So, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything here. I've been wanting to return to xanga, but I simply lacked the time to write anything resembling what I used to write. So I decided I would post the lesson I taught last night since that's what I've been working on instead of writing on xanga. This isn't everything I taught on last night (I added stuff as I taught), but if you couldn't make it last night, I would encourage you to read this. To do that, you'll need a Bible next to you... I didn't really write out the verses I cited. I also want to add that I purposely wrote my notes with horrible grammar so I could read easier as I spoke; a sorry to those people who make a big deal over punctuation and all that.

Introduction to the passage

Back in the time when the Book of James was written, the majority of Christian churches that had been established had fallen on hard times. The reason for this was that they were being persecuted, both physically and financially, by the community and the government around them. One group that could be singled out as an oppressor to these early churches was the Sadducees, who were a wealthy, aristocratic Jewish faction who practiced traditions of a legalistic lifestyle. Being a very rich and powerful class of government officials, they used their resources to exploit and oppress Christians of the time. They sued believers with outrageous claims and took them to court, declaring what would be the modern day equivalent of imminent domain, in order to take their land. As such oppression became more common, many church congregations slowly grew weary of the oppression, but rather than put their trust in God, they turned to sin in order to support themselves. The people didn’t steal, and they didn’t cheat anyone from their money, what they did was of a much more subtle approach but was just as abominable in nature… they fell into the habit of favoritism.

v.1: Opening statement of James

 As James starts off in this passage, he begins it with a powerful opening statement: “As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism”. He writes this in order to voice his main point right off the bat, true-Christians will not fall into the habit of favoritism; as believers, we are to be completely impartial to everyone. But before I go further into the text, it would be important to explain what the term “favoritism” that James is referring to really is. The way James uses the word matches it with “partiality” or “the respect one has of others”. When he says “favoritism” he does not mean a single act (which is done without evil purposes behind it), but a habitual state of showing partiality. James is referring to the discrimination that was taking place among the believers with the rich and the poor. The congregations were literally valuing the souls of the rich over the poor.

vv.2-4: An example and the heart behind discrimination

This is where James writes out an example of the treatment that is given to a wealthy man and that which is showed to a poverty stricken man. First, there are some things that you can infer from this image that we are provided with. One, is that the two men entered the church after most of the congregation had already arrived, so they were late and there were few seats left; maybe none at all. Another inference is that both men are unsaved for the reason that they are coming in late. Now, that might not be perfectly true, but even if they were both saved, James is still making the same point. What James is trying to say is that there is a REASON to why there is a church-go-er that shows an act of kindness to the rich man and is blatantly rude to the poor one. This man has unrightfully judged the poor man and has only been good to the rich man out of nothing but evil desires and ambition.

This goes back to how the churches of the time were experiencing financial troubles. They needed money and leadership, so when a man walks in wearing a golden ring (symbolizing wealth) and fine robes (symbolizing wisdom and authority), the church-go-er thought the rich man would be far more valuable to the church than a man who was nothing. In fact, the soul of the poor man was seen as worthless because he had not prospered in the world. The church wanted the rich man’s money, the church wanted this man’s worldly leadership and wisdom! James views such an action as DILIBRATE and UGLY, it is not a simple lack of courtesy, but a SCADNALOUS breach on God’s love! This act of kindness was out of greed, for money and for the man’s membership to the church. Favoritism is not just over wealth, it’s over education as well. It’s possible to think that they wanted this man, and other wealthy men, to become leaders in the church someday. But how does this make any sense? Isn’t there a difference between earthly wisdom and spiritual wisdom? Or worldly leadership and spiritual leadership? Because the distinction is drastic!

[READ 1^st Corinthians 1:26-29]

You see, worldly wisdom has nothing to do with God because He is greater than all knowledge, and what is the point of wealth to a Christian anyway? There is no benefit in those things. God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith.

vv.5-7: the poor and the rich

Verse 29 ended the passage perfectly by saying: “so that no man may boast before God”. I’m sure everyone is familiar with Mark 10:25, where Christ says “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.” To put it simply, the poor have almost an advantage in being given salvation, and there is a reason why this is true.

[READ Luke 6:24]

The rich find comfort in themselves, in their own riches. Many will boast in themselves and in what they have accomplished. They see no need in following Christ because they already have their comfort. Their pride has blinded them from God and they are condemned as a result. But the poor realize the truth, that this world is fleeting and that life is short, they are usually quick to realize the Christ is the only thing that will never fade, and in their many troubles they find hope in God.

Now, this isn’t always what happens. Rich people can be humbled and be granted salvation from God, just as a poor man can harden his heart and never see the light. A point that James is trying to make is that the rich and the poor should be treated equally; not one over the other.

[READ Leviticus 19:15]

In any case, James has argued that favoritism, primarily putting the rich before the poor, is wrong because:

1.      It contradicts God’s love for the poor

2.      It makes no sense

3.      It violates the law of love… and God is love

vv.8-11: Sinning against God’s love

Favoritism is a sin because it is a breach on something that is greater than anything we can possibly imagine… the love of God.

[READ Matthew 22:34-40]

When Jesus was approached and asked what the greatest commandment was, he said it was to love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and that the second was to love your neighbor as yourself. The reason that Christ tells us to love is because we are to be imitators of God; we are to be striving for Godliness (or holiness as some of you have come to call it). God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11). And if we are trying to be Godly, we must love, because God IS love!

[READ 1^st John 4:16]

If you love, God is in you and you are in Him. So, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right! But if favoritism has become a habitual practice, you have rebelled against the command to love.

James then goes on to speak of the law, because it seems that the commandment of love is at the heart of Kingdom law. For if you keep the whole law but stumble only once, then you are guilty of breaking all of it. Now, this part of the text can become a little confusing because it seems almost like James just tossed this in here, or at least that’s the way I saw it. Well, first I’ll explain what he means by the law, then why he added this.  As both Christians and human beings, we know that it is impossible to keep the whole law as mere people, but we also know that the law does not impart righteousness anyway, for we know that Christ came to atone for all of our sins. You see, the law was set up to bring us to the end of ourselves, to realize we are too sinful to keep the law, and prepare us to humbly receive the promise of Christ by faith.

Now, the reason that James throws that reminder in there is to further explain the very evil of favoritism. For any violation of the law, be it favoritism, adultery, or murder, all are sin and are all worthy of the same punishment. This is because the Law is a transcript of divine character, and any violation to the law is a blatant violation against God’s character. But the people James writes to seem to have a hard to understanding the full weight of even one sin, not to mention that they probably have a hard time even grasping how favoritism is a sin. So James takes two examples to compare with favoritism: Adultery and Murder. These two sins were considered to be the greatest social sins of the time. By social sin, I mean that every sin is just as bad as the other, but, at the time this was written, these two had the greatest impact on society and were seen as the most detestable sins one could commit. In order to make his point hit home, he compares favoritism to adultery and murder. Because I know that if anyone in our youth group committed one of those sins, there would be quite the reaction from everyone else, and it was the same in James’ time. What he is trying to say is that the act of committing murder is equal to that of discriminating amongst others.

[READ 1^st John 3:15]

vv.12-13: Be merciful to receive mercy

The end of 1^st John 3:15 says it perfectly, those who hate will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. By this time it is apparent that James had been trying to convict his readers to search themselves, to look for signs of love or favoritism and test themselves on it. Now I love this statement that he makes here: “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law”, and the reason I love this statement is because of it goes back to 1^st John 4 again.

[READ 1^st John 4:17]

We should be living in a way that shows that this life is short and that there is something greater ahead. We should be living our lives in ways that tell there is judgment coming. The verse says we are to have confidence in the day of judgment because we have strived to follow the example of Christ. We are not to fear such things, but there are others who should be terrified, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who failed to be merciful to others!

I’m going to suppose you all know the parable of the Unmerciful Slave, where the man owed a debt of 20 million dollars and was forgiven for it, but went out and threw a man in prison who only owed him about 2,000 dollars. In that story, the man who he owed this great debt to, had the original debtor sold to slavery once he found out about the horrible thing that man had done. He decided that he would not show mercy to one who was merciless. And that is the way we will be treated at judgment if we discriminated and failed to love others. You see, James views favoritism as the evidence of an unmerciful spirit. The merciful reach out to others, but the life characterized by acts of discrimination indicates a soul that has been damned. And that is a very sobering statement right there!

But this is not bad news! For James adds at the end that mercy triumphs over judgment! And Christ even says it himself in Matthew 5:7

[READ Matthew 5:7]

Christ promises that the merciful will be shown mercy. So as believers who are striving for Holiness, we have already been showing mercy to others as a result, and the truly merciful Christian heart has nothing to fear from judgment; it will look forward to it! It looks forward to Christ!

Conclusion and Application

And now, for the wrap up to all of this. What James is trying to say is that favoritism seems to determine the “tilt” of one’s soul, that one who practices favoritism habitually does not have true, saving faith and does not know God. There is a beauty in James’ approach on how it cuts through all the religious words and rhetoric that we have become accustomed to. We can fool each other with appearance and clichés, but real faith is indicated by how we treat people, especially the needy.

As Christians, we must strive to be like Christ and be completely impartial. We should give equal recognition to those of no status just as we do to famous athletes and political figures. James indicates that we must test our hearts and ask ourselves the personal question: “How is your heart in the matter of favoritism? Do you favor the privileged? Are you triumphantly waiting for judgment?” Discriminating against people is inconstant with true Christian faith and if you are being partial, you may be deceived about the state of your faith. But just to add, this is not something you should worry about in others, favoritism is from the heart and is not manifested in actions, and because you do not know each other’s hearts, you should keep this matter between you and God.

There is also a call to churches in this matter: It is easy for today’s affluent churches to practice an urbane, omni-smiling favoritism which offers a bright smile to well-dressed professionals, but a casual, less-enthusiastic greeting to the less favored or troubled. The fact is that that such discrimination is subtle, but can destroy the foundation of a church. So this peril must be put away, people must strive to be impartial. It works just the same as how a church strengthens itself in areas of ministry, worship, and missions; they must work at it a trust in God to guide them. By God’s grace, a church can also become stronger in ministering to the poor and helping the spiritually troubled if we submit to God’s command to love. Because love is what plays the major role in all of this, and as believers we are called to stay clear of favoritism, to treat everyone alike, and above all… we are to love.