Impartial

CONTEXT

Summer theme: the Life of Faith.

Current movement: Faith Works

Guide: James, the brother of the Lord Jesus.

James was not a disciple of Jesus during his earthly ministry

After Jesus’ resurrection, James became a leader in the early church.

Theme of the James’s letter is that faith in Christ shown by a life that puts Christ’s teachings into practice.

TEXT

James 2:1–13 NRSV

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

INTRODUCTION

Simple example: fast-pass at Disneyland. Better situation. Are they better people? First class seating on the airline. Better people? Better car, house, clothing… better person?

We want to say No.

But I wonder. If THEY have the better situation, they are not better…but if we have the better situation, WE just might be better.

When I was working in a homeless shelter. Man: counseling with Darren, drug problem, criminal record, been in the mission for a week. Providing counseling. He was unkempt, borrowed mission clothes, bad manners and limited vocabulary. If not at the mission, I would not interact with him at all. I had a job, a car, a clean record, education, options. Could there have a been a temptation to think, I don’t just have it better…I AM better?

Later in the day we had chapel together. There we are in the same sanctuary. What did God see in my heart?

James is squarely aiming at the danger of partiality, of favoritism and bias of one person over another.

EXEGESIS - Partiality is incompatible with being a Christian

The context into which James writes

The first century Roman empire was different than 21st century America. They wore togas, had great marble temples, gladiators, and the open market. Not electricity or cars or computers or phones.

Yet, some cultural dynamics would have been familiar.

Back then, as now, there were those who were wealthy, those who were not.

Those who had homes and estates, those who did not.

Influential, those who were not.

Those who were citizens, those who were not.

People knew how things worked. Preferential treatment was offered to the wealthy, the powerful, and the attractive.

That’s the way things were. People knew which category they fit into.

Then, like now: Church was supposed to be different.

Church was the place where one’s worldly status got left at the door, AND ONE’S IDENTITY AS A CHILD OF GOD AMONG BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST was the reality.

Paul, whom James of course knew:

Galatians 3:26–29 (NRSV)

for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.…There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

The problem James is concerned about is that the churches were not living up to this reality. Some members were being treated with favoritism and others were being dishonored.

Example: one member with a brooks brothers toga: here is your seat sir. Poor member comes in with just a tunic: sit on the floor or be in the back.

The congregation may not have seen anything wrong with this. That is how you treat people at the coliseum, or at the games or at the theater…rich up front, poor on the floor.

James is deeply concerned. Not a social issue: a spiritual issue!!

James 2:1 “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?”

Expected answer: NO.

For James the point is not whether the church is fitting in with custom..but whether it is reflecting Christ and his kingdom.

With you favoritism you are not believing in Jesus!

Jesus went out of his way to include the poor, the marginal, and the outcast.

Among his disciples, he called:

Expected: Philip and Nathaniel, who were followers of John the Baptist, BUT NOT EXPECTED: also James and John and Peter and Andrew who were simple fishermen.

Expected: Simon the Zealot, who was a religious nationalist, Not Expected: Matthew who was a tax collector, a traitor to his people.

Expected: He called John who was a mystic. Surprise: also Thomas who was a doubter.

Expected: He surrounded himself with men. Unexpected: also Women who went with him, like Mary Magdelene, and the sisters Mary and Martha, and others.

Teacher

Expected: Nicodemus the elder of Israel…Unexpected: the crowds of people, the “rabble.”

Socially

Ate with the religious elite (Simon) AND with prostitutes and sinners.

Healer

Servant of a Roman centurion, and the child of synagogue official, and a band of lepers who could not come into town.

Jesus did not play favorites, RATHER, AND CONTRARY TO CUSTOM: he ministered the Kingdom of God to all who would have it…including the poor and the marginal…giving them equal standing among each other…

So James: How can you call yourself a follower of Christ if you are discriminating against the very people Jesus went out of his way to include?

is it not the poor that God has chosen? (James 2:5), but you choose the wealthy.

Jesus promised the poor the kingdom (Matt 5): blessed are the poor, yours is the kingdom of heaven, but you dishonored the poor.

Jesus said to the poor and marginal, come and follow me. You say: sit over there, sit at my feet.

James says: Not acceptable. Rather, a violation of the Royal Law. (James 2:8)

Royal Law: the greatest law. The law of the King.

James is referred directly to Jesus’ teaching on Leviticus 19:18. The greatest commandments, love the Lord you God, love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:36; Mark 12:31)

John 13:34 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

The church is the place where Christ is king. he is the glorious lord. (James 2:1)

Therefore: When someone, anyone, comes in, they should be loved by those who are already there as much as those who already are there love themselves.

That is the law.

A Christian might say: Ah, so I wasn't’ so welcoming. Not like adultery or murder.

No! it is a big deal.

James 2:11 Because the Law Giver who said no adultery and no murder is the same One who says, love others as yourself.

James’ point is not that all sins are equal.

Jesus’ command on a par with 10 commandments!! Jesus and God Sinai are ONE!

Christians must respect that each person in church is someone God loves and for whom God sent Jesus into the world to redeem into his family.

Do not disrespect the poor or marginal…they are not worse because of those conditions…they have value because they are loved by God and Jesus died and rose for them.

Do not be partial because someone is rich or powerful…they are not better because of those things…they have value because they are loved by God and Jesus died and rose for them.

James’ vision is that the church is a place where earthly distinctions of privilege/disadvantage are obliterated by an awareness of God’s love and mercy toward all.

INTERPRETATION - When we discriminate we sin; but when we are just to all, we are like Christ.

Right now our culture is highly alert to discrimination and injustice.

People are taking action to make changes in laws, policies, and practices, to eradicate favoritism based on sex, race, class, or other circumstance.

a complex process.

Some of us think things are going too far or change is happening too fast….others among us may think that changes have not gone far enough and not fast enough.

Wherever you are on that spectrum, I want us to see that the root desire - for justice, respect, and honor to be shared - for each and every person to be intrinsically treasured because they are human - is a deeply Biblical value.

One that as Christians we are beholden to.

Our faith in Christ, our experience of Christ, leads to the action of welcoming others without partiality.

PCUSA Constitution G-1.0302 Welcome and Openness:

…The Gospel leads members to extend the fellowship of Christ to all persons. Failure to do so constitutes a rejection of Christ himself and causes a scandal to the Gospel.

Our constitution is echoing James: if you exclude others, do you even believe in the glorious Lord Jesus?

If we say: As a Christian, I will Love neighbor as self. Then don’t do it. It is scandalous — a betrayal of a trust.

AA met in my last church. They met in the fellowship hall. Few AA members came attended church, ours anywhere else: Number one complaint: Hypocrites, say they love like Jesus does: but I went to church, didn’t look good, feel good, smell good…and I wasn’t welcomed.

Church pain is a deep pain.

But church healing is also deep healing.

Jan was a member who came to church when she was going through a divorce. She had minimal job, mental health issues and drugs, alienated from her children.

She came to church. Women embraced her as a sister. Bought her a book for the book club. Helped her find somewhere to live. Prayed with her. A year went by, and she was like a new person: NT: when someone is in Christ, new creation!

It is not just the struggling who need inclusion:

A rich man. I have a hard time at church, because the moment they find out I am wealthy, they treat me different…like I don’t have problems or needs or I just want to be a Christian brother!

O, to be a church where

everyone who needs forgiveness, finds it

everyone who is looking for love, discovers it.

everyone who is yearning for dignity is honored.

When everyone who is hated, receives a smile and a hug

when everyone who is disempowered, is called into servant leadership.

Paul in Philippians 2: every knee shall bend and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord. This is a promise about the end time. ALSO: Something that we as the are to put into practice right now.

APPLICATION - We should be just to all

High calling!

First, be mindful of our shared status before God.

We are all blessed to be here. Every single one of us is a sinner, a needy human, a mortal.

The Lord of Glory came for us and gave us freely love, forgiveness, and new life.

We should be grateful to God.

Hard to be stingy toward others when you are filled with gratitude. Say to yourself when you enter: I am thankful to be here.

Second, look a little deeper at others.

Not on the outside, but on the inside. A desperate desire to be loved and included and valued. People long to be seen. To be heard.

Jesus once healed a blind man (Mark 8:24): blind man saw people like trees, blurry. Jesus had to work the miracle twice. That is often us. We need to actually see and hear people. Slow down. Let Jesus open our eyes. Pay attention.

Third, see that others — especially the needy, the broken — a rich vessels of faith and vehicles of the kingdom of God.

At the Mission.

The leader of the service. Pray in small groups. Me, a counselor, with the residents, including Darren, with whom I was working earlier in the day.

We held hands. God, thank you for Jason. For the calling you gave him. bless him in his ministry. My walls came down. God thank you for Brett, for the new thing you are doing in his life.

We were not in ROLES WE WERE IN RELATIONSHIP: two human being, two brothers, One God and Christ.

CONCLUSION

That’s Jesus’ vision for his church.

May it be our vision too.

PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

Let us pray to the God of mercy, through our savior, Jesus Christ, saying, Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

God our maker, you surround your people with favor and goodness. You have chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to inherit your promised kingdom through our Lord Jesus Christ, who heals the afflicted and sets the oppressed free. Open our mouths in intercession as we bow at your feet on behalf of the church, the creation, and all those in need. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Open your church to welcome and honor the poor, meeting their needs with faith-filled deeds of love and generosity. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Uphold the land and those who labor to cultivate it, that both crops and people may be sustained by your love and overflow with the blessings of your generous provision.Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Establish justice for the poor, relief for the afflicted, and compassionate care for the physically and mentally ill. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

May we respect the dignity of all who struggle, showing your kindness to those in need.Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Open our ears to hear the cry of the poor. Open our mouths to advocate for the afflicted. Open our hands to lift up those who are pressed down. Open our hearts to share generously with those who lack, especially those we remember now aloud and in our hearts. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Bless the faithful poor and afflicted who have passed into your presence today to receive the rich inheritance you have prepared for them in your kingdom. Lord, in your mercy…hear our prayer.

We trust in you to do us good through the excellent name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.