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Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.
Well Good Morning! And thank you so much for joining us for worship today…we are in week 3 of a message series on the bk of James that we are calling “Faith in Action,” and today we are going to be in James 2, starting in verse 1 if you want to be turning there in your own bibles…and we’ll start there in just a moment.
About 10 years ago, the movie 42 came out. It, of course, was a movie based on the life of Jackie Robinson who became the first black man to play major league baseball in 1947.
For some reason, I didn’t watch the movie when it first came out and actually just had a chance to watch it within the last year or so… And it was hard to watch.
It was hard to watch him being called some of the names that he was called.
It was hard to watch pitchers throw at his head when he was up to bat.
It was hard to watch him have to shower in a separate area from his white teammates.
And it was hard to watch him receive death threats all because of his skin color.
I mean, I watch movies like that or see that happen in real life, and it is the kind of thing that just makes me deeply angry.
And I know it does for a lot of you too because it’s just not right, and you hate seeing people treated unfairly or unjustly…
BUT not only do we feel that way when we see it happening to others, but in our own lives as well. Many of us at one time or another have seen someone else treated with more favoritism or partiality than us, and it hurts. It hurts deeply. No one likes to be discriminated against.
But I think it hurts even more if you are a parent and it happens to your kids…
I mean, I know some moms who are gentle and sweet, loving and caring individuals, but if you mess with their kids, that mama bear is coming out!
No one likes to see other people show favoritism over people they love and care about, and it brings out great emotion in us when we see that kind of thing happening…
BUT here’s the thing: I wonder if sometimes we are blind to see how we might be a part of the problem sometimes as well…
I mean we can be quick to call it out in our own lives, or in the lives of people we love, but a lot of us probably discriminate against others more than we may realize…
We make judgments about people because of their skin color sometimes too…
or because of their social status…
or because of the way they dress…
or because of their piercings or tattoos…
or even because of the political party they belong to maybe…
TRANSITION: And it might even happen sometimes in the church…
And evidently, it was happening in the gatherings of some of those that James is writing to because he addresses this very thing right off the bat in chapter 2, verse 1…
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.
Well, it doesn’t get too much more direct than that!
The word translated “favoritism” here in the original Greek literally means “receiving the face,” which means “to make judgments about people based on external appearance.” But the other thing to notice here is that the Greek word James uses is plural, “do not show acts of favoritism.”
In other words, even though we are going to see James use an example here in just a second of not discriminating against the poor & showing favor to the rich, he means way more than that.
James is saying that Christians are not to make decisions about anyone based on any external factor…
whether it be the way someone dresses, the color of their skin, whether they are rich or poor, or whether they are pretty or not so pretty, or whether they are thin or overweight or whatever…
IT IS INCONSISTENT WITH WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST SOMEONE AND SHOW FAVORITISM TOWARDS OTHERS BASED ON EXTERNAL FACTORS.
Look at v. 2-4, this is where he gives his example of showing favoritism to the rich over the poor, most likely because this is one of the specific things that was happening in the congregations that James was writing to…look at what he says…
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Now, what does that mean? If we discriminate against someone else, how are we discriminating among ourselves???
Well, to answer this, I think it’s helpful to look at something the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-28 to the church in Galatia. Look at what he said…
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Paul says we are all one in Christ Jesus. And so, watch this…
If the Church treats anyone differently because they dress differently than someone else or have a different skin color or whatever the case may be, we are discriminating against ourselves because we are all now one in Christ Jesus… we are all brothers and sisters in Christ who are made equals.
And James says, “Don’t do that and become judges with evil thoughts.”
In other words, those thoughts of discrimination and the judgments we are making sometimes against other people because of their external appearance don’t come from God. Those thoughts come from the evil one and they are no longer part of who you are in Christ!
And so James says first that it is no longer part of who you are, but watch this…next he makes the argument that it doesn’t make any sense for you to show favoritism to the rich and he gives several reasons why.
Look at the first one here in v. 5 and the first part of v. 6…
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor.
In other words, you have treated the materially poor as if they are really poor, when in fact if they are in Christ, they aren’t poor at all…they are extremely rich in Christ!
STORY: I have a good friend of mine who is a financial planner and does investments for people, and he said to me one time, “Jason you honestly, wouldn’t be able to pick some of the people who have the highest net worth out a lineup. I mean, you wouldn’t recognize them by their external appearance.”
He said that some of the people who have the most money walking around town are people who drive old used trucks, walk around in overalls, and have absolutely no appearance of having any money at all BUT they’re the richest people around…I mean deep, deep pockets of money!
And James says here that the same thing is true about those who are financially poor but know Christ. They may appear to be the poorest people walking around town, but if they are in Christ, they are actually the richest people in town b/c they have an inheritance in the Kingdom of God…you just can’t tell that about them from their outward appearance…
So, James says you are dishonoring the poor by showing favoritism to the rich in this world because the poor are way richer when you look behind the scenes anyway…
So it just doesn’t make sense to honor someone who is rich in this world over the poor in Christ because they are spiritually wealthy and have a far greater blessing in the future anyway…
So this is the first argument James gives as to why it doesn’t make sense to show favoritism to the rich, but as verse 6 continues, he gives us another reason…
Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?
So one of the things that was going on in the Middle East during the first century is that there were a small group of wealthy landowners who just accumulated more and more land and power and forced others from their land by taking them to court, which meant that the poor would get even poorer.
And the way James writes what he writes here in verse 6, leads some commentators to believe that most of those he is writing to in this letter fall into that category where the rich are exploiting them and using their wealth to influence the courts to force them to forfeit their land…
And so James says, why would you show favoritism to the rich who are exploiting you and dragging you into court anyway? It doesn’t make sense pragmatically to do so.
So this is reason number 2, but he has one more that we see in verse 7…
7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
So not only were they exploiting them and dragging them into court, but they were also blaspheming the name of Jesus and the family of believers that they belonged to anyway…so James says, “what sense does it make to show favoritism towards them?”
TRANSITION: So James gives them several pragmatic reasons that it doesn’t make sense to discriminate and show favoritism to the rich over the poor, but he has also given them the theological reason not to do so: because it is inconsistent with who they are now in Christ.
But now he is going to show them the kind of behavior that is in line with who they are in Christ…
Look at what James says in 2:8…
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
James says, “Hey, the kind of behavior…the kind of action that is consistent with your faith and who you are in Christ is this: To show/To demonstrate love in a practical way to your neighbor.”
Jesus had of course said the same thing in Matthew 22:39, “to love your neighbor as yourself.”
And Paul even taught that this was pretty much the fulfillment of the entire law. He said in Romans 13…
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
So this is the way he puts it in Romans…Look how he says something similar in Galatians 5…
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This is the royal law, to love your neighbor as yourself. And remember that Jesus even defined neighbor for us in the parable he told of the good Samaritan… our neighbor is anyone regardless of their ethnic background, their skin color, their socioeconomic status, the way they dress, or whatever…
When we live in this way where we are demonstrating love to everyone around us then we can be sure that we are living by faith with our eyes fixed on Jesus and that He is leading us in that behavior and those actions because they are consistent with who we are in Him…
BUT James says if we are not living this way then we are living in sin, walking in our flesh… v.9
9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
So, we could be tempted to think that we aren’t really living in sin if we aren’t doing really bad things in our own minds…I mean if we haven’t killed anyone or committed adultery then we might think that we are doing fine and living the way we are supposed to live…
But James reminds us that if we are acting in a way that is inconsistent with who we now are in Christ then we are walking in sin (in our flesh)…
and showing favoritism or discriminating against other people based on external factors is sin, and we need to recognize it as that and allow Jesus to guide us into the kind of behavior and actions that line up with who we now are in Christ.
STORY: At my previous church, one of the members ran a soup kitchen ministry for the homeless. And sometimes, he would get invited to preach at other churches. Well, I’m told that he would often show up early dressed as someone who was homeless to see how he was treated by the congregation as they came in for worship. And of course, when it came time for the sermon and he stood up and walked to the podium, everyone is in shock and many feel like crawling under their pews because of the way they looked at him when they came into church that day.
But he wanted them to see that showing favoritism or discriminating against others based on external factors is indeed sin. He wanted them to recognize it and to begin allowing Jesus to guide them into the kind of behavior and actions that lined up with who they were in Christ.
And this is what James is getting at here in vs. 9-11 and as he finishes up in verses 12-13…
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Okay, so Scripture talks about how there will be a few different judgments during the end times…a Great White Throne Judgment and The Bema Seat Judgment. And the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20) is where the sheep are separated from the goats… where unbelievers are judged and declared guilty before God because of sin and a refusal to accept Christ’s grace…the free gift of forgiveness & salvation.
And so Christians…those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior are not judged here…this is not a judgment you will face. But there is a 2nd judgment called The Bema Seat of Christ. Here is how Paul Enns mentions it in The Moody Handbook of Theology:
The judgment seat of Christ (Ro. 14:10, 1 Cor. 3:9-15, and 2 Cor. 5:10) does not denote a judgment concerning eternal destiny but rather rewarding church-age believers. The term judgment seat (Greek = bema) is taken from the Grecian games where successful athletes were rewarded for victory in athletic contests. Paul used that figure to denote the giving of rewards to church-age believers. The purpose of the judgment seat will be recompense for deeds done in the body. The believer’s works will be examined (1 Cor. 3:13) whether done by self-effort or whether done by God through the individual. Rewards will be given for the works that Jesus does through the believer (1 Cor. 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4; James 1:12).
Okay, so we tend to see the word “judgment” and think that is negative. We think condemnation. But Paul tells us that there is no condemnation for those in Jesus! This judgment is not negative. It’s positive. It’s highlighting the work of Jesus through us as believers, as His instruments.
So listen, James says in v. 12, “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.” Remember, we talked about the “law that gives freedom” in chapter 1 (1:25). The “law that gives freedom” is a reflection of the new heart that we are given when we are regenerated.
Jeremiah 31 says that God writes the law on our hearts as New Covenant believers. He gives us a new nature and a heart that lines up with His character and His ways.
And when you and I walk by the Spirit, then His character and His ways that are written on our hearts come out through us in action, behavior, speech, etc…
And at the Bema Seat Judgment God is going to highlight His work in us and through us in the individual way He did that through our unique make-up.
Now, let’s come back and apply that to what James is saying specifically here. Again, he says to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom.” And he is saying this in regard to what he has been saying throughout this entire section about favoritism.
“Speak and act in line with your new hearts and who you are in Christ, and as you rely upon Jesus to do that work in you and through you, then you will love your neighbor as yourself and there will be a positive judgment that Jesus highlights one day to bring Him glory and honor for that work He does in you and through you.”
SO, let’s look at this in our own lives… “Are you discriminating against others because of their external appearance or actions?
If so, God wants you to see that you are walking in your flesh and He is inviting you to be reminded of who you are in Christ and to allow Him to use your speech and actions to love your neighbors and treat them with equal value as those made in God’s image.