The Problem of Partiality in the Church: Part 1 - James Lesson 12

 We took a couple weeks break from James to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I trust that you had a worshipful and God-glorifying celebration of our Lord’s victory over death. We have no greater cause for rejoicing than the Resurrection.

 Today I want to return to James where we are ready to begin chapter 2. I would like to remind you that James is presenting a series of tests by which we can examine our lives to determine the reality and validity of our relationship to Jesus Christ in salvation. In chapter 1 we found the test of our response to trials. We saw the test of our response to temptation. And we saw our response to the word of God. I’m not going to spend much time in review of all that because it took us about three months to get through Chapter 1.

 As we come to chapter 2 we are going to be looking next at the test of impartial love. Really, at the heart of this test is an examination of the way we love others. This is a test of our ability and willingness to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This passage is going to challenge us to consider whether or not we truly love others. But more than that, it is a test of whether or not we love all others impartially. I must sound the alarm. Impartial love is a lot more difficult than you might think. Come to think of it, I’m still waiting for the easy questions on James’ test.

 Let’s read the first 13 verses of chapter 2 together.

 It is going to take us two weeks to get through this section. Today we are going to look at verses 1-7 where James is going to explain the problem. Next week we will look at verses 8-13 where James is going to expose the real issue. This is a fruit and root kind of deal. The first part of this explains the fruit produced by the problem. We will be looking at how partiality and favoritism manifests itself, and why it is wrong. The second part exposes the root cause of the problem. As we look at the first section we will be looking at the problem of partiality within the church. Next week we will look at the root cause which is a failure to love impartially and to love all impartially. The real test is the test of impartial love.

 Does this issue have relevance in the church today? To answer that question we only need to ask if personal favoritism or partiality is practiced in the church today. I don’t think there is any doubt. Think about the reasons for favoritism or partiality being expressed in the church. Because the church is so influenced by the world, the reasons for partiality in the culture spill over into the church. 

What does it take to be held in high esteem in the culture? In the culture if you are wealthy, hold some powerful position, are successful in business, are a popular celebrity, possess some great athletic ability, or you are strikingly beautiful or handsome in appearance, you are treated differently from everyone else. For those for whom some of these things are true, the way they are treated is not worse than everyone else. It is generally a ticket to preferential treatment.

Unfortunately, the church tends to place a high value on those people who appear to bring a lot to the table. We have at least a tendency to think that these people, because of their wealth, or positions, or business prowess, or their popularity, or athletic ability, or appearance, could really have an impact for the kingdom of God. But, is that how it works with God? Does God need the wealthy, successful, popular, gifted athlete or the gorgeous super model to accomplish the work of His kingdom? If there was a church on one side of town with a faithful pastor who faithfully taught the word of God, and a church on the other side of town who invited a celebrity to speak during the Sunday morning service, which one would draw the crowd? You know which one would. This is because the church, a little too much like the culture, places a premium on how much money a person has, or what position he or she holds, or how well-known they are, or how successful they are, or what they look like.

According to the Apostle Paul this is not the way it is with God and His work in the kingdom. Look at 1 Cor. 1:26-31 for a moment.

Let’s look at the problem with partiality in the church. We are going to see three things in this passage today. We will see the exhortation of James regarding this problem in verse 1. We will see the example of this problem described by James in verses 2-4. Then we will see the explanation of the problem in verses 5-7.

Look at verse 1. Here we have the exhortation. “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.”

The fact that James addresses this to “brethren” tells us that it was a problem among the early church. Remember, James was the earliest of the letters written to the church. It was a problem then, and continues to be a problem in the church today because the problem is with the fallen people who make up the brethren. This is an easy trap into which we fall.

This is a very strong exhortation. In the Greek text, the last part of the verse is placed first for emphasis. It would literally read something like, “let no personal favoritism have a place in the practice of your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” When something is placed at the first of the sentence it is done so for the purpose of emphasis. The emphasis is stressed because there should be no personal favoritism found among the people of God. Personal favoritism is inconsistent with and a contradiction to what God has done for us in bringing us to faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

The phrase “attitude of personal favoritism” is translated from “prosopolepsia.” (pros-ow-pol-ep-sia) and it speaks of determining value based on superficial, external factors, without consideration of anything worthy of true merit. It is to judge based on appearance and giving special favor because of what one sees on the outside. It is to assign value without a careful examination of one’s true merits, abilities, or character. To have this attitude is to forget that the ground is level at the foot of the Cross. It is to forget that God is no respecter of persons. Romans 2:11 says, “For there is no partiality with God.” Ephesians 6:9 says, “…and there is no partiality with Him.” Colossians 3:25 says, “For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.”

God does not judge by the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. We should not look at the outward appearance only. Because there is no partiality or personal favoritism with God, there should be no personal favoritism practiced within the church. Look at 1 Tim. 5:21. 

This is a solemn charge, so it is important. Paul issues this charge in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels. This charge is made before the most authoritative and credible witnesses. This is a serious admonition. The church is to maintain these without bias, doing nothing in partiality. If you look at 1 Timothy it doesn’t matter if you are dealing with false teachers, or praying for others, or instructing women on the proper behavior, or choosing your elders and deacons, confronting apostates, honoring widows, or dealing with sin even among the elders, you do it all without partiality. Personal favoritism and partiality based on external, meaningless virtues are to have no place among God’s people.

This is an important exhortation and the Bible has a lot more to say about the problems of partiality and favoritism. Following the exhortation commanding us to not hold our faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism, James then gives us an example of the practice of personal favoritism. Read verses 2-4. 

In this example the difference between these two men are obvious. One is dressed in fine clothes and wearing a gold ring. Only the wealthy could afford a gold ring. Some of the most wealthy would wear gold rings on every finger as a display of their financial status. There were business that rented expensive looking rings that people could rent to wear to special functions. Why would someone do this? Because they knew they would be treated differently if they appeared wealthy. Their clothing would sometimes be covered with ornaments. They would be brightly colored and have a significantly different appearance than the clothing of the average person, and certainly different than the clothing of the poor. The poor man comes into the place of worship with dirty clothes.

Let’s assume for the sake of illustration that we had two visitors pull into the parking lot next Sunday morning. One is driving a new, shiny Lamborghini and wearing custom made designer clothing and wearing expensive sunglasses and a diamond studded Rolex watch. The other is driving a 1978 Chevy Astro van with peeling paint, bald tires, and a window taped shut. He is wearing dirty, tattered clothing. He is unshaved, scruffy, and obviously hadn’t had a shower in a while.

Would there be a difference in the way those two people would be treated as they entered Grace Bible Church and began to look for a place to sit? Which one do you really want sitting in the seat closest to you? Which one would you glance at once in a while to see how they are responding to the service? Which one would you be most likely to invite to lunch after church? Which one would you hope would accept an invitation to stay for the fellowship meal after church?

In our example given by James, the one wearing the gold ring and the fine clothes is ushered to the best seat in the house, the seat of honor. The poor man is refused a place to sit. He has two options. He can stand over out of the way, out of the spotlight, out of sight, and hopefully forgotten. Or he can sit in the place of disgrace and dishonor, beside the footstool. The point is that he is disregarded and dishonored and made to feel like he does not belong there and is not welcome. The rich man is made to feel respected, honored and welcome. If we go back to the example of the guy driving the Lamborghini and the guy driving the Astro van, would both be made to feel equally welcomed, and equally accepted, and equally respected? I hope they would, but my friends, it would take some serious conscious effort on our part to make sure we did not make any distinctions and become judges with evil motives.

Making distinctions reveals that we are judges with evil motives. (v. 4) If we do anything that demonstrates a preference for one over the other, we make distinctions. Distinctions being made will reveal evil motives. Evil motives will always be behind the differences in the way people are treated. The evil motive might be greed. It might be the desire to boast about “so and so now coming to my church.” It might just be the hope that someday he would let you drive his car.  

Our motives in regards to the rich guy would be evil because they were obviously selfishly motivated. But so might our motives in regard to the poor guy in the Astro van. Would we not be tempted to think, “This guy is going to require a lot from us if he decides to stick around. He is going to need a lot of help.” We would probably even have the fear that he was going to hit us up for money before he left the building that day. We might even avoid the person because we don’t want to have to deal with that kind of request. 

I have given you an extreme example. We probably won’t have anyone show up driving a Lamborghini. And we probably won’t have anyone show up on the other extreme either. But we do have to be very careful we don’t make distinctions in regards to the practice of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They happen much more readily than we might care to admit. We make judgments based on a wide array of outward, superficial, external issues that really have nothing to do with a person’s relationship with Christ or the rest of Christ’s body. It is hard to avoid making distinctions and even leaning toward our personal favorites when these distinctions are identified. Obeying this command is a tall order. I have to say that it falls into the category of those things which says easy, does hard.

Let’s look at how James explains what is wrong with this problem. Look at verse 5. “Did not God choose…” We could hit the pause button right there. Did God choose us for salvation because we were wealthy? Did God choose us because we had a special talent, or looked a certain way, or had skills that would benefit Him? Did God appoint us as heirs of eternal life because we could sink a basket or throw a touchdown pass, or were good looking? 

The problem with partiality in the church is that it forgets the truth concerning the work of God in bringing us to the Christian faith. It began with God. It is brought about because of the regenerative work of God causing us to be born again and believe in the essential truth of the gospel. It was the result of God awakening us from spiritual death and imparting to us new life. It had nothing to do with our ability, our appearance, our intelligence, our social status, or financial accomplishments, or anything else. God does not bestow His grace to those that man esteems worthy. God bestows His grace on those whom He chose from before the foundation of the world. His work is the work of grace. It is completely unmerited, undeserved, and in no way provided because of any basis of merit on our part. 

Whom did God chose? God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him. When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We know Jesus is talking about poverty of spirit, of the importance of recognizing our absolute bankrupt standing before God.

James is not referring to an attitude of spiritual poverty here. He is speaking about God’s favor extended especially to those who are financially disadvantaged. God chose and delivered His people from slavery in Egypt. He did so because of His sovereign plan for that nation. Throughout the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments we find instructions regarding the care of the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, and those who are plundered by the rich. The poor are the objects of God’s merciful love.

God chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him. Ask the guy Jesus told about who had barns that were so full that he didn’t have room for all the extra stuff he was accumulating. (Luke 12) What did he do? He decided he would tear down those barns and build bigger ones. He did not know that his life was about over and that he would stand before God and give an account. Thinking about that man, would he not have been much better off if he had been rich in faith and an heir of God’s kingdom, rather than having been rich in life and leaving an inheritance to his earthly heirs? James’ explanation of the problem includes a challenge to never forget what God values and what is eternally important.

Those who are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom are those who will receive the inheritance Peter talks about which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

By showing favoritism to the rich man the poor man is dishonored. This is what verse 6 says. To dishonor the poor man when we fail to see him as God sees him. But worse than that, it is to do the same thing that the rich are doing in taking advantage of the poor. In James’ day, the unregenerate wealthy person always had the advantage over the poor. They used their wealth and status to pervert the justice system and influence the court’s decisions. 

We have already seen, back in chapter 1:9-12 that poverty and wealth have nothing to do with true blessings from God. James has a way of cycling back and teaching us the same truth from different perspectives. He has dealt with the poor and the rich in chapter 1 and returns to it in chapter 2. His point in chapter 1 was to teach us that poverty and wealth are irrelevant when it comes to determining the true blessings from God. The one who is blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, and that is open to anyone regardless of their economic condition.

Here, James is telling us that the economic condition of a person has nothing to do with how they should be treated among Christians. If we make distinctions, and treat the poor with contempt, and honor the rich man, we are really behaving no different than the rich, who drag the poor into court and use their wealth to their advantage. If we make distinctions, and treat the poor with contempt, we are guilty of the same sin of blasphemy. This is what verse 7 reveals. “Do they (the rich who oppress the poor and personally drag them into court) not blasphemy the fair name by which you have been called?”

If we dishonor the poor man, and favor the rich man who oppresses and drags the poor man into court, are we not guilty of the same thing? Are we not blaspheming the fair name by which we have been called?

If this is the fruit produced by this problem, is this not the rottenest of fruit which can be produced? The “fair name” by which you have been called is the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Remember how He was treated? And who were the ones responsible for the way He was treated? It was the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes, who were the wealthiest of that culture. They were the religious elite. They led the charge and used their economic standing to influence the people to cry out for the crucifixion of Jesus. They used their clout to pressure Pilate to sentence Jesus to death.

This was the ultimate blasphemy. Those wealthy men ignored all that had been revealed about Jesus. They failed to see the truth of Scripture in the Old Testament prophecies. They refused to acknowledge the divine power of His miracles. They said He did what He did by the power of Satan. They blasphemed the fair name of Jesus.

When the rich use their power to oppress the poor, they blaspheme the fair name of Jesus. My friends, if we make distinctions, and show favoritism, and assess value to someone based on our perception of how much money they have, or how much clout they may carry, or any outward factor, we are guilty of an awful sin. We produce some really rotten fruit.

The problem of favoritism shows that we have been more influenced by the values of the world than those of God. James would have us to think about things the way God thinks about them. God would have us to look at everyone the same way He looks at them. If God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of His kingdom, then how should we think of the poor of this world? We should think of the poor as standing right next to us as the foot of the Cross. We are all there on the same basis. It is a basis that has nothing to do with how much we have accumulated in this world. There will be no second class citizens in heaven. There is no such thing as a poor child of God.

I want to close by taking you to a passage is found in Galatians 3:26-29. Paul told the Galatians that we are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. If we belong to Christ we are Abraham’s descendants, and heirs according to the promise.

We could add to Paul’s list without doing an injustice to the text. I know we are not to add to or take away from God’s word, but could we not add to Paul’s list in Galatians 3 that there is neither rich nor poor, successful nor unsuccessful, popular nor unpopular, great looking nor not so great looking? There is neither athletic star, nor klutz. There is neither talented, nor untalented. There is neither famous, nor infamous. We are all one in Christ Jesus.

The test of impartial love requires of us that we look at how we love others. And that is the easy part of the test. The second part of the test requires us to look at how we love “all” others. That is the hard part of the test.

When we think about the greatest commandment, or the royal law, as we will see next week, we know we have to examine carefully how we love. Am I loving others as I love myself. But we must also examine carefully who we are loving as we love ourselves. Am I loving “all” others as I love myself. Next week we will get into the really challenging part of this passage.

Let’s pray.