James 2: 1-13
This is issue is still very much alive today. I know from personal experience of looking for a job or buying a car it makes a difference when you’re in a suit. I’m sure also we have all heard the story of the church that was going to welcome its new pastor but on that particular Sunday there was a homeless man lying on the ground by their front door. He was even asking for money! Almost everybody very carefully avoided him. Only a few were openly disgusted at seeing him there. Then he walked in and went up to the pulpit to be introduced as the new pastor. He let them know how disappointed he was in their lack of compassion.
Let me tell you though, when I first looked at this section I thought to myself, how am I going to preach a sermon that you need to hear? You guys all seem to me to be pretty good at this ministry of being loving and accepting of all kinds of people. I don’t see you showing favoritism. I do see you loving everybody really well, at least in here and in my time with you. So, what are we to do with this text?
Well, let’s see if we can make any connection at all to the issues James is concerned about. Perhaps one way we can discover that we need this teaching is if we imagine that a long black limousine pulls into that parking lot out there. The chauffer gets out and opens the door for his passenger. Now, wouldn’t you be very interested in who that might be? And why’s he here? And what does he want? Or perhaps more significantly, what might he want to give? Wouldn’t that make you smile a lot? Wouldn’t we at least be tempted to be more gracious to an obviously wealthy person showing up here, without even knowing what is going on in his heart?
That’s the real key. What we are doing when we judge a person by the surface is ignoring what is going on in their heart, or assuming we already know. There are other kinds of wealth too, such as, a wealth of knowledge. Why do you think that whenever a pastor shows up at a Christian gathering somebody asks the pastor to do the prayer? Do they think he’s best at it? Or that he has a better connection with God by virtue of his or her studies or their official position in the ministry?
These are a couple of examples of how to fail at keeping oneself from being polluted by the world. Such favoritism mirrors the standards of the culture around us and forgets to see things in light of God’s wisdom. We need to be very careful about the broad generalizations we tend to make. It’s a useful tool for categorizing. But we must always remember that there is always an exception to the rule. And in truth there are probably more exceptions than we can count.
Take any categories, even democrats and republicans. Members of each group seem to assume, in general, that the members of the other group must have something wrong with them. Members in either group talking about members of the other group will say, “Why can’t they understand the issues clearly the way we do.”
I recently had a conversation about that on Facebook, one of the primary means today of social polarization. Now for those of you who don’t use Facebook, bear with me. In the old days there was still plenty of polarization, and a lot of it was supported by isolation. For example, the worst racists in America didn’t see anything wrong with their behavior because everybody else around them, usually, was just as prejudiced as they were.
The comment I made on Facebook was more specific than what I will read to you now. To make my point, I have edited out any details that would tell you which party is being talked about: My Christian friend said: “Certain voters care about threat because they've been talked to about fear day and night. They will watch a president dismantle our country because they really think it's warranted.”
I did not respond to the politics. But I did make this observation: “I'm not saying this as a supporter but it struck me that your comment sounds like you feel threatened that a certain president has or will dismantle this country. You seem to fear that person’s policies. I was just noticing the appearance of the same emotions you decry in others being displayed in you. Rather large generalizations too.”
Then I said, “What I mean by generalization is the lumping together of all people on one side of a debate as motivated by false fears. While at the same time you legitimize your own fear as correct.”
I also added, “I freely and humbly admit that I'm really not all that confident in anybody's version of the truth, especially when it comes to politics. And how I "feel" about all this is supposed to have nothing to do with what I can pray about as I try to figure out which side to take, if any. I work harder at being a faithful Christian. And I bet you do too. That's one of the reasons I find it disconcerting that there actually are sides to choose, even among Christians! Differing viewpoints are the result of human frailty.” We need more godly wisdom. The problem is, we have a strong desire to be right, and have a hard time living with the tension of not knowing for sure.
Christianity comes with a very specific awareness and a very specific reason why Paul said that we should always think of others more highly than ourselves. Christianity is the real antidote to the common human malady of thinking we know best. Think back to my message a few weeks ago, about the delusion that so many people live in if they don’t wake up to the real world through faith in Christ that brings everything into the true light. Christianity has the power to disarm pride of its defensive postures that keep us from seeing the truth about ourselves. Then we can mature in Christ.
Another way of looking into this text is to remember that James is talking to Christians in many churches among whom many are experiencing persecution. In his words about the wealthy being the ones who drag them into court, James may be speaking about people who actually had the resources to pursue legal ways of persecuting Christians. An example of this is Demetrius, the silversmith in Acts 19, who felt his idol manufacturing business for the local shrine was threatened. He called everybody together and almost started a riot but was told, “If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly.”
Wealthy people, who felt threatened by the believers’ message and lifestyle would be real enemies of the church. And it is quite reasonable to imagine that individual Christians would be very tempted to avoid offending those wealthy people. They might even be tempted to show favor to them in order to also avoid the threat of persecution, the same way that certain middle management business people are often called “yes men” and everybody knows they do it just so they won’t get fired!
So, James’s warning against favoritism is probably concerned with much more than simply good behavior. James is very much a believer in salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again. And he wants to strengthen the faith of the believing church so that the disciples boldly continue to proclaim the gospel, even to the wealthy, even though the result might be trials of many kinds! He’s saying to them, “Don’t be afraid.” And here we may as well make note that trials happen in court. So back when James first mentioned “trials of many kinds” back in chapter one, he may have already been thinking of this legal kind of persecution that the wealthy can indulge in.
In the second half of this section, James introduces us to a central theme, the law of love. And he uses it to show that the kind of favoritism he is against, and that was so common in the culture around the church, must be resisted because it goes against the teaching of Scripture. If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
There is a logic there that makes the sin of favoritism just as bad as any other sin you could name. The logic is simple. Any sin is against the law. So, when you sin, you don’t break the sin; you break the law. James doesn’t mean that there is a law against favoritism. He means that there is a whole way of living that is defined by what you should do, rather than by what you should not do. So, we can make a list of all kinds of things that you should not do. But one can also put it very simple and very positively. You should love. That’s the law. So, anything you do that is not loving breaks the law of love. That’s the law you break when you commit any sin.
And we all sin! In fact a friend told me that on this subject, he remembers before he was a Christian, shunning the usually types of people that everybody shuns. But that after he was a Christian, though he still did that kind of shunning, he felt very differently about it, with more of a struggle because the Spirit in him was saying he shouldn’t do that. And so he learned. So, James tells us to “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
The law that gives freedom is the gospel message of God’s mercy and forgiveness! It is the best expression of God’s law of love too. Jesus’ death on the cross is the highest act of self-sacrifice, of loving others more than he loved himself. God’s mercy, when it is properly appreciated by us who believe and receive forgiveness must be responded to by a life that shows mercy in turn to others. You’ve heard the expression pay it forward? When it comes to responding to God’s mercy. All you can do is pay it forward, showing mercy, not favoritism, to your fellow human beings, because you surely can’t pay God back for his great gift of life to you. And God would be offended if you even tried to pay him back for what he wanted to give you as a gift.
Jesus’ death on the cross is also the demonstration and proof that mercy triumphs over judgement. Our sin is not excused. Its seriousness is acknowledged. The dire consequences of our sin are real and horrible and born by Jesus on the cross. The judgment against sin, the sentence for breaking the law, is carried out to the fullest extent. Jesus paid it all!
Poor as we were in terms of having any spiritual strength to obey God’s royal law, God looked upon us kindly, not favoring the strong, but treating all the same. Everyone gets exactly the same chance at salvation. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Rich and poor alike stand in the same place, at the foot of the cross, with no advantage, only an equal opportunity to believe and receive.
The Lord’s Supper too, is something that can be taken and enjoyed by all sorts of persons, rich or poor, wise or simple, healthy or not. All bring the same thing to the table, nothing but a need, nothing but an appetite. And all receive the same blessing from God. Forgiveness and grace, mercy and peace, a brand new life for Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to live it. Come let us remember all that God has done for us, all that he is doing in us, and all that he will do when he comes again.
This is issue is still very much alive today. I know from personal experience of looking for a job or buying a car it makes a difference when you’re in a suit. I’m sure also we have all heard the story of the church that was going to welcome its new pastor but on that particular Sunday there was a homeless man lying on the ground by their front door. He was even asking for money! Almost everybody very carefully avoided him. Only a few were openly disgusted at seeing him there. Then he walked in and went up to the pulpit to be introduced as the new pastor. He let them know how disappointed he was in their lack of compassion.
Let me tell you though, when I first looked at this section I thought to myself, how am I going to preach a sermon that you need to hear? You guys all seem to me to be pretty good at this ministry of being loving and accepting of all kinds of people. I don’t see you showing favoritism. I do see you loving everybody really well, at least in here and in my time with you. So, what are we to do with this text?
Well, let’s see if we can make any connection at all to the issues James is concerned about. Perhaps one way we can discover that we need this teaching is if we imagine that a long black limousine pulls into that parking lot out there. The chauffer gets out and opens the door for his passenger. Now, wouldn’t you be very interested in who that might be? And why’s he here? And what does he want? Or perhaps more significantly, what might he want to give? Wouldn’t that make you smile a lot? Wouldn’t we at least be tempted to be more gracious to an obviously wealthy person showing up here, without even knowing what is going on in his heart?
That’s the real key. What we are doing when we judge a person by the surface is ignoring what is going on in their heart, or assuming we already know. There are other kinds of wealth too, such as, a wealth of knowledge. Why do you think that whenever a pastor shows up at a Christian gathering somebody asks the pastor to do the prayer? Do they think he’s best at it? Or that he has a better connection with God by virtue of his or her studies or their official position in the ministry?
These are a couple of examples of how to fail at keeping oneself from being polluted by the world. Such favoritism mirrors the standards of the culture around us and forgets to see things in light of God’s wisdom. We need to be very careful about the broad generalizations we tend to make. It’s a useful tool for categorizing. But we must always remember that there is always an exception to the rule. And in truth there are probably more exceptions than we can count.
Take any categories, even democrats and republicans. Members of each group seem to assume, in general, that the members of the other group must have something wrong with them. Members in either group talking about members of the other group will say, “Why can’t they understand the issues clearly the way we do.”
I recently had a conversation about that on Facebook, one of the primary means today of social polarization. Now for those of you who don’t use Facebook, bear with me. In the old days there was still plenty of polarization, and a lot of it was supported by isolation. For example, the worst racists in America didn’t see anything wrong with their behavior because everybody else around them, usually, was just as prejudiced as they were.
The comment I made on Facebook was more specific than what I will read to you now. To make my point, I have edited out any details that would tell you which party is being talked about: My Christian friend said: “Certain voters care about threat because they've been talked to about fear day and night. They will watch a president dismantle our country because they really think it's warranted.”
I did not respond to the politics. But I did make this observation: “I'm not saying this as a supporter but it struck me that your comment sounds like you feel threatened that a certain president has or will dismantle this country. You seem to fear that person’s policies. I was just noticing the appearance of the same emotions you decry in others being displayed in you. Rather large generalizations too.”
Then I said, “What I mean by generalization is the lumping together of all people on one side of a debate as motivated by false fears. While at the same time you legitimize your own fear as correct.”
I also added, “I freely and humbly admit that I'm really not all that confident in anybody's version of the truth, especially when it comes to politics. And how I "feel" about all this is supposed to have nothing to do with what I can pray about as I try to figure out which side to take, if any. I work harder at being a faithful Christian. And I bet you do too. That's one of the reasons I find it disconcerting that there actually are sides to choose, even among Christians! Differing viewpoints are the result of human frailty.” We need more godly wisdom. The problem is, we have a strong desire to be right, and have a hard time living with the tension of not knowing for sure.
Christianity comes with a very specific awareness and a very specific reason why Paul said that we should always think of others more highly than ourselves. Christianity is the real antidote to the common human malady of thinking we know best. Think back to my message a few weeks ago, about the delusion that so many people live in if they don’t wake up to the real world through faith in Christ that brings everything into the true light. Christianity has the power to disarm pride of its defensive postures that keep us from seeing the truth about ourselves. Then we can mature in Christ.
Another way of looking into this text is to remember that James is talking to Christians in many churches among whom many are experiencing persecution. In his words about the wealthy being the ones who drag them into court, James may be speaking about people who actually had the resources to pursue legal ways of persecuting Christians. An example of this is Demetrius, the silversmith in Acts 19, who felt his idol manufacturing business for the local shrine was threatened. He called everybody together and almost started a riot but was told, “If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly.”
Wealthy people, who felt threatened by the believers’ message and lifestyle would be real enemies of the church. And it is quite reasonable to imagine that individual Christians would be very tempted to avoid offending those wealthy people. They might even be tempted to show favor to them in order to also avoid the threat of persecution, the same way that certain middle management business people are often called “yes men” and everybody knows they do it just so they won’t get fired!
So, James’s warning against favoritism is probably concerned with much more than simply good behavior. James is very much a believer in salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again. And he wants to strengthen the faith of the believing church so that the disciples boldly continue to proclaim the gospel, even to the wealthy, even though the result might be trials of many kinds! He’s saying to them, “Don’t be afraid.” And here we may as well make note that trials happen in court. So back when James first mentioned “trials of many kinds” back in chapter one, he may have already been thinking of this legal kind of persecution that the wealthy can indulge in.
In the second half of this section, James introduces us to a central theme, the law of love. And he uses it to show that the kind of favoritism he is against, and that was so common in the culture around the church, must be resisted because it goes against the teaching of Scripture. If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
There is a logic there that makes the sin of favoritism just as bad as any other sin you could name. The logic is simple. Any sin is against the law. So, when you sin, you don’t break the sin; you break the law. James doesn’t mean that there is a law against favoritism. He means that there is a whole way of living that is defined by what you should do, rather than by what you should not do. So, we can make a list of all kinds of things that you should not do. But one can also put it very simple and very positively. You should love. That’s the law. So, anything you do that is not loving breaks the law of love. That’s the law you break when you commit any sin.
And we all sin! In fact a friend told me that on this subject, he remembers before he was a Christian, shunning the usually types of people that everybody shuns. But that after he was a Christian, though he still did that kind of shunning, he felt very differently about it, with more of a struggle because the Spirit in him was saying he shouldn’t do that. And so he learned. So, James tells us to “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
The law that gives freedom is the gospel message of God’s mercy and forgiveness! It is the best expression of God’s law of love too. Jesus’ death on the cross is the highest act of self-sacrifice, of loving others more than he loved himself. God’s mercy, when it is properly appreciated by us who believe and receive forgiveness must be responded to by a life that shows mercy in turn to others. You’ve heard the expression pay it forward? When it comes to responding to God’s mercy. All you can do is pay it forward, showing mercy, not favoritism, to your fellow human beings, because you surely can’t pay God back for his great gift of life to you. And God would be offended if you even tried to pay him back for what he wanted to give you as a gift.
Jesus’ death on the cross is also the demonstration and proof that mercy triumphs over judgement. Our sin is not excused. Its seriousness is acknowledged. The dire consequences of our sin are real and horrible and born by Jesus on the cross. The judgment against sin, the sentence for breaking the law, is carried out to the fullest extent. Jesus paid it all!
Poor as we were in terms of having any spiritual strength to obey God’s royal law, God looked upon us kindly, not favoring the strong, but treating all the same. Everyone gets exactly the same chance at salvation. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Rich and poor alike stand in the same place, at the foot of the cross, with no advantage, only an equal opportunity to believe and receive.
The Lord’s Supper too, is something that can be taken and enjoyed by all sorts of persons, rich or poor, wise or simple, healthy or not. All bring the same thing to the table, nothing but a need, nothing but an appetite. And all receive the same blessing from God. Forgiveness and grace, mercy and peace, a brand new life for Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to live it. Come let us remember all that God has done for us, all that he is doing in us, and all that he will do when he comes again.
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