Let us pray. Eternal Father, You have spoken in various times and ways to Your people in the past. Yet in these last days, You have sent Your Son, the Incarnate Word, and together with Him, You have, by Your Spirit, given us the Holy Scriptures. We pray that You will open the mouth of Your servant to proclaim that Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. And by this same spirit, open the hearts of all who hear to receive your holy gospel and write on our hearts your holy law, even as you have promised. This we ask, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the sake of your kingdom and glory, amen. Our scripture reading will be from James chapter two, We'll be reading the first 13 verses, but it's been a while since I've preached from James, well over a year since I preached the last one. Just a reminder of what James is talking about in the book of James and where we've already come in the first chapter, because it's rather important to set the context here. Before we read it, James is teaching dispersed believers how to handle all the trials that they will face as they are strangers in a world that is strange, alien, foreign. We're citizens of heaven, and so he wants us to live as citizens of heaven in this very strange world that is now opposed to him. Verse two, therefore, says, as you are out there in the world, count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds. And James is simply trying to help us be joyful, but he's teaching us how through our trials, God is developing our faith. He's strengthening our perseverance. He's building our Christian character. And James says, and if you have a hard time seeing how God is doing this, pray. Pray for wisdom. God will give it. He will explain how this has happened, or he will help you see it in time. Because trials will come to all believers, regardless of their circumstances in this life. Whether you're rich or whether you're poor, no matter where you live, trials will come to everyone. And those differences among us and in our trials should never, ever, he says, create divisions among us so that we are envious of others or we are contemptuous of others because of the trials they are going through. We are all pilgrims, James says, saved by grace. We're all on the way to the new heavens and the new earth. So we do not respond to our trials with anger at others or at God. Because God is not at fault. God is a good God. He starts in chapter 16 and following to give a theology of God. And God is good. And everything God sends is good. And God works in everything for the good of those who love him. And so we have to learn to trust God in all circumstances that he is indeed doing what he says. James demonstrates this by pointing out that it is God who has brought us to new life. It is God, he says, who by his word has given us this new life. And this new life, well, we are a people united together as a kind of first fruits of a whole new people on the face of this world. And we are but the first fruits, the first part of the renewal of all creation. We have to see that that's what God's work is. And therefore, he's saying, that as such people, we have to live as new people. Don't be so quick to insert our own ways, be quick to listen, be slow to speak, slow to anger, put away, as we've talked about in the law, all immorality. Don't just hear the word, but be doers of the word. And he says this kind of Christ-likeness involves personal piety, but it also involves public morality. You have to live. according to the piety of Christ. That's chapter 1, and we've gone through that before. Now we read chapter 2. 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 the honorable name by which you were 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 act as those who are judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who is shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. May God bless to us the reading of his holy word. Dear people of God, called to be saints, James observed about 2000 years ago, the natural tendency we all have of judging by appearances. And we all do it. Every time we see or meet someone or well, we're looking at what they look like, what they're wearing, how they're acting. And we make judgments on verbal or visual clues. And from that, we make all manner of assumptions, all based on these instant appearances, from their clothes, to their stature, to their cleanliness. And we act on those assumptions. and the way we treat people. We tend to make judgments on surface issues. And James shows that that kind of, if I may use the word, discrimination, based on external matters, is a denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And therefore he says, my brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Literally, the word is don't look into someone's face. Not that he's opposed to looking at somebody in the face, but the idea is you don't look into somebody's face and make judgments. Don't get taken in by the looks of that face, and therefore show favoritism. That's the assumption behind that word. And it's amazing how much God's word addresses that subject. We all know the story of how Isaac and Rebekah had their favorites. Isaac favored Esau. Rebekah favored Jacob. And we know it created problems. And we all say, well, as parents, therefore, we don't have favorites. And the kids disagree with us. It's a bad idea in the family to play favorites. And it's a bad idea in the family of God as well, as well as in society. You don't make judgments on external matters, such as size, shape, dress, skin color. But particularly, this is true for us as God's people. And James is here to show us why we, God's people in this world, have to show that we are a different society. And we must not show favoritism because God doesn't. Leviticus 19, verse 15, we read, do not pervert justice. Do not show partiality to the poor. or favoritism to the rich, but judge your neighbor fairly. God was always concerned that those in society, like the poor, who have few or no rights, would be treated fairly in the body of believers. We have a tendency to be very fair for those who can pay bribes, who can influence us for the good. And we have a tendency to not be fair to those who have no standing in society. And God is saying, no, no, no. You treat everybody fairly. Proverbs 28, 21. To show partiality is not good. Yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread. Bribery is a form of partiality. The one hand, as it is, washes the other. A starving man will do almost anything for a piece of bread. Partiality shows up even in church leaders. Malachi 2 verse 9, the Lord says, so I have caused you, speaking about the church leaders, to be despised and humiliated before all peoples because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law. See, even among God's people, the leaders could judge on externals rather than on principles of truth and justice and mercy and love. And the New Testament continues that anti-partiality, anti-favoritism message. As you know, the Jews had a hard time accepting Gentiles. And after receiving a vision from the Lord, Peter said, I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. Acts 10. And that's echoed in Romans 2 verse 11 where it says God does not show favoritism And Ephesians 6, verse 9, where it says, there is no favoritism with the Lord. Colossians 3, 25, anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism with God. And Revelation 22 tells us that God shows no favoritism, giving to everyone according to what he has done. So there's this strong condemnation of favoritism, of partiality, as God's people living in this world. We are to be a new people. Partiality is a sin that we see everywhere. In our society today, we're seeing partiality just on the basis of a person's skin color, where they're from. Almost anything goes. You can't say anything. We just show partiality to certain classes of criminals and so on. Among believers, you can't see that kind of behavior. And that's what James is addressing in the verses one through four, and then we'll see a further explanation of that this evening. But in the opening address here, James doesn't just give a command and say, no partiality. He gives reasons. He gives an example. He addresses the believers as brothers. He's a brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's an exalted leader in the church. But he's a brother. In other words, he's placing himself on an equal level with the people he's writing to. And he's trying to say something not to put down. He's just one with everybody else. He's trying to build up the church according to the stature of Christ. He faces the same trials, temptations as everybody. And together they are to shine as a light for Christ. And he says, brothers, and then he says, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. And he uses that phrase, glorious. And you say, why does he put that in this context? Why doesn't he just say, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? But no, he says, glorious. And many would imply that what James is suggesting is that we serve an exalted Lord and Savior who is seated at God's right hand and therefore no one deserves more honor than he. And James here in his illustration is going to speak of seats. And no one should have a more honorable seat than Jesus. And so that's what they're saying is being referred to. But it actually goes deeper than that in this context. And to understand where Jesus is, we must understand how he got there. And one of our favorite passages is Philippians chapter 2, where we are warned against selfish ambition and vain conceit. And we are told there to, in humility, consider others better than ourselves, and our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. And in Philippians 2, what was the attitude of Christ Jesus? He who deserved the highest place of glory didn't hold on to it. He set it aside and he became a servant. for the sake of our salvation. He did not come into this world with a dazzling display, but he came as one of the lowest. And he, as he was on earth, conducted himself as a servant, washing the feet of his disciples, teaching them to do otherwise. He, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, something to be cloned to. Jesus did not say to his father, sorry, I am not going to set aside my glory for those little balls of dust. He was willing to become one of those little balls of dust in order that they could be exalted to share in the glory of God. He let that equality with God go. He made himself of no account, taking the nature of a servant, humbling himself even to death. On earth, he was cast out of the synagogue. He was executed as a criminal and is now exalted by God that at his name every knee should bow. And it's because of him going that route for our salvation that we should now not be showing partiality or favoritism. He did not show it in his life, and he calls us to walk in his footsteps. Jesus, who was rich, became poor for our sakes that we might become rich. And in our abundant riches, we should be willing to go down with the poor showing favoritism to no one. It's sad to say, but in the history of the Christian church, including the evangelical church, it has been a practice to curry favoritism with the rich and the popular. famous Christians, sports figures, whatever, thinking that's good for the reputation of the church and that's really good for the pocketbooks of the church. Jesus' approach was much different. He wasn't afraid to call out the rich and the famous for their sins. And people noticed. They even tried to turn his fairness against them. But he didn't succumb to that temptation. He didn't show favoritism to either rich or poor. He went to dinner with both. And therefore, James introduces this matter of favoritism referring to the now exalted Lord Jesus Christ, glorious because of what he first did for us. He emptied himself. And we are to be glorious like him by following his example. James goes on to give that example of partiality or favoritism. It has to do with people who come into worship. It's just an illustration. It's to be applied broader than worship, but it's an illustration. You see somebody who comes into worship, and they're well-dressed, he says, and they're attractive, and oh, we're glad to see them. And then somebody else comes into worship, and they're poor, and not so well-dressed, and perhaps even a little repulsive. You say, well, how welcoming are we? Don't sometimes we kind of move a little farther down the pew because we don't want to be quite so close to them, or that kind of a thing? James's illustration is we put those poor people somewhere else. or we get them to sit at their feet, which was the position of a slave. Today, we don't have these kind of sitting arrangements in our churches. But it used to be. I mean, if any of you watched the funeral for Queen Elizabeth, or any part of it, and you looked at the structure of the church building, you'll notice there were sections there. where the rich people could sit and where the poor people or the masses would sit. They were in different sections. That's the way churches used to be built. Such snobbery was not uncommon in the Middle Ages. Even in the last 100 years, you found churches built that way. And yet, even though we don't build churches that way, we do still make distinctions in the churches. You find that some churches are only for the rich. And some churches, rich people, wouldn't feel very welcome. The message being given that in some churches, the poor are not welcome, and in other churches, the rich are not welcome. Many churches want only people there who can pay their way, who can help support the church. But they don't really want the people that we've got to support. And so we can discriminate on all kinds of matters, race, and style of dress, and political views, and all kinds of things. What do we do? That's the question, really. What do we do with people who come to our church who are clearly different than us? Who, you'd say, maybe somebody comes in who lives on the street, like Lazarus in the parable. How quickly do we invite them over for dinner? Perhaps some sinners are welcome, but there are some we don't think would be so welcome. Sometimes we can even develop cliques in the church, where certain people hang together and they just kind of ignore others. A real danger, particularly when it deals with visitors. Are we welcoming? I should point out, it's not wrong to make some distinctions. For example, and I'm not picking on Roger here, but it's not wrong for an usher who meets a person, maybe elderly, maybe not, who comes in with crutches or in a wheelchair to help them to a convenient seat. or somebody who has a clear hearing disability to help them with hearing aids so that they can hear well. That's kind of a thing we would say is a good thing to do. And if he doesn't do that at first sight to this healthy, robust 19-year-old guy, well, we'd say, well, that's fine. You see, there's nothing wrong with helping out the one who's clearly needy. And you don't give the same attention to the one who is clearly not as needy. We understand that because that's not just sheer bias or prejudice. That's a manifestation of love and concern. And we understand that. There is a need that not all of us have. And so we don't all have to be treated the same. But the problem that James is dealing with is somebody coming in and we make snap judgments based on external matters. Judging the well-dressed person one way, being a bit suspicious maybe of the more poorly dressed person, thinking they're there maybe to just milk the system or get help. We tend to judge people in a certain way as having less good motives. Perhaps the well-dressed one has a little bit better spirituality than the other one. And we can make those judgments sometimes on externals. And I wonder, I've often thought of this, what would we have thought of Jesus and his disciples? I mean, they obviously came from the other side of the tracks. Jesus was a Nazarene, from Nazareth. where nothing good would come. And these were Galileans, for Pete's sake. They're from the North. Look who Jesus hung out with, for the most part. Publicans. That's not Republicans. That's publicans. And prostitutes, and the sick, the poor. Leaders of his day were glad to get Jesus out of the way. He threatened them. And how often, James is saying, are we not judges with evil thoughts? Verse four. That's really the issue. What is the attitude of our heart? Is it that of Jesus? Perhaps James had in his mind the attitude of Israel when they first saw King Saul. They were so impressed with King Saul because he was tall and he was handsome. But of course, his heart was not what it should be. Remember when Saul went to anoint a successor to him? And when he saw Eliab, the son of Jessa, he thought, oh, surely this is the Lord's anointed before me. And God says, do not consider his appearance or his height For I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things a man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Principle of Scripture. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. The youngest in that case was chosen. And we shall see that the whole way, next time, the whole way God works in his plan of salvation is not based on externals, but on the principle of salvation, is by faith alone, by grace alone. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And this should result, not result, I should say, in a reverse bias against the rich. Because that, of course, defeats the whole purpose. We do not look at the externals. We love to drive around nice areas and say, oh, that's a nice house and covet. We shouldn't. Understand that a lot of times beautiful homes are sad homes. Beautiful clothes can cover up a miserable life. Many of our brothers and sisters in the faith around the world live in mud huts with few possessions and little food, and yet they are one with us, with our Heavenly Father. Brothers and sisters, as we look at each other, and anyone who comes in the door. We are to look at each other as God sees us in Jesus Christ. We cannot see the hearts, but we are to judge not based on externals, but with righteous judgment. And when we meet others who come to worship or we go out to bring others into the fellowship of Christ, we must remember everyone is welcome. Jesus' words in Matthew 25, 31, whatever we do unto the least of these his brothers, we do it unto him. The nature of the kingdom of Christ is much different than the nature of the kingdoms of this world. In Christ's kingdom, the least shall be the greatest, the last first, and he who would be great must be the servant of all. Therefore, no favoritism. Be careful in how you judge others. We'll leave the subject for this morning, deal with it again a little further this afternoon, but just consider what it would be like for the poor man in Jesus' illustration. Have you ever been in a worship place? where you have been ignored or shunned. Remember the poor man? He's given the message when he's told, sit here as a slave or stand back there in the corner. He's given the message. He's not really wanted. He doesn't belong. He's not dressed right. He's got the wrong skin color. He lives in the wrong place of town or something like that. He doesn't even know what. He's just shunned aside. And if he is a believer or he's struggling with matters of faith, perhaps God has led him here to be united with a body of believers. What are we doing but creating division? in the body of Christ. James says, have you not made, verse four, distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? And there he goes to the heart of the issue. When we show favorites, we're saying to some people, you're my kind. You're my type. So we like you. And then we're making distinctions that God does not make. And the problem is our heart has selfish, evil motives. And we're saying, I'm good enough to be here, and if you're like me, you're good enough to be here as well. That was expressed in the first century by where you sat. But the reality is that none of us belongs here. None of us belongs here except for the humbling service of our Savior and the gift of faith that's been given to us. Our only comfort is that we belong to Jesus Christ, body and soul, in life and death. And we pray that every person in this world actually comes to know this comfort. And we must show that desire of our prayers and our actions, or we deny the very premise of our faith. Christ came to save the poor and needy like us. Let us be filled with his love and learn to love as he has loved, with a genuine love for all, regardless of their circumstances.