The neighbor that you Favor

Host Moment - Giving, Sow That, Easter

Ad Libbed paragraph about Easter Sunday, why it is important, what we are celebrating, it isn't just a normal sunday. (King Jesus ascended his throne and sits are the right hand of God petitioning on your behalf) etc.

Let's open up our bibles to James Chapter 2. James at this point in time is the leader of the Jerusalem chruch. One of the strongest cases we have for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is James. Why do I say this, because James is the brother of Jesus, he grew up seeing him, and he died believing that his brother was his God. He devoted his life believing his brother died on the cross, forgiving his sins, and ascending into heaven. Here is a question I heard years ago, “What would it take for you to believe your brother is God?” Many of you, like me, would sell your brother out for 2 Mcchickens, and a large fry with a coke if the occasion rose to it. Not James, he died being stoned to death for his faith in Jesus. So he writes this letter, this book to the church instructing us in christian living.

So he says this James 2:1, “My Brothers and Sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, must not show favoritism” James on multiple occasions begins new thoughts with “my brothers and sisters” calling them back to attention. Similar to when I say “friends, my friend, church” it calls you back to attention and potentially into a new idea. As a reminder all throughout this series, the main objectives James has for us is that we are to have the wisdom of God, not be double minded in thinking, and put our faith into action. James is not a deep theology book, we don't see him wrestling with the intricacies of salvation, grace, mercy or philosophies of God. This is James' calling card, that to be a Chrsitian or more so a Jesus follower isn't about what you know per se, but what you do. In act 15 we see a dispute about Gentiles coming to faith, do they have to take on the costumes of Jews, think and act like them etc. And at the end of this argument James says this, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for gentiles who are turning to God.” Acts 15:19. Then they list out certain items to abstain from, eating meat sacrificed to idols, being sexually pure etc. We see early on that James is a man who is focused on putting faith into action, not putting theological walls up before people should believe. Why?

Because James is wanting us to grow in our spiritual maturity. He realized and so should we that spiritual Maturity in our faith isn't just knowledge based, it's how well you put  what you know into practice, it's how well you live the way of Jesus. This is where we get confused in the church today, we have confused knowledge for depth, more information for spiritual growth. We especially in the Western Church believe we can consume, consume and consume, podcasts, reels, books, sermons and we grow in our faith by being knowledge based. So we have a comprehensive biblical view of soteriology, christology, eschatology, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, or whatever part of theology floats your boat. But spiritual depth isn't just in the knowling, it's in the doing.

So we consume spiritual calories  but don’t burn spiritual calories by putting them into practice and then we wonder why we are not growing in our faith. The author of the prayer book we have been using as a church for Sow that Mark Batterson says this “Most Christians are educated way beyond their level of obedience.So the question I must ask is what does God want more from you, your knowledge or your obedience? This same type question was posed to Saul in 1 Samuel 15. When God called Saul to bring Judgment upon the amalekite people for the sin they had against Israel while they came out of Egypt. He was to kill every living thing in the land including the sheep and cattle. But Saul kept the best sheep, the best cattle and wanted to give them as a sacrifice to the Lord. But this is what God says to that 1 Samuel 15:22, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the lord? To Obey is better than sacrifice” God is after your obedience, growing in Christ ist just knowing a lot, it obeying a lot. What's easier, friends, to forgive someone who has hurt you deeply or listen to another podcast? Pray for those who persecute you or read another article, to confess sins or listen to a book? You know, lets apply what we already know. Knowledge is important yes, but James reminds us that obedience is what God is after.

He says Christian, if you are a Jesus follower that's you and me, we should not show favoritism.  Why? Because we see early on in the church in Acts 10 that Peter when God told him about a Roman Gentile being a believer in Christ, it changed his perspective on salvation and he said Acts 10:34, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism. What is favoritism? Favoritism is here is the definition for it, the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another. The key phrase in this definition is at the expense of another. It is purposefully choosing someone else over another that would bring hurt, harm or humiliation to others. But James does not just leave it there he gives us an example, in full context this is what he says,  James 2:2-8 -

2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”you are doing right.

James uses what in his time for believers would be an extreme example (emphasize this). Christians, fellow Jesus followers mistreating those in need, those in poverty. It was an oxymoron because remember Jesus said in Matthew 26:11 - The poor you will always have with you. Meaning that we will always be ministering to them. That's one of our core values at Journey POWS, the poor, orphans, widows and strangers. But this idea that James is saying not to show favoritism would flip the Roman world and worldview upside down. It would confuse them, because in the back of the world's minds, the rich, the well off, the influential get the love deserve and so do those who are poor. Interestingly enough the world's love shows its true nature in its lack of love for those in need. Isn't that true?

Think about those who are in the most need who is on the receiving end of the worlds injustice? It’s the poorest and most vulnerable in soceiety. We view homeless individuals second rate. Most of us, myself included here, won't look them in the eye when I'm at a stop light, I'm guilty of this sin. We care enough to be moved to compassion but not enough to be moved into action. Look at how easy the United States wants to make babies in the womb murderable and call it human rights. Those who need the most love and protection are sacrificed at the altar of convenience in favor of personal hopes and dreams. The world's love shows its true nature in its lack of love for those in need.

Christian love should be different. It does not show favoritism, this is what James is talking about but so often that's the criticisms of Jesus followers. We are double minded in the sense that we favor those who are already believers, and at the same time favor who the world favoris.What Many Christians look past, don't minister to, those they don't agree with, don't want to associate with in favor of what is comfortable and convenient when the Kingdom of God is the opposite. We are to run after those who are running away from God.

Let me give you an example of this in a Parable. Years ago there was a pastor who was just hired to be the next lead pastor of a large church in the area. His first weekend there the congregation was excited in anticipation as they had seen him before but he would give his first message as their new lead pastor. Unbeknownst to the church he disguised himself as a homeless man, had his cart out front of the church, and a sign asking for donations and for over an hour he sat there, few people said hello, fewer gave anything to him as they entered into the church. After worship was completed the new pastor walked on stage, removed his disguise and read 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts…”

A perfect example on how we can be guilty of the sin of favoritism., in this story if the lead pastor was out front, someone of importance, the line would be halfway through the parking lot just to shake is hand, but that same man disguised homeless doesn't get a second look from people proclaiming to worship Jesus who always made people regardless of social standing, feel loved, known and seen. I wonder how we as a church would do if that were the case? What mistakes do we make with favoritism?

Three Mistakes of Favoritism:

1: We Miss the Heart - If you remember back in 1 Samuel again when Samuel goes and anoints David to be the next king of Israel he makes a startling proclamation about God, 1 Samuel 16:7 - “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” When we show favoritism because of outward appearances we miss the heart of the person in front of us. A heart that God loves, a heart that God created, and a heart that God is giving us the opportunity to serve and that person in front of you is someone Jesus died to save.

2: We Misunderstand who’s blessed: 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? I find it interesting that if you go to the more affluent places in the world, what do you find? Godlessness from some of the richest in the land. Not just that but a lot of those who are without Christ and rich in the world are filled with anxiety, worry and depression. But if you go to places like Kenya where my brother has been, Dominican Republic, Mexico in the barrios, go with Gary on the second Saturday to downtown phoenix, where people don't have a lot? What do you often find? People who are rich in the kingdom of God. You find those who worship God not for what they have but for what he has given them through Jesus Christ. What has Jesus given them? Salvation and the fruits of the Holy Spirit, Love, Joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

We think blessing comes in monetary gain, but its actually the fruits of the spirit. And if we show favoritism in the way James lays out, we miss it.

3: We Misappropriate people: The sin of favoritism goes down to using people in dishonorable ways. James hits on this when it comes to the rich verse 6, “is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him who you belong? We end up seeing people as a means to an end instead of a means in and of themselves. What can I get, how can I position myself, all of these are in direct opposition of the Gospel which calls us to serve, to pick up our cross, to love those who are hard to love.

You might think, isn't doing all this for the poor or least of these showing favoritism to them? I would say no, rather, it is putting everyone on an even playing field. We are to treat everyone and love everyone as equals, not greater than. How do we know this? Look at what verse 8 says, “If you really keep the royal law found in scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself” you are doing right.”

This Royal law is found in Leviticus 19:18. Here is the amazing thing, it inferences that we are to love our neighbor as equal recipients to the love that is due to them. Which leads to the age old question, who is my neighbor? Well, the Royal Law in Leviticus 19, and Jesus would say, any person beside you and around you is your neighbor. This is why favoritism is a grave sin and as James says, if you sin in this area, you break the whole law. Because .If you only love the neighbor that you favor you miss the message of Jesus.

James is using an example of poor and rich, but it is just that an example. This isn't the only example. If you show favoritism between straight and gay, white and black you also fall into the sin of racism with that one, democrat and republican, them or us. You fill in the blank with the people that you favor. Or the categories that you place people into you will find quickly that when we do that, we do not abide by the Royal law of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Years ago Karlee got a call from her grandma saying her cousin and his girlfriend at the time just had their baby but due to choices of the parents they were unfit to keep their child. So Karlee and I ended up being emergency parents to this baby and what was supposed to be 2 weeks turned into 6 months. Now her cousin was good, but his girlfriend, not a neighbor that i favored at all, but we knew we had to do this for them and for their baby. During this time her cousin and girlfriend moved in with us, we took care of the baby, and did everything we could to point them to Jesus.We baptized her cousin in our community pool at our apartment and  Eventually her cousin got his act together and his girlfriend, well she left. But we were willing to forsake our comfort to love someone who was hard to love, because I know I have been the one who is hard to love and Jesus still loved me enough to extend his mercy and grace to me.

Loving others the way Christ loved you does not mean we forsake the heart of Christ for the sake of people. We lead people to Jesus. Loving your neighbor does not mean that you join them in their sin, approve or applaud it, loving your neighbor does not mean we compromise on biblical values, principles and worldview. Loving our neighbor is not showing favoritism because of who they are, it is simply extending the mercy and grace you have received through Chrsit Jesus to them. The kingdom of God is equal opportunity for anyone to believe and obey. It does not show favoritism, instead it breaks down barriers and makes everyone equal at the foot of the cross. So do not fall into the worldly temptation of the sin of favoritism. Have love, mercy and grace for all in the name of Jesus even to the people you find hardest to love. Here is a sobering truth, “Your Father in Heaven is extending the same grace and mercy he gave to you to the person you find hardest to love.”

So who is the neighbor that you don’t favor? Who is the person in your life that you would rather be without, do without and say I love you from a distance but up close is a whole different story? You know what next week is? Easter. Where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and Jesus rode into Jerusalem knowing in a few days time he would have to die on a cross while his neighbors cheered for his death and gambled for his clothes and do you know what he said? Father forgive them, for they now know what they are doing. Who is your neighbor, who are you running after, not just those you favor but those you don’t.

Listen to how James ends this portion “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.”

So I will say this again in summarization of James 2:1-13 and hope that it sticks…If you only love the neighbor that you favor you miss the message of Jesus.