Single-mindedness of faith: mercy wins

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Partiality is inconsistent with the mercy we have received in Christ Jesus.

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Mercy wins?

One fun thing that our family likes to do is to go to a restaurant in simple street clothes, with our children. We like to order water to drink, perhaps an appetizer, two entrees, and then ask for extra plates. We enjoy seeing or not seeing the change in the waiter/waitresses demeanor toward us and/or service level to us. Why? We are looking to see whether we will be judge by our apparent dress, and/or external behaviors. After this, we enjoy tearing down stereotypes and showing that there is more to us (and others) then our external appearances and behaviors.

But these types of judgments are made against other people all the time. From kids in kindergarten not associating or playing with the dirty child, to elementary kids who form in cliques based upon clothing or whether they have a cell phone, to middle-school kids judging others by the kind of clothes they wear and social connections, to high-school students judging others by the side of town they are from, to grad school students judging one another based upon their performance, to the workplace where the car you drive, or the area you bought your house from, to churches who build themselves upon a particular sub-cultural like class, race, type of job, or home location. Churches that create a sub-culture which is naturally uninviting to any who are outside and makes them feel as if they are judged and not loved.

Do you show partiality? Today we will see why favoritism is irrational and unintelligible for those who trust in Christ for salvation, the results of favoritism, and finally that though it does not seem like it much of the time, Mercy Wins when we are single-minded in our faith in Christ!

Irrationality of favoritism (1-7)

++Remember Christ Jesus (1) ++Remember God's reality (2-6)

II. Results of favoritism (9-11, 13)

++Convicted (9-11) ++Judged (13a)

III. Mercy wins (8, 13b)

God’s perspective

First thing today I want to do today is to ground us in the heart of God. So let me read a few passages, beginning with :

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—[6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV)

What does it look like to be a real Christian? I mean, if we really believed what we read. If we believed the Good News of Jesus Christ, that we have been redeemed by him from our crimes against God and others, not because of anything in ourselves, but because of his kindness. What would it look like for this belief to work its way into all of our lives, what would it look like for this to work its way into our homes, our places of work, our churches, and our denomination?

In , when the prophet Samuel went to find God’s anointed from Jesse’s sons, Samuel assumed that God’s chosen one looked a certain way, but God said to Samuel,

Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

In , later in the history of Israel, when king Jehoshaphat appointed judges and was charging them to fulfill their duty properly, he said,

Jehoshaphat's Reforms

[1] Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned in safety to his house in Jerusalem. (ESV)

[7] But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (ESV)”

Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.

This word, partiality, in the Greek version of the OT, is the same word that James uses here. The word literally means, “to receive the face” of someone. Which, as one writer noted, is to “accept his external appearance as the real thing and to make an evaluation on that basis.”[1]

accept his external appearance as the real thing and to make an evaluation on that basis

[6] and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. [7] Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.” (ESV)

This then is contrary

Partial

So, our English word, partial, has the meaning of one who is inclined to favor one party more than the other. Thus, sometimes we will say that people who are partial are respecters of persons.

However, this word, partiality found in 2 Chronicles 16:7, in the Greek version of the OT, is the same word that James uses here. The word literally means, “to receive the face” of someone. Which, as one writer noted, is to “accept his external appearance as the real thing and to make an evaluation on that basis.”[1]

This then is why that ancient pastor, Polycarp, in his letter to the Philippians, written sometime before 156 AD, wrote in regard to the qualifications of elders (those who most clearly should represent and be an example to follow of what every Christians should be) in the church, saying:

The presbyters, for their part, must be compassionate, merciful to all, turning back those who have gone astray, visiting all the sick, not neglecting a widow, orphan, or poor person, but “always aiming at what is honorable in the sight of God and of men,” avoiding all anger, partiality, unjust judgment, staying far away from all love of money, not quick to believe things spoken against anyone, nor harsh in judgment, knowing that we are all in debt with respect to sin.

Michael William Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations (Updated ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 213.

; ; ;

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

; ;

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 887.

Irrationality of favoritism (1-7)

Remember Christ Jesus (1)

The first thing that we see right off the bat is that James uses the phrase, “my brothers” to show the absolute hypocrisy of treating one person above another since we are all part of the same family under Christ.

Next he uses an imperative that when considered with the phrase “my brothers” ultimately shows us that we are not to: show partiality since we are united to Christ, our glorious Lord through faith.

Faith here is referring to our faith in Christ. In other words, our faith in Christ, that though he was rich and we were poor he came down to save us, that it is a gift of God not of anything depending on us (as we saw earlier in ), is completely inconsistent with thinking that anything other than Christ, like wealth, will do us any good.

When we show partiality like this, instead of being an incarnational picture of the Gospel to a broken world, as our faith should direct us, we are simply reflecting the values of our world. Instead of becoming a life giving agent who manifests Christ to the world by living in a counter-cultural way, we show the world that we are just like them.

The phrase glorious Lord, or the Lord of glory, is used to highlight the oxy-moronic character of what favoritism does. Jesus himself is the most amazing, wonderful, powerful being in the universe, and instead of showing favoritism, he came and showed kindness to the broken, weak, wounded, and worthless. So how can showing favoritism live inside this view of Christs’ work?

What is being communicated is that we are not to hold our Christian faith with favoritism, especially that which brings us advantage. In other words, “Don’t try to combine favoritism and Christianity, it doesn’t make any sense!”

Doing something like favoring the rich and mistreating the poor, or perhaps more close to home, focusing entirely on the healthy when there are many sick, goes against the Gospel.

is so completely against the Gospel that it is almost laughable if it wasn’t so evil. Evaluating a person based upon the way they look on the outside instead of who they really are on the inside is evil and completely contrary to what we see about the character and nature of God, and ultimately the character of . This goes against several things: 1) The fact that all people are created in God’s image. 2) The fact that Jesus was himself from a poor upbringing. 3) The fact that none of us deserved Christ’s sacrifice, we were all poor, begging, dead people, who needed mercy, and Christ left his riches, to come and bless us and make us rich. He did not save us because we were favored, but because he simply loved us. 4) The fact that we all came into the world with only our skin, and will leave the same way. 5) That God actually favors the marginalized and desires them to be saved. 6) That God owns all things and doesn’t need our money. 7) That the church is not built by money, but built by Christ (I will build my church). 8) A church that favors the rich will eventually lose the true message of the Gospel. 9) A church that seeks money and status will eventually become irrelevant in society.

So to, evaluating a person based upon the way they look on the outside instead of who they really are on the inside goes against what we see about the character and nature of God.

Some of these things are:

1) Jesus is the perfect image of God.

2) The fact that Jesus was himself from a poor upbringing.

3) The fact that none of us deserved Christ’s sacrifice, we were all poor, begging, dead people, who needed mercy, and Christ left his riches, to come and bless us and make us rich. He did not save us because we were favored, but because he simply loved us.

4) The fact that, like Christ, we all came into the world with only our skin, and will leave the same way.

5) That God looks compassionately upon the marginalized and desires them to be saved as Christ does.

6) That Christ owns all things and doesn’t need our money.

7) That the church is not built by money, but built by Christ (I will build my church).

8) A church that favors the rich or those most like them will eventually lose the true message of the Gospel.

9) A church that seeks money and status will eventually become irrelevant in society.

So now its time to roll up our sleeves and get practical in order to help us remember God’s reality.

Remember God's reality (2-6)

What do we see in these next verses?

Gold fingers vs. gold heart

A man who is clearly wealthy based upon his appearance and a man who is clearly poor based upon his appearance walk into a church. This seems like the start of a joke, but there is nothing further from the truth. We will try to understand James’ illustration by applying it to today’s culture.

A man who is clearly wealthy based upon his appearance. Applying it to today’s culture. It would be a man who drives up to our church in a Ferrari, decked out in a designer suit, with designer shoes, designer sunglasses, a rolex, a solid gold tie clip, and several diamond studded rings. It is someone we have never seen before (a visitor!), and clearly, if he was to come to our congregation, perhaps he could increase our budget, support more missionaries, get a building project going, attract his other friends to bring more money in. The mind brings to light many things, for he represents potentiality. He is seen not as a person, made in the image of God, poor and broken, but raised up in Christ, but as a means to an end.

Applying it to today’s culture. It would be a man who drives up to our church in a Ferrari, decked out in a designer suit, with designer shoes, designer sunglasses, a rolex, a solid gold tie clip, and several diamond studded rings. It is someone we have never seen before (a visitor!), and clearly, if he was to come to our congregation, perhaps he could increase our budget, support more missionaries, get a building project going, attract his other friends to bring more money in. The mind brings to light many things, for he represents potentiality. He is seen not as a person, made in the image of God, poor and broken, but raised up in Christ, but as a means to an end.

It would be a man who drives up to our church in a Ferrari, decked out in a designer suit, with designer shoes, designer sunglasses, a rolex, a solid gold tie clip, and several diamond studded rings. It is someone we have never seen before (a visitor!), and clearly, if he was to come to our congregation, perhaps he could increase our budget, support more missionaries, ministries, get a building project going, and perhaps attract his other friends to bring them and more of their money in. The mind brings to light many things, for he represents potentiality. He is seen not as a person, made in the image of God, poor and broken, in need of Christ, or raised up in Christ, but as a means to an end.

At the same time though, a man who is clearly poor shows up. He has either walked to our church or showed up using public transportation. His clothes are dirty and tattered, maybe he even smells. All of his belongings are with him, in a roller suitcase that is as dirty as he is. The thoughts rush through our minds. It is someone we have never seen before (a visitor). But, our budget is already low, we are giving our money to needy people (at least we should be), if he starts coming it will be more liability to us. He has nothing to offer. He is probably so messed up that we will have to spend 100s of hours with him in counseling, and to what end? He won’t change, these poor people are all the same.

So we look at the rich man and the poor man, and in a split second we have made a decision. The rich man needs a good seat, after all, he is used to it, the poor man is used to sitting on the sidewalk anyway, or in bad spots. So, we (James notes that this is the attitude of the whole church) quickly turn our eyes from the poor man, look at the rich man and say to him, “Hey, please, why don’t you come and sit right here, it’s the best seat in the house!” We greet him with a cheery, excited attitude, showing him favor. While we greet the poor man with a hum-drum attitude, and say to him, “Well, we are pretty packed and don’t have any good seats left, but you can stand over there if you want, or if you don’t want to stand, you can sit on the floor.”

This attitude clearly does not value a person for who they are, but looks at a person for what they can do for us. This attitude is demonic and represents the opposite of what God is, of his character and nature. God did not make people to use them, nor did he save people because of all the wonders they have to offer.

God doesn’t look at us and see us for our potential for his kingdom or building his church. Christ builds his church, not us. We are given as gifts to Christ, who came to seek and save the lost, who came to save the weak, poor, blind, lame, prisoners. Us seeking to pad our church with people that bring advantage to us, and showing favor to them because they can help us feel better about ourselves and our church is sick.

This congregation preached a clear kingdom-based sermon this day, but the only problem is that it wasn’t about Christ and his mission of bringing his kingdom to earth, no, it was about building their own kingdom. The visitors and the congregation got the message loud and clear. What was that message? Christ did not come to save the weak, broken, and marginalized, but rather he came to build up this particular body and us.

The people who come into our church, or the people we invite, or the people we don’t invite all tell a story. They tell a story, preach a sermon, to all who are in the building. All aspects of our life as a church declare who we value. They tell others about who we think Jesus is, what he does, and what he values. We are called Christians, little Christs. The people in Antioch were first called Christians, though they were a mix of different races, socio-economic conditions, and backgrounds, instead of being known by their distinctions were known by what they had in common. They looked like Christ. So what does Christ look like? One who defeats judgment with mercy.

What won here? The congregation in this story believed something. They believed that judgment wins. What do you believe? If you believe that mercy should win over judgment, do you practice it by reaching out to all men, women, and children without partiality, showing mercy and love, not based upon whether they can do something for you, but simply because they were created by God, and so need to know his love and find the great message that in Christ Jesus, mercy triumphs over judgment. Their sins and crimes can be covered only if they rest in the mercy of Christ.

It seems to be saying here that if we discriminate against people, make distinctions among them, treat them differently, we are judging people with evil logic, Satanic logic, we are making judgments by the wrong standards, evil ones. This Satanic logic is completely inconsistent with our faith. Paul tells us in :

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

Prisoners, sounds pretty poor doesn’t it. Even if you are in prison, your money won’t do you any good. Notice that in Christ we are heirs, we have become children, and receive the inheritance that God has promised in Christ Jesus. This is why this reasoning is so Satanic, it looks at things completely from an earthly viewpoint, people are valuable based upon what they have, and what they can do for us. God tells us that people intrinsically have value because they are made in his image, and they have value as they are united to Christ, made members of his family.

The meaning of this evil reasoning is quite clear. It is a judge who is motivated by evil thoughts, or perhaps even a judge who renders evil decisions. Do you see why Jehosaphat made the admonition to the judges and rulers?

But what makes this much worse is where it happens. It doesn’t happen in the pagan world only, but between one another, or among yourselves. In other words, this isn’t just localized to how we treat people who come into our worship services, but how we treat each other within our Christian community, a community that was redeemed with the same blood, by the same Savior, into the same family. But instead of seeing the unity that comes from all of us being united to Christ, we see and use one another for our own selfish purposes, in some ways trampling the blood of the one who we are untied to. In other words, we judge people based upon our internal sinful, evil thoughts and motivations to get what we want.

God’s choosing vs. your dishonoring

James now calls us to attention. He draws us in with a command, but one that appeals to our hearts and even the unity that we should have. We are to listen, to pay attention, and we are told to do so collectively. Yet, he tells us that we are beloved or dear brethren. We are all a part of the same family, bought by the same blood, have the same Father, the same brother, the same Spirit lives in us. James addresses the collective whole with loving concern in tenderness, yet firmly.

James then brings down some very powerful logic. He gives four very powerful reasons why judging our brothers and sisters within the church for our own advantage is reprehensible. First, the outworking of redemption. Throughout the history of redemption God has chosen or selected the poor to be those with the greatest faith in him. What is James saying here? He uses an aorist tense to refer to God’s past action of choosing. God did not choose them because they were poor, or for anything that they did or didn’t do, nor did God choose every poor person to be saved, nor did God chose no rich people at all, but the fact that God has chosen his people throughout the years to be among those who were poor or came from poor circumstances. Throughout the course of history, many of his children endured decades of poverty, suffering, and being taken advantage of. The reality is that God has chosen men who are poor and he raised up, though some, like Lazurus died in poverty, and others were wealthy like Job. The clearest of all those who were poor who was chosen was Jesus Christ himself.

You may have the question now; does God show partiality? After all, doesn’t it say he chose some? What about the others?

If you are asking whether or not he chose some and passed by others, the answer is yes. He did. He chose to give a heart of flesh to some, and others he allowed them to have what they wanted, a life apart from him.

He gave a new heart to some of us, and in that sense, you may be thinking that he shows partiality. However, notice that he did not choose some over others because of anything inherent in them. There was nothing better about me, then about anyone else, he simply chose to manifest his love to the world and to me and you by giving us a new heart.

Yet, I would argue that this is not partiality, because God did not do it based upon any gain that he would receive from it. His motives had no evil in them, for God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. When we show partiality, we do it for evil motives, this is what partiality is. We become judges of others through our evil motives. But God has no evil motives. God shows mercy, not partiality.

Let me try to illustrate this: You can’t help everyone. You have a limited amount of time and resources. So you can only help a few. This is not partiality, but if the few you help, you help for personal gain, fame, financial gain, then this is partiality. But if I help this person and not that one because I will get an advantage, then I become a judge who judges with evil motives.

Second, the reality of redemption. All who are redeemed are not actually poor, but rather they are the wealthiest people in the universe. Why? They have been promised by the Maker of the universe to be his heirs, heirs of his kingdom. These poor people are also rich in love, for they love God, and God loves them, having chosen. Through choosing the poor, God shows a great paradox. What the world cannot see in their limited sight is truly the firmest of realities. But what does their wealth consist of? 1) They are rich in their faith. 2) They are rich in that they will inherit, or receive the kingdom. What is this kingdom? It is the future eternal kingdom that they will reign over with Christ.

So, we must stop right now and deal with James’ accusation. He says to us, “but you shame the poor.” The word shame speaks of causing them dishonor, humiliating or disgracing them, possibly even having contempt for. In many ways it is mistreating them, not giving them the rights that they should have as those who are not only created in God’s image, but are heirs of God himself. You shame these very “poor” people who are incredibly rich and are the heirs of God himself. So there is a deep concern here: God has chosen them, and we have dishonored them.

This brings up a few thoughts. Not only is it ridiculous to shame and disgrace those who are really not poor for their being poor, but we are shaming those who God has declared to be valuable, of infinite worth, those who the Father has sent his Son to die for! This is foolishness, which is what James has just brought out. Yet, it goes even deeper than this.

Third, the very people we show favoritism to at the expense of the wealthiest of all who are favored by God, are those who actually exploit us and take advantage of us. We favor those who use and abuse us. Yet, it goes deeper than this, these wealthy people we favor then drag us into court. They force us into the halls of justice in order to take away our possessions and property. These wealthy people don’t care about us, they don’t treat us as the children of God that we are, rather, they use us to make themselves richer and richer, while we become poorer and poorer. Our minds are darkened, our thoughts are twisted and inaccurate. We see black as white, down as up, inside as outside. So here we are thinking that if we become a respecter of persons we will receive advantage from them, but this is not the case. Instead, they take advantage of us and forcibly take our property and possessions from us. As we try to gain advantage by using others, we are used ourselves. As we try to gain our wealth by showing partiality to some we will watch our wealth slip through our hands like grains of sand falling through them.

Fourth, and worst of all, is that the people we show favoritism to as we shame and mistreat those whom God has sacrificed his Son for, actually are blasphemers. Literally, they are those who slander, defame, revile, pour contempt toward, or speak evil of the very God who has redeemed you and the poor that you mistreat. These rich people have contempt for the name that was named over you. What does this mean? This probably refers to the name that was named over you at your baptism, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

They mock even the thought that one could be a son or daughter of the Father, joined to his family through union with Christ. They mock the Son, Jesus Christ, speaking evil of him or denying his work. They mock Holy Spirit, claiming he has no power. They mock and treat with scorn and contempt the very Triune name of God.

They mock and treat with scorn and contempt.

Results of favoritism (9-11, 13)

Convicted (9-11)

James says that those who show partiality to another person are violating God’s law and are guilty and convicted of sin and are liable to judgment by God for this sin. How can he say this?

The answer is in verse 10. If you keep every minute detail of the law, but you break one tiny bit, it is the same as if you broke every bit of the law. Why? The answer to this question is found in the tiny phrase, “the one who said.” It is not simply about not doing something you were supposed to, or doing something that was forbidden, but rather, that you cared so little about God that you would disregard him and violate him. Essentially, James is saying that violation of God’s law is not about missing a little mark, and then because of all of the obedience of the other ones that everything will be alright. No, what he is saying is the same thing that Jesus said, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” You must live your life in relationship to God, doing what he says, honoring him in all things.

How can he say that those who show partiality to another person are violating God’s law and are guilty and convicted of sin and are liable to judgment by God for this sin? The answer is in verse 10. If you keep every minute detail of the law, but you break one tiny bit, it is the same as if you broke every bit of the law. Why? The answer to this question is found in the tiny phrase, “the one who said.” It is not simply about not doing something you were supposed to, or doing something that was forbidden, but rather, that you cared so little about God that you would disregard him and violate him. Essentially, James is saying that violation of God’s law is not about missing a little mark, and then because of all of the obedience of the other ones that everything will be alright. No, what he is saying is the same thing that Jesus said, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” You must live your life in relationship to God, doing what he says, honoring him in all things.

This is why James brings out the point that if you keep yourself from committing adultery, but you commit murder, you are still in violation of God’s law, really God’s character. Thus, you are a transgressor, or law-breaker. He is arguing that if you miss the mark of perfection in one point of God’s law, you are in the same spot as if you broke all of God’s laws. Why? Because the law is the representation of God’s character, the requirements that he holds out for his creatures. If you disregard his requirements, which are the representation of his character, then you disregard him. Thus, the same one who said love me with all that you are, said, love your neighbor as yourself. So, if you disregard loving your neighbor as yourself, you are not loving God with all that you are, you have violated the very character and nature of God. And so, you stand before him in disregard of him.

This is the point. Showing partiality and making judgments against others with evil or self-seeking motives is putting one person’s life over another. You are disregarding the life of one for another or for yourself, and thus, you are treating them as less than a person.

Here is where I can see the connection of why James has brought up murder, saying that if you murder, but don’t commit adultery, then you have broken the law, and are a transgressor. It is almost as if he is asking a question. SO, are you living your life squeaky clean, you aren’t dishonoring authority, you aren’t committing adultery, keeping your lust under control, you aren’t stealing, you aren’t bearing false witness to harm another, and aren’t coveting? Then it seems that he asks another question. Are you showing partiality at all? He answers by saying, well, if you are, maybe you are guilty of murder, you have murdered the image of God in that person who has inestimable worth.

This is why your judgment against another is completely inconsistent with the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus showed no partiality for us, he regarded our life, he loved God with all his being, he loved his neighbor as himself. His Good News of the kingdom was that he came to seek and save the lost, he came to die for sinners. He didn’t come to save the righteous, but the broken, the sinful. He put us all on a level playing field. There are no college educated vs. high school educated, there are no doctors vs. fast-food workers, there are no engineers vs. store clerks, there are no rich vs. poor. All have been brought to a level playing field at the cross of Christ. Christ’s blood has shown that we are all of inestimable worth, it has shown that we all have value, that we all have worth. We must not look at ourselves as more important than others, nor see some as more valuable than others because either what they have, or who they know, or what they can provide for us or for our church, or the kingdom of God. Who are we to judge their worth or value when Christ would die for them?

If you are asking whether or not he chose some verses passing by others, the answer is yes. He did, he chose to give a heart of flesh to some, and others he allowed them to have what they wanted, a life apart from him. He gave a new heart to some of us, and in that sense, you may be thinking that he shows partiality. However, notice that he did not choose some over others because of anything inherent in them. There was nothing better about me, then about anyone else, he simply chose to manifest his love to the world and to me and you by giving us a new heart. Yet, I would argue that this is not partiality, because God did not do it based upon any gain that he would receive from it. His motives had no evil in them, for God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. When we show partiality, we do it for evil motives, this is what partiality is. We become judges of others through our evil motives. But God has no evil motives. God shows mercy, not partiality, which brings us to our final point…mercy wins.

Illustration: you can’t help everyone. You have a limited amount of time and resources. So you can only help a few. This is not partiality, but if the few you help, you help for personal gain, fame, financial gain, then this is partiality. But if I help this person and not that one because I will get an advantage, then I become a judge who judges with evil motives.

Judged (13a)

But here now is a stern and harsh warning. Those whose lives have not practiced mercy will be judged without mercy. Those who live their lives as mercenaries, loving only when and where they will receive something in return, exercising mercy only when it brings them advantage, will find themselves without mercy when the judgment day comes.

Now we will look at the other place where we must find mercy from.

Mercy wins (8, 12, 13b)

The heart of God (8)

James comes now to the point. He refers to the Royal Law. What is this Royal Law? I believe that this royal law is the summary of the moral law that Jesus gave when he was asked the greatest commandment.

Jesus essentially summarized this Royal Law in two parts, the first, most important is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. This summarizes the entire moral law, the requirements of God for humanity. This is the heart of God for mankind.

Thus, Jesus said that this fulfills all that the law and the prophets taught. James, speaking to his primarily Jewish/Christian audience makes his point about the inconsistency and immorality of partiality by quoting the OT book of Leviticus chapter 19 verse 18. He is telling them that partiality or favoritism is inconsistent with the second tablet of the law, the second part of the Royal Law of Christ, loving your neighbor as yourself.

When you show partiality, you are loving yourself more than your neighbor. Why? Because you are showing favoritism for personal gain. So, your gain is more important than your neighbor’s life or good. This is why it is not a stretch to imagine where he goes next.

He tells them that if they fulfill the Royal Law of Christ they are doing good. In other words, if they follow the second tablet of the law, they are on the right track for living consistently with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the heart of God. But, if you engage in partiality, you are actually sinning, and thus are already sentenced and convicted as violating the law, the Royal Law, of not loving your neighbor as yourself, and missing the heart of God.

We are now brought to our final point…the demonstration that mercy wins.

The demonstration (13b)

Now we come to the point of application. We must rid ourselves of these evil vestiges of partiality. We must live in consistency with the Gospel of Jesus Christ our glorious Lord. We must live a life of mercy and not of judgment.

James tells us that we must use our speech which is the outworking of our hearts (what we really think, feel, and believe) in a way that is consistent with the law of liberty…the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must speak as those who know that they were once condemned, once under God’s wrath, for we lived all our lives in partiality, only doing things that would bring advantage to ourselves, stepping on and over others to prefer some over others to get us to where we wanted to be. We were kinder to some then to others with our speech, because we thought it would be to our advantage. Our speech was cold to some and warm to others, kind to some, hateful or disrespectful to others. Doesn’t this sound like an application to what we just heard back in chapter 1? Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Living a life of kindness in speech to others, caring about them, who they are, and what they need. Shouldn’t our speech reflect our heart, a heart changed by the Gospel. But now apply it to the church. If someone comes into our church that seems like they would be more of a drain on us and our resources because of their problems, issues, or needs, are we pouring our loving and kind speech into them, or being trite and quick with them so that we can get to the more important people? Rather, shouldn’t we pour the love of Christ out to them through our speech, showing grace, mercy, kindness and favor upon them as Christ did to us when we were undeserving. We must not judge, but we must live by the same thing that we are judged by…Jesus Christ bore our sins and loved us when we were unlovable. We will not be judged because Christ took our judgment.

But now apply it to the church. If someone comes into our church that seems like they would be more of a drain on us and our resources because of their problems, issues, or needs, are we pouring our loving and kind speech into them, or being trite and quick with them so that we can get to the more important people? Rather, shouldn’t we pour the love of Christ out to them through our speech, showing grace, mercy, kindness and favor upon them as Christ did to us when we were undeserving. We must not judge, but we must live by the same thing that we are judged by…Jesus Christ who bore our sins and loved us when we were unlovable. We will not be judged because Christ took our judgment.

But he also tells us that we should do in a way that is consistent with the fact that we will be judged by this law of liberty. What does this mean but that instead of pouring our efforts in those who will give us an advantage, we should pour our efforts and love into those who are undeserving especially. Has not God chosen the poor things of the world… So, where should we be pouring our lives into. All people, both poor and rich. We should see every soul as uniquely designed by God, needing the love and mercy of Christ. We should have lives that reflect the Gospel. Jesus left the 99 to go after the 1. He came to seek and save the lost. Our lives should reflect this same thing.

Yet, this is very problematic for us, we can never seem to get there, we always seem to default to being merciless. But as we saw earlier, that there is no mercy for those who are merciless. Thus, we need to find mercy from another place.

This is where Jesus comes in. If we believe and trust in Christ, he takes our sin, and gives us his righteousness. We get his mercy, and so we become the merciful one in God’s eyes. Our lives then are seen as exercising the mercy that will receive mercy. Jesus is the Merciful One. And when we are united to Christ, we receive his works, his righteousness. This is the Good News. We will receive his mercy.

There is no mercy from God at the final judgment day to those who have not shown mercy. Does this mean that if people are merciful that they can gain God’s mercy and pass into judgment? No, no one has exercised enough mercy to outweigh their crimes against God. Remember, one sin is enough to condemn a person to judgment. No, we must have mercy that extends to the proper degree in the proper way, at the proper time. There is no mercy that we have done that has done this to that degree. Thus, we need mercy from another place. This is where Jesus comes in. If we believe and trust in Christ, he takes our sin, and gives us his righteousness. We get his mercy, we become the merciful one in God’s eyes. Our lives then are seen as exercising the mercy that will receive mercy. Jesus is the Merciful One. And when we are united to Christ, we receive his works, his righteousness. This is the Good News. We will receive his mercy.

Why? Because Mercy triumphs over judgment. And our glorious Lord Jesus Christ is Mercy.

Now, what does this mean for us? It means that our lives are to be filled with gratitude. Our lives are to be lived according to the law of liberty, the Gospel. We must live lives where our speech is impartial and full of mercy. Our lives must be filled with acts that are impartial and filled with mercy.

What does this look like practically? Who do you want to see in your church? Who do you talk to when you have a choice between one person and another? Is your life filled with the Spirit, and do you allow the Spirit to guide you? Or, do you do it off appearances and personal gain?

[1] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Respect of Persons,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1838.”

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