Stop Playing Favorites

Introduction

Last week, we spoke about being hearers and doers of God’s word. Tonight we will look more into applying some of Jame’s points of “True religion” from James 1:27 by how we treat the helpless and less fortunate and the importance of not being like the world. So go ahead and turn to James 2:1-13 as we will be spending our time there this evening.

Favoritism illustration from game.

FCF: So, why is it that we play favorites with others and treat people differently based on their outward appearance? Why do we make judgement calls on people solely based on what they look like, the way they dress, the way they talk, or the things they do? How can we stop seeing people this way??

Sermon Idea: Tonight, God’s word will give us the answer, and this is the main point I want you to take home: That through remembering the gospel and how God has shown us mercy in Christ, we will have the strength to imitate God by not playing favorites with others.

So if you have not already, turn with me to James 2 and let’s discover this answer together...

Pray

Show No Partiality To Others (vs 1)

James begins with the general statement that we should not show partiality to others. Look at verse 1, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.”

We cannot have faith in Jesus and at the same time, show partiality to others…for how can we say we believe in a God who is not partial…but then turn around and favor some people over others based on their external appearance? For that is essentially what partiality is…treating people differently based on their external appearance.

So we first need to know that faith in Jesus and favoring one person over another based on their external appearance DO NOT MIX…James then gives an example of how partiality can be played out...

An Example of Partiality (vs 2-4)

Look at verse 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, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

For James’ original audience, favoring the rich over the poor was very common.

This was in the context of a church service.

Essentially, James’ audience was treating the rich and wealthy better than those that were poor and unattractive. They were treating two visitors in the church differently based only on their external appearance.

James says that when we show partiality to others based on their outward appearance, we make distinctions among ourselves…this basically means that we make divisions…we become judges of what is right and wrong…what is worthy and unworthy…and James says that this is evil.

God alone is the judge…he says what is right and wrong…he says what is worthy and unworthy…therefore, who are we to try and take God’s place and become judges ourselves thinking we know better than God?

So, there is a direct command for us to live out in this example…we must ask ourselves…how could I be showing partiality to others? How could I be playing favorites and causing division in the church?

Let me give you some examples...do you play favorites with the people you talk to and hang out with in the student ministry, your sports team, or school?

If the most popular kid in school came into our worship service tonight, would you treat them differently than the most unpopular kid that came in as well?

Do you create your own clique at school, on your team, or in the student ministry and leave or keep others out because of the way they look, the way they dress, the things they do, etc.?

Guys, if you claim to be followers of Jesus, you MUST Stop doing this! This is showing favoritism to others...you have made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts. You are telling God that you know what is worthy and not worthy and taking his place as judge...You are causing division in the student ministry and in the church.

Either drop the faith you claim in Christ or drop the favoritism you are showing to others…but both of these things cannot co-exist.

Partiality Is In Direct Contrast to God’s Character (vs 5-6a)

James then tells us three clear reasons why faith in Christ and playing favorites cannot co-exist…the first being that God, Himself shows no partiality.

Look at verse 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? But you have dishonored the poor man.”

James calls us to remember how God treats the poor, helpless, and outcasts.

All throughout the Old Testament, God cared for the less fortunate. He did not treat them differently than those who were better off.

Deuteronomy 10:17-18 gives an example of this…God says, “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. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”

1 Samuel 16 when Samuel anointed David as King, God said that he looks not at the outer appearance but at the heart.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-27, Paul says God uses the weak to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise.

Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So, God treats all people equally in what they deserve and shows no partiality to both the poor and the rich and he has promised the kingdom not to the materially poor or rich but those who are rich in faith and those who love him.

Yet, in contrast to the way God treats others…James says that his audience has done the exact opposite by dishonoring those who are poor.

Partiality Is How The World Treats Others (vs 6b-7)

This brings the second reason why we should not practice partiality…because it looks just like the world.

Verse 6-7 say, “Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

For James’ audience, the rich were those who mistreated them, who took God’s name in vain, who oppressed them…so why would they show them favor over the poor?

For us today, It is the world who defines value and worthy by external appearance, who deems a person less than human because they are not born, who does not allow certain privileges to people based on their ethnicity.

Yet, when we choose to sit at the lunch table with the people we like who are like us vs. the people who are not like us and that we don’t like....we are treating others exactly the way the world treats them!

We must stop acting like the world and valuing what the world values! Remember, James says we should seek to keep ourselves unstained by the world.

Who do you look up to? Who do you idolize? Who do you seek to imitate in your life? The celebrities of the world or the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you love what God loves and hate what God hates (Romans 12:9) or do you love what the world loves..calling good evil and evil good?

One clear application of this text is Instead of treating people like the world, we must look to Christ and the Gospel to see how he has treated us, how he has not shown favoritism or only given his grace to the “more deserving,” but has freely given his grace impartially...not based on anything that anyone has done...He has given His grace freely to all people of every race, every socio-economic status, to both genders, to the weak and to the strong.

We must see and treat people, not like the world, but like our Lord.

Partiality Breaks The Royal Law Of Our King (vs 8-11)

In verses 8-11, James gives the last reason why we should not show partiality to others…because it breaks the royal law of our King.

James says, ““If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

The royal law is the law of the King, the law of King Jesus. It is the Old Testament law understood through the gospel and teachings of Christ.

And James says the King’s law is to love your neighbor as yourself…this is also referred to as the law of love and is quoted from Leviticus 19.

Loving your neighbor as yourself essentially sums up the entire law…for Romans 13:8-10 says, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

But showing partiality clearly breaks this law of love and those that show partiality have become transgressors (law breakers).

But why have we become transgressors simply because we have broken one “small command?”

James gives us the reason in verse 10, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

If we have broken one law, we are guilty of breaking all of them…because they are all tied to loving God and loving others.

Galatians 3:10 says If we cannot do everything in the law…we are cursed and deserve death and judgment.

No matter what sin we have committed, these verses make clear that we have all sinned, we have all broken God’s law and we cannot live out this law of love…in one way or another, we have all broken God’s law of love.

So what are we to do??? We are guilty of playing favorites, we are guilty of looking more like the world than our Lord, we are guilty of being law breakers…and the royal law that God commands us to follow....we CANNOT KEEP IN OUR OWN STRENGTH...

Our desperation should drive us to the truth that we need a savior…we need a substitute....we need God’s mercy…and this is exactly what James leads us to in verses 12-13…that because God has first shown us mercy through the gospel, we should show that same mercy to others.

We Must Show Mercy as We Have Been Shown Mercy (vs 12-13)

Look at verse 11, “So speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgement is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

We must remember that God will judge us, even as Christians, and we will be held accountable for our lives as 1 Corinthians 3 and 2 Corinthians 5 makes clear, yet we will be judged under law of liberty…which is the gospel…the law that brings freedom.

This is the word of truth that has brought us to life (James 1:18) and the law that has been implanted and written on our hearts (James 1:21).

Even though as believers we are free from condemnation, we are still under the law of Christ and have an obligation to obey God. God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we can obey the law freely and joyfully…this is why as Christians, we can call the law the law that brings freedom.

Essentially James says, “As you face the temptation to show favoritism, remember the judgment, and act like people whom Christ has freed to demonstrate genuine love to others.”

As Robert Plummer says in commenting on this section...

James ends with a word of warning and a word of grace. The warning is stark in verse 13: “Judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.”

Regarding partiality, there is no room among the Christian community for hypocrites who live in hatred rather than love. For if we show no mercy to others, then we have not received God’s mercy in Christ and are deceiving ourselves.

Instead, in light of the mercy that we, as rightly condemned law breakers, have received in Jesus, we must extend mercy to others if we ourselves expect to continue receiving mercy from Christ.

James’s language mirrors the harsh warning of the master at the end of Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant from Matthew 18:32-35:

Then his master summoned him and said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

The closing word of grace is also very blunt: “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13b).

This statement is certainly true to the believer’s relationship with God. While a Christian deserves judgment for his sin, God’s mercy has victoriously brought that person to repentance and saving faith.

God’s undeserved mercy has triumphed over the deserved judgment. So, in the same way, we as believers, who are saved by this mercy are now called to extend it graciously to others—being salt and light in a dark world, with winsome mercy that overpowers the judgmental ways of the world.

On the day of judgement, such visible acts of mercy will serve as evidence of the saving work of Christ in our lives, and therefore remove the judgement from us.

Conclusion

So to recap, what is this passage demanding of us? How are we to be doers of this word?

We must first, see how we are transgressors of the law because of our favoritism.

We must see how we more often imitate the world than our Lord.

As a result of seeing our sin we must turn from it and cast ourselves on the mercy of God in Christ through the word of truth.

We must remember how God has impartially treated us in the gospel and freely given us his undeserved mercy through Jesus.

Once we do this, we will have the power to imitate God in the way we treat others.

We will have the power to love both the rich and the poor, the attractive and unattractive.

We will have the power to see who someone is based on their heart and not their outward appearance.

We will have the power to love what God loves and hate what God hates.

We will have the power to look beyond one’s ethnicity and see that we are all made in God’s image, we are all worthy of love, respect, and honor

We will have the power to show God’s amazing grace and mercy to others…so that they can see their need for Jesus…and they too can be transformed by the Gospel.

“So may we be those who speak and so act who will be judged under the law of liberty, for judgement is without mercy to the one who shows no mercy…yet, mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Let’s Pray