James 2:1-13 The Folly of Favoritism
In
his autobiography, Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the
Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity.
He
believed that in
the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste
system that was dividing the people of India.
So
one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby Christian church and talk
to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary,
however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship
with his own people.
Gandhi left the church and
never returned. Here is what he said: “If Christians have caste differences also I might as
well remain a Hindu.”
That tragic story illustrates the sin that James writes against
in our text.
A) His focus is on the sin of showing favoritism to
the rich and despising the poor, but his words apply to all types of prejudice,
whether it is based on economic status, race, or anything else.
B)
The word prejudice implies that someone looks at one person or shows them his
face, but turns away from another.
RD V.1 →
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
A) Notice
first of all the description that James gives here of his older ½ brother
Our
Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory
B) There are only two references to Jesus
Christ by name in this entire epistle – see also 1:1
C) That is an
amazing description when you consider the fact that James didn’t even become a
believer until after the Resurrection !
D) But after
the REZ James becomes a pillar and leader in the Church
Here he gives this wonderful Description of Christ – Our
Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory
A) The
description serves as a fitting contrast to the topic James is discussing in
this section
B) The Lord of Glory describes all that is honorable, all
that is right, all that is majestic / special
C) Now that
and partiality or prejudice, discrimination – don’t go together
D) Can’t hold
on to Christ w/ one had and partiality with another
1) Two mutually exclusive currents – They don’t fit!
Football linemen and Ballet – Doesn’t fit
Sardines and
Hotfudge Sundays
Eggs on Pizza
Jesus the Lord
of Glory and Partiality Discrimination and Prejudice really have no place
together
James is clear, faith in
Christ & partiality are incompatible!
Break down this section in this way:
V 2-4 The
Problem is illustrated
V 5-7 Seeing
People the way that God does.
V 8-11 Seeing
the Problem the way that God does
V 12-13 Seeing the Possibilities the way that God does
Start with The
Problem is illustrated
2
For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine
apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you
pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit
here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand
there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 4 have you not shown
partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
The
scene is of a congregation gathering for worship when two different men walk
into the service.
A) Rich guy and a Poor guy –
RG – Fine Clothes { Fine = bright attractive
B) PG = filthy clothes {
old, dirty unattractive
C)) RG = Gold rings – Bling
bling on !
D) RG get to sit / PG gets
to stand
RG gets shown a Seat –PG gets shown the floor
E) RG
is given Prefferential treatment – PG is treated like he doesn’t even
exist.
Notice
in v.4 James says by doing that they show themselves to be Judges with evil
motives
AA) Part of the problem with
this type of behavior is we basically separated pp into two groups: The cans
and the cannots
A) Here is what I mean – it
is easy in this situation for those Church leaders to look at the rich guy –
CAN
B) He can bring influence –
He can give – He can bring others - - leader people follow
1) So we are interested in
him
Cc) Does this happen today?
C)
I know of a man who is very wealthy – Several times he has given to a non profit
organization
1) After giving a large gift
– he was asked to join their board
D) What is sad about that is
the groups really didn’t know anything about him – saved / good guy –
1) Asked to be on the board
for one reason – He can give a lot.
E) James says: Those are evil motives – not right
What
is equally bad is when we look at another individual – label him a cannot
A) No resources / no
influence / no perceived leadership skills –they get labeled a cannot
B) They get ignored because they cannot bring anything to the
table –
1) Such discrimination is
Evil -
Jesus Knew all about Discrimination:
A) He was the
kid who was accussed of being illegitimate
B) He was
considered to be from the wrong side of the tracks – Nazareth
C) He was
thought to be uneducated – because he didn’t study in “their schools”
He knew all about Discrimination- but he didn’t discriminate at all
A) He reached
out to Jews and Gentiles alike
Rich and
poor
B) Men and
Women – Young and old
C) The
religious and the rebellious – heart for all of them.
D) That leads
us to consider #2 We need to see people the way that God does. Verses 5-7
5
Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen 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. Do not the rich oppress you and drag
you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are
called?
Now the first thing we need to make clear here is that in v.5-6a
James is not saying that all poor pp are saved
A)Nor is he
saying in V.6b-7 that all rich pp are lost !
B) What he is
saying is things are not always what they appear to be.
C) When
describing the poor he is describing the rich poor. –
1) V.5 He says
that they are rich in faith
It is true that those who are often disadvantaged in the
eyes of the world – can have a tremendous spiritual advantage
A) Sometimes
those who have great physical advantages – can be spiritually disadvantaged
B) Example:
Which person is going to be more inclined to pray fervently for a miracle when
there is a health issue in their family
C) The poor
person who doesn’t have insurance, who can’t afford to go to the doctor
1) Or the Rich guy who has insurance or even could
just write a Check to cover any medical expenses
D) Those who
have less – often are those – who have more in the
way of faith
1) James
refers to them as the Heirs of the Kingdom – they just seem to know – all that
Jesus has for them
They can be some of the most exciting Christians to be
around – because their God is so big –
A) They truly
believe that God can do anything – there is nothing that is outside the realm
of their prayer possibility
B) Nothing is
too small to pray for – nothing is too big to pray for -
1) They
experience miracles often – big & small
C) They are often pp who are so heavenly minded and kingdom
focused – because they have so little in this life to be worried about
D) For them it
is easy to believe and to live and to look forward to the fact – that the best
is yet to come
So He is
describing the Poor who are rich.
But He is also describing the Rich who are really poor
{Laodecia – you say …./ I say……
A) Sometimes
those who are rich – more well off – can lack faith – pray little –
B) Easy for
them to write a Check – if God doesn’t come thru – they still have options
C) Sometimes
it is hard for them to really focus on heaven – because things are pretty good
here
Now I believe that James had a specific group of rich pp in
mind here.
A) In his day
– Religious rich – called the Sanhedrin
71 members,
the religious ruling class
B) Most were
Saducees who didn’t believe in Rez – lived primarily for this life
C) They
oppressed the poor – took advantage of the poor
D) They were some of the very ones who controlled the temple
Swap meet in Jesus’ day
1) Recall –
Jesus drove out the money changers
E) Some of the
leaders in the Sanhedrin were behind that.
Pt is we need to see pp the way that God does –
Remember what God spoke to Samuel – Man looks on the outward
…….God looks at the heart
A) Sometimes
those who are poor – spiritually very rich - No spiritual disadvantage at all
B) On the
other hand those who are worldly rich can be at a tremendous spiritual disadvantage.
C) Now the 3rd
thing we want to see is the Problem the way that God does: Verses 8-11
James 2:8-11
8
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall
love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality,
you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11
For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not
murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have
become a transgressor of the law.
“James sees the law as a seamless garment which, when ripped
in one place, tears the whole garment.”
A) This doesn’t mean we’ve committed every
individual sin mentioned in the Law, but that we’ve broken the “seamless
garment of the whole law!”
B) Now in
Matt 22:36 Jesus was asked the question
36
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
37
Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.' 40 On these two commandments
hang all the Law and the Prophets."
C) This was
sometimes referred to as the great commandment – here – the Royal law
1) Royal
because it is given by the King of kings – and it is the King of all the laws
Luke10 We read of another time when Lawyer asks Jesus how to
inherit eternal life- Jesus responded by asking him, well, what are the
commandments?
A) The Lawyer
quoted these two – Love God with.. And
Love your neighbor as yourself
B) Jesus
replied, you have answered well, do this & live –
1) But then the Lawyer asked – well, who is my
neighbor?
C) Which led Jesus to tell the story of the good Samaritan
1) After
hearing the story we realize that the Lawyer was asking the wrong question
D) The right
question is not who is my neighbor – but who can I be a neighbor to
1) Answer is
anyone who has a need. Anyone that God puts in my path
E) Pt is from
God’s pt of view when we show partiality we are not being a neighbor at all
1) We are
breaking the royal law – which means we are sinning.
2) Not just
poor ediquete or bad manners – Sin!
What is really wild is the sins that James compares it to
Adultery and Murder.
A) Now does he
compare it to these two for shock value –show that God considers this a big
deal ?
B) Possible –
but I believe the reason the HS inspires James to compare it to these two sins
is deeper.
C): Adultery
is the ultimate betrayal – ultimate break of trust
1) When we
show partiality against someone that God loves –
D) Someone Christ died for – God chose – we are betraying
God
1) In the same
way that a person who says I love you and then commits adultery – betrays that
love
Murder: Is the ultimate disregard for others!
A) What we are
doing when we show partiality is we are taking a life that God deems as
valuable and saying it isn’t valuable at all.
B) This person
matters – but this person doesn’t
C) I wonder
how many others like Ghandi have had their potential
faith murdered – by discrimination
1) Who will
never come to Church – because they or someone they know were slighted
D) I think it
is possible that the HS inspires James to use these two examples to illustrate
that partiality has a similar effect on God and upon Man
The Problem that James deals with is Rich and Poor
But what are some of the other ways we can be guilty of
showing partiality?
A) Whenever we
ignore or marginalize someone:
B) Because
they are unattractive/
1) They are
old – we are young – vice versa
2) Not cool
3) Over weight
4) Race 5) Divorced – Mike Nelson
C) Whenever we do that – Breaks God’s heart –
It can destroy a life – and it is sin
D) That is how
we need to see the Problem the way that God does.
#4 We need to see the possibilities the way that God
does! Read verses 12-13
12
So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For
judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs
over judgment.
Now remember that one of the major themes in the book of
James is that true faith shows itself in actions
A) James is
illustrating that point again here in this section tackling the problem of
partiality
B) He begins
in v.1 by stating how Jesus the Lord of glory and partiality don’t mix
{Mutually exclusive
C) He
continues here in these verses basically illustrating – one who has been
touched by mercy will be merciful.
D) Notice how
the NLT renders these verses
12
So whenever you speak, or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by
the law of love, the law that set you free. 13 For there will be no mercy for
you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful,
then God's mercy toward you will win out over His judgment against you.
Remember when Jesus told the story about the man who owed
the king a great debt – to illustrate will call it a debt of 200K
A) Begs and
pleads – the King showed him mercy and forgave his debt
B) But then
that same man goes out and finds another man who owed him a debt of 2,000
1) The man who
was just forgiven his huge debt demands that this guy pay him
C) The man
pleads for mercy/ asks for more time
1) No way – he
has him thrown in prison
D) When the
king hears about it he is furious – this man was ungrateful about the mercy the
king had shown him
That is the pt – if we don’t realize the mercy we have been
shown – not grateful for it
A) We are going
to be less likely to show mercy to others!
B) We are
going to be more demanding, less gracious
C)I think one
of the biggest potential problems in the Church today is: We who have been
saved for a while can forget what it is like to be lost
D) We learn
Christianeeze – talk the talk
1) We hang
with Christian friends
E)And there is a good shift that happens in our hearts –Like
God, we start to hate sin!
1) Things we
used to love – now we loathe and that is a good thing
But what is not a good thing and is not like God at all In our hating of sin we can start to loathe
the sinner
A) God loathes
sin / but loves the sinner
B) We can make
the tragic mistake of loathing both
1) The very pp
that God wants to touch – we disdain
C) The very pp
we should reach out to we recoil from
D) What we
need to see are the possibilities that God sees –
1) These are
people who need to be shown the same mercy that has been shown to us.
PT. is when you truly realize that you have been touched by
God’s mercy –
A) THERE IS NO
ROOM FOR PARTIALITY
B) The
Possibilities are: We are all recipients of God’s mercy –
C) Regardless of Status/ race/ age/ gender – whatever
The mercy of
God is available to all
D) Possibility
becomes that every person I encounter has the potential to be won by the love
of God
Listen, you’re here today and don’t know Christ:
A) Great news
for you – God doesn’t show partiality
B) If you turn
to Him – He will not give you the cold shoulder – not
play hard to get
1) He is not
be stand offish or aloof
C) He will not
be reserved – No He is ready to lavish upon you grace and mercy and love
1) Forgiveness
/2) Freedom from Guilt
D)
He wants to bless you – Beyond belief – Just turn to Him today!
1) Admit you are a sinner – you need mercy – He will
meet you today
Close with this thought: Church – Disneyland is called the happiest place on earth{ really isn’t
A) Church
should be called CCV – Most loving place on earth
B) Most
forgiving / most gracious / most understanding
C)We who have
been touched by the Lord of Glory – lets glorify Him in how we treat others – Amen !