Faith that Works: How Showing Partiality Contradicts God's Heart for the Poor and Violtes His Command to Love Neighbor Part 2

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, James will admonished his readers, and us, to not discriminate against people who find there way into the fellowship of believers at FBCL based sinful distinctions, but to joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus in the way we love our neighbor and delight in the diversity of the kingdom of God. Or in other words, to form it in an admonishment, James said to us,

Christian, do not show partiality in the church because it contradicts God’s love for the poor and violates his command to love your neighbor.

Showing partiality toward the rich contradicts God’s heart for the poor (James 2:5-6).

If God has chosen to save some of the poor and give them his kingdom, why would anyone who says they love Jesus discriminate against these poor brothers and sisters? That is not the way God treated you. Both the rich and the poor of this world are spiritually bankrupt. God looked upon your impoverished soul, and through the abundant riches of His grace, made you alive in Jesus, giving you a magnificent inheritance you do not deserve. The same way God looked at your poverty of soul is the same way you should be looking at the poor in your church, with mercy and compassion and not evil judgment.

Dr. Robert Plummer summed up this point well when he said,

“Although the world looks down on the poor, God has a special concern and care for them. A poor person’s continual state of need can lead them, under the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, to look to God for their daily provision in a way that truly honors their Creator. The person is poor in the eyes of the world but is rich in faith. How wrong, then, for God’s people to disparage those with whom God is pleased!” Dr. Robert Plummer

We ended last Sunday with the truth that,

Jesus suffered poverty to grant you a rich eternity.

Jesus who was rich became poor for your sake so that you can be rich in him. Jesus was born into poverty, lived in poverty, and died in poverty, so that he can remove your spiritual poverty and give you eternal life in his kingdom. You must repent of your sin, confessing it to him, and ask for forgiveness. You must ask him to come into your heart to live and rule as your Lord. You must believe that God raised him from the dead and that his work of atonement is sufficient to remove God’s wrath from you. For everyone who rejects Jesus will suffer his wrath in hell for all eternity. But to everyone, either rich or poor, who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

The second reason why you should not show partiality to the rich, or make any other sinful distinctions for that matter, is

Showing partiality toward the rich contradicts God’s command to love your neighbor (James 2:8-11)

In verse 8, James speaks of the Royal Law and then using an appositional phrase, he defines what he means by royal law.

James 2:8 ESV

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

James modifies that the word “law” with the word royal. The word ‘royal” conveys the idea of belonging to the king. By using this word, he is likely referring to the kingdom of God. The royal law, is the same as the perfect law as he says in James 1:25 that gives freedom. Or as Douglas Moo notes, James’s way of referring to the sum total of demands that God, through Jesus, imposes on believers: “the whole law as interpreted and handed over to the church in the teaching of Jesus [and fulfilled in Jesus.]” And at the heart of the royal law is to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus says all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments:

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus draws the heart of the law, to love your neighbor as yourself, from Leviticus 19. It would be helpful for us to gaze at Leviticus 19:9-18, for a few moments to get the context of what Jesus means to love your neighbor.

Leviticus is God’s instructions for how his redeemed people will be able to live in his presence in their newly acquired land. In chapter 19, God gives them instruction on living a lifestyle of holiness. In verses 9-18, the emphasis moves toward living a life of holiness with your neighbors.

In Leviticus 19:9-10, God instructs his people to live a holy life by tithing a portion of their harvest to the poor and stranger in the land. Whether it was grain or grapes, God’s people were to display their love and commitment to Him by providing for their neighbor who has fallen in hard times. And in order to maintain their dignity, God instructed them to do it in such a way that allowed the poor neighbor to “work” for his food. The poor were not philanthropy projects nor should they have to beg for our charity. They are image bearers who need their neighbors to live a holy life.

In verses 11-18, God further elaborates what it means to love your neighbor, especially your poor neighbor. He offers four musts for loving your neighbor.

Love your poor neighbor by upholding your integrity (Leviticus 19:11-12)

In verses 11-12, God insists that his people keep their oaths in order to nor pervert justice. Do not lie to the poor. Do not promsie them work or to be paid a certain wage, and then renege on your agreement. This is stealing. You know the poor have to way of defending themselves, no means of recourse for themselves. Moreover, when you act this way you play the hypocrite and take the Lord’s name in vain.

Love your poor neighbor by having concern for their vulnerability (Leviticus 19:13-14)

In verses 13-14, God says you love your neighbor as yourself when you have concern for their vulnerability. Loving your neighbor, especially your poor neighbor means you protect them from being exploited. You will makes sure they are paid what they are owed, properly compensated for their time and work. You will make sure that others in the community are upholding the same standard so that the poor do not cry out to God in their injustice.

Love your poor neighbor by being impartial (Leviticus 19:15)

In verse 15, you see the connect between loving your neighbor and partiality, that is showing favoritism.

Leviticus 19:15 ESV

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

No one is to receive special treatment, poor or rich. In this context, God is speaking of judicial settings, likely settling something in court. All court proceedings are to be characterized by justice because God is just.

Love your poor neighbor with a genuine love that does not harm them (Leviticus 19:16-18)

Finally, you are to, love your neighbor by guarding your heart from ill will. You are to love your neighbor with a genuine love that does not slander or do anything that puts your neighbors life in jeopardy.

Leviticus 19:16–18 ESV

You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

When your neighbor sins against you, God says you are not to hate your neighbor. You can rebuke your neighbor, with love and gentleness, so as not to share in his guilt. But you are not to take vengeance in your neighbor, by your own wrath. The goal of your rebuke is restoration and reconciliation, not death and destruction. Therefore, love your neighbor as yourself.

From this context in Leviticus that Jesus offers the summary of the law in two commandments: love God entirely and love your neighbor as yourself. If you love God entirely, then your lifestyle will reflect a deep and profound love for your neighbor: a love honest love that looks on the poor with compassion and not with a desire to exploit them. A love that comes from a genuine heart that speaks words of kindness and does not seek to do harm. This is God’s demand on you, that he expects you to keep this commandment. Love your neighbor as yourself, by feeding the poor, keeping your promises, protecting justice, being impartial, and guarding your heart from ill will with genuine love. This kind of holy lifestyle is self-less, sacrificial, and sacred in the eyes of God. This is the kind of love you long for and even demand at times from people. And Jesus says with the same desire you have to be loved, love your neighbor, especially your poor neighbor.

At TTV, our goal is to lead our children to Jesus so they can live wisely and flourish. We spend at least two days a week planting in their heart: Love God entirely and love your neighbor as yourself. Then we work through the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments teach us how to love God entirely. The remaining six tell us how to love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus is a further instruction on those remaining six commandments.

When we are done reviewing commandments, we alway arrive at the reality that we fall short of keeping those commandments. None of us can keep them perfectly. God had to command us to love him and our neighbor as ourself because we naturally do not love God or neighbor rightly.

So, then I ask the children, “What are we to do? If we cannot keep his commands to love God and love neighbor, are we doomed?” No, say the kids. God sent Jesus into the world to love God with all of his being and to love his neighbor as himself. The cross is Jesus’ perfect demonstration of what it means to love God entirely and to love your neighbor as yourself. He loved the Father with perfect obedience, even to the point of death on a cross. He loved his neighbor as himself by dying on the cross as a substitute sacrifice for your sin, so that you can have eternal life. He fulfilled the Royal Law. And James’ application to fulfill the royal law is grounded in Leviticus 19:9-18, a law you cannot fulfill on your own, but a law Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension fulfilled for you. You need him to live inside of you to change your self-centered heart to a self-less sacrificial heart, like his heart, that is sacred in God’s eyes. Without Jesus, you will never win the battle of the lust of favoritism that rages inside you.

If the little “c” church is filled with genuine believers, we will long to fulfill the royal law like Jesus, and we will hold convictions that resound, “there is no place for showing favoritism in the church. It contradicts God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself.” We will agree with Douglas Moo, who rightfully concludes,

“Love for the neighbor, the heart of “the royal law,” forbids the church from discriminating against any who might enter its doors.” Douglas Moo

There are consequences for showing favoritism in the church. James says, if you do show favoritism, then you sin.

James 2:9 ESV

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

Literally, By showing favoritism, you are “working sin.” James usually uses the word “work” in a positive sense, but here it is negative. Your favoritism actively works against God’s kingdom. When you show favor to the well-dressed man with gold rings on his finger and you deliberately shame the poor person, that work tears down the very temple Jesus is building with he newly redeemed people.

When God draws image bearers to His kingdom, through the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the gospel, when those saints, rich or poor, black or white, abled or disabled, man, woman, or child, enter the family of FBCL, we are to extend the right hand of fellowship with the same degree of respect, dignity, attention, and enthusiasm, as we would presidents, prime ministers, athletes, or actors. In Christ, says Moo puts it,

“there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female” (Gal 3:28). In obedience to their King, Jesus, Christians are to build among themselves a genuine counter-culture, in which the values of the kingdom of God rather than the values of this world are lived out.” Douglas Moo

Follow James’s logic and the conclusion is clear. Church goers who show favoritism are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

James 2:9 (ESV)

are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Your partiality violates God’s command to love your neighbor as yourself. Furthermore, James says

James 2:10–11 ESV

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.

Keep the context in mind here. The rich have been exploiting the poor. The rich and some in the church have a divided heart toward God. In their division of heart, they have no problem reconciling their treatment of the poor and the religious piety because they see sin in various degrees. it’s like saying that a white lie is not as sinful as an outright lie. As if God looks at your lying and says, “Oh, that lie is acceptable because its not like you really hurt the person.” Its a belief that certain sins were not as bad as others. So you treat the poor badly. Big deal. It’s not like adultery or murder.

Furthermore, James was not just addressing the rich here. For those poor who were pious, the division of heart comes in the same way. They may be too religious to commit adultery, but have no problem justifying murdering a wealthy Jewish aristocrat for “exploiting the poor.” New Testament theologian Craig Keener, observes at the time this letter was written, these “assassins” were regularly stabbing aristocrats to death in the temple.

James is refuting that notion. He is saying here, that there is a unity to the law of God to such a degree that if you break one law, you’re guilty of breaking all of the law. Moreover, breaking one of God’s law condemns you to suffer his wrath. It is imperative that you always keep God’s word, his standard, in front of you, behind you, above you, and inside you. Let it be the lens you see the world through. God does not make distinctions the way sinners like you and I do. His judgements are right and good and perfect. Moses, referring to God as our Rock says,

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Psalm 18:30 ESV

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Through your relationship with Jesus, His Spirit works inside of you to transform your imperfect partiality toward the rich or whatever you st your heart on (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 2:13), into the perfect image of His Son (Romans 8:39). And though we are broken and imperfect, God desires us to strive to be perfect in our judgements toward the rich and the poor, the diversity of ethnicities and abilities, and men, woman, and children (Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:14-16). This is His will for your sanctification.

How should we have a heart like God’s heart for the poor? How should we keep God’s command to love our neighbor as yourself?

James says,

Have God’s heart for the poor and love your neighbor as yourself by showing His mercy with your words and deeds (James 2:12-13).

James 2:12–13 ESV

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 words “speak and act” are in the present and convey the idea of continuous speaking and acting. Be constantly speaking and acting, or “always be speaking and acting,” or “make it a continuous habit of speaking and acting.” How are you to continually speak and act? James says, “ those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.”

Think back to last week when I spoke of the distinctions made in the temple. The were divides set up for Gentiles, women, Israel men, priests and then the Holy of Holies. Gentiles were absolutely forbid to enter the temple. Even the priest who enter the Holy of Holies had to do so cautiously, being ceremonially clean. That is because the law condemns the sinner. An unholy sinner in the presence of a holy God is judgement, condemnation, eternal hell forever. There is no liberty or freedom in the law. So why does James refer to it as the law of liberty?

When TTV kids realize that they have broken God’s command they are recognizing they are condemned under the law. But we quickly get them to the cross of Jesus Christ. For on the cross, his crucifixion tore the curtain separating sinners from God in the temple in two. He opened the way to remove the divisions and distinctions made in the temple, to allow all people, Gentiles and women to come boldly into the presence of God to receive mercy. And by faith, you can receive mercy from God for the forgiveness of your sins if you confess your sin, repent, and trust in Jesus as your Savior. For if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and one with his mouth confesses and is saved (Romans 10:9-11). God has liberated those who trust Jesus from the condemnation of the penalty of sin. Moreover, when he ascended into heaven he sent his Spirit to dwell in every believer, giving every single disciple who bears his name the power to obey his will. He plants his word into your heart and the same power that saves you empowers you to have a heart like God’s heart for the poor and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Christian, do not take advantage of Jesus’ atonement in your life. James is giving you an imperative to use your words wisely and to act in a manner to shows your religion is genuine. You must speak and you must act in a manner worthy of Jesus’s gospel. Your obedience to Jesus is proof you love Jesus and belong to him.

Show mercy to the poor. Show mercy to your neighbor. The Lord says through his prophet

Zechariah 7:9–10 ESV

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Show the same mercy and compassion that has been shown to you in Jesus. Jesus says,

Matthew 5:7 ESV

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

The warning in James is , cursed are those who are not merciful, for they will not be shown mercy. The church member that shows discrimination toward the poor, or any image bearer for that point, is not showing mercy; and if they continue on that path they will prove that Jesus is not the treasure of their religion and when they end their lives, they will receive judgement without mercy.

When God draws sinners to himself, both the rich and the poor into our fellowship, they should not feel the same tension that kids feel when it comes time to vote on a class president, like the tension Abigail and Abram felt a couple of weeks ago. There is no place for popularity contests in the church because God forbids us to show partiality in the church.

Brothers and sister, let us joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus by having His heart for the poor and loving our neighbor as ourselves by showing His mercy with our words and deeds.

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