I'm Not Prejudiced ... Get Real

Get Real Part 4

A Series in the Book of James

“I’m not Prejudiced”…Get Real!

James 1:26-2:13

What do you think of when you think about high school? Do you freak out like I do? High School … YUCK! Those awkward years. Do you remember your prom? Your best friend? How about your first boyfriend or girlfriend? Your first crush?

Maybe you remember the feeling of being rejected. Was it a friend? A boy or a girl that you had that crush on, a monstrous crush that you didn’t think you could ever get over? Maybe you even heard those hurtful words, “it isn’t you, it’s me.”

Some top break up lines according to Google:

1) I’m just not mature enough for you.

2) Maybe we have too much in common, We are too much alike.

3) I don’t want you to feel like I’m breaking up with you. I just can’t be in a relationship with you anymore.

4) It’s pointless for us to be together because I am going away for college in 11 months.

5) I can’t see myself with you when I am eighty

6) I am happy with our relationship. I feel that we have grown close enough that I can finally tell you. I haven’t ever told anyone this before. Only you. I am Batman.

All of us at one point or another have been on the receiving end of rejection.

When I was 12, I was in love with Stephanie. She was a dreamboat. I was pretty sure she was the prettiest girl in the school. And when it came to personality, she was the only girl that treated me like I existed. I knew that she and I were destined to be together for ever. At night, I would close my eyes and see her face. I would wake up in the morning thinking about her. It was a major Crush! In the fall of that year the school hosted a dance. I saw my opportunity to see if she felt the same way about me. I could ask her to the dance. I must have thought of a 1000 different ways to ask her. Flowers, balloons, the one knee thing…. But I finally settled on asking her in the most romantic place I could think of. The cafeteria tray return line!! I strolled up there with my tray and got in line behind her. I had hardly touched my lunch I was so nervous. I looked her in the eye and said, Stephanie, I was wondering, would maybe like go with me to the dance this weekend? She looked down at her chewed-up apple core, thought a minute, seemed like an hour, bit her lip then looked back at me. She said, “Can I think about it and tell you tomorrow?” AGONY!!! I said sure and went back to my table. I spent the rest of the day and night willing the time to pass and for her to think about it and realize that the stars were aligned we were meant to grow old together. Tomorrow came and passed, and Stephanie stayed home from school. The next day came and at lunch I saw her! I got up my nerve and walked up to her and said, “Well did you think about it?” She replied with guilt in her eyes, “Oh I forgot you asked me, I have some friends coming over to spend the night that night, I am not going to the dance.” Oh, the agony!!!! The pain, the suffering!!! I am still scarred to this day!!!

All of us have scars from being rejected. Some of them are just crazy like my experience. Others are serious and real and deep. You might be sitting here this morning thinking about that scar. You can see the face of the person who gave it to you. Or the person you scarred. If I were to ask, I bet all of you could give me a story of a time when you were hurt.

How do we deal with those memories, those times in life when we are rejected or neglected? Maybe you didn’t get a job you wanted; your spouse has rejected you in some way. Maybe it is a family member or a close friend. Maybe it is a church member. Maybe even church leadership! What do we do? These things are real, and they are real pains and hurts.

What about the times when you have been on the giving end? Maybe you have said something that really hurt someone you love.

For the last few weeks, we have been studying James in a series titled “Get Real.” Let’s open out Bibles to chapter one of James. Remember that James is written to Christians who are not acting like Christians. He opens this letter telling them they are not handling trials and temptations correctly. Then he tells them how to properly handle anger. He shows them how to dig deep in the Word of God, how prepare their hearts to receive God’s Word. These ideas continue as we move into chapter 2.

James 1:26–2:13 (ESV)

26If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

1My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

2For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,

3and 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,”

4have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5Listen, 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?

6But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

9But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

11For 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.

12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

13For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Man, there is a lot going on here. Remember that the text last week just runs into this text. So, our question is how does Religion and Service and the Christian life, fit together with favoritism? He moves from spiritual attitude to vss 26 and 27. He tells us to control our tongue and then how to treat the poor, the fatherless, and the widow. These were people who in the first century could not take care of themselves.

He tells us at the end of vs. 27 that we are to be unstained by the world. We are not supposed to take ourselves out of the world. We are supposed to be different than the rest of the world. He is saying that everyone else in the world is using their tongue and saying things that they shouldn’t, everyone else doesn’t care about the overlooked. Those people on the fringe of society. He is saying that we are to be different. We are to help those who can’t help themselves, and we cannot expect anything in return.

We must avoid favoritism.

James is great! He just gets right down to the point. He says that Christians who are not doing this, that their religion is worthless in the eyes of God.

Then he goes even deeper with a story in vs. 1 of chapter 2. He tells us right off that Christians are to show no partiality. That means that as Christians we are not to prefer one person over another because of their appearance, their face, clothes, race, or any other reason regarding their outward appearance.

Story of research group

Man in New York City; “mugged, lost wallet, money everything…. Only had a suit bag with two sports jackets in it. Needed money for a taxi to airport and an airline ticket home.”

Popular year for beige suit jackets. One day he wore beige, the next black.

On the beige days he got 2 times the money as black days.

Simple favoritism.

Maybe you are thinking, yeah, I know favoritism is wrong. Racism is wrong, but why begin a discussion on true religion with such a trivial issue?

It is hard to even be aware of favoritism. It is such a part of our lives. Every culture does it. It is human nature. But James is smart to analyze this issue. The little things we do reveal our hearts. English saying (The true gentleman uses the proper fork even when he dines alone.” The little things reveal our heart and whether our religion is true or false. Favoritism touches all phases of true religion.

James tells us a story of a worship setting not unlike this one. It has already started, and 2 men come in. One dressed in fine linen and gold on his fingers, the other dressed in rags. The rich fellow is given a place of prominence, and the poor fellow is asked to sit on the floor like a dog. We still do this today. I’ve seen newcomers in church not given a seat as they come into worship. I have heard of visitors being asked to move and sit somewhere else because they had unknowingly sat in someone else’s seat!

Churches often show favoritism to people that are affluent and give large amounts of money. What a horrible thing. I think of the widow and her cherished mite that she gave. What a lesson in not showing favoritism. God doesn’t see things like we are prone to see them with our sin-stained eyes.

But hear me, we are all fine with the visitors we get if they are a certain age group and dress and act a certain way, but what if a young person were to walk in who is involved with the punk rock or “drugs and alcohol” lifestyle? Would we be uncomfortable? Would we want them to come back? Would we treat them different?

Favoritism goes against the Gospel. The gospel says that anyone can come to God. The gospel says that God loves each of us and will accept us exactly like we are, exactly where we are, if we are willing to allow Him to start a work of change in us. Favoritism says there are some who can and some who can’t.

Think about the disciples. What a rag tag bunch of misfits. In normal everyday life you would have never seen a group like the disciples hanging out together. The laws of favoritism would forbid it! A fisherman and a tax collector. A Zealot and a merchant. Society would say that they had nothing in common and in fact many of their interests were at odds with that of each other.

The Gospel changes that. Jesus Changes that!

We say favoritism is wrong, but we live our lives like it is okay.

When James wrote this, the poor were seen as a faceless people, nothings in the eyes of the wealthy.

Look at vs. 8-11. James says if you keep this command, great! Then he says but if you break this over here, you need help. What he is saying is that we can’t pick and choose the parts of the bible we are going to follow.

Many people live out their spirituality in this way. I will just try to keep a few of the rules. I’ve seen many people that think that if they just keep the 10 commandments that they will be ok. Surely if I keep those 10, I will get to heaven.

We must choose the Bible.

We pick and choose the passages we like so that we can be comfortable with the Bible.

Rich Mullins was a Christian singer and songwriter. He wrote many of the songs we sing today. He decided early in his career that he would only make enough money to stay about the poverty line and he would give the rest away. He said this at Wheaton College in Chicago, “you guys are all into that born again thing, which is great. We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy too…” And he paused in the awkward silence. And then he continued, “But I guess that’s why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts of the Bible we like and ignore the rest.”

Often in our lives this is true. We follow the parts of the Bible that we like. The things that fit the way we live, we leave in, and we take the rest out. James is saying you can’t do that. One of the ways we do that is by showing favoritism. You can’t pick this verse and ignore that verse.

Gandhi once asked if he was a Christian and he responded by saying, “ask the poor. They will tell you who the Christians are.”

But who are the poor in our world? The world James was in is different from ours. One, social standing was not merely a function of wealth, two, there was almost no possibility of social or economic climbing in James’s world. Three, the social and economic pyramid in the Roman empire was incredibly steep, with no middle class as we have today.

Still the message is clear.

We must love everyone.

Don’t show favoritism. Treat everyone the same. Regardless of money, clothes, color, religion, gender, sexual preference, regardless of anything. That is hard! Isn’t it?

Think about it, we meet people every day that will not help us get to where we want to go, often we bypass them and keep going. James would say we are breaking the whole law of God by breaking this law.

I don’t like that word law, do you?

Look at vss. 12-13.

James 2:12–13 ESV

12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

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

The law of liberty. Whenever James speaks of the law, he is speaking of a way of life that brings freedom and hope. James is saying, everyone shows favoritism, here is how you can be different. Anyone can play favorites, but not everyone can show love, grace, and hope to somebody.

What about the overlooked in our lives? Who in your life seems to always be alone, a social outcast? They seem to always be the butt of the joke. That person is overlooked.

Mother Teresa said, “In the poor we meet Jesus in his most distressing disguises.”

Often in our lives we look for the best looking, most talented, most competitive, the one who will help us the most. James is saying don’t look for that person. Don’t look for the person what will help you get ahead. Look for the person who needs to get ahead that you can help.

Soren Kierkegaard said this, “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get ahead in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.”

Imagine with me for a second what your life would be like if you didn’t show favoritism.

The Christians life is about loving like Christ.

What would our church be like if we didn’t show favoritism toward each other? This is why we say we want to be a community that is known by love. Love does not show favoritism. While the rest of the world picks sides and says who is better than someone else, we can stand up and say, we aren’t going to play this game.

Our goal should be showing his love to everyone without favoritism.

Main point: We must not show favoritism. We can’t pick and choose the Bible. We must love everyone; regardless of if they can benefit us in some way or not. James is telling us that regardless of the trial, the temptation, your anger, or situation, it is not about you. The Christians life is about living like Christ. Our goal should be showing his love to everyone without favoritism.

Love Like Christ — Share the Gospel