The Sin of Partiality
Notes
Transcript
As I begin I want you to picture something with me. You arrive at church and as you are here, before the service begins you see two men at the exact same time walk in - both are equally close to you.
Say one of them is noticeably wealthy man - when he got into the parking lot he got out of a fancy car, he was wearing a nice coat, handsome man, well groomed, clean cut, smells nice.
and then another walks in who is clearly homeless, gets out of a car that he has slept in, clothes have holes in them, smells like he hasn’t showered recently, he hasn’t shaved, his breath still smells like the beer he drank last night.
Who do you greet first?
Be honest with yourself.
Why?
Well It’s a trick question - because to answer with either man is the wrong answer. Because the amount of information that I have given you, and the text I just read, at this point should not really permit you to answer.
Hopefully the first one you see, or the one who makes eye contact first - and not the one who seems to be a better potentially for blessing the church.
If the thought we have as someone enters in the building is “wow, just a little bit of their money can help us fix the leak in the roof of the gym,” or “replace the couch in the lobby.”
If we see that wealthy person and escort them to the pew with the best view of the screen, the perfect sound from the speaker, the pew with the most comfortable temperature… and then the noticeably homeless man we tuck away in the corner so no one sees him, and then he force him outside the closest door as he exits.
And hopefully you did not go with the pious answer and say “the homeless person”… simply because you knew the text here tells us not to elevate the wealthy man. But the text really tells us not to play favorites - and not to do so either way. Though we are seldom tempted to elevate a poor man over a wealthy man - to do the opposite of this text is not the solution either.
No Partiality
No Partiality
But let’s look at what James says here in verse 1:
1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
James begins this section of his text by giving an instruction to not show partiality.
James tells us not to be partial, but then he also tells us the reasons for why we ought not to be partial.
The First is
No Partiality Because of:
God’s Character
God’s Character
And his appeal begins with reference to of our faith. And the object of our faith - the object of our worship is: The Glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Normally, I don’t pick on the Bible translation but a better translation of what James wrote is “Our Lord Jesus Christ the Glorious” or “Our Glorious Lord Jesus Christ”. So James is marking a remarkable statement about Jesus here. He is making a specific statement concerning Jesus’ divinity. And if we remember that James was likely among the first of the New Testament letters written then we can see that this is a significant statement.
And even more so when he gives the basis for our not having partiality being Jesus. James takes this idea of not showing partiality from the Old Testament. The Old Testament basis for this instruction is the character of God. God is not a God of partiality so his people cannot be either.
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.
There are many Old Testament reference that command God’s people to not be partial. We are not to show partiality because God does not show partiality. And this has been a theme that was apparent in our study in Galatians last year. It was present when when we look at Psalm 82 - as we read about God’s indictment over judges showing partiality to the wicked - and God’s justice.
And if we look back to one of the applications from last Sunday, caring for those that God cares for - those who cannot care for themselves - means we do not get to play favorites with people.
Do you think that you have reason to be impartial when even God is not partial?
This is core to the Old Testament law. As God is giving the people their law, and they are developing their identity in him - there is a repeated condemnation against partiality. The first condemnation comes in Ex. 23:2-3. Then again in Leviticus.
15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
Leviticus 19 is the thematic center of the book of Leviticus. The chapter begins with the command to be holy as the Lord your God is holy, and then at the center of the chapter is the command to love your neighbor as yourself. If we take those two commands seriously then being impartial naturally falls from both of them.
We also read this command to be impartial repeated in Deuteronomy. Appearing at least twice… though there are other similar laws.
In Deut 1:17 we read…
17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
Then similarly in 16:19…
19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
There are further references to this in:
Proverbs 24:23, Eph 6:9, Col 3:25.
Acts 10:34 and Romans 2:11 also repeat what is stated in Deut 10:17 about God showing no partiality.
11 For God shows no partiality.
God really wants us to know that he does not play favorites with people based upon external appearance, or wealth, and we are not permitted to do so either.
One major aspect of this in the Biblical law, as you may have already noticed is that there is to be no partiality in judgments in court. There is to be no favoring the poor or the rich in court rulings. This is something we see quite frequently. Think of the last time a wealthy person went to court and got off for what seemed like nothing because they had money.
Or when we consider the amount of celebrities who used their money to silence people they had harmed or taken advantage of. Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, etc.
James however, seems to be expanding this text to apply to more than just the justice system. James refers to a man in fine clothing with gold rings walking into their assembly.
And it is starting in verse 2 where he begins his argument to demonstrate that we should show no partiality because it is foolish.
Foolishness of Partiality
Foolishness of Partiality
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,
There is some debate about what assembly means here - as it is the word for synagogue rather than the word for church - but it seems to refer to the gathering of the saints in a worship service. As it was written to Jewish converts in the churches surrounding Jerusalem they may have still used the word synagogue this early on.
In this text, James has demonstrates what it means to show partiality, and how there is no room for it in the church.
James catches wind of Christians in the area treating the wealthy people better in the church than the poor.
He continues in verse 3 to demonstrate how they might make distinctions between the two kinds of people. Similar to how I began: He asks them Do you take the wealthy man to sit in the place of honor, and place the poor man in the place of a servant?
But then in verse 4 he concludes by telling them what this means:
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
When you make this distinctions in the church among yourselves you put yourself in the place of judges. But you are doing so with evil thoughts and standards. God does call us to discriminate between good and evil, God calls us to judge between righteous and unrighteous. Matt 7 begins with judge not… and then continues to give criteria by which Christians ought to judge. But we cannot judge by external appearances - so no place in the church for favoritism based upon socio-economic status, racial or ethnic differences.
Do you all remember that show Undercover Boss? If not, the premise is that a CEO of a company would enter into one of the company’s locations, they would pretend to be an entry level employee and get to know the inner workings of their company and their store employees. In many instances in the show they would find that the employees did not tend to think very highly of the CEO in their disguised persona. They look down on them because they aren’t good at operating a cash register, or they cannot memorize a tables food order. But they also act differently around the CEO, not knowing that he is a CEO. They judge the CEO on a faulty premise because of appearances. (Obviously, there is some level of deception involved in this show to disguise the appearance of the CEO.) However, the employees make a judgment on this new employee only to later find out that they aren’t what they seemed.
I don’t say this to suggest that the poor people might be wealthy people in disguise but more to suggest that when we judge on appearance we can find ourselves deceived.
God’s Character
God’s Character
In verse 5, James gives us a further scope for why we cannot act in this manner. He once again points us to the character of God to show that we cannot be partial. But this time he does it in the lens of the doctrine of election.
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?
God’s standard for why he has chosen and called those who will believe in him - is not based upon wealth or external appearances, but rather God has chosen his elect based upon what would please and glorify him most. God’s sovereign choice is not based upon externals such as wealth or skin color. This is why he has chosen among the poor. This does not mean that every one of God’s elect are poor - wealth does not excommunicate one from God’s kingdom. But we ought to be reminded of Jesus’ teachings in Luke 6:20:
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
This doesn’t mean that being poor warrants favor in God’s eyes. But God has not forgotten the poor. As since God has not forgotten the poor, especially not in matters of salvation, we have no basis to do so either.
Verse 5 - to be elected in the United States of America generally takes A LOT of money. To be elected in the Kingdom of God does not require great wealth. God has elected the poor of the world to be rich in the kingdom.
God often chooses those different than we might choose. God cannot be bought - and we should be cautious that we do not think the same.
In the Gospels we see Jesus calling the poor beggars and wealthy pharisees. We see Jesus calling Jew and Gentile. Slave and free. Fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot.
This is likely why one of the requirements for a pastor is that he is not a lover of money. And for a deacon that he is not greedy for dishonest gain. A pastor who is a lover of money could easily be bought and be partial to those with wealth.
This condemnation of partiality is not merely pointing out instances in which we value the wealthy more than we value the poor. This happens with ethnicity. In the instance in which one ethnicity is valued over another.
This text isn’t calling out people for noticing either. It’s not wrong to understand if a person has wealth and another doesn’t. It’s wrong to treat one more favorably because of it. Additionally, colorblindness isn’t the goal.
James then shows the foolishness of them being partial to the rich.
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 seems to assume that his audience is poor. And that they are being treated poorly by the rich. The rich are dragging them into court and using their wealth and influence to take advantage of the less fortunate. The wealthy that James is describing here are those who use their wealth to take advantage of others. The Ebeneezer Scrooge, Or Scrooge McDuck or Mr. Krabbs types who seek to amass more wealth at the expense of the poor.
And it is in verse 7 that James drives the point even further to state that it’s not just that these people drag you into court but they also blaspheme the Lord who called you. In short, do not show partiality to people who hate you because of their externals.
It is certainly interesting, and I think connected, that this follows James arguing that Christians ought to keep themselves unstained by the world. As these attitudes are common among the world. The world around us is quick to evaluate people for the wrong reasons. We see this a lot in modern hiring practices where people are evaluated based upon things other than merit.
The world around us loves to do this. On the one end you have racism (which is bad) and then on the other end you have people observing what they think is racism and then saying these oppressed people need our help so we need to give them jobs, money, education, opportunity, platforms, a seat at the table, etc. based solely upon their ethnicity - which is just racism with more steps - or they hire based upon their socio-economic status, or sexuality, or whatever… but it’s still partiality.
Even if on one end or the other the person maintaining their attitudes feels that they have good reason for it (because we all justify our foolish attitudes) it’s still partiality.
The Sinfulness of Partiality
The Sinfulness of Partiality
And to look forward to next week’s text - James picks up on this and points out the severity of partiality. In verse 9 he identifies partiality as not only being foolish but being sinful.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Now we could likely make this conclusion by seeing how contrary it is to the character of God. If God does not show partiality then we should by no means think that we are qualified to do the opposite.
In John, Jesus gives us the manner by how we ought to judge. We are not to judge by appearance but to judge with righteousness.
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
And that ought to be the main point of application today. Do not be partial judging based upon appearance but rather judge righteously.
Jesus was never partial. Jesus can save us from our partiality. Jesus can help us judge righteously. Jesus’ death cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
No partiality because Jesus.
No Partiality because of God’s character
No Partiality because it is foolish.
No partiality because it is sinful.
