Sermon transcription (may be edited for clarity)

Now the book of James. Our reading you heard this morning is from James chapter 2. The book of James was written in the wisdom tradition of the Old Testament. The wisdom books in the Old Testament are books like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. And the reason that we call these books or refer to these books as wisdom books, is because they impart ethical and moral instruction, generally with the view to encouraging the fear of the Lord. Now this moral instruction and sort of the core message of the wisdom books is summed up in the book of Proverbs, where it says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Now notice these themes, if you’ve read through it before, you will notice a lot of themes such as patience, wisdom, doubt, trials, the rich, the poor, patience, judging others. You know, Proverbs is a lengthy book, 31 chapters, or actually 32. And these themes are resonant throughout the book. If those themes sound familiar to you also hear them in Christ’s teachings. Think about the sermon on the mountain and Christ’s discussion and teachings on the rich and the poor. Or His words concerning judging others and the words that we learn on Christ’s requirement that we show mercy to others.

So when James wrote this book, probably first century in the ancient Middle East, he was writing this book to the Church-at-large. He described it in the early part of James as writing to the twelve tribes spread abroad. It wasn’t just written for the Jewish Christians. It was written to all Christians and understanding this helps us understand why James wrote it. You see, the Church at this time—and James could only know this by the Holy Spirit—was not walking in the fear of the Lord as the Lord desired. They lacked wisdom, so part of the reason James wrote this book is to help them understand and encourage them in the true wisdom of God, and also to help them understand the consequences of ignoring it.

So this morning we’re focused on the second chapter of James, where James is correcting the Church because they were showing partiality in judgment. As you heard in the reading, Christians were playing favorites with those who came into the church. When a person looked wealthy and had nice clothing or a gold ring they were given a good seat. If a poor person showed up in dirty clothes, or a person appeared who didn’t appear to be some of significance then they would tell them to either stand somewhere, or sit at a foot stool in a low place. This behavior neither reflected God’s perspectives nor was it a proper demonstration of the fear of the Lord. So we’re going to go through the text this morning and talk through what James is saying in his message to the church.

The first thing that James tells them, the first sort of overarching message, is that personal favoritism is inconsistent with faith in the Lord. Now what does he mean by personal favoritism? We all have friends, people whose company we enjoy. James isn’t suggesting there aren’t people you naturally gravitate towards, people whose company you enjoy or people who you find special. The word in the Greek for personal favoritism literally means to receive the face. And what that means is showing respect to someone’s outward appearance. It does not only apply to clothing. It could be a person who is especially beautiful, it could be based on a person’s skin color, it could be physical size if someone slender or overweight. Anything that we can see externally about a person is something we can use to either withhold or show favoritism.

But every time this Greek word is used in the New Testament, four times, it describes what God is not. It says in Romans 2:11: “There is no partiality with God.” It says in Ephesians 6:9 again: “there is no partiality with God.” And in Colossians 3:25 it says “for he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong he has done, and that without partiality.” Those three places in today’s reading are the only three places where the word is used in the New Testament and every single time it describes what God is not.

So do you see why James is saying personal favoritism is inconsistent with faith in God? Because this conduct is inconsistent with who God is.

Now as an example of this partiality in the New Testament, James points out how they are treating the rich, and how they are treating the poor. And it’s important to understand that in the church both categories of people existed. There were wealthy members of the church, just like there were members of the church who were poor. James isn’t suggesting that either group is better. He’s saying that preferential treatment shouldn’t be doled out based on external status.

This wasn’t just in the mind. You know often we think a particular way about a person and it’s inside. James isn’t saying the church is thinking this, that would be one problem, but the church is actually acting it out. They are giving people preferential seating based on their appearance. Now if you go back to Proverbs 22:2, the scripture says “the rich and the poor have a common bond. The Lord is the maker of them all.” By focusing on these two categories, James is, just like I was telling you, going back to the wisdom tradition of the Old Testament. He’s saying to them, the Lord created both people. What’s your basis for distinguishing among them?

See, it’s coming from humanity. It’s not coming from God. God is the creator of both the wealthy and the poor, and has no preference. It’s us. We are the ones who have these kinds of preferences. And what does this mean? James goes on to say that they (and we) are unjust judges. He’s talking about things that they’re doing and says that this is bad judgment. He says when you are showing favoritism towards only some people, first, you’re making distinctions among yourselves, and secondly you’ve become judges with evil reasonings. These are not light statements James is making.

First, when he says you’re making distinctions among yourselves, he refers to this Greek word diakrino, which means to separate or to distinguish. So the church is actually putting people into categories and on what basis? Clothing. Think about this for a minute. What can you do with clothing? Right? It’s probably the least important thing about a person. I mean, maybe it shows a little something of fashion sense or lack thereof. But other than that you can always change clothes. What do you do with what’s inside of a person? And this church that has the glorious gospel of Christ–instead of focusing on what’s inside of people, what are they doing? They are busy looking at the outward appearance. James can’t tolerate this. More importantly, God can’t.

So James goes on to say and indicate that those who are representing God should not be putting people into categories based on these things. One, they shouldn’t be categorizing people at all. Certainly not on something is superficial and insignificant and changeable as clothing.

The second point James makes is you have become judges with evil reasonings he says. That word I was telling you about diakrino, which means to separate or distinguish, it actually has some other meanings. One of them interestingly is to doubt. This kind of gives us a picture; this picture I think James is painting here, is when you’re unsure of a decision and you argue with yourself. So sometimes you think I will do one particular thing, and then you’re like well maybe I won’t. And then you go back and forth and you’re torn inside. Sort of separated from yourself inside. That’s the point he’s getting at here. And you can see how it would have happened to the people of the church. They know what the gospel says. They know God cares nothing for external appearances and looks at the heart. And yet they’re still inclined to try to favor the wealthy and they’re even torn inside. James is saying to them you already know you aren’t supposed to be doing this.

And the second meaning is to judge. The word I told you, diakrino, the second meaning of that word is to judge. He’s telling the church: you are acting like judges, but your basis for deciding these things again very superficial, and your judgement is evil. Now this is in stark contrast to the judgment of God.

When those of you who have read about David being anointed as king over Israel, know that God sent the prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse, David’s father, to anoint one of his sons as king. And when the oldest son came out Samuel thought within his heart, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed,” and the Lord said to him “do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature for I have rejected him. For God sees not as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Now this is the prophet Samuel that the Lord is talking to; someone who heard from God from the time he was a very small boy. But even he was misled into looking at people’s external attributes, and the Lord had to remind him “the decisions I make are not made based on external appearances.” And David, the youngest son, ended up appointed king of Israel.

And so this is why James says that their reasonings are evil. He says that God looks on the heart, but you think you should look on the external appearance. Proverbs 20:10 says “Differing weights and differing measures both of them are abominable to the Lord.” This is interesting. Notice that it says abominable, differing weights, differing measures. What is James talking about? When you read Proverbs you learn that merchants had stones and they still have them to this day. Which is that they would carry multiple weights with them. One set of weights they would use for purchasing from people. The other set they would use for selling to people.

What does this mean? They would use the stones as weights. So when they were weighing out a product they were selling to you they would use the heavier weight so that you would pay more. When they were purchasing a product from you, they would use the lighter weight so that they would pay less. So it’s fraud, right? They were looking for ways to get an advantage. Having these differing weights is not limited to merchants and fraud. It’s how we judge everything. Do you have one set of standards for people you like and a different set of standards for people you don’t like? You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. But as Christians we have to strive to be better, to do the things that God calls us to do.

We have one set of standards for people who we favor, people who we don’t know we hold them to a different set of standards. These kind of differing weights and measures, and having differing weights and measures, the scripture describes them as abominable to the Lord. The word “abominable” translated from the original Hebrew means disgusting, unclean, and wicked. We didn’t think it was that serious did we? We thought we had one standard for these people, one standard for those people. It never occurred to us that God views it as unclean, wicked, and abominable. This is strong language that James is using to bring the church into line with God’s teachings. What God does, we should follow. God loves, we love. God hates, we should hate. Instead of turning to our own ways of thinking which are often polluted by the world.

So that was James’ first point. That partiality and judgement are inconsistent with faith in God.

His second point is that God does not see people as humanity does, and we just talked about how the Lord looks on the heart, while humanity looks at the outward appearance. So James decides to elaborate a little bit more, and he says, you know you’re despising this poor person but “God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith and heirs to the kingdom.” Does that mean that every poor person will be saved? No. Does it mean everyone who’s poor is a believer? No, it does not. What James is getting at is the circumstance and life of people that are poor often lead them to seek out God. They are put in circumstances that are so difficult and challenging that they frequently turn to God for support. Whereas those that are wealthy, often see no need for God.

Now of course there are exceptions, and we all think of ourselves as exceptions. But the scripture says that not many wise have been called to serve God. Not many wealthy and powerful and beautiful. It is often those that are viewed as the offscouring of the earth that God chooses for his kingdom. And that’s all of us. A motley crew that God has brought into his body. But we’ve dishonored the poor man and this is what James’ complaint is. It’s really the Spirit of God’s complaint through James to the church. God has honored a person by giving them eternal life and salvation, but when they come to church they are dishonored and told to sit in a low place. Not only is this wrong as we know instinctively, but God identifies with the poor. Back to Proverbs again; 19:17 says “One who is gracious to a poor person lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.” So much does God identify himself with the poor that if they owe you, God will guarantee the debt. He will repay you. Now that’s identification. How many people are willing to stand in for you and pay your bills? But for the poor, God relates so closely to them that he will be responsible for what they owe.

Now there’s also another group James talks about besides the poor and that’s the rich. As James mentions, there are rich people who are part of the church. We talked earlier about how the congregation included people who are both wealthy and poor. Now James is talking about another category of people. The worldly rich, as I will call them. These are not people who are believers, they are oppressors. Now if you’re at church and you see people come in and someone’s sort of dressed nicely you don’t know if that person–unless you know that they’re a believer–don’t know whether they’re a believer or whether they’re one of the worldly rich. If they are a rich evil-doer. You have no idea. But you’re treating the person with honor is James’ complaint. He says you don’t know who’s coming in the door. This could be someone who is an imposter. But you’re strictly focused on what they’re wearing. Now this isn’t an excuse to mistreat people who are wealthy. People can take these kinds of teachings too far in the other direction. Everyone in church should be treated well and politely and with honor. That’s the point James is making. Whether they are wealthy or poor.

But James points out a couple of issues with the worldly rich. Number one, he says they oppress you. It was a common practice in the first century Middle East, but it’s also common practice today in many parts of the world. That people who are wealthy buy up land and accumulate power. And then they forcibly eject or remove those who poor that are living on the land. They simply buy the land, buy land, buy land, and they continue to keep buying up the land for themselves and then they remove the poor from it. We read about this in the book of Amos in the Old Testament. James says they oppress you.

The second thing they drag you into court. This is interesting. He says when they need to get access to the land they own and they want to get you out of there they take you to court. And this is an extra interesting little example James provides, because what happens when you get to court? You’re up against a person that is very wealthy, you’re less wealthy and how does the judge make the decision? It’s based on who the wealthy person is. So the same kind of unjust judgment that you will encounter in court, James says is the same sort of judgement you are using against poor people when they come into your midst. You are helping to oppress others James says with the same unjust judgement that judges use towards you, and you are doing this in the church. You see why God has a controversy with his people.

The third and final point, how James describes the worldly rich, is that they blaspheme the fair name by which you are called. This Greek word here blasphemao which sounds obviously similar to blaspheme; it’s a cognate. It means to accuse or speak evil of, to complain about or protest. And the object of this blasphemy is the great and beautiful name of the Lord. What a contrast James has drawn here. People who speak evil of God when they come into church are being favored and treated well. While the poor, whom God identifies with and has given salvation to are being given short shrift. The blasphemers are the dishonest oppressors, but they speak evil of God. So James is giving the church two reminders. He said first partiality is inconsistent with faith in God. Secondly, he has indicated that God does not see people as humanity does. And thirdly, he says that personal favoritism is a sin, which will be judged.

God requires—and we know this from the Scripture—that we love others. James makes references to the royal law. A law that would belong to a king, or a principle or chief law. You have heard this question asked of Christ. In Matthew 22 they asked Him, and said to him “what is the great commandment?” Do you remember when various people–if you have read Matthew you have heard that they would come up to Christ and ask him “what is the greatest commandment?” or “what are we supposed to be doing?” Jesus said to him, “you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the great and first commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.”

So James is noting that when we obey God’s command to love both God and our neighbors we are fulfilling the royal law. We’re not required nor is it possible for is to fulfill the Old Testament commands. Read Genesis through Deuteronomy, it is impossible to fulfill it and we are not required to do so. But if we love as God commands us to love and follow Christ’s teachings, we are following God’s law. But this is only true if we walk in love. If we show partiality and favoritism for some external reason the Scripture says that we’re sinning. This is the opposite of love. When you mistreat someone just because they appear poor that is not love. It violates the royal law.

Now James goes on to say something that is interesting. He says “for whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles in one point he is guilty of all. For He who said do not commit adultery also said do not commit murder. Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder you have become a transgressor of the law.” Now this is unusual. Why would James bring up adultery and murder when we’re talking about partiality and judgment? Doesn’t seem to be on the same level of seriousness does it?

There are a few things here that James wants to point out. First, that our understanding of God’s Law is different from God’s understanding. We tend to treat it a la cart. I will obey this. I’ve disobeyed this. Or I’ve done this well or I’ve done this poorly. We’ve done some things well, some things we haven’t. The Scripture doesn’t describe it that way. There’s one Law. You’re either obedient to it or you’re not. In our case again, we’re not tied to the Old Testament commands but we are required to love God and our neighbors as ourselves. And so when we disobey any part of that law we’re guilty as if we’ve disobeyed all of it. Even those things that we would consider more repugnant like adultery or murder.

Now there’s another element here. It’s not just that there is only one Law. There’s another element, which is the type of crimes that adultery and murder are. And I want to read to you briefly from Matthew 5. You have heard Jesus said that the ancients were told “you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court and whoever says to his brother, ‘you good for nothing’ shall be guilty before the supreme court and whoever says ‘you fool’, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” The apostle John reiterated this teaching in 1 John 3:15 “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” In Matthew 5:27 and 5:28, Jesus continued his teaching “you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery but I will say that anyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” This is something isn’t it? So far-reaching is God’s law that it judges even what we are thinking.

Now just a little bit of information that may help you put this thing in context. When we talk about laws in this land and on this earth, the law apportions responsibility at much later points than God does. Let me explain what I mean. Let’s say in your mind you think somebody annoyed you enough, or let’s change that metaphor. Let’s use robbing. Let’s say a person sits and thinks, ‘I would like to rob another person, steal something from them.’ Let’s say they think it in their mind. Does our law prosecute them? No, of course not. They haven’t taken any action. In fact, they could actually go out of their door and still think and they could drive near the person’s house and still our law would say, well we can’t punish you because you haven’t done anything yet. But if the person then goes up to the door and breaks in and steals something well now the law says okay you have done enough we are going to deem you guilty of this crime or at least charge you with it. That’s how our law works.

There’s a whole space and a continuum here where people think about doing something versus actually doing it where our law apportions no guilt. As a result, we are lulled into a false sense of security. That is not how God’s law works. It says here, if you hate your brother in your heart you are a murderer. You didn’t even have to commit murder, you just had to hate them in your heart. Here, He says you have looked on someone man or woman, and this applies to men and women–to everyone–you have looked on another person to lust after them. You’ve committed adultery even if you have done nothing at all. And you say can this be? Yes! This is why Christ had to die for our sins. Because God’s law is so far reaching that it reaches in to what we are thinking and God requires righteousness in the heart, which we are not capable of. So instead, we’re born again and God gives us of his spirit.

But James is saying to them you are sinning against God. You are partial even if you are doing nothing at all. Just like adultery and murder. So even if you treat people well and you’re nice to them, and that’s a wonderful thing to do and to be, but it doesn’t end there with God’s inquiry. Remember, God does not see things the way humans do. Humans look on external things. God looks on the heart. And so James concludes by saying “speak and act like people who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

Christ has fulfilled the law. We are free from its burden but we are still required to love the Lord with everything we have and love others as ourselves. Put it into practice.

In James’ final remarks he talk about judgement. He reminds the church that that final judgment is coming in which the holy, righteous and just judge will judge all of humanity. Those that are merciful to others will receive mercy. Those that show no mercy will receive a judgment without mercy. Now which crowd do you think the favoritism crowd is in? They show no mercy to the poor; they tell them sit down over there, you’re less important less significant. What crowd do they fall into? And so James is telling them this not to hurt them. He’s telling them so that they will get these things right and in the day of judgment receive mercy from God.

So we’ve learned a number of things today. First is that partiality is deeply contrary to faith in God. God does not pay attention external appearances but looks to the heart. Why would God elevate one person over another when he is the creator of them all? Or put another way, who is God impressed with, given that he’s the maker of all of humanity? The church was demonstrating evil motives and judgement and they failed to recognize God’s regard for his own creation as well as his particular identification with the poor. Think of that next time you see someone begging, someone who lacks, someone who’s obviously poor. And keep in mind what you give them God will repay you. And see if that doesn’t change your perspective on it some.

The second piece. God does not see the way that humanity sees. We look at everything from the external and of course what else can we do? We only have eyes to see the outside. It’s the Spirit that helps us look deeper and further but as Christians and believers in Christ we should align our judgment with God and not show favoritism to people just because they have worldly advantages.

Thirdly, partiality is not walking in love. It is a sin which will be judged. The church’s partiality was a violation of God’s command to love others. If they continued to show partiality they would be judged with the same amount of mercy by God, which is none. They were showing no mercy; they would receive none. The same lesson applies to us. And finally what can you do? As you leave here today and throughout this week, think about how you evaluate others. In your heart do you elevate people with nice clothing, beauty, wealth? Think little of the poor? Ignore the world’s perspective on who is valuable. God sees things completely different from the world. We who walk in the fear of the Lord must adopt God’s righteousness in how we view and treat others.