Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to James chapter 2. This morning we rejoice together in the central truths of the gospel of Christ. This evening we look at some of the responsibilities incumbent upon us now as followers of Christ, which is something of the theme of James’ letter. The theme for this passage, James 2:1–13, is on Christian snobbery. Or, are you a Christian snob? How’s that for a positive, catchy title?
James chapter 2, beginning with verse 1: “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, 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 men. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into courts? And are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you’re doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we rejoiced in the gospel together this morning. We come to this passage of your word and we see that in your wisdom, we need this as well. We are prone to carnal thinking, worldly thinking. We pray that you would use this to sharpen our spiritual wits. We pray that you would make us, through the hearing of this part of your word this evening, more faithful servants of the Lord Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.
I read a story recently from a New Testament scholar who said when he was just a young, up-and-coming scholar early in his work—he was age 27—he was asked by an evangelical leader to attend an annual meeting of the denominational ministers, and so he went. After one of the evening sessions, he said, a group of about 50 of the ministers were invited to a suite to discuss the evening service and to have fellowship around the things of the Lord. He said he got there and several hotel employees were there serving light refreshments and drinks. He said he could tell right away that they seemed shorthanded because so many of the ministers were there. There were like 50 of them, he said. And so he jumped in to help them serving the drinks.
He said he had a suit on, and having a suit on, he said, “I assume I appeared to be the supervisor of the employees.” One of the men who was attending with them came over to get drinks. He said, “I greeted him. He treated me very brusquely. He wasn’t interested at all in me. It was obvious I tried to strike up conversation. He didn’t care. I wasn’t important enough, and he made me feel very certainly that I wasn’t important enough to take his time.”
Then the meeting was finally called to order. They were sitting in circles, a couple deep in this big room. He said the person leading the conversation said, “Let’s talk about the sermon first. I’d like to hear first of all from a New Testament scholar.” And he called on this young man, age 27, to speak. As it happened, the man who had treated him brusquely earlier was seated right in front of him. As he began to speak, the man turned and looked at him, blushed, and was obviously awkward and uncomfortable. Then they had their discussion, and afterwards the man came up to him, struck up conversation, and suddenly he wants to talk and he’s ready to talk to me—and never a word about what had happened previously.
That kind of thing we see in the world a lot. I think the whole message of chapter 2 verses 1 to 13 is that kind of thing stinks and it’s got no place at all anywhere in the church of Jesus Christ. The world has many descriptions of that kind of thing. We won’t give all of those descriptions here. But it’s snobbery. It’s treating people according to how they can help me; looking at others with self-advantage in mind. If they’re of no use to me, well then they’re of no importance.
I remember some time back reading some church history book. I don’t remember now which one it was, but I remember being struck by it that some Presbyterian ministers in earlier America were talking about the blacks who had become Christians and wanted to attend. They felt pretty good about themselves because they had taken care of the situation by building them their own buildings where they can attend. Benjamin Warfield says at some point in one of his writings, I remember reading about a black woman who wanted to attend a revival meeting in a particular church. She went to attend and the elders of the church asked her to leave. She said she wanted to hear the word of God preached. They finally decided she could stand in the narthex and listen. Another story he told was about the Episcopalians who had been boasting that they had done well with regard to race relations in their church. “We allow them to attend with us,” they said. “We have seats set aside for them.”
One church where I was, I remember a man came in to visit. I didn’t know him. Another man came to me and said, “See that guy over there visiting? He’s richer than all the rest of us here put together. Make sure he gets a good visitor’s letter.” I don’t think he saw me snarl, but he didn’t like it either when I suggested that I be more like Jesus and send the poor people the special letter.
The word James uses here is partiality. This is one of those passages, I think, that can make us squirm. Snobbery, playing up to certain people for self-advantage, avoiding others because they’re of no use to us, respect to other people determined by whether or not they can do something for us or they are of some value to us. As I say, the word here in verse 1 is partiality. The etymology of this word is interesting. It means a “face receiver.” In other words, they look at outward circumstances to determine. Some have suggested this word doesn’t appear elsewhere before James, and some have suggested that maybe James was the one that coined this term. Paul picks it up. We find it in the Scriptures. Paul speaks of it in Romans with regard to God’s judgment in Romans chapter 2, that God is not a face receiver in judgment, but he judges by the numbers, as it were. He calls things the way they are, and he doesn’t show respect of persons in that way.
James here is not condemning a recognition of those to whom honor is due. We know all of that. That’s obviously not what’s going on here. But he is condemning snobbery, playing up to certain people for self-advantage, showing favoritism to some because of what we can get out of it, and ignoring those people who are of no use to us. He begins with an illustration, I think, that must have made the church ushers squirm in verses 1 to 3.
Obviously, the situation there is different from ours. There were certain seats of honor in gathered places like that. And so a rich man comes in and you put him in the place of honor. And the man who’s obviously poor, you let him sit wherever or he can even stand. You see a rich man come in the church and it starts playing around in your head. “Boy, just think how much they could help our little church.” Worse, you might say, “Boy, I wonder if I could get to know him and tap into some of that.” Or more piously, “Oh, just think of how that would help the gospel advance in this area if we could get him in here.” We dress it up in those kinds of ways. Imagine the impact for the gospel that a rich man could make. We think those kinds of ways, and we begin to treat them accordingly. And so here, you sit up here, you take the honor, and meanwhile another man comes in who’s obviously not wealthy, and you ignore him. He’s of no value. He says you’ve become judges with evil thoughts. That is, you have self-serving motives. That’s the idea. You have self-serving motives, and he condemns it.
Now, that might seem like just a little thing. Favoritism, cronyism—it happens all the time. It might seem like just a little thing. But James doesn’t seem to think so. Look again: “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” The point there is to say that showing favoritism like that is incompatible with faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. These two are not compatible. Why are they incompatible? Why can’t you have both? What’s inconsistent about this? I think he outlines for us here four things.
Contrary To The Behavior Of The Lord Jesus Himself
Number one, it’s contrary to the behavior of the Lord Jesus himself and therefore it’s contrary to the gospel. I think verse 1 hints of that when he says, “Show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” There’s something incompatible about favoritism and claiming to belong to Jesus or claiming to be a follower of Jesus.
Now consider who writes this. This is James, the half-brother of Jesus. He grew up with Jesus. He knew how poor they were. He knew how they grew up having to work hard to make their living, make ends meet. He knew all of that. You can imagine how stunning it was for James when finally the Lord opened his eyes to see that his brother was in fact, as he calls him here, the Lord of Glory. Here’s one who from eternity enjoyed the glories of God himself. And he had humbled himself in incarnation to become one of us, to become a helpless baby, to grow up in a home that was poor. James had seen all of that. And he says showing partiality is just not what Jesus did.
In fact, Paul defines the gospel at one point in these kinds of terms. Do you remember that? 2 Corinthians chapter 8: “He who was rich for our sakes became poor that we through his poverty might be rich.” James is simply pointing out here that all of this favoritism is just incompatible. It’s contrary to the behavior of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So verse 7, we’re called by that honorable name. You cannot claim to be called by that honorable name and then show favoritism like that for self-advantage. It’s contrary to the behavior of the Lord Jesus himself.
Contrary To The Electing Purposes Of God
Number two: It’s contrary to the electing purposes of God. And here in a practical letter like James, we have the doctrine of election. Verses 5 to 7: “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 court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”
The first thing he’s doing here is saying, look around at you. Just look around the congregation, guys. How many of you here are the rich and influential that the world looks to with esteem? Paul does something like this in 1 Corinthians 1, you remember? You just look at the church rolls, and you’ll learn that our calling has nothing to do with us. It’s all about grace. Because we’re a bunch of nobodies. And that’s what James is playing on here. Look around. You’ll see that we are not the rich and influential kind of people.
In fact, the rich and the influential, particularly in a world like that—but it happens today in our world as well—the rich and the influential can buy influence. It often showed up in court, and they would meet at the city gates for deliberation, and the judge could be paid off by the rich, and the Christians in particular were the ones who took the brunt of that kind of thing in the first century very often. James refers to all of that. He says, look who the rich are. Look who you are. Look who you’re showing favoritism to. Does that add up?
And then he says, “You are rich.” You who are poor are rich in faith. Rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. So you’re not rich in one respect, but you are rich in another respect, unimaginably rich. So here’s the question: Why are you today, the poor, infinitely rich in Jesus? Why? He tells us in verse 5. That was God’s choosing. God has shown a definite preference for the poor. Moses’ law did that. The prophets speak of that. Jesus says, “I’ve come to preach, to proclaim the good news to the poor.” It’s a big theme in the Gospel of Luke that the poor, the disadvantaged, are the ones particularly that Jesus took aim at. This is a clear preference to show that the disadvantaged are the ones that he wants to help.
Now, he has a motive behind that. Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. God wants to make sure that when we notice who is saved, we know who does the saving. And if all God did was save a bunch of rich and influential people, everybody would think you’ve got to be somebody to be a Christian. And God said, “I’m not going to have any of that. So I’ll save a bunch of the world’s nobodies, and everybody will know that I’m the one doing it.” But that is the pattern we find in the scripture with this preference to the poor and the disadvantaged who have nothing to offer back. James is simply pointing out here: you are acting in exactly the reverse. When you show favoritism, you’re acting contrary to the electing and the saving purposes of God. Showing favoritism and favorable treatment to the upstanding and the rich and the influential is just not compatible with the faith that you’ve embraced.
A Violation Of The Law Of God
Number three, verses 8 and 9: it’s a violation of the law of God. That’s what he says. “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you’re doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”
So here’s the law: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s a quote from Leviticus chapter 19. That’s a tall demand. Love your neighbor. It’s not just be kind to your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself. You show the same concern for your neighbor that you show for yourself. To return to the illustration of verses 1 to 3, you have the poor man coming in who knows he’s disadvantaged, and you make him feel that way? No. To put it another way, it’s the Golden Rule of Matthew chapter 7: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your neighbor as yourself. And anything less than that is a violation of the law of love.
Now you might think that that’s a small thing. And we’re going to talk about that a little bit more as we go along. But you can see that James here does not consider this just a small thing. He’s not calling just for some vague verbal expression of niceness, making conversation with those who are disadvantaged. He’s calling on us to treat them as we ourselves would want to be treated.
Again, at this point, you might be tempted to think this is really nitpicking. I mean, it’s just such a small thing. Is it that big a deal? Okay, I show a little favoritism for this guy or the other. Is it that big a deal? And in fact, we might even do some of those compensation maneuvers at this point. You know, “My sins are not nearly as bad as the other guy. Because he has big sins and I have little sins, my sins are not that bad.” There’s that kind of thing going on. And I think James anticipates that kind of thinking. So verse 10: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
Now let’s make sure we understand that. He is not saying that all sins are equal. Hatred of a brother is sinful; I would think most of us would agree that murder is worse. Even if they’re somehow in the same class. Lust is an evil; I would think adultery is worse. He’s not saying that here. He’s saying that if you violate the law at one point, the law is broken. You’re guilty of it.
So, a police officer pulls you over for running a stop sign and you say, “Officer…” or he takes you to court: “Your Honor, there are 3,570 laws on the book and I keep all of them. Just this one. It’s okay.” How do you think that’s going to work? The point is, you violated the law. The law does not command selective obedience. The law commands obedience. And James says you violated this point. You violated the law of God. You violated the law of love. And then you’re guilty as lawbreakers. And in fact, the sin of favoritism is not a minor offense. It’s a violation of the law of love, and that’s basic to the whole Christian ethic.
Not The Standard By Which You Want To Be Judged
Well, then there’s a fourth reason why this is incompatible with our faith. And here he really digs in a way that just has to make us see the evil of it. Because this favoritism is not the standard by which you want to be judged. You see how he brings that up in verses 12 and 13? “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown [no] mercy. And mercy triumphs over judgment.”
All through the scriptures we’re warned about judgment. The prophets talk about it. Jesus spoke of it and warned of it in the parables. The epistles warn of it. We find it in the book of Revelation dramatically. Although we’re saved by grace, there will be a judgment to come, and we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, Paul says. And although we’re saved by grace, we will be judged according to our works, and rewards will be given out accordingly, and so on. We find that very clear in the New Testament.
And when James says in verse 13, “Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy,” he is saying that by slighting the person who is of no advantage to you, you have surrendered your right to claim mercy in the day of judgment. You see that? How would you like to imagine this: standing before God in judgment and he treats you according to the standard that you have sometimes treated others? The only claim we have in the day of judgment is mercy. Mercy found in Jesus. We turn around and we treat others for self-advantage? We surrender our right to claim mercy.
We find echoes of this in Matthew chapter 5: “Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy.” Matthew chapter 6 in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Now if on the other hand we show mercy, then in that day of judgment, that will stand as evidence of the profession of our faith. And mercy, he says in verse 13, mercy will triumph over judgment. And that’s our only hope—that mercy will triumph over judgment.
We, after all, are the poor and the mournful who enter the kingdom of heaven confessing our abject poverty. Our only hope is that we have mercy found in Christ. We are unworthy sinners. Christ has died. He’s taken our place. We’re unrighteous, but we have received righteousness in Christ. We’re lost. We’re aliens, but we’ve become in Christ sons of God. And all of this given to us in sheer mercy. Our whole hope is mercy in Jesus.
And so we come, like the song says, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” James demands here that we show in our own behavior, we conform to that expectation of mercy that we ourselves have in our profession of faith claimed to have received. The world reeks with favoritism and cronyism, political maneuvering. James says that must never show its ugly head anywhere in the Church of Christ. Every one of us is just an unworthy beggar. And everything we have, we have because God has been merciful to us. Spiritually, materially, physically—in every way, what we have is mercy given to us in Jesus through the kind patience of God. We must remember that, James says, in the way that we treat others. What he’s asking for here simply is that we behave with others in a way that’s consistent with the gospel that we profess. Amen.
Let’s bow together for prayer. Pastor Greg, would you close in prayer for us, please?
Study in the word of God tonight. We do pray that each of us would examine our lives and see is there any pattern, even once in a while, of tendencies to do this, to show partiality and favoritism, to be self-serving in the selection of favors or friends that we would choose to honor. We ask that we will instead clothe our behavior with a sense of love to all, a sense of outreach, knowing that we ourselves deserve nothing and would receive nothing if we get according to our deserves. Thank you that you have dealt with us in great abundant mercy. We pray that you would bestow in our hearts the same desire to reach out to any that are our circle of friends and a circle of acquaintances so that we would be known as those who show mercy and kindness. We thank you for making this a congregation that is known for