I am sure many of us have heard the quote of Gandhi who said, ““I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” It is a quote that came out of a time in Gandhi’s life when he was searching spiritually.
Gandhi grew up in a caste system in India and a caste system is established by birth that you can’t change your position in life, so one Sunday morning Gandhi went to the local church to explore the claims of Jesus and the greeter at the door stopped him and said, “You should worship with your own people.”
Perhaps all of us this morning can resonate with that quote on some level? Perhaps all of us have had moments in life where we have felt judged unfairly? Perhaps we have memories of middle school when we were left out of a circle of friends based on our outward appearances?
This morning God’s Word is going to speak to the importance of our attitude and compassion toward others. Specifically, we are going to see three sub-points this morning; 1. The Face of Favoritism. 2. The Failure of Favoritism. 3. The Mercy of God. Let’s look at our first sub-point; 1. The Face of Favoritism.
- The Face of Favoritism.
James 2:1, 1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
Verse 1 starts off with “my brethren” and again, James reminds us that God’s Word is “my brethren.” God’s Word is relational. God’s Word is personal. God’s Word is not against us, but for us, and God’s Word reminds us that we are not alone.
When we are in Christ we are “brethren.” We are brothers and sisters. We are living in a day where people are searching for unity, acceptance, and equality, and it is only in Jesus where every socio-economic and spiritual barrier is removed so that we become “my brethren.”
In addition, the language “personal favoritism” in the original language is describing a people who were persuaded by outward appearances. The phrase “personal favoritism” is literally someone who is showing favoritism according to their face, which is what leads James to introduce the illustration in verses 2-4. Let’s look at verses 2-4:
James 2:2-4, “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 to 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, Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”
In the context of the passage there is a man who walks into their gathering of worship, and he is outwardly impressive. He is dripping with style and fashion and as a result he receives special attention.
In contrast another man walks in the room who is poor, dressed in shabby clothes, maybe has an odor. The word “dirty” in verse 2 is not only a connotation of poverty but also a connotation of immorality so that people might see characteristics of their lifestyle and as a result they were avoiding him. Favoritism!
Now, it’s possible in our day that we might say to ourselves, “Oh, I would never do such a thing.” I am a friend to all people in Austin. I have been through training at work about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion! I am an educated person! I would never!
But let us not move through the illustration too quickly. Have not all of us had moments where we have seen someone walking our way and we have turned to go the other direction?
Perhaps we aren’t showing favoritism because of someone’s wealth, but I think we can all admit that we are guilty of favoritism. Maybe we drift toward people with a similar type of hobbies / interests? Maybe we drift toward people with a similar stage of life? After all people with kids just get along better with other people with kids. It’s favoritism!
Our culture is so confused on this subject right now that we actually do the reverse of this illustration. We look down on the rich. We mock the capitalist. We assume the wealthy person must have done something shady, and for the poor we excuse any personal responsibility.
That’s not the answer. That’s not what scripture teaches. Listen to me, there is a theology in our culture today called Liberation Theology that reduces the life of Jesus to elevating the poor, but God’s Word is against any partiality or favoritism, rich or poor, black or white, young or old.
Now I am confident our church family in Austin can grow in this area, but I do want to brag on God’s grace in our church family in Austin a little. God’s Word is about to punch us in the face, so let me encourage you just a little.
In general, this challenge is a strength for our church family in Austin, TX. Most churches in the United States are filled with people who look alike, talk alike, educated alike, and by God’s grace we do have some diversity.
We have some financial diversity, educational diversity, different age groups, and some ethnic diversity. I think I am the only Native American in our church family in Austin, but we have some ethnic diversity.
Which means all of us walked into our church family as a visitor at some point, didn’t see a room of people who looked just like us, and we stayed. That’s a big deal! Praise God! We need to celebrate when we can. Let’s talk about our second sub-point; 2. The Failure of Favoritism.
- The Failure of Favoritism.
I am sure we all like to think of ourselves as inviting and accepting, but this challenge is deeply imbedded in our culture.
Even on the singing show called the Voice, the whole premise of the show is built around the idea that outward appearances shouldn’t matter, but there are times the chair spins around and when they see a young attractive person they start jumping up and down in their chairs because they are thinking “This is going to be great.” It’s favoritism! Look at verses 5-7:
James 2:5-7, “5 Listen, my beloved brethren: 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?”
First, in verse 5 James begins with a reminder to “listen.” It’s almost like God’s Word is so personal that He can sense our collective resistance to this challenge. Listen to me, my beloved brethren.
Second, the reference to “choosing the poor” in verse 5 is to be “poor in spirit.” It is to be a people who see our need for Jesus. It is how we become a people who are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Does that make sense?
Proverbs teaches us the rich and the poor have a common bond, the Lord God is the maker of them all, which means the God of Scripture isn’t impressed with outward appearances. The Apostle Peter tells us that the God of Scripture shows no partiality.
He doesn’t care how many followers we have on Instagram. He doesn’t care about the brand of our clothing. He isn’t impressed with our morality.
He doesn’t draw near to those who are vaccinated or not vaccinated. He treats farmer and royalty alike. Isn’t that amazing? There’s nobody like the Lord. He doesn’t have greater affection for pastors. He doesn’t listen more closely to presidents. Right now, He isn’t somehow leaning more closely to the people of Ukraine while He pulls away from the people of Russia. Who is like the Lord?
It’s possible that you think all of human history has valued all of human life, but that just isn’t true. In fact, there’s a book written by Charles Darwin in 1871 called “The Descent of Man.” In Darwin’s writings he makes the prediction, listen to me, that at “some point in the future the civilized races will replace the savage races” and by savage races Darwin is referring to the native / tribal people in Africa, North America, South America, Australia and around the world. That was the leading science of the day!
The whole concept of Darwin’s writings on evolution is survival of the fittest, so that the strong survive and the weak are left behind, and this was the foundational science that shaped humanities justification of slavery, colonizing, wars, and genocide of the last 100 years.
Listen, it’s great that our culture has hopped on the bandwagon of equality, but please don’t think that thought originated at the university but instead that truth originated in the character of God, Genesis 1 where “male and female are valuable because male and female are made in the image of God.”
Every other religious system of the world teaches a merit-based belief system that is grounded in outward works to reach a higher level of spirituality, but it is only in God’s Word that He says my love is upon you, because I put my love upon you.
It’s like if you go to an artist gallery today you will see paintings by the same artist of different subjects and different sizes, but they will all sale for an incredible amounts of money because the paintings have the signature of the same artist. Right?
Therefore, how much more valuable are we, being made in His image? How much more valuable is every human being because we have the signature of God over our being? Why would we walk into an artist gallery and ooh and ahh and yet not have that same perspective of awe over every single person in creation? Let’s look at our last sub-point; 3. The Mercy of God.
- The Mercy of God.
James 2:8-11, “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. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
James refers to the law as the “royal law” because when the religious leaders asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, soul, mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Listen to me, when Jesus and James reference these commandments it is a means to point us to our need for a savior. Sit in that for a minute.
Nobody can love the Lord God with all their heart, strength, soul and mind. Nobody can love their neighbor as themselves. Are you kidding me? You think if we put more equality stickers on the back of cars that will help? You think if we put people through more trainings at work, we will stop showing favoritism?
No, we need a Savior! We need someone who will love the Lord God with all their heart, strength, soul and mind. We need someone who will love their neighbor as themselves. His name is Jesus.
This is why James was teaching us we need to have the word of truth implanted in James 1. We need new hearts. We need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We need new life in Jesus. We need the mercy of God!
Do you know why? Look at verse 10, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” We tend to go through life with a bag of rocks keeping track of our offenses here and there along the way. We did something to hurt someone, we put a rock in the bag but if we helped someone, we take a rock out of the bag. Does that make sense?
But verse 10 is teaching us it would be better if we saw our lives like a pane of glass and it just takes one character flaw, one sin, one favoritism in all of life at any point to shatter the whole life.
In our hearts we say to ourselves, “It’s just one little act of favoritism. Not that big of a deal.” But in verse 11, James compares our little missteps to murder and adultery so that all of humanity is guilty.
The God of Scripture is glorious. The God of Scripture is holy. The God of Scripture is against all favoritism. He can’t overlook our offense. His prized possession! What does He do? What do we do? Look at verses 12-13:
James 2:12-13, “12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Listen to me, James is hard to follow sometimes because he’s weaving a lot of ideas together in one sentence, but in verse 12 when James makes a reference to being “judged by the law of liberty” you need to know the “royal law” only becomes a law of liberty because of Jesus.
I know this is deep so stay with me. All of humanity has shown favoritism. All of humanity is guilty. All of humanity is worthy of judgment, and the gospel is that Jesus has come to take the judgment we deserve upon Himself. That’s the mercy of God! That’s the gospel!
When we believe in Jesus, we believe that Jesus not only takes our sin, but gives us His righteousness, so that we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by God to extend His mercy to others.
Verse 13 can be confusing because it can sound like we gain mercy by extending mercy, but it is more so that the extending of mercy in our life toward others is evidence that we have received mercy from God. Does that make sense?
How could we not? We who are guilty and deserving of judgment, but instead, by grace through faith in Jesus are called sons and daughters of God! How can we not show mercy to all people?
Listen, God’s Word cuts deep. The answer isn’t to beat ourselves up. The answer is to turn to Jesus. It is Jesus’ death that pays for our sins and that includes favoritism, therefore, might we all turn to Jesus.
If you’ve never believed in Jesus, believe in Jesus today. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that Jesus conquered death in the resurrection today. Receive His mercy today.
If you have believed in Jesus then let us ask for the Spirit’s help to obey, so that we might show His mercy to all people.
There’s a story of DL Moody, a pastor who went to an inner-city church and invited people from all walks of life to gather on Sunday to hear about Jesus and the people pushed back on DL Moody.
They said to him, “You can’t invite people like that into the house of the Lord.” DL Moody was so aghast by their response that he left to start his own gathering and he hung a sign outside that said, “Ever welcome to the House of God are strangers and the poor.” Isn’t that good?”
What if we who are in Christ, we who have received the mercy of God, held that sign up over our hearts and heads? What if we took that mindset into the workplace, neighborhoods, and schools?
What if we extended that mercy to those with different political opinions? What if we extended that mercy to those who have navigated the pandemic differently? What if we didn’t determine if people were worthy of His mercy before we extended His mercy?
Listen to me, It’s not simple. It’s messy. It will likely create some trials and temptations. But might the Lord use those trials and temptations to grow us and mature us in Him.
It’s already happening. The reach of our church family is only growing. The diversity to people we come in contact with us is only growing. This is our opportunity! This is the hope and beauty of the local church in Austin. It is in the local church where the slave and master sit next to each other.
The educated and barbarian worship together. The republican and democrat share a meal together. The rich and poor serve alongside one another. This is the hope of our day, like other place, put on display in the local church through faith in Jesus.
Might we not be double-minded. Partial and impartial? Might we not sit in shame, but might we turn to Jesus to see His great mercy that has been extended to us? Might we ask for His help to extend His mercy to all people?