[ILLUSTRATION] There’s a story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation on a young Bostonian being considered for employment at the bank.
They wrote the Boston investment house where he had worked and they could not say enough about the young man.
They wrote saying: His father, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowed. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys, and other of Boston’s first families. His recommendation was given without hesitation.
Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: “We are not contemplating using the young man for breeding purposes, we are hiring a banker.” (Kathleen Peterson – Net Bible) Acts 10:34-35
Today we are going to look at favouritism. God does not care what family we come from, how much money we have or what we have accomplished. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
So if God is not a respecter of persons, why so often are the people who are called by His name? This morning we are in our 4th sermon on the book of James and James is looking at favouritism. James writes in chapter 2:1-13:
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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?
Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 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,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
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.
I. Favouritism defined
I think we all like to think we are open minded and non-partial. However, I think we all see evidence in our society and even in the church of favouritism. We would like to think in the church we don’t look at the externals of a person, but I know it happens and in some churches more than others. I am thankful that this is a welcoming church, but we should not become complacent in that and always strive to do better.
This past week C.T.V. News Edmonton did a story on an aboriginal man named Gary who is a community outreach in the city of Edmonton agency who assists the homeless.
Gary had gone to a city mall for lunch on Sunday and was eating in the food court when he was approached by two security guards. They told him he looked like someone they had banned from the mall and started questioning him. He recorded the conversation on his phone.
Gary had heard of many of his clients that had the same thing happen to them and now it was happening to him…a social worker. After arguing with Gary and not letting him finish they told him to get out and that he was banned for 6 months. All based on the idea that Gary looked like someone who was banned.
Well the mayor of Edmonton got a hold of this and was upset that Gary was discriminated because of who or what he looked like. The mayor of Edmonton approached mall officials with the evidence and said “What”? The Mayor started making waves and the mall officials are feeling it.
Sadly see favouritism all around us. In our passage the problem was not that you give the rich person a seat and make them feel welcome. The problem is that you don’t treat the poor person or the average person the same way.
James uses the Greek word lampros to describe the rich man’s appearance. lampos, that we get the word “lamp” from means to shine. So even though our translation says the rich man was wearing “fine clothes”, James says the man was shining.
Now the poor man was described with a different Greek word, “rhyparos” which means filthy or dirty. You can imagine there is an odor that goes with the filthiness.
When we understand the context of the time and then if we put it in our context are you starting to wonder how you would react to the two of them? We may not ask the filthy man to sit at our feet, but would we treat him with the same enthusiasm as we would the one that was shining? This is where each of us needs to examine our hearts.
I realized one day in Grande Prairie how much differently I was treated at Tim Hortons when I was wearing a suit. I stopped there a lot and if I was going in for a funeral or a wedding I would also stop. The difference was obvious. Favouritism is all around us.
II. Facts about Favouritism
Secondly, there are some facts about favoritism. In verse 5 it says God has chosen those who are poor to be rich in faith and they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is promised to those who love Him. Not how big your bank account is or how bright your clothing is. Membership to God’s kingdom is based on love.
There are many exclusive country clubs and membership clubs in North America that have hefty membership fees in the thousands to keeps the likes of me away.
If you approached one of these establishments and said you did not have money, but you loved the establishment and you love the board of directors and you wondered if that would get you exclusive membership they would say you are nuts. This is different than God’s kingdom; He wants your love and commitment.
Verse 6 and 7 go on to say is it not the rich that exploit you, take advantage of you, maybe even dragging you into court or even may be guilty of blaspheming the name of God to who you belong.
I want to summarize what The New Beacon Commentary says on this passage. In that day and much like today, the poor generated the wealth for the rich who intern oppressed the poor. What James is saying is: the church needs to be opposite of the world.
The commentary goes further to say: It is not good enough to merely give the poor a good seat. Brosend says we must also “assist them is such a way as to restore their lost honor [sic]”. That to honour the poor we must “elevate their dignity and create ways for them to determine their own destinies and make their own living.”
In other words we need to remember what our church was founded on, the principles of John Wesley and remember if we are to be a spiritually minded church, we need to be in tune with the needs of the poor around us. John Wesley said “A lowly state is most favourable for inward peace and growth in holiness.” The more self-sufficient we are the more wealth we have may make us less dependent on God.
I heard of a church that had invited a pastor to come to their church for the position of senior pastor. The Sunday arrived and the people were looking around to see if they could spot the new pastor. Many thought he was running late on his first Sunday, but still no pastor.
Meanwhile, a shabby, filthy, unshaven individual came in and sat down. People avoided him and there was a noticeable rejection of him. When it came time in the service for the pastor to come up the board secretary got up and said “we are happy to have the new pastor with us today. Would you please help me welcome him to the platform.”
In the back the dirty individual got up walked to the front and preached, maybe on acceptance and favouritism, but whatever he preached on you could hear a pin drop. The story went on to say he did this to measure the spiritual health of the church.
III. The Sin of Favouritism
Well verse 8 I think is the most blunt and maybe a wakeup call for us, it says: If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
Favouritism is sin! And then verses 10-11 goes on to compare the sin of favouritism to adultery, murder saying that if you break just one part of the law you guilty of breaking it all.
We often like to think there are different levels of sin and that some sins like favouritism and maybe gossip are better sins than murder, stealing and adultery. Sin is sin in God’s eyes and when we sin we are placing a barrier between us and God.
Thankfully, God’s loved us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to take our sin on Himself so we can find forgiveness. We can find forgiveness for the sin of favouritism and we can vow to change our attitudes from this day on and live as God would want us too.
There was a deplorable incident occurred in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. He said in his autobiography that during his student days he was interested in the Bible.
Deeply touched by reading the gospels, he seriously considered becoming a convert. Christianity seemed to offer the real solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India.
One Sunday he went to a church to see the minister and ask for instruction on the way of salvation and other Christian doctrines. But when he entered the sanctuary, the ushers refused him a seat and suggested that he go and worship with his own people.
He left and never went back. “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said to himself, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” - H.G.B. Our Daily Bread, January 19.
We sometimes don’t think our sin will hurt anyone, but ourselves, but that is not the case. We see that our rejection of someone that is not socially affluent or has does not have it all together financially or may be from a different back ground as us may mean that Jesus may never be introduced to them. Let us not fall into the sin of favouritism.
Conclusion
We are called to be set apart from this world and this goes for how we accept people into the church. We are called to be merciful because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Let me close with this story: There was a young hippie who gave his life to Christ during the Jesus Movement of the late sixties and early seventies.
One Sunday he went to a church, not knowing what to expect and walked into an average middle class church in his hometown.
He was late to the service, and the pastor was about to begin the message. As he walked in, he saw that the place was packed and he could not find a place to sit. So, not knowing any better, he sat down on the floor in front of the platform where the pastor was standing.
Well, you can guess what kind of reaction he caused, although people were quiet about it. Everyone was wondering how the pastor was going to handle the situation, and how they were going to get rid of this unmannered young man.
After what seemed like an eternity, an elderly usher headed down the aisle toward the young man.
The people thought: “finally, we’ll get some action. He’ll tell this guy what’s what, and we’ll be done with him.”
Everyone held their breath as they waited to hear how the usher would tell the hippie to leave.
The old man bent over as if to talk to the young man, then bent his knees, and sat down cross-legged next to the young man. He stayed there with the young hippie and worshiped with him for the rest of the service. He saw past the social barrier and saw the heart of the matter. (Sermon Central, Brian La Croix)
If we truly want to have the same mind as that of Jesus we need to look at the heart, the internal features, not the external.
