Sermon Tone Analysis

Secular -

A Sunday School Teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds.

After explaining the commandment to "Honor" thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"

Without missing a beat, one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, "Thou shall not kill."

Historical/Cultural Context -

The book of James was written by the half-brother of Jesus.

The Son of Joseph and Mary.

Written in the early 40s.

He wrote to primarily Jews who were Christians, as at this time it was so early in the spread of Christianity that it had not been widely adopted by non-jews, also known as Gentiles.

James encouraged his readers to live consistent Christian lives in the midst of persecution for their faith in Christ.

Biblical Text -

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - Don’t Show Favoritism, Don’t Dishonor Others, Because The Price Is Too High.

Life Point- Don’t Dishonor Christ By Showing Favoritism

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

Here God gives us a command.

“Do not hold the faith of our Lord jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.”

The term used for partiality can be translated as favoritism.

Do not show favoritism.

To us today, we don’t see this as a sin.

favoritism is a sin, we will see this later.

Think about what partiality causes.

It causes division and fighting amongst the brethren.

It causes factions within the church.

It is evil with evil intentions.

It causes the “haves and have-nots” to become separated in the church and the “have-nots” get angry and leave.

We see this distinction most clearly in larger churches, but it is in smaller churches as well.

Did you know it happens in denominations amongst pastors too.

James give us an example that had become a problem for the brethren in his day.

In this example, people would come in for a meal.

Now it was Jewish custom that the person with the most social standing would sit closest to the head of table, next to the person hosting the meal.

If you were at the head of the table and someone shows up, either expected or unexpected, who was perceived better than you; you had to get up and move to make room for them.

This kind of thing was being carried over to the believers.

James tells us this is wrong.

You see, this was often done because it was thought that if you treat the rich person, or the person with the highest social status, that is the rich person, well.

You might actually get something from them.

Something like status or a contribution to your work or, dare I say it, to your ministry.

This is, unfortunately, the same thing that happens in churches today.

It definitely happens in secular society today.

Thus James calls them judges with evil thoughts.

You know what?

They are.

It is all about selfishness and what I can get.

This is why the “health and wealth gospel” is so popular today.

It feeds on people’s desires.

It creates the “haves” and “have-nots.”

So much so that people will lie about each other to get next to the so-called “minister.”

This is evil.

This, according to the scripture, should not be tolerated.

We need to keep in mind our actions.

Are we doing something because of what we can get out of someone?

If so, then we need to repent immediately of that in our lives.

Illustration -

I am about to let you in on a poorly kept secret.

This happens in our Southern Baptist Denomination all the time.

The quickest way to black-balled in our denomination is to break the denomination 11th commandment.

“Thou shalt not call out a Southern Baptist Leader’s evil actions or false teaching.”

We all know it, yet very few will talk about it.

Calling someone to task as Paul did Peter in his hypocrisy will get you completely and utterly black-balled, so much so that you will not receive help for your church in times of need and you definitely will not ever progress up the political ladder.

Let’s, quickly, look at what happened between Paul and Peter.

I have even seen this kind of favoritism in Pastor’s Breakfasts in an associational meeting at a restaurant.

We small church pastors would meet once a month for breakfast.

We were there, talking and having a good time.

We were talking about where God was leading in messages and stepping out in faith and maybe some joking around.

Then, all of a sudden the pastor from the larges church in the area walks in.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

These men went out of their way to make sure this pastor sat right across from the Director of Mission for our area.

The conversation stopped and he became the center of attention.

These men of God stopped sharing with each other and giving each other advice and hung the big church pastor’s every word, like it was gold.

When he would speak there was no effort made to give advice or even scripture.

There were men there who had been pastors for over 30 years, but they couldn’t speak in this man’s presence.

He has only been pastoring about 10 years at this point, in comparison.

Those that had been so firm on the scripture, no matter their experience a moment ago, no longer spoke up.

I soon found out why.

He said something, what it was I don’t remember, I tried to bring up a scripture.

You know what happened?

Where once I was listened to, even though I was the youngest and least experienced pastor in the room.

Now, I WAS COMPLETELY IGNORED as though I didn’t even exist.

When we show partiality we have become judges with evil thoughts.

Life Point - Don’t Dishonor Christ By Dishonoring Others

Exegetical -

Homiletical -

Here James gives his readers the idea that the poor are as important as the rich or those that are held in high esteem.

Through the shed blood of Christ each and every Christian are heirs of the kingdom of God.

That said, Paul said:

We have all been in spots where we have to decide between eating, paying bills, medications etc.

The key is to learn contentment which can only come through our faith in Christ.

There is a special kind of provision that God has for those that are financially strapped.

It isn’t fun, but it increases our faith.

We see God’s miracles in our times of need, quite clearly.

When you are abased and don’t know where your next meal is coming from, that is the time to double down with God.

Do what you can, but much more than that, trust God.

God has a way of taking care of us in these times.

When they come, God strengthens our faith as we see him provide.

Time and time again.

How was the poor man dishonored during this time?

because he was made to either sit in the worst spot during their meals or he was told to stand and even sit on the floor.

At this time, floors weren’t very clean.

The man who is poor in this situation, as James says, should be given honor because he is rich in faith toward God.