Monday, Nov. 12

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Monday 

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.  Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.  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,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?   - James 2:1-4

I am the oldest of three children and the only son.  My two sisters will tell you that I am the family favorite (but I don’t think it is true).  All joking aside, favoritism exists in almost every area of our society; teachers have favorite students (“teacher’s pets”), coaches have favorite athletes, politicians have favorite supporters and lobbyists have favorite politicians.  We even have “best friends” as a way of designating our favored friendships.  Most of us intuitively understand this kind of favoritism, and it doesn’t trouble us too much.  However, there are some arenas where we feel that favoritism should not exist, like say...in the church.  Most people feel that favoritism is one thing in sports or politics, but Christians should not be playing favorites.

This is precisely what James is telling us here in this passage. 

What James is trying to show us here is that how we treat people, especially those who are different from us, reveals how much we believe in and have been transformed by the gospel.  Favoritism is one of the key litmus tests for the authenticity of our faith!

I recently read a book called The Bad Popes (by E. R. Chamberlin), a history of the worst of the Roman Catholic popes.  The word corrupt is not strong enough to convey how evil these men were!  They were ruthless and obsessed total power and they dispensed favors based on who could pay them the most or who would consolidate their power over their enemies.  They epitomized the sin of partiality.

But we don’t need to turn to the ancient Roman Catholic Church for examples of violations of James’ commands.  The sin of partiality has persisted in often subtle, but sometimes blatant, ways in contemporary evangelical churches as well.  For example, one philosophy of the church growth movement is called, “the homogeneous unit principle.”  It is based on the observation that people like to worship with “their own kind.”  Thus, they claim that we need to target our outreach programs and build our churches with the aim of reaching similar segments of society.  So these folks try to “market” the church to homogenous groups of people to the exclusion of those who are not like them!  All such approaches violate what James is saying here and they ignore the glory of the New Testament church, “in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11).  

We are all naturally partial to those who are similar to us, similar social, racial, or economic status, those who share our background, and our outlook on life.  But, the gospel calls us to be different as followers of Christ.  We are supposed to be getting rid of our natural, selfish tendencies as we become more like Jesus.  If we are to become more like Him, then we need to understand how He views people...

John 7:24 - Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”

Romans 2:11 - For God does not show favoritism.

Leviticus 19:15 - Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.  

1 Timothy 5:21 - I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.

Jeff Frazier