrast, the poor man was desperately needy. His clothes brought as much attention, maybe even more likely, he didn't even own a change of clothes or a means to wash the one garment he owned.

The distinction between these two men may have been obvious, but it is not our place to shine a light on those distinctions. When we do so, James asked us, “Do we not become judges with evil thoughts?” So, we are clearly told not to show favoritism as we hold on to our faith in Jesus Christ.

If our faith is on display in our relationships, then we won't play favorites based on outward appearances or any other reason. Racism and every other kind of discrimination are sins. They occur when we don't take full possession of our faith.

We need to hold on to our faith just like we would hold on to the handles of a speeding roller coaster. We should cling even tighter to our faith when we're tempted to discriminate. Living without playing favorites requires us to maintain our faith as we continue looking to and relying on God.

And please don't think that you are not guilty of this. Over the almost 28 years that I have been here, from time to time I have seen the expressions on people's faces when someone different enters the room. So yes, we are not innocent when it comes to our discrimination.