The Problem of Partiality in the Church: Part 2 - James Lesson 13

 We are going back to James 2 this morning for the second part of the test of impartial love. I told you last week that the test of impartial love is a much more challenging test than we think. If this was simply a test to determine if we love, we would all pass the test. We all love. This is more than a test of love. It is a two-fold test. It is a test of how we love. And, it is a test of how we love all others. Our passage is James 2:1-13. Last week we looked at verses 1-7. There were three parts. In verse 1 we found the exhortation. Read it. We found in verses 2-4 the example. Read those. We found in verses 5-7 the explanation. 

 I told you last week that in the first part we were looking at the fruit, or the manifestation of the problem. In verses 8-13 we will be looking at the root of the problem. We need to get to the root of this problem. We can pull all the bad fruit, but it will grow back. We must expose and eradicate this problem at the root level. We will be seeing three things in these verses. First, James will expose the problem. Second, James will show the extent of the problem. Third, James will reveal the expectation regarding the problem.

 First, let’s look at the exposure of the problem. What is the real, root cause of the practice of partiality? We find the root cause exposed in verses 8-9. “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

 The first thing I want to point out is a detail not so easily understood from the English reading. Both verses 8 and 9 begin with “if” clauses. These are both first class conditional clauses in the Greek. First class conditional clauses express the condition of reality. In other words, this could be translated “since” or “because.” This is easy to see in verse 8. If you are fulfilling the royal law of Scripture, it is because you are loving your neighbor as yourself, and in so doing you are doing well. You would be doing well if you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scriptures.

But, verse 9 tells us, since you are, or because you are showing partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. These “if” clauses express the reality of something, not just the possibility of something. James is exposing the reality of the practice of partiality among the brethren. This was a problem among those to whom James wrote. The example of the rich and poor man was likely not an uncommon occurrence. 

 James identifies this as the “royal law.” This means that it is the supreme law of the sovereign. This indicates the absolute and binding authority of the law. This law is the supreme law of the One who is our absolute authority. Every follower of Christ is bound by this law. All of us are under obligation to live by this law. We know that because it is the royal law “according to the Scriptures.” We are under obligation to live by the Scriptures because they are the word of God.

 But it is also the royal law because it was given by God in Leviticus 19:18. God is the Royal Lawgiver. This is our King’s edict. It was also affirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Matthew 22:34-40. “The second is like it…” The second commandment is of the same nature and character as the first. The same devotion we should show to loving God is the same devotion we should put into loving our neighbor as ourselves. This is the royal law according to the Scriptures. 

 You do not do better at obeying the law of God than when you obey the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Listen, this is not a commandment to love yourself. Some pervert this truth and try to convince us that there are three commandments here. Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself. We don’t struggle with loving ourselves. Our problem is that we easily love ourselves too much and this keeps us from loving God or others the way we should.

 We are all familiar with the Golden Rule. Luke 6:31 says, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” We use this with our kids when we are teaching them not to hit their sibling or take the toy their little sister is playing with. We use it to teach them to avoid doing to others things they would not like done to them. But the real teaching of that verse, and the true intent of that rule for life is that, when we are deciding how we are going to treat others, we should be doing for them the very thing we would want them to do for us. We don’t just avoid doing what they would not like. We do for them exactly what we would desire someone do for us. This is what we must do if we are to obey the instruction given by Paul in Philippians 2.

 So, this is a command to love as we love ourselves. And it is a command to love your neighbor as you love yourself. This begs the question. It is the same question posed to Jesus which prompted the story of the Good Samaritan. Look at this story. Luke 10:30-37. Who is my neighbor? My neighbor is anyone who has a need that I have the ability to meet. If I am to love my neighbor as myself I am going to be as concerned with the needs of my neighbor as I am my own needs.

 So, the question is, as we seek to expose any problem with partiality, is, do I love others? And it is not enough to defend the way we love others by comparing the way we love others to the way that others love others. We don’t get to say, “Well, I love others better than _________. That is not the standard. That is probably what we do sometimes but that isn’t the standard.  The standard is, do I love others as I love myself? And, do I love all others as I love myself? So, go back with me to the example I put before you last week with the two men who visit church. One is rich and well-dressed, driving a Lamborghini. The other is dirty, scruffy, and driving a Chevrolet Astro van with bald tires, chipped paint, and the window taped shut. Would it be easy for you to love both of those men the same? Would you easily love both of those men as you love yourself?

 This begs another heart searching question. Is there any partiality in my love? Is there anyone, anywhere, at any time I might be failing to love as I love myself? Perhaps our example of the visitors at church isn’t sufficient for the answer to this question. After all, neither of these has shown up here before. Perhaps we should move from the hypothetical to the actual people in our lives. If there is someone I am failing to love as I love myself, where would I most likely find this person? Would it be in Walmart? Or would it be at work? Or would it be at church? Or, would it not most likely be in my home, and maybe even the one who sleeps in the bed next to me every night?

 I have a confession to make. Sometimes I show partiality in my love for others. I sometimes show more patience, and am kinder and more compassionate towards total strangers than I am to my wife. Is that not an example of the sin of partiality? My friends, if we are more likely to be respectful, considerate, patient, and kind with the person who examines our receipt when we leave Walmart, than we are with our own spouse, or our own children, we are not fulfilling the royal law according to the Scriptures, and we are not doing well. We are showing partiality and are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

 The practice of favoritism or partiality is sin. This means we are missing the mark. The construction in the Greek describes the ongoing habitual practice. The one whose life is characterized by partiality and personal favoritism is one who habitually sins. This exposes the true condition of their lives. They are spiritual frauds. They are tares among the wheat. If we learned anything from our study of 1 John a few months back it is that the true Christian will not live in habitual sin.

 We are probably all guilty of this on occasion. None of us is perfect. But if this is a habitual practice, and this characterizes our relationships, then this sin is enough to expose the real problem. We have not been transformed by the love of God.

 This may be enough to expose the problem. Let’s examine what James reveals about the extent of the problem exposed. We find the extent described in verses 10-11. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not commit murder.’ Now if you commit adultery, but do not commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

 How many laws do you have to break to be a law breaker? How many sins do you have to commit to be a sinner? It only takes one. If you break one law of God you have shattered the whole law of God. This is James’ point. If you keep every command of God but one, you are a law breaker. 

 What is our tendency when we consider something like partiality as a sin compared to other sins? We may have to readily admit, “Ok, I’m guilty. I get easily irritated at my wife, even more quickly than the slow checker at Walmart.” But what is our attitude even though we may be convinced that this is sin? We have a tendency to say, “Ok, it is sin, but it isn’t a biggie.” “Everyone does that.” “That’s human nature.” “She does the same thing to me.”

 Is this the attitude toward this sin that God would have us to have? I will admit that all sins are not the same as far as the damage they do, or the consequences attached to them. If I commit adultery I destroy my life. If I murder someone I destroy my life and the life of another. If I break the speed limit I get a ticket. The consequences are not the same, but that does not make sin acceptable. James uses in his illustration two sins for which the penalty was death.

 All sin is an affront to holy God. Jesus had to pay the same price for the sin of partiality that He paid for the sin of murder and adultery.

 The problem in James’ day was that those who had come to Christ had come out of a works based religion. Prior to salvation they had believed the lie of all works righteousness religions. There were some Rabbis in Judaism who taught that one good work was enough to get a person into heaven. This is like the common belief today. If my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds I will get in to heaven. When my good things are counted and compared to my bad things, as long as there is at least one good thing on the correct side of the ledger, I will get a pass into heaven. This is a lie from hell.

 God is the lawgiver. He is also the Judge. Is God a righteous Judge? Would a good and righteous Judge overlook the sin of murder, or adultery? Can God let the sin of murder go unpunished and still be a righteous Judge? If a local judge here had a criminal before his court who had committed murder, and the evidence was overwhelming, and the judge said, “I know you killed this person, but looking at your life I see that you have done a lot of good things. I think you are basically a good person so I am going to overlook the fact that you killed this person. You are free to go.” Would that judge be a good judge?

 This is exactly what most people believe God is going to do. But James is clear. If you break one of God’s laws you are guilty as a transgressor of God’s law. God’s law is the law of the one and only truly righteous and holy Judge. If you break the law of holy God, you will face the wrath of the holy Judge. Our God is a just Judge. Our God will punish all sin and every transgression fully. And the wages of sin is death.

 As we see the problem exposed what do we see? We see that we are all guilty. We see that the standard is really an impossible standard to attain. I can love others, but I cannot love others, all others, all the time, with as perfect a love as with which I love myself. I fail. I wish I didn’t fail, but I fail. The problem is exposed as a problem that exists with me.

 As I look at the extent of the problem I come to realize that as one who breaks this law, I am one who breaks the entire law of God. It is like hitting a glass with a hammer. One blow destroys the whole window. One law broken makes me a transgressor of God’s law.

 What does the transgressor of God’s law need? If he or she is to avoid eternal condemnation he or she must have mercy, forgiveness, and grace. James has brought us to the very place the gospel must bring us. We are brought face to face with our spiritual bankruptcy. We are confronted with our desperate need for forgiveness. We are brought to the place of brokenness, mourning over our sin, and to the place where we hunger and thirst for the righteousness that will make us acceptable before God.

 If you are truly a Christian, you have been there before. It was to this place you came and it was there that you cried out to God for mercy. It was there that you repented of sin and cried out to God to save you from the penalty of your sin. It was there that you were born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It was there that you were delivered, saved, redeemed, and given the gift of eternal life in Christ. You were set free!

 You came to understand what it means to be judged by the law of liberty. You came to understand that you had been set free from the law of sin and death, as described in Romans 8. You have been set free from the penalty of sin. You still struggle with the power of sin, but your true desire is to obey and honor God, even in the way you love all others.

 You are among those who can understand the expectation of God as it applies to this problem of partiality in the church. The expectation is found in verses 12-13. “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”

 To speak and act as one who has been judged by the law of liberty is to speak and act as one who understands just how much God has overlooked. It is to comprehend just how much mercy God has extended to you. It is to see just how much favor, love, and grace God has poured out on you, an undeserving sinner. 

Think about the worst condition that anyone could be in who might walk through the doors of the church and want to sit next to you. He could be the poorest person you have ever known. He could be so hungry that you have trouble hearing the message over the growling of his stomach. He could be so dirty that he leaves a stain on the seat he sits in. He could be the most vile person you have ever met. Still, he would not be as offensive as you were to God when God chose to forgive you. Our sin made us much more offensive to God than anything another human could be or do. Yet, if we are in Christ, we will be judged by the law of liberty. You will not face judgment for your sins because if you are in Christ those sins have been forgiven. They have been removed as far as the east is from the west. Your sins have been cast into the depths of the sea and remembered no more. Because you are in Christ you will be judged by the law of liberty.

 As we deal with others, especially those who may be undesirable because they are poor, or dirty, or different, we must speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. God has forgiven us so much.

 James closes this section with this warning in verse 13. “For judgment will be merciless to the one who has shown no mercy…” This is exactly the point of the story of Jesus regarding forgiveness in Matthew 18:23-35.

 If we face judgment without mercy, what is the result? The result is hell. Who is in danger of facing judgment without mercy? The one who shows no mercy. Who is showing no mercy? The one who is judging with an unrighteous judgment and deciding that the poor, dirty, different person should not have a place among the children of God. In other words, anyone who is practicing partiality.

 But mercy triumphs over judgment.  Mercy is victorious over judgment. The one whose life is characterized as being merciful is showing the same kind of mercy he or she has received from God. They demonstrate the evidence of saving faith. They will be passing the test of trials, passing the test of temptations, passing the test of responding to the word of God, and they will be passing the test of impartial love.

 They may not always be perfect, but because of extent to which they have been beneficiaries of the mercy of God, they extend mercy to others. They extend mercy because they will love others. This love will not just be a greater love than others, it will be a love comparable to the love with which they love themselves. Not only will they love with this kind of love, they will love all others with this kind of love. They will have passed the test of impartial love.

 Let’s pray.