from two passages. First of all, from Deuteronomy chapter 7. It says in the bulletin that we'll read the verse 7 and 8. I'll start with verse 6. Deuteronomy 7, beginning at verse 6, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations and repays to their face those who hate him by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today." Now turn to James chapter 2, and we'll read the first 13 verses. 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 court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme that honorable name by which you are called? If you really fulfill 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. 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 the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Thus far the reading of God's word. Let us pray. Almighty Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator, Savior, and Comforter, we are filled with joy because of your forgiving grace in Jesus Christ. With thankful hearts, we turn to you and we pray. Fill us and feed us. Fill us with your spirit and enable us to hear you speaking to us through your word. We long to see you, to know you, We understand that as long as we are in this world of trials, our vision of glory is by faith. As we turn to you in Jesus, for he is the radiance of your glory. And so let us see you through him to understand your grace, your mercy toward us in him, and to wear the clothes which he has clothed us. with which he has clothed us, even his righteousness. Help us to put aside all anxiety so that we may sit at your feet fully enjoying you, enjoying the beauty of your holiness. And help us to go forth from here into this world of trial, reflecting you, your righteousness, your mercy, and your love. In Christ we pray, amen. Amen. You may be seated. As a reminder, some of you were here. But you may not remember that I did preach on the first four verses, approximately, extending into the others, about two months ago, I think. And that's why it's called, the sermon is called, The Problem with Favoritism, or you could say with Partiality, Part Two. Part One was a while back. A bit of a reminder of where we've come in the series on James so far, and an introduction for those of you who have not heard it before. James is teaching believers dispersed throughout the world how in the face of all of our trials, we must handle our trials differently than unbelievers. because we are a people whose citizenship is in heaven. We belong to Jesus Christ for all eternity. We are not of this world. We face trials, James is saying, because we serve a sovereign God who is working in all things for the good of those who love him. He is, through our trials, strengthening our faith. He is developing our Christian character. He is strengthening our perseverance. And James tells us, if you have trouble seeing that, if you have trouble understanding that, pray. Ask God. He will make it plain. Trials come to everyone, says James, regardless of your economic standing, whether you're rich, whether you're poor, whether you're middle class, it doesn't matter. Everybody faces trials. And James says, therefore don't let your economic differences divide you. If you're poor, don't despise the rich or don't envy the rich. And if you're rich, don't look down on the poor. Because all of us stand in the presence of God by grace and grace alone. We're all pilgrims on the way to the new heavens and the new earth. So we do not respond to trials with contempt toward others and what they're going through but with trust and gratitude, understanding that he is working out in us and through us a far greater blessing than we can ever imagine. We have to trust God, because as James says, we are but the first fruits of a whole new creation. Christ is the first fruit when he was raised from the dead, but in him we are first fruits of a whole new creation. God, through the witness of his people, is gathering in people from every nation. into the new heavens and the new earth. And it is knowing this, you see, that in all of our trials and in all of our afflictions, we have to live in a very particular way. As a new people, always quick to listen to others, to understand them, being slow to speak, slow to anger, putting away all immorality, not only hearing the word of God, but doing it. This we have to live, even though now we live in a veil of tears. Like Christ, we must be pure in our thoughts, in our relationships with God, and with others. That's the substance, really, of Chapter 1, and that leads to the subject, My Brothers Show No Partiality, which, as I said, I introduced a while back, and we continue this morning. Now, you understand the matter of partiality, because we all have favorites. Favorite foods, favorite friends, favorite cars, favorite animals, favorite clothes, except here in the Church of Jesus Christ. Here, in contrast to the world and in contrast to our natural instincts, we are learning to look at each other not according to our personal preferences, but according to God's standards. We look at each other from a heavenly point of view. That's what we'll do when we have communion. We see each other all as forgiven. in the Lord, all by grace. In one of the congregations that I served, I had a very close friend. And the tendency was that after a service, the two of us would gravitate toward each other. And when we saw that becoming a habit, we agreed. We had to stop that. because that would not be good for my ministry or his. It's not beneficial to the congregation that we would be showing favoritism. And so we tried to curb our natural instincts for the sake of Christ. You see, we are here striving to become Christ-like, to become mature, as the Apostle Paul would say, according to his image. And that's what James is after, warning us against the sin of acting basically on simply earthly attractions. What a person wears, the color of their skin, We have to be led by heavenly principles, and that's crucial in a world that is hostile to God. As we saw in the first four verses, we have to be on guard against favoritism or partiality in such things as appearances, the way we dress, people's physical condition, their financial standing, things like that. Sometimes we are so comfortable with the way things are in our present circles that if someone joins, who is in it any way different? We kind of resist that. And that kind of partiality immediately creates classes in the church and makes people feel unaccepted because they don't meet our arbitrary standards. This morning, In the verses five to the end, we are going to see how God acts toward us so that we might not contradict his standards in how we treat each other and any who comes upon our path, but that we might extend his standards to all that we meet. God does not show partiality. He does not show favoritism. And you see this in his plan of redemption, you see that in his perfect law, how he kept it perfectly in his mercy, and we'll see that in his perfect judgment when he comes again. When we look at the fundamental principle of God's redeeming plan, his sovereign electing grace from before the foundation of the world, it strikes us with amazement that in God's grace, he chose us despite ourselves. Despite our sin. He did not look at us and say, you know, those people, they were gifted people. They were wealthy people. They have a lot to offer me. I think I'll save them. It's not what he said. He looked at us and in his love and mercy, he drew us into his family. And James is saying, in the very way that God drew us by his mercy into his family, that must control how we look at people in the church and in the world who are different from us, who we may intuitively think of as beneath us or unworthy of our attention. as Christians, for us to reject the despised, the downcast, the poor, the needy, and to receive certain others because they fit in with our preference of dress, of color, shape, economics, politics, or because their sin is a little more acceptable to us than another person's sin, is a fundamental denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God did not say to us, I looked at your worth. Because if he did, we'd be all on the way to hell. His grace, his mercy was the controlling dictate in his treatment of us. And therefore, the controlling dictate in how we treat others. God is saying, His mercy is our example. You love the Lord your God, you love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, he says in verse five, listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him? And that is a theme that you will find repeatedly in the scriptures. And I'll take you to just a few places to remind you of it. We read from Deuteronomy chapter seven, God makes sure that the children of Israel do not misunderstand the doctrine of his choosing them, of his election. He says to them, I did not set my love on you or choose you because you were greater than or more numerous than any of the peoples. For you were the fewest or you could say the least of all peoples, but because I loved you and kept the oath which I swore to your forefathers. In other words, the reason you are mine resides in me, not you. I didn't look at you and count you worthy. I looked at you and I loved you because I loved you. And therefore, I made you my own. I forgave your sin. I provided a sacrifice for your sin. I raised him up in your place so that you might be exalted to glory with him." And we are to treat others in that same spirit of mercy. In Luke chapter 1, after Mary has just been told that she will bear the Christ. What does she say? Lord, you have done mighty deeds with your arm. You have scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. You have brought down the rulers from their thrones. You have exalted those who were humbled. Here she is, a virgin girl of Nazareth, She's bearing a child. State of humility at that particular point. And yet she's going to be the bearer of the incarnate son of God. And that totally turns upside down the world system of values. We would not have expected That God, the God of heaven and earth, the God who had a son who was reigning on high with all glory and power to bring him into the world to a virgin. And yet he did. And he was born in a barn. And he was laid in a feeding trough. And the first people to whom he was announced were the despised shepherds. Later, when he's in his own hometown synagogue in Nazareth, he reads Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who were oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And then he says today, The scripture has been filled in your hearing. And James is saying, considering God's consideration for the poor and the needy, considering how his redemptive work is to save those who cannot save themselves, it would be a fundamental contradiction of his grace for us to despise the poor and favor the rich. God's not operating that way. And that doesn't mean he saves all the poor, and that does not mean he saves only the poor, because poverty and riches in themselves don't render a man good or evil or right in the sight of God. That's not his point. God does not look at the economic status of people. He's looking upon their spiritual need. But he says it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom And God always hears the cry of those who are needy, those who understand their need. The principle of the kingdom of God is opposite to the kingdoms of this world, where the rich and the powerful are exalted and admired, where self-esteem is adored. In Christ's kingdom, we do honor the next man above ourselves, regardless of status, always showing love and mercy. That's why Paul could say to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 1, 26 to 31, consider your calling, brethren. There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. and the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen. He's chosen the things that are not so that he might nullify the things that are so that no man may boast before the Lord. And therefore, if a man boasts, Let him boast in the Lord. Think of Jeremiah, chapter 9. Let not the wise boast of his wisdom, nor the strong man boast of his strength, nor the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, For in these I delight, declares the Lord. We are called to be humble and lowly because it is by grace alone that we have been saved through faith, and even that's a gift of God. Grace is the leveler between all of us. And so for a Christian then to make his assessment of how he treats people in the world based on their inherent worthiness in his own eyes is a contradiction of God's mercy toward us. It's just like that man who had been forgiven so much, going out and immediately demanding the return of his investment from the man who was even poorer than he and owed much less than he. The principle of the kingdom is what Jesus says in Matthew 11. Come unto me. all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. We must always be ready to give to those who are in need, whatever the need may be. And in verses six and seven, he addresses the Christian community, which in James's time was largely poor, and he admonishes them for insulting the poor. Think of that. They're insulting the poor because they favor the rich when they come into their services. The rich were, by and large, the ones who were often guilty of exploiting the poor. By failing to pay them just wages, as he says in chapter five, James is saying, you shouldn't be favoring the rich. You should, if anything, be defending those who are in need. You shouldn't be humiliating them by favoring the more wealthy. don't show any favoritism. Rather, when the poor and defenseless in our society are abused, we must cry out against the oppressors, as powerful as they may be, and we must rebuke them for their sin. At the same time, we can welcome any, regardless of status, who come humbly asking for mercy into our worship or into the worship of God. He goes on in verses 8 to 13 to say, it's not just that faith is denied when we show petty favoritism and shallow prejudice, but it's Jesus' royal law that's contradicted. Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself. Now, who's your neighbor? Is that the one who's dressed like you? Is that the one who votes like you? Is that the one who has the same economic status as you? Or is it the one who is in need of mercy, of grace, and compassion, regardless of outward circumstances. Who is your neighbor? If we are going to grow in grace, we must strive to seek to live out the whole law of God, not just bits of it. James, again, in verse eight, states the first principle. If you're loving your neighbor as yourself, you're not going to show base, shallow prejudice based on the externals. And then you have to consider the description of love from 1 Corinthians. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Christ showed that kind of love perfectly. And don't you want to be treated with that kind of love? But partiality, he says in verse nine, is a denial, it's a violation of that very command. Because Jesus' royal law is incompatible with partiality. Not only that, but the violation of God's commands at this point makes one a lawbreaker because holiness is one. The law is all one piece. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all your soul, all your mind. And to break the law in any part breaks that. You see, James knows very well that he is writing to people who care about the Bible. And they do care about living. according to the commands of God, and they do care about, therefore, holiness. The problem is those people are a lot like us. They're a lot like me. We all have blind spots. And it's easy to spend a lot of time on working on our holiness in area A where we have a huge gap in area B. But we don't pay much attention to area B because that's a little more uncomfortable, a little more difficult. So as long as we're concentrating on A, well, we're content because, well, we're still working at sanctification, right? And James is saying, look, you can spend all your time at being holy over there. And you can ignore God's law over here. You're yet a lawbreaker. And he's challenging him right here in this area of favoritism. And he gives the illustration in verses 11 and 12. You can refrain from sexual immorality. And you can commit murder. hate in your heart. And you're still a lawbreaker, he says. You've been holy in one area, but you've broken the law in another. And so also, he says, you can be pursuing godliness as you think in some area of life, and yet ignoring God's word in another area of life. And then what are you? A lawbreaker. And if we realize the demands of keeping the whole law, what's it going to do to us? It drives us back to God for mercy. If we understand this principle about ourselves, We know we stand before God and we're going to be judged on the basis of his law and our keeping of it. What's going to happen? We're going to be condemned. And of ourselves. And so in verse 12, he says, it throws us back on what? The law of liberty. The fact that when we stand before the throne, we won't be judged according to our works, because if we're judged according to our works, we will be condemned. But if we're judged according to Christ's works, and we're accepted according to those, if we're declared righteous according to Christ's works, and we're invited into the kingdom because of Christ's works, We are free. That's a law of liberty. It's in the love of God for us, and our love in response to him, that we find our perfect freedom. And he says, if you know that mercy of God, if you receive that liberty in God through Jesus Christ, that freedom from the bondage to sin, and that condemnation through the mercy and the grace of God and Jesus Christ, How then are you going to live with regard to others in this world? What's your witness to the world going to be? It doesn't matter what your trials are. It doesn't matter what your difficulties are with other people. We have to think carefully about this. The Sermon on the Mount when Jesus says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Jesus says when he taught us to pray, if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. When you think of God's mercy toward you, doesn't your heart then overflow with mercy toward others? And if it's not, then do you understand mercy? Have you forgotten? what God has done in Christ for you? Favoritism or partiality is sinning against the rule of Christ and the whole law of God, and it's inviting his strictest judgment. A vital faith will lead to our demonstrating mercy in accepting others including those who are very different from us, those who make us perhaps uncomfortable, those who are less unfortunate than us. Such mercy and love toward others would transform our Christianity. It would definitely transform our witness if we live this out. Brothers and sisters, we begin a new year and we live with our eyes set on the return of our merciful savior who is coming again to judge the living and the dead. And here he reminds us his mercy triumphs over judgment. If we know this, then live by it. Let us speak and let us act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Let us pray. Lord God, search us out to see if there is any unclean thing in us. Banish from us an unmerciful spirit of shallow favoritism and make us by your word and spirit to be those who are in our relationships, even with strangers, those who show the love of Christ. Let us to show the welcoming embrace of a beggar showing another beggar, the one who has redeemed us from the pit and given us the bread of heaven and invited us to his banquet and accepted us as his brothers. In Jesus' name, amen.