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Last week we covered .
In this passage, James shared a strong warning against favoritism.
He gives a hypothetical scenario of two visitors joining their meeting, one dressed fancy with expensive jewelry while the other arrives in shabby clothing.
Both should be treated equally.
Discrimination goes both ways.
Making decisions about anyone based on external factors is inconsistent with the life and teaching of Jesus.
Although this passages typically refers to one who gives special treatment to someone who is rich.
The warning also applies to treating the rich with disrespect because they are rich.
We ended the session discussing the kingdom of God.
reads.
The kingdom of God is a realm under the authority and rule of God.
The kingdom of God is already, but not yet.
It’s here, but not fully.
James uses verses 1-5 to declare that favoritism is wrong, he uses verses 6-13 to explain why its wrong.
Let’s read pick up reading James at verse 6.
James 2:6-13
The beginning of verse 6 is a continuation of thought from verse 5. God has honored the poor, but you have dishonor them.
Don’t dishonor those whom God honors
The church dishonors those whom God honors.
This is an attitude that is contrary to the attitude of God.
Now, we know that James original readers were persecuted Jewish believers who possibly have been pushed out of their homeland, Israel.
Verses 6 & 7 give a strong indication that they were also poor.
James 2.
Isn’t it the rich, aren’t they the ones...
So if his original readers were poor, why would they show special treatment to the rich?
One would think they would despise the rich, not favor them.
But human nature can cause us to treat people according to what we can get from them.
If we think someone can offer us some sort of gain, we tend to treat them more favorably.
Even at the expence of dishonoring our true friends.
The classic teen drama love story.
Unpopular boy is noticed by the girl of his dreams.
Boy is accepted into her circle of friends, boy rejects his true friends and becomes like the ones they have all despised.
Boy’s friends get angry at him for being a sell-out, boy gets rejected by girl’s circle of friends, boy has no friends, boy is humiliated, boy restores relationship with old group of friends.
And sometimes, if he’s lucky, girl still loves boy and she is accepted by his circle of friends.
The exact thing is happening here in .
Well, except the boy and the girl part.
A poor christian gives special treatment to a rich pagan to avoid further exploitation.
In the process, he dishonors other poor christians while the rich pagan continues to oppress the poor christians and blasphemy the name of God.
Our society is similar to theirs.
Christians are becoming the minority.
Christ following christians are the minority.
We’re often on the receiving side of judgement.
The judicial system usually rules against in favor of non-christian.
When a christian holds tight to the truth of of God’s Word and lives by it, they can be charged with a hate crime.
But it’s okay for people to speak against christians.
Certain minorities are protected, christians are not on that list.
Just like James’ original audience, when we practice favoritism, we are engaged in the very practice of the ones who oppress christians.
James cautions believers to have nothing to do with favoritism.
Selective Obedience
In todays society, it very easy to become selective in our obedience.
We have more choices than ever.
Practically, everything is customizable.
Our options are endless.
There’s no longer “one size fits all.”
We’re expected to pick and choose.
This is most evident when ordering fast food.
Typically, I’m not one to customize my food order.
That’s the way I was raised I guess.
We would order our food and take off whatever we didn’t like.
Now, I’m talking 30 years ago.
The only place that was known for customizing an order was Burger King, “Have it your way.”
I did a little research and found a Burger King commercial from the mid 70’s.
Take a look.
Not many other fast food restaurants were happy to customize an order, especially if it was a busy time like lunch or dinner.
Why?
Because it was already cooked and packaged before you arrived.
I didn’t truly understand this until I met my lovely wife, Karen.
There are specific things that she can’t eat.
Not because she’s allergic, but because she insists it will make her sick.
This was a huge learning curve for me in our first few years of marriage.
If I order a burger and it comes with something I don’t like, I take it off or just deal with it.
Why can’t she do the same?
After a few order mishaps and many trips back to the fast food chain, I started catching on.
In my mind I was being annoying to the casher by specializing my order.
This was foreign to me.
But I quickly learned, well I probably could have learned quicker then I did, but I learned that an annoyed casher was much better than what I had to face when I got home with a botched order.
“I want a cheeseburger, dry, no onions, with lettuce and tomatoes.
Oh, and add pickles.”
“I would like a nacho supreme with no sour-cream.”
20 years ago, this type of behavior was frowned upon.
Today, it’s expected.
“Hi, I would like a regular Gyro please.”
“White or wheat?”
“Wheat.”
“Would you like to customize your Gyro?”
“No, how it comes is fine.”
This type of customization has wiggled it way into our churches.
We want the benefits of salvation without obedience.
We want friendship with God without relationship.
We want the church to grow without tithing.
We want a stronger faith without fully trusting in God.
We want to be apart of the Kingdom of God without acting like a citizen.
We want to love God with all of our heart, soul, and might without loving our neighbor.
If you really fulfill the royal law, there will be action.
Not just lip service, not just going through the motions.
Not like the Pharisees we talked about last week.
“Beautiful, whitewashed tombs on the outside while full of death on the inside.”
The Pharisees were an elite group of religious leaders that were more concerned about their outward shine than they were about doing what God truly desired.
They meticulously followed the law that made them look religious, that made others think they were super spiritual, while neglecting and ignoring that which beautified their heart.
I better understand what James is saying in verse 8 by flipping it around.
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