JAMES 2:1-13

Personal Favoritism

Text: James 2:1–13

Here in our lesson tonight

ETS: James denounced personal favoritism in God’s house and with God’s people.

ESS: Partiality dishonors God’s word, divides God’s people, and demands God’s judgment.

And what James teaches us is , that

OSS: We need to evaluate our hearts, confess our sins, and love people, as God loves them.

The point that James makes is that , When it comes to people, none of us should ever be partial to anyone over another person.

Partiality comes because of prejudice in a man’s heart. And We must never be prejudice towards anyone because of their race, rank, reputation, or riches.

Prejudice and partiality has hindered multitudes from coming to God through faith in Jesus.

What is prejudice? James Merritt defines it as following:

“When we make a distinction between people that God does not make.”

As we know , In the last part of chapter 1, James gives us a test of how real our religion is.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The way we behave toward people indicates, what we really believe about God!”

The question is

How are we behaving toward others?

And so, once again ,James denounced personal favoritism in God’s house and with God’s people.

Partiality dishonors God’s word, divides God’s people, and demands God’s judgment.

And so here, James would have us to evaluate our own hearts and lives, confess our sins and repent of partiality in our lives.

This passage gives some responses toward personal favoritism.

And so , lets look at

I. The charge to the church concerning partiality (vs. 1–4)

(A.)It’s An Illustration (vs. 1–3)

Lets look what it says

“My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or ‘Sit here at my footstool,”

And so , what we see here is that

James is clearly speaking to the church.

And James gives a clear command before he gives a strong illustration.

He gives a command, by saying brethren

Can I tell you

Our faith in Jesus Christ, should make us people that love, people that reach out, not people who despise and play favorites.

AMEN

And Because our faith is in Jesus

Our faith in Jesus , is open to whosoever will come.

See, when we look at this word Partiality

Partiality is translated as, “an attitude of personal favoritism.”

Partiality: This word means to lay hold of one’s face or lay hold of what one appears to be.

in essence, It has the literal meaning of lifting up one’s face with the idea of judging by appearance and on that basis giving special favor and respect.

Can I tell ya, brothers and sisters

We must not judge by appearance. James gives an illustration of someone who did just that!

Judging

Illustration: In California a Judge was having a hard time finding juror for a case to be tried. The judge asked one prospective juror why he didn’t want to serve on the jury. The man replied, ‘I’m prejudice, I can tell the man is guilty by just looking at him.” The judge said, ‘you idiot that is not the defendant, that is his lawyer.”

like i told you last week, we have to be careful how we judge

If some one comes into this church , we are to treat all equally.

AMEN

And so, look what James does

James gives a hypothetical situation.

Watch the first man

The first man is wearing gold rings.

I mean, he comes to church, and he is ballin

This man pulled up in his Mercedes, he has on designer clothes, have on his Rolex watch, and rings on every finger.

And This man, received special treatment.

The usher gave him a place in the front.

See, back in biblical times, The front seats in the synagogues where reserved for the important and prominent people.

There are still some churches like that

And This man had on fine gold and had on fine garments.

But watch this

is the man with all this , in sin or the people who treats him with special treatment?

James says that the sin does not lie with the man wearing the rings or clothes, but with the church’s preferential treatment of the rich man.

and see, James contrasts the rich man with the fine apparel with the poor man with the filthy apparel.

The poor man has no rings, no wealth, and no high social standing and he therefore receives no special treatment.

In verse 3 James tells the church that they pay attention to the rich.

Pay attention gives the sense of all eyes being fixed on and all hands being willing to care for the needs of the rich one.

I like the way Warren Wiersbe wrote it, he says “We cater to the rich because we hope to get something out of them, and we avoid the poor because they embarrass us.”

One writer said, “Christians tend to listen more intently to the prosperous man, to defer to his wishes, to place him in positions of leadership. ‘If he can run the bank,’ we think, ‘he can lead the church.”

But watch James, James is condemning the snobby attitude that is so often found in churches.

Great Biblical Truth: Can I tell yall,

We must love everyone equally and treat everyone equally because Jesus died not only for the rich, but for the poor also.

Amen

See, God is not partial towards anyone, therefore we should not be partial towards anyone.

Romans 2:11, “For there is no partiality with God.”

Look what it says here verse 3 says , “You sit here in a good place,” ‘You stand thee or sit here at my footstool.”

The ‘You’ is emphatic.

To have some one sit at your footstool meant that they were inferior to you.

Brothers and sisters , We must never treat anyone like we are better than them.

Have you been guilty of prejudice? Have you been partial in the past? Do you show preferential treatment to others that you like, admire, or those who have a higher social standing?

And so In verses 1–3 James gives an illustration concerning partiality.

But In verse 4 James gives:

(B.) An indictment (v. 4)

look what it says

“have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?”

watch James, James tells the church that if they do this, they are guilty of showing partiality and their heart, is not right.

Johnny Hunt said, “We are to be discerners of truth; not judges of appearance.”

And see, Because their thinking was evil, their actions followed suit. What these people had done was evil!

See, One of the greatest dangers of the church, is to look for people who can help us instead of looking for people we can help. Too many Christians want to be blessed instead of being a blessing.”

And see, The guilty ones where not those who came into the church, but those who were already in the church.

We are not to show Favoritism

When visitors come into our churches, we tend to judge them on what we see outwardly, rather than what they are inwardly. We look at the way they Dress, color of skin, fashion, and other superficial things carry more weight than the fruit of the Spirit that may be manifest in their lives.”

We will never know on this side of glory what our prejudice and partiality has done to hinder the work of God in this world.

There is no telling how many people who have died without christ, because we were prejudice towards them.

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And so , James gives a strong charge to the church concerning partiality.

But In verse 5, we see the second response to personal favoritism.

II. Here we see , The chosen of the church concerning a promise (v. 5)

Look what verse 5 says

“Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

And here, James states a question intended to bring a positive response. Of course God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith.

1 Corinthians 1:26–27, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;”

God chooses the dirty, downtrodden, and the destitute to be rich in faith.

“James teaches us that the grace of God makes the rich man poor, because he cannot depend on his wealth; and it makes the poor man rich, because he inherits the riches of grace in Christ.”

God has called out to the poor lost sinners to come to Jesus Christ.

Those who belong to Jesus Christ by faith are heirs to the kingdom of God.

James is telling the church that God has chose the poor and the church chose the rich. The church’s judgment was not God’s judgment.

The church must love all people especially those who love God.

Can I tell you, We must never make ungodly distinctions between others. The evil thoughts of the church caused the errant judgment by the church.

God accepts what the world rejects, God honors what the world despises.

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And so, James gives the charge to the church concerning partiality, James reveals the chosen of the church concerning a promise.

But In verses 6–7 we see:

III. James tells about the The conduct of the church concerning the poor (vs. 6–7)

Look what it says

“But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

And so, Obviously some of the church was guilty of showing favoritism.

And James is rebuking the church, because of their conduct concerning the poor.

The church dishonored or despised the poor.

Can i tell you

When we make distinctions between the poor and the rich, the well known or the unknown, the wealthy or the worn, we do not please the Lord Jesus Christ.

James is saying that what God has chosen to honor, the church has chosen to dishonor.

Proverbs 17:5, “He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker;”

1 Samuel 2:7–8, “The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.”

See, When we give special treatment to the rich, when we honor the rich because of something they given and have looked down on the poor because they are poor, we dishonor the rich and we reproach our Maker.

James Merritt has well said, “Never judge a man’s worth by a man’s wealth.”

We must never judge the outward appearance, because the Lord judges the heart.

see, Just because a person is poor, does not mean he will not or can not be used by the Lord.

Illustration: Years ago this farmer would not let his daughter marry the young man that she loved because he was a poor man and his family was poor. The farmer told his daughter that he wanted her to marry someone who could take care of her and would amount to something in this world. The farmer refused to let the young man marry his daughter. 35 years later the old farmer was out in his barn and he noticed the initials of that young man and his daughter’s carved on the rafters of the barn. The young man’s initials were J.A.G. The young man that the farmer judged to be poor and never to amount to anything was James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States.

James says that the church is guilty of prejudice.

It was the rich that were oppressing the saints and the saints were catering to the rich.

The rich were the ones that were blaspheming the glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the nature of mankind to blaspheme God’s name because of the sinful and rebellious nature within man.

Acts 11:26, “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

That was a derogatory term used of the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ.

They were calling them little Christ’s.

They were making fun of Jesus by mocking His people.

It is by the noble name by which we have been called.

Church , listen,

We are called Christians, because Jesus Christ lives in us and we are the children of God.

Have you been called by God? Are you called by that noble name?

Great Biblical Truth: We are not to honor those who dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are not to mistreat anyone, but we are to love them through the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

all James is saying is that , the churches conduct, was contrary to God’s character.

See, When we operate outside of God’s will and His word, we will always displease the Father.

And see, Many of the Jewish Christians that James wrote to, had lost wealth, position, power, prestige, homes, and family.

See,The church may have been trying to make impressions on those who had influence in society, but not realizing that they were not impressing the One who has all influence in heaven and on earth.

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And so , James responds to personal favoritism with the charge to the church concerning partiality, the chosen of the church concerning the promise, the conduct of the church concerning the poor.

But here In verses 8–11 James responds to personal favoritism with:

IV. The challenge to the church concerning their practice (vs. 8–11)

(A.) and James talks about The work of the law against the partial v. 9

look what it says

“but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

James says that there was indulgence to the rich and there was indifference to the poor and that was iniquity in the church.

The Main Message of this Passage: Our beliefs should always control our behavior.

“but if you show partiality” does not imply that there was a question about it.

And here, James was not implying that this could be going on in the church, but he was stating that this was going on in the church.

When we show partiality, we do not fulfill the royal law, we do not love our neighbor as ourselves.

When we show partiality, favoritism or prejudice, we show that we do not love God and when we do not love God, we cannot love our neighbor.

Illustration:you remember In Luke 10:25–37 Jesus give the parable of the good Samaritan. This is a story about a man who did not show partiality or prejudice, but took care of a man that he didn’t even know.

church , “If we loved our neighbors as we love ourselves, it would free us from self-righteousness, condemnation, criticism, jealousy, lust, and envy.”

Those who show favoritism commit sin.

We have all missed the mark set by the righteous, royal law of God.

None of us have kept the 10 Commandments.

We have fought to keep them in the courthouse, but we have not fought to keep them in our heart.

When we sin we are convicted by the law.

The law’s work against the partial is to convict of that sin.

1 Timothy 1:8–10, “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,”

When we break God’s law on any poin,t we are sinners and James gives a strong word against those who show favoritism.

Personal favoritism is sin and when we break God’s law, we act contrary to God will.

The work of the law against the partial, is to convict sinners as transgressors.

Who are Transgressors: Transgressors:refers to someone who willfully goes beyond God’s prescribed limits.

Those who show favoritism not only miss the mark, but they willfully go against God’s law and they are convicted and stand guilty before God.

Great Bible Truth: We cannot be right with God, when we have personal favoritism in our midst.

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And so James challenges the church concerning their practice. He tells them that there should be no partiality and warns them that those who show favoritism sin.

But In verse 9 we see the work of the law against the partial.

In verses 10–11 we see:

(B.) The weight of the law on the partial (vs. 10–11)

look what it says

“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

James gives a great challenge to the church about their personal practice.

James says that if they keep the whole law and yet break one part of it, they are guilty of breaking all of it.

The weight of the whole law would be upon the person that shows personal favoritism.

When we sin in one part, we cannot please God in any part.

Church , May God help us to realize that when we are prejudice against blacks, Mexicans, Chinese, Koreans, Russians, or anyone else that we have broken God’s law and are transgressors of the whole law.

FACT: When our relationship is hindered at one point with God, it is hindered in every point with God.

God wants us to repent of all sin; He wants our whole heart, soul, mind, and all our strength to be devoted to Him and His will.

When we break the law, we have the weight of the whole law on us.

Illustration: Within the laws of our government, when we break the law by speeding, we are not guilty of robbery, murder, extortion, arson, or any other crime, except breaking the traffic laws. But according to God, when we break one of His laws we are guilty of breaking the whole thing. It only takes one link of a chain to be broken for the whole chain to be broken and rendered useless. If we have any links in the chain of our obedience to God broken, then we have broken fellowship with God.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “We cannot sin lightly and serve faithfully. God forgives our sins when we confess them to Him, but He cannot change their consequences.”

Proverbs 28:13, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”

We are challenged to live godly and holy lives.

If we stumble at one point then we incur the whole weight of God’s law.

Thanks be to God for His grace. The Lord knew that no one would be able to completely and totally and consistently keep all the law all the time.

That is why God sent Jesus for our sakes.

Jesus kept all the law all the time, He lived a sinless and perfect life and when He died on the cross He was the perfect sacrifice for all sin for all time.

And you know, This passage of Scripture humbles me and makes me grateful unto God for the blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

And so, Jesus releases us from the weight of the law, the penalty of breaking the law, and He gives us His righteousness.

When we realize this, our daily living should resemble that of those who have been forgiven.

And so, We should thank God that He is gracious to us!

God challenges us concerning our practice!

How are we doing in keeping God’s law?

How are we doing in treating others?

How are we doing in our obedience to the Lord?

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In verses 8–11 James gives the challenge to the church concerning their practice.

But In verses 12–13 James gives:

V. The correction of the church concerning His principles (vs. 12–13)

look what it says

“So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James tells the church that we will all be judged by the standard of God’s law.James calls it, the law of liberty.

When a person knows God and obey God, they are truly at liberty.

When we do not obey God, we are in bondage to sin, but through faith, we have freedom through Jesus Christ.

James says, because we are going to stand in judgment before Jesus, we must obey the Lord in our words and our walk.

Look what James says

James says in verse 12, “So speak” that is our words, “and so do” that is our walk.

“Speak” and “do” are present active imperatives: James is saying that, we are to keep on speaking and keep on doing in the reality of the coming judgment.

Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Jimmy Draper says, “In light of the fact that we are accountable to God and will someday stand in judgment before him, our lives ought to manifest our commitment to him in Christian love.”

1 Peter 1:16–17, “because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;”

In verse 13 James gives a strong word of correction. Judgment from God will be without mercy to those who do not know God.

When we fail to show mercy to others, we give evidence that we have never experienced the grace and mercy of God. When we have been forgiven of all our sins, we want to share that forgiveness with a lost and dying world.

A person that shows no mercy in this world, will receive no mercy in the next.

John MacArthur wrote, “When a man live without mercy to others in God’s world, he simply shows off the fact that he himself has never responded aright to the immeasurable mercy of God.”

Are you a merciful person? Do you show mercy on those who have fallen? Do you show mercy on those who do you wrong?

Warren Wiersbe says, “Where God finds repentance and faith, He is able to show mercy, where He finds rebellion and unbelief, He must administer justice.”

Would you repent of sin and trust in Jesus today?

Is your life characterized by mercy or judgment?

Do you show favoritism and partiality towards others? God is calling for us to repent today!

Would you confess your sins today and turn to Jesus? Would you ask Jesus to take away the partiality and prejudice in your heart?

Jesus desires for us to walk with Him and be godly in this world!

When we live for Jesus we will share the love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy of Jesus with this world.

When we live for self we will share selfishness, greed, hatred, prejudice, and partiality with this world.

Which of these are you showing? Do you live for Jesus? Do you know Jesus today? Would you turn from sin and trust in Him today?

God calls and we need to respond!