Theme: There
is No Favoritism in Faith
1) In the
church among you
2) In the
church within you
James 2:1-5 My brothers and sisters, believers in
our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 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? 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?
A young
Christian man was trying to speak up about his faith and share it with others. He
was told that he was discriminating against others because he wouldn’t go along
with what the popular majority said. He was called judgmental and offensive,
told that he was playing favorites; told that those were two things that God,
and specifically Jesus, didn’t like. The cries of opposition kept coming
stronger and louder. Voices telling him that he wasn’t really a Christian and
the Bible tells us not to judge others. Finally, the young man replied and
said, “I’m sorry, but if I work too hard at not offending you, I will offend
God.”
We hear these
same voices day after day. The accusations of discrimination, favoritism, and
judgment are often leveled against Christians who stand humbly on the Word of
God. Those who try so adamantly to define our faith for us, and how well we’re
following it, are often the ones who know next to nothing about what the Bible
really teaches. In truth, the Bible does
tell Christians to judge sin, both for themselves and for others. That’s what
repentance is, it’s a reminder of judgment. A word like “discrimination” is
used to color how we think of proper Christian judgment, as if we’re denying
someone’s God-given rights, as if it’s the same as being racist, jealous, or
hateful.
Why do these
voices bother us so much? Why do they have such an effect on our lives and on
the strength of our faith? Don’t act like they don’t. I know how it feels to be
ridiculed for what you believe. I watch the same television and scroll down the
same pages of internet you do and hear the voices and what they say about the
Bible. How they lessen it as if it is some cheap hoax. How they claim superior
knowledge while the rest of us are mindless slaves. How they champion the deep
desires in my sinful heart and show me a path where these evil things somehow
become acceptable.
The voices
against our faith are loud, they’re abundant, and they’re influential.
Sometimes they come from our closest friends or relatives. Sometimes we see sin
in those we trust the most and we learn from them. If mom or dad, uncle or
aunt, brother or sister do what I thought was condemned by God it must really
not be that bad. Perhaps we just need to loosen the moral reigns of our faith a
bit and stop being such uptight Christians. Times are changing, we need to
adapt. And the voices like those go on and on, and their effect becomes greater
and greater.
It may not
seem like it but the words of our text address those many voices we hear. The
Spirit’s point in this chapter is that the Christian faith is not a beauty or
popularity contest. Looking good on the outside has no bearing at all on one’s
relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the kind of favoritism that God
condemns. He doesn’t want us to discriminate when it comes to faith. No matter
who you are, the blessing of faith applies to all equally. We don’t have the
right to withhold the gift of faith or make others feel as if they’re
inadequate to receive it. We are not to build ourselves up against others as if
we’re somehow greater or more significant to God. That’s the evil type of
judgment. That’s true discrimination. Speaking about sin or defending the truth
against error is not the same as denying one access to faith because of
appearance.
A call to
repentance is not discrimination. Because without repentance, faith dies. So
you tell me, who are we favoring when we ignore or become ashamed of Godly
repentance? What becomes of our faith when the voices of the world convince us
that we don’t need God’s Word or that following it is an evil thing? Like the
young man said, there comes a point when if we worry so much about not
offending the world, we will offend God. Who do you care about more? The danger
of showing favoritism in our faith is indeed a reality and that’s why God chose
to address it here. But it’s not the unbelieving world who gets to define what
that favoritism is and what it isn’t. God’s has already taken care of that in
His Word.
Part 1
The most
obvious place where improper favoritism can exist is in our congregation. This
is the example given to us by the Spirit in these words. He brings us the
literal example of a synagogue service, which was the Jewish equivalent of our
regular Sunday worship. When it comes to expressing our faith in a
congregation, there are no varying degrees between Christians of greater wealth
and Christians who are poor. There’s always a temptation for us to favor those
with greater influence or wealth because we can often gain more in material
terms from them.
But God
singles this situation out as a warning against following this sinful desire.
Faith in Christ is not to be used as a bargaining chip to gain whatever we
want, even if it’s done in the name of a Christian congregation. The most
obvious reason why is because faith is a free gift from God. None of us had to
do anything to earn God’s forgiveness. How dare we make others feel
differently? Paul tells of this freedom in Galatians 3:26-27 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of
God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put
on Christ. Another reason against showing favoritism is that all members of
Christ’s Church have value. Paul wrote the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12) and
explained that although the Spirit gives different gifts to different people,
they are all given from the same Spirit and have the same purpose. Giving
people the impression, or saying as much directly, that some people are more
valuable than others, or more important, is discrediting the work of the Holy
Spirit. Paul stated that it’s like the body saying that because it has ears
that can hear, it has no need for eyes that see, or feet that walk. In reality,
all parts of the body are important to the overall function of the body. The
same is absolutely true in Christ’s body, the Church.
The best way
to avoid favoritism in a church is to emphasize Christ’s saving work of
redemption. Instead of getting caught up in comparing ourselves with others, or
focusing so much on one person’s gifts over another’s, we can zero in on
Christ’s grace. When Christ’s grace takes hold of a person’s heart by faith,
all the little details about who they are fade away. Paul went on to tell the
Galatians that it doesn’t matter if someone is Jew or Gentile, slave or free,
male or female when faith in Christ is present. Because God holds up His promise
given long before the ailments of favoritism came upon our culture. This
promise was that His only begotten Son would be the Savior of the entire world;
that people from all nations and cultures would come to the cross and find
eternal salvation and God delivered this through Jesus Christ.
Part 2
It’s obvious
that there should be no favoritism of faith in the church among us. But there’s
another church that we don’t always think of, and very often favoritism can
affect it even more. This is the church in your heart. God calls this church
His dwelling place and it’s much more important than where we choose to sit on
Sunday mornings. This is the church that Jesus talked about when He preached
that the “kingdom of God is at hand and
that kingdom is within you (Luke 17:21).”
Before we even
begin to learn about the congregation that shares our confession of God’s Word
the Holy Spirit is busy establishing God’s sanctuary in our hearts. Faith
begins in the heart and wherever faith is present is a home for God. Paul
explained this to the Corinthians to show them the serious nature of the sins
they were caught in. He wrote to them, “Don't
you yourselves know that you are God's sanctuary and that the Spirit of God
lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's
temple is holy, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).”
Those with
faith in Christ are a church in and of themselves. Faith grants you direct
access to God at all times. You need not approach Him in temples and
sanctuaries made with human hands. Therefore, as much as you would want to keep
this congregation and church building from sin, you should desire it even more
for your own heart. Don’t follow the Corinthian’s spiritual blind spot. Recognize
your status as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Appreciate your right to be
called a child of God and a member of His kingdom today. Because faith in Jesus
and from Jesus is in your heart.
Just as much
as you should avoid favoritism in the church among you, you should avoid it in
the church within you. This kind of favoritism is harder to recognize, though.
When it comes to your heart, who comes in and gets the choice seating? As we
mentioned earlier, which voices are the ones you heed the most? It’s easy for
us to judge the worthiness of what we hear based on who says it and what status
they have in the world. It’s no secret that the wealthy and famous are often
the most influential in the world. People will flock to listen to celebrities,
athletes, or political figures as if they know something we don’t.
But isn’t this
also what James is condemning here? Don’t assign value to what a person says
just because they are popular or rich. This is extremely important when it
comes to the church in your heart. Who gets to preach there every day? Who is
allowed to enter the pulpit of your inner being and dispense spiritual
knowledge? All too often we allow the high profile voices, the ones that
society tells us to listen to, to speak the most to us. But sadly, these are
often the voices that reject what God tells us in His Word. We judge the truth
of something based solely on how many people believe it and how likeable the
person is who says it. We exalt the rich and powerful of the world and give
them the best seats in our house. We welcome the twitter feed from celebrities
as if it’s pure Gospel and we share in the crude jokes of the ungodly with
great regularity and eagerness, beckoning them back again and again to worship
in what is really supposed to God’s dwelling.
Do you see how
this favoritism can be a huge problem? If you come to church regularly every
Sunday and hear God’s Word that’s a wonderful and beautiful thing. But if every
other day of the week you feed yourself spiritual lies in the inner sanctuary
of your heart, you will be fighting a losing battle. Sitting at the feet of the
modern day moralists and many spiritual leaders in the world can easily destroy
the filter that God provides us in His Word. Before you realize what’s happened,
you end up looking down on Christ with the disdain as someone unwanted and
common. His life-saving message becomes too poor because so many are calling it
discriminating, unfair, and judgmental; and we’re listening to them instead of
listening to our Savior. Cast favoritism
out of your heart, with as much authority as you would cast it out of this
congregation.
What
unfaithful people we are; always running after what seems newer and exciting
and popular. So much more willing to listen to the rich and the famous than the
poor and the lowly. So willing to make time for our favorite celebrities and to
hang on their every word, than to defend the way we learned of salvation. But
there’s a reason that Christ prevails against all others. There’s a reason why
He alone deserves our complete devotion and favor. There’s a reason that we
ought to discard all treasures that detract from Him. That reason is this: For
as many times as we forsake Him, for as many times as we block Him out or kick
and scream against His will; He is there every time to forgive us.
He is there at
all times with His gentle hand of grace, resting it upon our weary heads and
comforting us as a father comforts His child. He is faithful in our place, in
every moment we are rebellious. He daily encourages us to return to His Word,
to tear down the idols in our hearts that have supplanted His throne. And
what’s most amazing of all, is that through the still, small voice of His Word,
He can block out all of the voices of the world. For all those voices who tell
us that we’re unloved, that’s there’s no purpose out there, that Jesus doesn’t
care or doesn’t even exist. For all those voices that shout day after day about
our mistakes and sins, that want to keep us focused on the problems and pain.
For all the voices that beckon us to follow every path but God’s, who almost
convince us His gospel is too good to be true. For all those voices, Jesus says
to you, “Be still, and know that I am God.” And just like that, everything is
quiet, the voices, loud as they are, fade away. And we rest in the peace of our
Savior. Amen.
May that peace
of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus, Amen.
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