We're turning to the book of James once again, and we're in the chapter number 2. James chapter 2, and as you turn there, we welcome you in our Savior's name. If you're watching in on sermon audio, we welcome you, or on Facebook live, we welcome one and all in our Savior's precious name. Thank you for joining with us. We trust that the word will be a blessing, a challenge, and a comfort to all hearts this evening. James chapter two, and we're going to read from the opening verse. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou here or sit there under my footstool? Are ye not bent partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him, but ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. We'll end our reading at the end of the verse number nine. Let's just briefly pray before I bring God's word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, bless now thy word to our souls. Challenge us, we ask. May thy spirit take the word and apply it to the very heart and soul of all, preacher included, come now and open my word and open our understanding. We pray this in our Savior's precious worthy name. Amen. I wonder did you grow up in a family where it seemed, at least to you, that another sibling was shown preferential treatment over you by either a mother or by a father. Maybe you were mommy's favorite or daddy's blue-eyed girl. Such is not a new phenomenon. As Solomon reminds us, there is nothing new under the sun. Fevertism within families is something that is found even in the Word of God. Take, for example, the home of Isaac and Rebekah. Into that home there were born two twin boys, Esau and Jacob. And Genesis chapter 25 and the verse 28 speaks of the dangerous situation that developed in their home where one parent loved one son over the other son. Because there we read in Genesis chapter 25 verse 28, and Isaac loved Esau because he did eat off his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. And so we have one favoring Esau, Jacob, and we have Rebekah favoring Esau, Isaac favoring Esau, Rebekah loving Jacob. Well, we all know what that favoritism from Isaac and Rebekah resulted in. the estrangement of their two sons for some 20 years. Now you would have thought that of all people, Jacob would have known the devastation that favoritism would bring into a family circle and therefore he would have avoided it. However, we find Jacob repeating the same mistake as his father and mother when he favored his son Joseph above his other children. In Genesis 37 verse 3 we read, Now Israel, or Jacob, loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. Unfortunately, Jacob did not learn from the mistake made in the home of Isaac and Rebekah. Favoritism, whether it's in a family, in a school class, in a workplace, or even in the work of God, has the potential of bringing division and resentment into such settings. James deals with this potentially explosive issue in the verses that we have read this evening from the second chapter of his epistle. He takes the opportunity here to denounce the practice of favoritism within the body of Jesus Christ. And it is this specific issue that I want to address this evening in a message that I've simply entitled, Favoritism. Now in the first instance, I want us to consider a caution against favoritism. A caution against favoritism. Cast your eye down there to the opening verse of James chapter 2. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. Writing to his brethren, those who possess and who were possessed with the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, James here warns and cautions such that they are to avoid what he terms respect of persons. Now this term respect of persons simply means favoritism or partiality. And it appears eight times in the scripture. Let me 2nd Chronicles 19 verse 7 Therefore, now let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Take heed, and do it. For there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking off gifts in proverbs 24 verse 23 these things also belong to the wise it is not good to have respect of persons in judgment proverbs 28 verse 21 to have respect of persons is not good for for a piece of bread that man will transgress Romans 2 verse 11 for there is no respect of persons with God Ephesians 6 verse 9, and ye masters do the same things unto you, forbearing, threatening, knowing that your master is also in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him. Colossians 3, 25, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. And then 1 Peter 1 verse 17, and if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons Judgeth according to every man's work past the time of your sojourning here in fear. King Jehoshaphat, King Solomon, the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, and now the Apostle James all address this matter of having respect of persons. And what I want you to notice that the common thread that runs through each of their counsel is that the respect of persons is not something that is practiced by God and it is not approved of by God. God is no respecter of persons, a person's social status, a person's educational ability, a person's looks, a person's appearance, a person's wardrobe, a person's financial status, a person's Pleas in society are all insignificant and non-consequential matters to God. He cares not for such things. Now the word used here, translated respect of persons, is a very interesting word. It is one single Greek word. It is the Greek word pros opolopelas. Prosopalapellos. It is a word that is made up of two parts. Prosopon, which means face, and lambano, which means receive. The word literally means face taking or receive face. We would say taking one at face value. This is the word that is being used. The idea is that someone looks at another and on what is seen, they decide how to treat that individual, how to speak to that individual. They judge the person by their externals only. Now we find a man doing that in the Old Testament. You remember the old prophet Samuel, he sent to the house of Jesse. And he automatically thinks, when Jesse's eldest son walks through the door, that this is Israel's next king. And yet God says to Samuel that he's not to look on the outward appearance, for God looketh not on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. And so even in this example, the Old Testament example, we see that God does not respect the outward appearance, the form, the physique of the outer man. That is non-consequential to God. he has no respect of persons with regard to that very thing. You see, this respect of person involves judging a person purely on a superficial level, without consideration of a person standing in Jesus Christ. And thus, discrimination, bias, prejudice, can be the products or the byproducts of this Sin, for we're going to see that this is what it is. These are the byproducts of this respecting of persons, this favoritism, this partiality. James warns against having respect of persons because he tells us here that such is not compatible with the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. My brethren, Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons. This is not compatible with it. This showing favoritism within the work of God. This has no place for those who belong to the household of faith. The faith of the Christian is rather to be marked by impartiality. Now notice the title that James uses here. We would think it to be a very strange title to insert at this particular moment. He's speaking about favoritism. He's speaking about being impartial. And he uses a title for God here that we would think to be odd to be pleased at this particular point. Because he refers to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of Glory. The Lord of Glory. Why introduce such a title? Well, one commentator suggested that the reason why this title is used is because once we truly see how glorious Christ is, there will be no room for distinction on the human level. We see how glorious our God is, and we get a sight of Him, then there is no room for distinction on the human level. We all, in light of His glory, we peel in comparison to Him, the Lord of glory. You see, brethren and sisters, a proper view of Christ always leads to a proper view of ourselves and others. The Christian, understanding that every member of the family of God is but a sinner saved by grace, is not to make distinctions based on the outward condition or the status of others, especially when it comes to our dealings inside the family of God. We have all been brought to the cross and the cross is the great leveler, the great leveler. Now don't forget the historical context in which this book was written. We need to remember that the age in which James wrote this epistle was an age that was filled with prejudice and hatred based on class, nationality, and of the religious background of the individual. You see, in the ancient world, people were routinely categorized because they were Jew or Gentile, slave or free, rich or poor, Greek or barbarian. However, the spread of the gospel broke down the walls that divided humanity. and saw to it that all those who had received the gospel and all those who had believed the gospel were all one in Christ Jesus, all one. In Galatians 3, 26 to 28, the apostle writes, for ye are all, listen, ye are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ, not some, all of us. By faith in Jesus Christ, we are all children of God. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither born nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And so then why, sadly, Does this favoritism still exist in the body of Jesus Christ if we are all one in Christ? If we are all but sinners saved by grace? One commentator speaking off this favoritism, he said, we have the same problem with us today. Pyramid climbers are among us, not only in politics, industry, and society, but also in the church. Almost every church has its cliques, and often you Christians find it difficult to get in. We need to be aware of this, brethren and sisters, and we need to beware of such things. Those in spiritual leadership within this congregation need to be impartial, unbiased, neutral, just as God is. If God is not a respecter of persons, then why would God's ministers be a respecter of persons? Why would the elders within the church those that are in leadership within the church. Why would there be favoritism? Why would there be in this partiality being shown to others? If Christ does not show this, if he is impartial, if he does not show favoritism, then why, why would we in the church of Jesus Christ, we need to give every member and every friend of this congregation. We need to give every singleton and as well as every family unit the same treatment, regardless of skin color, wealth, social status, political affiliation, or any other characteristic that would distinguish people from others. We must be impartial, impartial. We are not to be spiritual snobs. We are not to snub some and befriend others. We are not to focus all our energies on some small section within the congregation to the detriment of others within the congregation. We must be hospitable, we must be courteous to all. There is a brotherhood. and there is a unity within the body of Christ and that must be maintained. Being partial, showing fevertism undermines unity. It undermines it. I trust that we're not guilty. I trust that I'm not guilty of this. So we have here a caution against favouritism. In the second place we have a case study about favouritism. You see James is very practical, we have learnt that as we have made our way through the first chapter. We are now into the second chapter of the book. be very practical and he evidences that as he proceeds to give now a case example of the type of favouritism that is not to take place within the work of God. If there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye of respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in the good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under my footstool. Now Jeans focuses our attention in these two verses on two men. One with what we would say designer clothes. Goodly apparel. The other in disheveled clothes. Vile raiment. Now what seemed to be happening in the public worship services was that the wealthy man was given the best seat in the house. While the poor man was told, well, stand somewhere or sit on the floor, take the position of a sleeve at the footstool of the usher or of the greeter. What was happening was that when they came to the house of God, the usher was judging purely on the superficial level, how a person appeared outwardly. And so those who were, to use an ulsterism, those who were well healed, were given preferential treatment as to where they were seated in the building. And James calls out this practice. This should not be taking place. There are no, and there is to be no, preferential treatment given to any. To any. As I've said, I hope and trust that there is none who attend this church and they feel that some are preferred before others. If so, it has certainly not been my intention for that to happen. I've tried over the last seven years, maybe not that successfully, but I've tried to be impartial. to treat every brother and sister in Christ the same. When the need arises, it is the same pastoral help that is given. When the call comes, the same time is given. Maybe not so successfully. I don't know. I don't know. You're the judges of that. Have attempted to be friendly to every person who comes through the door of the building, Can I say that that is also a two-way process? You can't expect someone to befriend you if all that you do is grunt at them or snub their approaches to you. Proverbs 18, 24, a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. There is a friend that sticketh closer than any brother. Friendliness on your part will beget friends. How sad, how sad it would be for someone to come through the gates of this church and for them never to have a friendly word or a smile given to them, even if it's a socially distanced one at this time. How sad it would be. The story is told of a man who attended a church repeatedly for several months, but he was always ignored because no one knew who he was Because he looked out of place with his old worn out clothes, no one ever took the time to speak to him. And so one Sunday, as he took a seat in the church, he intentionally left his hat on. As the minister stood in the platform and looked over the audience, he noticed the man with the hat right away. And so he summoned one of the ushers and asked him to tell the man that he had forgotten to remove his hat. When the usher spoke to the man, he responded with a big smile and said, I thought that would do it. He said, I've attended this church for six months, and you're the first person who's ever talked to me. That man had been ignored in the fellowship of believers, while others had not been. I don't need to tell you that that should never happen in the church of Jesus Christ. The wealth, the fashion label on a person's clothes, the social standing, the job should have no bearing about how we treat a person inside or outside the house of God. You see, folks, that's how the world behaves. That's how the world behaves. They show favoritism. They befriend the wealthy, the affluent, those with money, those who have a standing in society. They're partial. That's how the worldling behaves, but not the child of God, not the Christian. Such is no place within the work of God, and so if it exists, and I hope it doesn't, but if it exists, let's have done with it. Let's have done with our snobbery, and let us be known as a band of believers who love and cherish all the saints, as well as the sinner, who frequents the place of worship. Now sadly, we are so often swayed by wealth, makes us blind to a person and their sin, And we mistakenly, at times, we measure people by the wealth that they possess. We consider the Sir James Dysons, the Elon Musks, the Bill Gates of the world to be rich, and yet I remind you that these men may be rich in financial terms, but they're not rich in faith terms. James reminds his readership that those who are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom are those who are the real. rich men and women of the world. Verse five, hearken, my beloved brethren, hath God not chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? Here is true riches, to be rich in faith, not rich in finances. No, this is where God places the emphasis. How rich are we with regard to faith? Often it is those who are poor financially that are chosen by God to be rich in faith. I know which I would rather be. I'd rather be rich in faith. I'm sure Lazarus of Luke 16 theme was glad that he was rich in faith. And he found himself in Abraham's bosom after he died. Where the rich man And that same chapter would have lamented that he was only rich financially, and he found himself in hell. To be rich in faith is to have the greatest riches. James goes on to speak in the verse six and seven of the irony, the irony. that the saints here were obviously oblivious to in this practice of showing preferential treatment to the rich. James reminds these believers that it was the rich, not the poor, but it was the rich, the ones who were being given the best seats in the place of worship. They were the very ones who were oppressing God's people. These were the ones who were drawing God's people before the judgment seat. These were the ones who were blaspheming the worthy name by which they were called. How ironic! How ironic! To show favoritism to the person who does the persecuting and the oppressing and the blaspheming. It shows us how, sadly, wealth can blind us. We must be wary of this. We must be on our guard and not allow the wealth of a person to cloud our judgment. There's a final matter to quickly consider with regard to this topic of favoritism, namely a commandment that denounces favoritism. A commandment that denounces favoritism. Now James has already given two compelling arguments as to why favoritism is wrong in the work of God. You may have missed them, let me remind you of them. Favoritism is wrong especially when such is based on a person's wealth because it runs contrary to God's choice. He chooses primarily the poor to be rich in faith. Men favor the rich, but God favors the poor. He became poor for our sakes. Secondly, it is illogical, especially in light of what the rich do to the people of God. Verses six and seven have just said that. These are two arguments. The third argument against favoritism is the scriptures themselves. James appeals to the second great commandment of the law. The first great commandment being, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and strength. The second commandment of the law is thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Verse number eight, he brings in the scripture, he brings in the second law, the second great commandment of the law. This is why favoritism is not to take place within the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the sole head and king of the church, has issued a royal edict stating that we are to love our neighbor, regardless of wealth, gender, age, looks, appearance, and we are to love them as we love ourselves. This royal law, that's how it's termed in verse eight, this royal law is binding on all. and when we obey it, such will free us from prejudice, discrimination, and partiality. preferential treatment James speaks of here violates this royal law because it treats some as inferior and others as sources of spatial favor. Note with me that for the person and for a person not to obey this commandment and the commandment that puts an end to favoritism will result in a person committing sin and will be deemed transgressor. Verse number nine, but if ye have respect of persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors. It's sin. This fevertism, this partiality, this showing fever to some and not to others, This promoting some and demoting others, this respect of persons, this is termed by God as sin, sin. In all my years as a Christian, I have never heard another person repenting of the sin of favoritism, never. I've never heard, in any prayer meeting that I have been in, of a brother or sister repenting of the sin of favoritism. But brethren and sisters, it exists, and it's sin. And I ask myself, and I want you to ask yourself, have I committed this sin? You see, brother or sister, You should be able to walk into the house of God whenever we can, and you should be able to sit beside and shake hands when we can do so with any other brother or sister. If you cannot do that, then you may be guilty of committing the sin of respective persons. If there are people that you ignore, willfully, snub, willfully, you're guilty of this sin. If you show partiality to a person because of their social status, how they appear, their political affiliations, you're showing respect of persons. And God calls it sin. And it must be repented of. You see, brothers and sisters, this is not some small issue. This is sin. We need to repent of it, and we need to treat all within God's family with respect and honor. They belong to Him. Christ died for them as He died for us. May God help us. You see, the one who does not show this favoritism, this respect of persons, is the mature Christian. This is the one who has been perfected. Remember, that's the theme of the book, this maturing process. It shows maturity when you're able to affiliate with any brother or sister. And you know who you're like? You're like God. Because he doesn't show respect of persons. You only have to look back at chapter to chapter one in the verse five, and with this I close. It says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. And it breatheth not, and it shall be given him. Do you see how God dispenses his wisdom? He gives to all men. He doesn't show favoritism. He's not partial. He doesn't employ respect of persons with regard to the giving of wisdom. He gives to all. And so, if God shows no favoritism in his dealings with men, why then should we? Oh may God help us, may God enable us, and may in these days we see a turning from our sin, an acknowledging of it, a turning from it, an amending of our ways, the putting of things wrong right, God's work going forward, and all bound together, pressing on, to receive and to gain the prize and the well done of God. May God be pleased to use his word to convict us and then to bring us to a place of repentance for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's briefly