The Sin of Partiality
Notes
Transcript
No one likes it when they get favoritism shown against them.
getting picked last as a kid
in God’s kingdom, there is no partiality
We are all equal
Has anyone ever had the experience in church that they were either treating you less than or more than?
1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
8 If you really fulfill 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 but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
I asked about a personal experience but the book of James is really addressed to the church
Has anyone ever seen this happen in a church?
William Booth - In the mid 1800’s William Booth was attending a church service. As the pastor sat in his very plush chair, the doors of the church swung open and in came a group of men and women while being stared at by the congregation full of wealthy people. The pastor noticed that Booth began to usher in the crowd of raggedy dressed people into the very best seats in the church. This was not normal because if the poor decided to attend church, they would have been segregated into benches that did not have backs or cushions. William Booth would end up being expelled by the Methodist church and 14 years later, would found the Salvation Army.
Our culture may seem more willing to help the needy today that in times past, but the instinct is still to look at them as less than we are.
Let’s put this scenario into our context today
1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Let’s say that someone who is homeless and is addicted to every drug that we could name walked into church one Sunday morning. As you can imagine, for this person, showers do not come very often. And to help cope with the drug addiction, they are also very heavy cigarette smokers. But then, they aren’t the only guest that Sunday. Let’s say that, for some reason, Donald Trump decided to join us for worship that very same Sunday.
Would we treat these 2 people the same?
If we treat them differently, is that going against scripture. Verse 4 says that if we do this, then we are making distinctions and become judges for evil thoughts.
The tendency would be to put Trump on the very from pew where everyone could see him. And maybe put the smelly, homeless person away from everyone else.
What about this is showing the love of Christ? Are not both of these people of the same worth in the kingdom of God?
Showing favoritism or partiality does no good for the Kingdom of God. What if God showed partiality for us? Some may have different gifts but we are all of equal worth.
Proverbs 28:21 “21 To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.”
Proverbs 22:2 “2 The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all.”
Jesus is also our example in this.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Jesus made himself poor so that we can experience the riches of God
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?
7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
James tells us that the poor are the ones that are spiritually advantaged
When Jesus was born, he was born into poverty. Jesus came to minister to those who are spiritually poor.
Luke 4:18 “18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”
For us, isn’t is reassuring that God choses us. But not only that, he choses us not based on merits or status.
Does this mean that God will only save the poor?
God saves us by grace through faith.
His grace is offered to us and we respond through the faith that is given to us through the Holy Spirit. This is what makes us saved. Not being rich and not being poor.
8 If you really fulfill 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.
This is part of the great commandment that we are given. Matthew 22:37–39 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Part of that is treating them the way we would want to be treated.
We would never want favoritism shown against us. So we should never show it to others. And if we want favoritism shown to us, be reminded that God did not show it towards us. And if God did show favoritism, we need to be reminded that our sin towards him is way worse than we could imagine.
And James just lays it out very simply for us. If we show favoritism, we are committing sin.
So if those two people from earlier, the homeless person and Donald Trump, come into our church and we treat them on two different levels, then we are sinning.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
James now puts this above just people being partial to others. He puts this into perspective of salvation
If we fail at one part of the law, then we fail at the whole law. Breaking the law is breaking the law. There is no way around it.
He says if you don’t commit adultery but still murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
So we need to speak and act like people who are being judged by the law.
Does this mean we need to forget about the grace that God has shown us? No.
There is this beautiful tension in scripture to grace related to our actions.
Should we forget about the law? No. Should we forget about grace? No.
But if we follow God’s law without having faith in Jesus Christ, that only makes us legalist. But we are not called to be legalist, we are called to be children of God.
But, when you are a child of God, you are still held to the standard of God’s law. We cannot abuse grace. We cannot have Christ without a price. And that price is obedience to God’s commands.
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James is doing a callback to a parable that Jesus taught
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Mercy is when we are shown favor when we do not deserve it.
So what does mercy and partiality have to do with one another?
Favoritism is evidence of an unmerciful heart
Just as we have been shown mercy, we must also show mercy to others. When we play a favoritism game, we show no mercy.
The challenge that we should get out of this passage is this, are we showing favoritism or are we being merciful to those who are in need?