NO DISTINCTIONS

I invite you to turn in your Bibles tonight to the book of James. We continue our study through this book. We find ourselves tonight at chapter 2 of the book of James. If you're using the Pew Bible, that can be found on page 1200. 1-2-0-0. We're going to consider from verses 1 to 7, But I want to begin our reading for context back at verse 26 of chapter 1. So I'll begin my reading at verse 26 of chapter 1, reading through to verse 7 of chapter 2. But again, we will strictly be considering from verses 1 to 7 of chapter 2. So hear now God's very own word. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into courts? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? Here ends the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Well, how many times have you heard it said, it's not what you know, but who you know. It's not what you know, but who you know. Have you ever applied for a job that you knew you were qualified for, had a good interview only to hear from a friend who you knew certainly wasn't qualified, but he knew someone at that job. And so he got that job over you. Or have you ever been up for a promotion that you applied for? Again, you have great reviews. You are qualified. But someone who was found in the boss's inner circle of friends gets that promotion instead of you. If you've ever had something like that happen to you, know it's disappointing and why why is it disappointing because you know that that job that promotion that position which should have been earned based on merit experience qualifications was really all about favoritism favoritism now we know this happens don't we this happens often it happens all the time it happens in various ways i think this happens so often at least in workplaces that although we might not appreciate it when we're on the wrong side of that favoritism we've come to accept it maybe even expect it to kind of happen the reality is favoritism does happen happens all the time it happens in the world it happens in the workplace it happens in various ways but what about when it comes to the church what about when it comes to the church of the lord jesus christ should favoritism ever exist within the church of jesus christ absolutely not favoritism partiality distinctions based upon appearance should never exist or be practiced in the household of God and I think this is so obvious to us that it can almost seem like it should go without being said favoritism should never happen in the church that seems like a like a no-brainer doesn't it and yet it does because of sin favoritism sadly occurs within the church. Like many sins, favoritism can rear its ugly, nasty head among God's people. For example, a man gets nominated to serve as an office bearer within the church not because of his character, not because of his spiritual maturity or his wisdom, but because he knows someone on the consistory. Or a man gets nominated to serve an office in the church not because of his character or his spiritual maturity or wisdom, but because he's a part of the inner circle of the pastor's friends. Or maybe someone desires to serve on a particular committee. But again, because they don't have the right connections, they're passed over for that position on that committee. When such things happen, brothers and sisters, it's sad. It's wrong. There's no excuse for it. In fact, it's shameful. It's embarrassing. It's a black mark on the church when such things happen. And because of the shame and embarrassment of such sin, I think favoritism and partiality are the kinds of issues in the church that, well, we don't like to talk about. We don't like to talk about. Favoritism, partiality, just hearing of the practice can make us feel maybe uncomfortable or embarrassed and rightly so those sins are embarrassing i was part of a church at one point early in my christian life that was uh had a great mentoring program i was paired with a mentor that turned out to be a doctor and in the course of meeting with this man he tells me that he believes that favoritism is regularly practiced within our church i was somewhat shocked i loved that church church had a lot of good things going for it so i somewhat denied it i try to argue with him but over time i came to see that indeed that was the case the church practiced favoritism he told me that there was a stark contrast between the way he was received as a doctor and someone else who had come into the same church around the same time who turned out to be a painter he was much better received than that painter favoritism happens within the church however embarrassing and shameful it is and that's why we need to hear from texts like the one before us tonight even as uncomfortable as it may seem we need to consider what James says here tonight in this text and so tonight I want to consider two things from this text with you the nature of favoritism and the threat of favoritism the nature of favoritism and the threat of favoritism you see there's a class of sins that can go on and be so uh can so easily go on and be practiced among god's people these are something of subtle sins. They're not what we might consider the big sins. Sins that we all know ought not to be practiced. They're subtle. Sins that are a bit more deceptive. Sins that are easily hidden. Jerry Bridges calls such sins respectable sins in his book titled the same. Sins that are subtle and therefore allowed to go on below the surface among God's people. And because such sins are subtle, they can sadly take a foothold among God's people. You can go on being practiced without being noticed, without being challenged. For example, let's say you suspect favoritism being practiced in the church. Let's say you have multiple occasions where you suspect favoritism and partiality being practiced. How would you handle that? Would you feel able and free to confront it, to bring it up? How could you even be sure that it was favoritism? Like I said, favoritism is one of those sins that is deceptive. It's not easily proven or discerned. Now, yes, all sin is deceitful to an extent. But favoritism is of a class of sin that isn't easily proven. There's always, with favoritism, a kind of deniability to it. And this makes it a difficult sin to challenge. And so it takes good men and women to stand up and challenge it if and when it rears its ugly head. It's been said the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. And nothing is always a tempting course of action, particularly when you could be on the wrong end of favoritism. The reality is favoritism happens within the church today. It shouldn't. It's wrong, but it happens. Maybe you've been a part of a church where favoritism and partiality was practiced, where people were treated differently based on a preference, a perception, an idea of who they were. That's really what we're talking about here, isn't it? preference. Treating people differently based on some preference for who they are. Notice what James says here in verse 1. Brothers show no partiality. The issue is partiality. What is partiality? It's favoritism. It's prejudice. It's bias. Partisanship. Unfair preference towards one person over and against another see we're taught in scripture that man has the habit of looking at appearances and judging people based on appearances that's partiality that's favoritism we see this played out in the prophet samuel in first samuel 16 when the lord sends samuel to the house of Jesse in order to anoint a new king in place of Saul. Samuel takes one look at the oldest son of Jesse and he says to himself, surely the Lord's anointed. The Lord responds to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature because I've rejected him for the lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance but the lord looks on the heart man looks on the outward appearance but the lord looks on the heart it's man's habit and practice to look on outward appearance samuel took one look at that oldest son seeing his stature and height thought for sure this is the lord's anointed samuel was practicing a kind of favoritism wasn't he favoritism based on height and stature he was ready to ordain or anoint a new king based on height and stature now today we might think that's silly but be careful that kind of favoritism still exists today we might not choose a presidential candidate based on their stature and height although it was reported that in the 1960s the presidential election at that time between jfk john f kennedy and richard nixon hosted the first tv debate and that TV debate had an enormous impact on the election. Many might even say that apart from that TV debate, that televised TV debate, John F. Kennedy might not have won that election. What about today? Do we pick our candidates based on identity politics? People certainly do, don't they might not be height or stature the color of people's skin their gender their ethnicity and what about us how do we tend to pick our friends do we pick them based on their character based on their godliness their spiritual maturity and wisdom proverbs 27 says oil and perfume make the heart glad and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel do we pick our friends based on the counsel that they can offer us or do we pick our friends based on maybe shared interests we both like a particular sports team so we become great friends do we pick our friends based on looks. Beautiful, attracted people. They've got the height and stature of the oldest son of Jesse. Why do we pick our friends? Are we still judging based on appearances, making shallow distinctions? This happens today. And it happened in the early church as well. See, I think at times we can have something of a golden age idea of the early church. It was the early church. The early church before corruption was allowed to sneak in. It was the early church. It was the church in the time of the apostles. The early church struggled with sins too, brothers and sisters, just like we do today. The early church was made up of sinners and therefore had the potential for sinfulness. Just read the book of 1 Corinthians. And so James, being the very pragmatic apostle that he is, knows the saints that he's writing to and knows that this very practical issue needs to be addressed and what does it show us it shows us that james is not afraid or to shy away from any issue even one as embarrassing and uncomfortable for us to hear as favoritism partiality and so neither should we neither should we when it comes to the church of the lord jesus christ we must be vigilant to weed out any practice that could ever serve to destroy the fellowship and the unity that we have in Jesus Christ. And that's really what's at stake when it comes to favoritism. The unity and the fellowship that we have as God's people. And that really brings us to our second point, the threat of favoritism. The threat. Favoritism threatens to destroy the fellowship of God's people. Favoritism can so easily transform a church from the church of jesus christ the people of god to something that looks more like a country club of men and that really means essentially the death of the church the removal of a lampstand the loss of the unity of the faith in jesus christ and i think this is what james is getting at when he says in verse one my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our lord jesus christ james is pointing out here the threat of favoritism favoritism threatens the unity of the faith let me ask you what binds us together as christians what binds us together as a church is it social class whether we've reached or obtained a particular social class absolutely not james brings up here in this text the rich and the poor that difference was a major issue in the early church a few months ago i preached on the rich and the poor maybe you recall i mentioned how people in the first century had a particular idea preconceived notion about the rich and poor they thought the rich were particularly blessed by god because they were rich while the poor were particularly cursed by god because they were poor so with that perspective in mind imagine how easily favoritism towards the rich could arise within the churches but it's not just favoritism of the rich that the early church wrestled with there was also ethnic favoritism act 6 records for us that a complaint arose in the church a complaint by the hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. Think about that for a moment. That's a serious complaint. Favoritism along ethnic lines. Can you imagine if that happened in our church today? Wow, it would be scandalous. It would be tragic. Favoritism and partiality based on ethnicity should never be allowed to stand within the church i look out tonight at those of us here gathered tonight and i see different races different ethnicities and that's a beautiful thing it's what the lord desires in his people it's what he desires for his church and i think this is such a critical issue for us today even more than social class there's so much confusion there's so much heartache over ethnicity and ethnic distinctions even within god's people if you would turn with me to the book of ephesians i want to briefly read something from ephesians that i think helps to give us perspective on this very issue ephesians chapter 2. Once I find it here, I'll tell you what page it's on. 1159. Go one page over. Verse 11 of chapter 2. 1160. Paul says there to the church at Ephesus, therefore remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our, he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinance that he might create in himself what one new man in place of two so making peace let me ask you who are the gentiles here that paul is referring to in ephesians 2 they really weren't any specific people they were any people any tribe tongue and language outside of god's covenant people there were god's covenant people, the circumcision. And then there were the uncircumcised, the Gentiles. And therefore what we see here is that now the Gentiles have been included in God's people. We see God bringing in the nations, don't we? He calls now every tribe, tongue and nation to himself. The Lord desires all people everywhere, every people group to be brought into his covenant people the separation that existed between people yes specifically between jews and gentiles but also between gentiles has now been torn down by jesus christ he is our peace and so just as psalm 67 can celebrate and say may god be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your way may be known on the earth, your saving power among all the nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the people with equity and you guide the nations upon the earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you and so paul says now in colossians 3 among other places in christ there is now no greek and jews circumcised uncircumcised barbarian scythian slave free but christ is all and in all so what should be emphasized among us what should be emphasized not the the peripheral appearances that we see at first the color of our skin our ethnic cultural distinctions whether it be Dutch, Mexican, Chinese or anything else what should be emphasized among us is the unity that we have in Jesus Christ faith in Christ is the most important part of who we are as individuals and as the church of Christ now this doesn't mean that our ethnic distinctions are obliterated when we come into christ but it does mean that those ethnic distinctions should take a back seat to who we are and what we have in christ we are to hold the faith as james says in unity in unity and therefore any kind of favoritism based on ethnic preferences it threatens to destroy that unity that we have. And it threatens to place ethnicity or cultural identity as the preferred center of any church. And when that happens, a church is no longer a church united as the body of Christ. But it's something else. A Mexican club, Latino club, a Dutch club, a Chinese club. We see this quite often, don't we, today? we see churches today that try to build themselves up along ethnic lines if you've ever attended a church like that and you're not the the majority race or ethnicity it can be quite challenging to ever really feel genuinely united or a part of those believers in that church now as many of you know i recently spoke at the rys convention and in one of my lessons there i shared with the students the first time i attended a urc church i might might have shared that from the pulpit with you before but in case i haven't i'll briefly just share i was in my early 20s me and a middle eastern friend of mine who was from chicago we walk into this uh this new united reform church and as we walk in it happens to be at a christian school as many of the early urcs met at christian schools and everybody in that room was white everyone we walked in and i was the only me and my middle eastern friend the only two people different now us being tempted to judge based on appearances we felt like we had nothing in common with those brothers and sisters in Christ. Nothing at all. They weren't only just white, but they also either wore suits, like I'm wearing tonight, or, as I would describe, farmer gear. The plaid shirts, right, with the Wrangler jeans over top of boots. I can see Reverend Gordon laughing because that's how they dress there in Visalia, right? Central Valley. We had nothing in common if you were to judge by appearances. But then the pastor went up and preached the message from God's Word. And that preaching filled our hearts. And we come to see that the preaching of God's Word was a centerpiece of their worship. And then after the worship service, and this really made the most impact upon us, after the worship service, The people pursued us. Here was this Mexican kid from the Bay Area. Here's this Middle Eastern kid from Chicago. These people, suits and farmer gear, came to us and really began to invite us into their lives. They invited us to lunch, to dinner. They shared their lives with us. And so whatever end of the ethnic spectrum you might find yourself in regards to a church, you've got to be careful not to judge based on preferences. Because even when churches might seem to be built based on ethnic preferences, that might not be the case. They might just all happen to be black. And they want to get their white brothers and sisters into the door, but they find it to be a challenge, just like it might be a challenge for us to get our Latino brothers and sisters into the church, for whatever reason that may be. What's my point? Unity in Christ. Christ must be the focus and the primary focus of our lives as Christians and our ministry as a church. Or else, when it comes to favoritism and partiality along any lines, it will threaten that unity. Well, the last thing I want to point out tonight is that favoritism is also a problem for churches because it threatens the glory of Christ. Just as I asked you what unites us in Christ, I also want to ask you, how did you come to be in Christ? Were you born in Christ? Did you come into Christ because of your social class, because you had enough money to purchase a position in Christ? Are you in Christ because of your last name? Absolutely not. We're a Reformed church, right? Which means we hold to the doctrines of the Synod of Dort, which means we hold to the points of Calvinism, the doctrines of grace. And we believe that one comes to be in Christ by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It was by grace. We've been made to be in Christ by God's grace. Ephesians 2, by grace you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not the result of works. God has chosen us to be in Christ based on His grace, based on His unmerited favor, not based on anything that we could have done, would have done, did, not based on who we are our experiences what we could have offered him what we could offer the church whether rich or poor not because we might have a great testimony or story God chose us to be in Christ not based on anything about ourselves Ephesians 1 4 said God chose us in him christ before the foundations of the world that's before we did anything that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption as sons through jesus christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace salvation is by grace alone and this means to the glory of god alone salvation is by god's grace and therefore we owe to him glory upon glory we can't be praised for any part that we played in our salvation we had no part to play we had nothing to offer the lord it's all of grace and therefore all to his glory and when we allow favoritism to creep into the church and divide us along those preferred lines whether class rich or poor cliques or friendship group ethnicity or whatever what we're doing is putting a priority on something other than God's grace and his glory and when we do that we rob God of his glory we're essentially living and acting as if God's people and his choice was based on anything other than what he preferred whatever that is according to his will and when we do that we rob God of his glory I think this is why James says here in verse one my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our lord jesus christ the lord of glory it's interesting that james tacks that on there as you hold the faith in our lord jesus christ the lord of glory think james is emphasizing here that the church exists for christ's glory just as Colossians 2 says all things were created through him and for him he's before all things in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent let me repeat that last part that in everything he might be preeminent it's the point that's also repeated in Philippians 2 after Paul describes the glorious humility of Christ, that good news of Christ humbling Himself and saving us. He says that therefore God has highly exalted Christ and bestowed upon Him the name above every name so that every knee shall bow in heaven on earth and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. See, favoritism, partiality makes the church about something other than Christ. And that undermines the glory of God, the glory of Christ. I think that's also why James says in verse 5, Listen, my brothers. Has God not chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? He then says, But you have dishonored the poor, man. You have dishonored your brothers and sisters that were chosen by God. are not the rich the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? The kingdom of God is based on His choice, and therefore it's to His glory. It's interesting here, James says that the rich blaspheme, and yet those who practice partiality and favoritism in turn also, in a sense, blaspheme the choice of God and therefore blaspheme His name. Brothers and sisters, favoritism, partiality, distinctions are a great threat to the church of Christ. They threaten our unity. They threaten the glory of Christ. You see, brothers and sisters, Jesus loves each of us. Jesus loves each and every one of those that he lived and died for. just like the children's song says that you may be saying as a child jesus loves the little children all the children of the world red and yellow black and white you can add rich and poor they are precious in his sight jesus loves the little children of the world and although we are all different with different gifts talents experiences and things to offer the church of christ he loves us because he chose to set his love upon us so how could we ever be tempted to make distinctions among ourselves to practice partiality when it comes to those that jesus has set his love on if you remember this whole discussion comes from james is referencing true religion james is desiring to produce true and genuine religion among god's people and what is true and genuine religion it's religion that helps the poor those it helps those that are easily forgotten the unfortunate the needy the reality is apart from christ we are all needy aren't we apart from christ we can all be considered orphans but at the right time christ died for us he lived and he died for us may we now in light of christ's love and sacrifice for us die to ourselves and strive for the love and unity that we have in jesus christ let's pray lord we thank you for the work of christ on our behalf we thank you that he humbled himself came to this earth and came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as ransom for many we thank you lord that through christ you have tore down the enmity that exists between people groups that you have called us every tribe tongue and nation into your people we ask that you would be so kind to continue that work among us here lord that as those who claim the name of christ that you would build us up in that faith don't allow anything to separate us or divide us lord give to us a strength of faith in Christ that we will give a great testimony to the love of Christ as we love brothers and sisters who may be different than us continue to unite us Lord continue to bless us we pray this all in Christ's name Amen