The Problem with Favoritism

Man, last Sunday was so much fun. It was great to see so many people jumping in and helping neighbors and our community.

We are actually thinking about how to take what our Community Outreach Team has been doing and form a new team that will help us do more of these kinds of events in the future in some ongoing ways.

If you might be interested in helping with that, swing by the church on the evening of November 12 at 5:30. We will lay out some additional information about what this team might be responsible for.

If you have any questions or can’t make it to the meeting, email me - [e-mail] to let me know.

It is really cool to be a part of a church that is doing so much for an area I have spent a lot of my life in.

As I was thinking about the passage this week, I thought back to some of my experiences growing up here.

I worked at a store in Blacksburg during the heyday of Virginia Tech football and the Michael Vick era.

For those who weren’t in Blacksburg at the time, it was an even smaller town with even less going on than it has now, so Frank Beamer was the closest thing we had to a celebrity.

On rare occasions, Coach Beamer came into our store. It was hilarious to watch some of our employees rolling out the red carpet, tripping over themselves and their words to get a chance to help Coach Beamer.

Have you ever seen something like that? Someone fawning over a someone with money or influence?

Their entire demeanor can change depending on how the perceive the other person.

It’s funny when it happens at a store or a concert or something, but it isn’t funny at all when it happens at church.

As we head back to the book of James this morning, we are going to see that faith and favoritism are fundamentally incompatible.

Turn in your Bibles to James 2:1-10 because that is the passage we are walking through this morning.

As we get back into James after a week off for BE’n’GO, we are stepping back into some themes James has already brought up.

Our subtitle for this series is “the proof of faith,” and we have been seeing that a genuine faith in Jesus leads to behaviors that show that Jesus is in charge of our lives.

James picks up a theme he introduced in 1:9-11 and that he will return to throughout his letter: the distinction between the materially wealthy and the materially poor.

In that passage, James showed us that there is an inversion in God’s kingdom—the poor should boast in the way God has glorified himself and them, and the rich should be humbled because everything he has is a gift from God, whether it be power, possessions, or his salvation.

Then, in the last passage we studied at the end of chapter 1, James told us that part of honoring God is caring for those who have no ability to provide for or care for themselves, specifically widows and orphans.

We pick up right after that and continue this theme.

James gets right to the heart of it in 2:1…

That’s our big idea: faith and favoritism are fundamentally incompatible.

We’ll come back to that, but let’s keep going to see how James illustrates this. Read verses 2:2-4 with me…

It’s easy enough to imagine this, isn’t it? A well-dressed, well-groomed man comes into the church and people fawn all over him. They help him get a nice, comfortable seat and ensure everything is taken care of.

At the same time, an impoverished man comes in. He may not have a lot of access to hygiene supplies or clean clothes. He gets told to either stand over there or sit on the dirty floor, next to another man’s feet.

Keep in mind that they walked on dirt roads that animals traveled often, so those feet may have been utterly disgusting.

The scene is pretty striking, isn’t it?

At first glance, we would say, “I would never treat someone like that,” and I hope that’s true.

Maybe we are better at hiding it, but there are still groups of people we would ignore or treat worse than others.

How do you respond to those who have less than you? Whose teeth may not be as white or as straight, or whose clothes may not be as clean?

We are going to focus on distinguishing between the rich and the poor because that’s where our text focuses.

Maybe for you, it isn’t about money; you draw lines on race or some other external quality. Who are “those people” to you? The ones you go out of your way to avoid?

I mentioned this in a previous message, but that’s the danger of being at a large church like Northstar. There are enough people here that you might be able to find a group of people like you so you never really have to interact with those who are different.

When you and I give preferential treatment to the wealthy and influential, we show favoritism that is fundamentally incompatible with faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we know that we can’t show favoritism? After all, some teach that material wealth is a sign of God’s favor on a person’s life, so shouldn’t we honor those who seem to have unique favor with God?

In these verses, James is going to give us at least four reasons why our favoritism has no place in a Christian’s life or church.

We already read the first one of these, but look back at verse 4 to see it.

Favoritism is wrong because when we start drawing distinctions between classes of people,

1) We put ourselves in God’s place.

James begins by highlighting that favoritism is wrong because we are taking on a role that is not ours to take on.

By drawing distinctions between people based on what we see, we are setting ourselves up as judges.

When we show favoritism, we are judging people’s intrinsic worth by their net worth, and that is something we just cannot do!

Later on in the letter, James is going to make an even stronger statement. While addressing the way they were judging other believers, James says:

James 4:12 CSB

There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

There is only one being in all of existence with the right to make ultimate judgments, and it isn’t you or me.

When we play favorites, we are putting ourselves in the place of God.

He goes on to say that we are judges with “evil thoughts.” The concept here is that we use sinful standards to cast judgment.

He goes on in verse 5-7 to show what those sinful standards are.

Read those verses with me…

Here’s one of the reasons we are so unqualified to judge people like only God can.

It’s the second reason from this passage for why favoritism is wrong.

When we judge people based on their wealth or status or outward appearance,

2) We invert what God sees.

Look again at verse 5…

James isn’t saying here that every poor person is going to go to heaven and every wealthy person is going to hell.

Rather, he is pushing back against our tendency to equate material wealth with spiritual health.

Throughout the Bible, we see that God has an incredible way of showing his glory by calling, saving, and redeeming people that the world overlooks.

You can go back to when God called a childless Abram to be the father of his chosen people.

From an old man who was as good as dead, God called a nation to himself and through that family line, he brought the Savior into the world.

I can’t go into all these stories this morning, but we see his grace poured out on the poor widow in 2 Kings 4 who needed money to pay her husband’s debt. 2 Kings 7 talks about God’s grace shown to lepers who were outcasts and yet God let them be the messengers that told the city of Samaria that God had defeated their oppressors and delivered them.

There are so many more examples we could give, but let’s jump to the New Testament.

There, we see Jesus taking time to heal and forgive the lame, the destitute, the impoverished.

In Paul’s writings, he says this:

1 Corinthians 1:26–29 CSB

Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence.

There are so many other passages we can go to, but you can’t escape the reality that God extends his incredible grace in a unique way to those the world overlooks.

When we play favorites, we dismiss the very people God exalts.

We prefer the powerful, the elite, the influential, because we still want to be seen and known and recognized and be part of the cool kids club.

Instead, the heart of God is inclined towards those who realize they don’t have enough to make it and they can’t do it on their own.

Listen to what God told his people in Isaiah’s day:

Isaiah 66:1–2 CSB

This is what the Lord says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be? My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.

We pay attention to the rich and influential. God looks favorably on the one who is humble, submissive to him, and responsive to his word, regardless of his social status.

God made the world and everything in it, so he isn’t impressed by how much money you made or how extensive your resume is. He doesn’t think you are worth more because of how many letters you have after your name or how many zeroes in your bank account.

What matters to him is how your heart responds to his word.

Why should anything else matter to us?

By showing favoritism to the wealthy or to “our kind of people,” we invert what God sees.

In doing that, we also…

3) We ignore what we don’t want to see.

In James’ day, wealth was getting centralized more and more in the hands of landowners and wealthy merchants.

Those were the very same people who extorted and took advantage of those who had less.

While the church was tempted to court the wealthy, the wealthy were more than happy to drag people to court and oppress the poor.

In all of that, they were also blaspheming God.

We don’t know the specific context of what these people were saying, but at the very least, they may well have had the same attitude that Proverbs warns us about.

In a prayer for God to give us exactly what we need, we find this challenge:

Proverbs 30:9 CSB

Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you, saying, “Who is the Lord?” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God.

The temptation for the wealthy is to deny their need for God, blasphemously taking credit for their own success and wealth when the reality is God gives us our very breath and, as we saw a minute ago, there is no room for anyone to boast.

We have a tendency to overlook sinful patterns in someone when we want to get a piece of their fame or their influence.

We can all think of instances where a musician or actor or someone picks up some Jesus language for a bit. Sometimes, we rush to give them a platform and realize too late that they were really just using Jesus as a means to get ahead.

When we welcome the rich and ostracize the poor, we have a tendency to overlook that these may be the very same people who take advantage of others and even blaspheme God.

That’s why we are such bad judges and one of the reasons why we need to leave that up to God.

He sees and knows accurately the condition of the heart, and he knows who are his.

There is one last reason from this passage for why faith and favoritism are fundamentally incompatible, and this ties it all together.

You see, when we show favoritism,

4) We forget about what God’s love looks like.

Read verses 8-10.

Instead of favoritism, you and I are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

When we play favorites, it isn’t just a bad thing, it is sin.

The Bible is clear: when I sin, I break God’s law and stand condemned.

We don’t like to think that God’s law is an “all or nothing” deal, but that is what the text says here: when I sin, it makes me a lawbreaker, and I am condemned.

We may revisit some of these verses next week, but for today, here’s what we see: favoritism is wrong because we are all equally guilty before God.

You and I have sinned. We have broken his law, and we do not deserve to have a relationship with God or enjoy life in his kingdom.

Yet, in his infinite mercy and goodness, God loved us so much that he would die to take my guilt and your guilt upon himself.

Romans 5:8 CSB

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rich, poor, or whatever line you want to draw, we stand equally condemned because of our sin, and we can be equally forgiven because of his death, burial, resurrection, and lordship over everything.

That’s why faith and favoritism are fundamentally incompatible: money, status, and influence don’t matter when it comes to our salvation.

We all stand equally condemned, and those who turn to Christ and trust him for their eternal life are equally forgiven, justified, made clean, and right with God.

How can I look down on someone? I am a sinner too. How can I fawn after someone? They are a sinner like me.

Faith and favoritism are incompatible, but aren’t you glad we serve a God who loves like he does?

That is why it is fitting for us to end today’s service with Communion.

I am going to invite the worship band to come up here and help us prepare our hearts to take the Lord’s Supper together.

This ceremony is a picture of this very reality. Everyone in this room who has surrendered to Christ and is walking with him is invited to come and take part.

Whatever your status outside this room, you have a place at the table because of Christ’s love on your behalf.

Reflect on that as you watch believers from different backgrounds, different nations, different stages of life, all come together to take the Supper.

While we are singing this next song, we are going to invite you to come forward and take a piece of bread and a cup of juice.

As soon as we begin singing, I will invite the first two rows in each section to head out towards the wall, make their way to the nearest station, and receive the elements.

When you get back to your seat, prayerfully sing with us. Once everyone has their communion elements, we will take them together.

These two represent the body of Jesus that was broken on our behalf and the blood of Jesus that was shed for our sins.

Here, we have the greatest picture of love imaginable.

Let’s pray, and then let’s sing and take the supper together.

Take out the bread, and listen to these words from the Apostle Paul:

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 CSB

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Take the bread, and let’s pray…

Now, for the cup:

1 Corinthians 11:25 CSB

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Drink the cup, and let’s pray.

Paul concludes this section by reminding us:

1 Corinthians 11:26 CSB

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Let’s proclaim his goodness together one more time, and then Matt will come close our service.