Don’t Show Partiality
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our series on a book of the bible that Jesus’ little brother wrote called James, and today James is gonna talk about not showing partiality towards others. He’s gonna talk about not showing partiality, not showing favoritism, not giving preferential treatment towards others, which is something I think we’d all agree with, especially when it comes to our own lives. I mean none of us wants to be treated unfairly, none of us wants to be treated differently than others. If anything we want special treatment, we want preferential treatment not unfair treatment. You’d consider it unfair if your professor graded you more harshly than another student. You’d consider it unfair if your employer didn’t give you a raise but they gave somebody else a raise who had the same productivity and tenure as you. You’d consider it unfair if you were treated like that, if you were treated differently than others, which tells you deep inside us is this desire for equality. Deep inside all of us is this desire for equality, this desire to be treated fairly by others, and today you’re gonna see that this desire for equality doesn’t come from society, it comes from God. Your desire for equality, your desire to be treated fairly doesn’t come from society, it doesn’t come from anti-bullying or discrimination laws, it comes from God, and that’s what James is gonna talk about today. He’s gonna talk about the ethic of equality, and not showing partiality to anyone. So let’s turn to James 2:1-7 and get into it. The title of today’s message is “Don’t Show Partiality.” The bible teaches nobody deserves to sit on a throne except for Jesus. So don’t show partiality, instead show love to everybody.
Context:
Here’s your context. In James 1:19-27 James talks about the importance of being “doers of the word,” meaning we need to practice what we preach. We need to practice what we preach, we need to live what the bible teaches, we need to live what Jesus teaches. We can’t say we love Jesus if we don’t desire to live out the teachings of Jesus. James says you can’t do that, you can’t be a hearer of the word, and not a doer of the word. You need to live it out, you need to be a doer of the word. Now in today’s text James is gonna give us a little case study on being doers of the word. He’s basically gonna teach us 3 things. He’s gonna teach us an ethic, a reason, and a case study. He’s gonna teach us an ethic on equality, a reason for living out this ethic, and a case study on how some Christians in his church aren’t living it out. Let’s hear what James has to say.
The Word:
James 2:1-7 states, “My brothers, show no partiality...” So that’s our ethic on equality. James is teaching the Christians in his church to “show no partiality.” Now the Greek word for “partiality” can also be translated as “favoritism,” and it’s written in the plural form, which means James isn’t just talking about one partiality or favoritism, he’s talking about all partialities and favoritisms. He’s saying as Christians we shouldn’t ever show partiality or favoritism towards anyone based upon external factors. We shouldn’t ever withhold our love from people based upon external factors like age, race, gender, wealth, or external appearances, instead we should show love to everybody. Now that doesn’t mean you won’t show love in different ways to different people, because you will. I’ll show love to my wife in different ways then I’ll show love to you. I’m not kissing you when you walk through the doors. I love you, but I’m not kissing you. I’m not Pastor Stranger Danger. I actually attended a church one time that had their own version of a holy kiss called a holy hug. They literally positioned huggers at every entrance of the church and their goal was to hug everybody who walked through the doors. When I got to the door there was some big burly guy trying to give us a bear hug, so I did a pick and roll. I pushed my buddy D.A. towards him and ran the other way. The ways they showed love just wasn’t my thing, not as a first time guest. I need a few dates with the church before I start hugging, but here’s my point. When James says don’t show partiality he’s not saying we need to show love to everybody the exact same way, he’s just saying we need to show love to everybody without partiality, without favoritism. He’s saying don’t withhold your love from people based upon external factors, instead treat everybody with equal worth, value, and love. He’s saying show love to everybody, without partiality. That’s our ethic, and here comes our reason.
Again vs. 1, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” There’s our reason for living out this ethic. James gives us an ethic on equality which is to show love to everybody without partiality, and now he’s giving us a reason to live this ethic out. It’s because Jesus is “the Lord of glory,” a better translation of the Greek is Jesus is “the glory.” James says Jesus is “the glory,” which is incredible to me because James is saying Jesus doesn’t just HAVE glory, he’s saying Jesus IS the glory. He’s saying Jesus is the glory, he’s the very definition and manifestation of the glory of God. Hebrews 1:3 states, “He’s the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature.” Jesus is the very definition and manifestation of the glory of God, which means nobody deserves glory except him. The fact James says this about his brother tells us just how amazing Jesus really was, because no little brother’s gonna call their brother “the glory.” No litter brother’s gonna say “Oh my older brother doesn’t just HAVE glory, he actually IS glory. He’s the very definition and manifestation of the glory of God.” For James to say that tells us just how amazing Jesus really was. Right now we only have a glimpse of how amazing Jesus was, but James actually walked, talked, and lived with Jesus and he says, “He really is that amazing..Jesus really is that amazing, he’s so amazing that he’s the very glory of God, and nobody deserves the glory other than him.” This becomes the basis, the reason for why we shouldn’t show partiality or favoritism towards anyone. It’s because nobody deserves to sit on a throne of glory except for Jesus. When we show partiality or favoritism to somebody, we’re basically saying they’re better than others, they deserve glory over others, they deserve to share the throne of glory with Jesus. James is saying nobody gets to share the throne of glory with Jesus, and so don’t show partiality to anyone.
But there’s a second reason we shouldn’t show partiality. It’s because Jesus didn’t show partiality when he chose to love us and die for us. He didn’t show partiality or favoritism, he didn’t look at our external factors saying, “Wow that person’s attractive, they’re all decked out in Chanel, all decked out in Armani, let’s save them because it’ll make our church trendy. But if a guy shows up wearing Romphims, call security!” Jesus doesn’t do that, he doesn’t love like us, he doesn’t love based on external factors like age, race, gender, wealth, looks, appearances, good works, bad works, or Romphims. He doesn’t even love you for who you are, instead he loves you despite who you are. He loves you despite who you are, despite your sins. He loves you because that’s who he is...He’s a loving God who chose to come off his throne of glory to die for the sins of the undeserved and unworthy. James is saying we need to love like that, we need to love like Jesus, we need to love not based on external factors, but based on the undeserved impartial love we’ve received from Jesus. If we show partiality or favoritism to anyone, we’re saying they deserve to share the seat of glory with Jesus, and it’s a contradiction of the very impartial love we’ve received from Jesus. James says nobody deserves to sit on a throne except Jesus. So don’t show partiality, instead show love to everybody. Here comes our case study.
Again vs. 1, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 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, 3 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,’ 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” That’s our case study. We have our ethic, we have our reason, and now we have our case study. James is saying people are coming to the “assembly,” they’re coming to the 10:00 church service, and a couple of 1st time guests arrive. We know they’re 1st time guests because they don’t know where to sit, the greeters have to show them where to sit. Some scholars actually believe these are seekers not Christians, but regardless one guy’s visibly rich, the other’s visibly poor, and the greeters say to the rich guy “Hey come sit up front. We have special VIP seats for rich people driving Maserati’s.” But then they go to the poor guy and say, “You can’t sit up front, you have to stand in the back so you don’t block anybody’s view. Actually, you need to sit on the floor by my feet.” That’s the issue we’re dealing with here. It’s not about rich or poor, it’s about giving special treatment to the rich over the poor. It’s about showing partiality, and for some of you it’s stuff like this that caused you to walk away from church years ago. It’s because you felt judged by the church. You might not have felt judged for your wealth, but you felt judged for other reasons and you walked out on the church. Welcome back...Welcome back...We’re glad you’re here, and I want you to know what happened to you and what’s happening in the text isn’t God’s heart. It’s not God’s heart for people in or outside the church. James, Jesus’ very own little brother says this. He says God’s heart isn’t for us to show partiality, it’s to show love to everybody. He says nobody deserves to sit on the throne except Jesus. So don’t show partiality, instead show love to everybody.
Vs. 5, “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?” Notice James says this promise is “to those who love him,” meaning there’s rich and poor who love Jesus, and there’s rich and poor who don’t love Jesus. James says it’s the ones who loves Jesus that’ll receive the promise to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. God’s not being partial here because all have access to love Jesus, but not everybody will love Jesus. To the ones who do, they’ll be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom. So it’s not about being rich or poor, it’s about do you love Jesus? It’s about do you love Jesus, and is your hear loving like Jesus? The poor in the text aren’t being loved by the rich, but they’re being loved by Jesus. They’ll receive eternal riches in heaven not because they’re poor, but because they love Jesus.
Vs. 6, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?” James isn’t talking about all rich people, he’s talking about the rich who don’t love Jesus, the rich who are “oppressing” the poor, using the court system to take advantage of the poor, and are slandering the name of Jesus. Apparently some of these people are showing up at the first time guests tent, and they’ve been oppressing some of the poor in the church. James is speaking against this oppression and against showing partiality them just because they’re rich. He’s using a personal case study, a personal example to show the church where they aren’t being “doers of the word,” especially when it comes to the ethic on equality.
Now here’s why all this is important to us today. It’s because over the past several decades Christianity’s developed a bad reputation, a stigma where people think Christianity’s an intolerant, bigotrous faith that doesn’t welcome everyone, and to be fair some of it’s our own fault. Some of it’s because we’ve stood up for righteous things, but we’ve done it in unrighteous, unloving ways, so some of it’s our own fault. But regardless the stigma’s there, and some of our friends, family, people in our city, possibly even some of you have come to believe the stigma, you’ve come to view Christianity as an intolerant, bigotrous faith. But is that what we see in the text?..Is that what we see Jesus’ little brother James teaching us?..No it’s not. In fact what we see him teaching is the opposite of that. What he’s teaching is to not show partiality, but instead to show love to everybody, so don’t believe the stigma. Don’t believe the stigma, instead believe the bible, believe in Jesus, believe in the one who not only taught us to live out impartial love, he lived his life as a display of impartial love. Just read his biographies, read the 4 gospels and you’ll see his impartial love displayed. Here’s a little snapshot from the gospel of Luke:
Luke 5 = Jesus loves and cares for a man with leprosy who was avoided by society.
Luke 5 = Jesus loves and cares for a paralyzed man.
Luke 5 = Jesus loves and cares for a man who was looked down upon for his profession
as a tax collector. Jesus shared a meal with him and was ridiculed for it.
Luke 7 = Jesus loves and cares for another ethnic group, a Roman commander and his
servant who was sick...despite the fact that his society hated the Romans.
Luke 7 = Jesus loves and cares for a widow and her son.
Luke 7 = Jesus loves and cares for a woman who society rejected, and called a sinner.
Luke 8 = Jesus loves and cares for a 12 year old girl who was dying.
Luke 9 = Jesus loves and cares for several thousand hungry people.
Luke 9 = Jesus loves and cares for a little boy.
Luke 13 = Jesus loves and cares for a woman with a disability.
Luke 17 = Jesus loves and cares for 10 Lepers who were kicked out of their city.
Luke 18 = Jesus loves and cares for children.
Luke 18 = Jesus loves and cares for a blind homeless man.
Luke 19 = Jesus loves and cares for a rich man.
Luke 23 = Jesus loves and cares for the very people who are crucifying him saying,
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Don’t you see how great Jesus is? I mean this is just a quick snapshot of his impartial love from the gospel of Luke alone, and yet we see Jesus loving and caring for all kinds of people. The bible’s full of examples like this, and over 45 different times the book of Revelation talks about Jesus being seated on the throne of glory, and surrounding his throne of glory are people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. It’s men, women, rich people, poor people, black people, white people, Hispanic people, educated people, uneducated people, all kinds of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue surrounding Jesus’s throne. So once again the stigma’s wrong. Christianity’s not an intolerant, bigotrous faith, it’s a very loving faith that welcomes all different kinds of people, and Jesus commands us to love and care for people like he’s loved and cared for us. He commands us to be a reflection of his impartial love to our city and our world. He commands us to not show partiality...but instead to show love to everybody...We’re to show love to everybody, and if you’re not a Christian don’t show partiality against Christians, instead consider dropping the stigma, turning to Jesus, and possibly even consider coming to this church. If you’re a Christian, we need to help turn the stigma around by being not just hearers of today’s word, but doers of the word. We need to live out this ethic to not show partiality, and instead show love to everybody. We’ll mess it up sometimes. Sometimes we’ll be like the people in the text reflecting our sin to the world, instead of reflecting Jesus to the world. When you do just admit it, repent for it, and turn back to Jesus so you can get back to reflecting his impartial love to the world again. Get back to not showing partiality, but instead showing love to everybody.
The Big Idea:
Okay let’s get to the big idea. Here’s the big idea. The bible teaches nobody deserves to sit on a throne except Jesus. So don’t show partiality, instead show love to everybody...The bible teaches nobody deserves to sit on a throne except Jesus. So don’t show partiality, instead show love to everybody. It’s an ethic that didn’t originate with society it originated with God, and the problem isn’t with the ethic it’s with our corrupt hearts. Our hearts are corrupt, they’re selfish, they’re self-seeking, self-serving, and as a result inequality, partiality, and injustice exist. As a result classism, racism, sexism, ageism, all kinds of tribalisms exist and everybody’s fighting for their own tribe, showing partiality to their own tribe. The solution to all this won’t come from society, it won’t come from anti-bullying and discrimination laws, because those laws can help regulate the heart, but they can’t help change the heart. James says we need Jesus to change our heart. He says we need Jesus to change our heart, we need to look at Jesus, we need to look at “the Lord of glory,” and his display of the impartial love he poured out on the cross.
Look historically Jesus is the only one who’s never sinned, who’s never done a single act of injustice, who’s never shown partiality, instead he displayed his impartial love on the cross, even offering love to the very ones who nailed him to the cross. He’s the greatest display of impartial love, and when we look at the love he displayed on the cross it should cause us to get off our self-righteous thrones to bow down before his selfless throne. It should cause us to say, “I’m not better than you, you’re not better than me, Jesus is better than all of us, so let’s get off our thrones and bow before his throne.” The message of Christianity, the heart of the gospel is that we’re all equally sinful, equally depraved, equally undeserving of Jesus’ love, equally undeserving to sit on a throne, but Jesus freely gives us equal access to his love. If you repent of your sins and believe Jesus died for your sins, you’ll have equal access to his love, mercy, and forgiveness. I won’t be any more saved, loved, or forgiven than you. All who repent of their sins and believe Jesus died for their sins will have equal access to Jesus, front row seats to Jesus, and should live their lives not showing partiality, but instead showing love to everybody.
Communion:
One of the great things about communion is that it’s a reminder of our cultural diversity, yet our gospel unity. It’s a reminder that because Jesus came to live, die, and rise again for our sins, we’re able sit and share a meal together at the table. It’s a reminder that you are my brother, you are my sister, and together we get to share a meal together as a family. It’s all because of Jesus. Even those of you who aren’t Christians are welcome to come to the table. Just repent of your sins, believe Jesus died for your sins, and you’ll be welcomed into his family having just as much access to his love and forgiveness as anyone else in the room. Jesus offers all of us his love and forgiveness, as we take a seat at the communion table, and remember the gospel.
At this time let’s go ahead and pass the communion plates out, and as the plates are being passed take a piece of bread, take a cup, and hold it until I can explain communion. As the plates are being passed, let’s use this time to thank Jesus for his impartial love toward us...On the night Jesus was betrayed he was sharing a meal with a diverse group of people, a diverse group of his friends. He took the bread at the table, gave thanks for it, broke it and said “This is my body which is to be broken for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat it, do so in remembrance of me and what I’ve done for you.” Then when supper was ended he took the cup, blessed it, gave thanks for it and said “This cup is a symbol of my blood which is to be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink it, do so in remembrance of me and what I did for you.” Let’s eat, let’s drink, and let’s worship Jesus for his impartial love.
Hebrews 1:3 states, “He’s the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature.”
Luke 5 = Jesus loves and cares for a man with leprosy who was avoided by society.
Luke 5 = Jesus loves and cares for a paralyzed man.
Luke 5 = Jesus loves and cares for a man who was looked down upon for his profession
as a tax collector. Jesus shared a meal with him and was ridiculed for it.
Luke 7 = Jesus loves and cares for another ethnic group, a Roman commander and his
servant who was sick...despite the fact that his society hated the Romans.
Luke 7 = Jesus loves and cares for a widow and her son.
Luke 7 = Jesus loves and cares for a woman who society rejected, and called a sinner.
Luke 8 = Jesus loves and cares for a 12 year old girl who was dying.
Luke 9 = Jesus loves and cares for several thousand hungry people.
Luke 9 = Jesus loves and cares for a little boy.
Luke 13 = Jesus loves and cares for a woman with a disability.
Luke 17 = Jesus loves and cares for 10 Lepers who were kicked out of their city.
Luke 18 = Jesus loves and cares for children.
Luke 18 = Jesus loves and cares for a blind homeless man.
Luke 19 = Jesus loves and cares for a rich man.
Luke 23 = Jesus loves and cares for the very people who are crucifying him saying,
“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”