Well, good evening. Please do turn in your copies of God's word to the letter of James, the letter of James, and we're now entering into chapter two. That's found on page 1,011 of the Pew Bible. So James chapter two and verses one to seven. Let us continue to worship the Lord together as we listen to his word read and preached. 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 clothes 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 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? So when it's the reading of God's word, let us ask the Lord to bless the preaching of his word to our souls. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that comes to us now through your Apostle James. Lord, as he holds the mirror of your law, of your word up in front of us, help us to gaze into that mirror, to see changes that need to be made, and to repent and make those necessary changes in our lives. We thank you that because we're in Christ, because we have your spirit working in us, your law is now something that blesses us and shows us the way we walk and march to heaven. So please be with us now and work in us by your spirit and through your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, James writes in verse one, my brothers show no partiality. And he writes that because showing partiality or playing favorites is something we do all the time. A number of years ago, a research group studied the way someone's clothing affects how they are perceived. And so what they did is they placed a man in the business district in New York City, and this man asked passersby for money with this line. I've lost my wallet, and I need money for a taxi to the airport. This is my name, my address, my phone number. And if you loan me the money, I'll pay you as soon as I get home. Well, first, they had this man in this business district wearing a very respectable black suit. and he made a certain amount of money. Well, then the next time they tried it, they didn't make him wear rags. Actually, they just made him wear a more fashionable coat. Apparently, beige overcoats were the fad that year in the fashion scene. And on those days where he wore the beige overcoat, he actually made double the amount of money. And what were people doing? They were making judgments based on his appearance. just because he was slightly more fashionable. Therefore, he must be more trustworthy. And I noticed that none of us are gasping in shock. That doesn't shock us because we do it all the time. We judge on the basis of what we see. And this is how the world works. The way the world is, we see someone, we size them up, and based on nothing but externals, we fit them into a category. And if we happen to like that category, we treat them favorably. And if not, well, tough luck. It's all about optics. We want to know straight away, is this person worth my time? Is this person worth me serving them? Will I get something out of it? Will it be to my advantage? Although this may be the practice of the world, James writes, my brothers show no partiality as you hold to the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Partiality, discrimination, favoritism may be par for the course in the world, but it has no place in the church of Jesus Christ. Apparently, this was a concern James had for his scattered flock. It seems that some had fallen for this worldly way of thinking. Perhaps they thought it was to their advantage to favor the rich so that then the rich might join their churches and maybe they'd be spared from persecution. Maybe they'd have more leverage in society. But whatever their motivation is, James makes clear in this passage that favoritism and faith are opposites. They do not and cannot coexist. James has been anticipating this topic for some time. In verses nine to 12, he contrasted the fleeting nature of wealth and riches with the eternal a crown that awaits those who love God. Therefore, both the rich man and the poor man is to find his identity in Christ and not in wealth, not in status. In verse 27, he described true and pure religion before God as caring for the widow and the orphan. This is what real Christianity looks like in practice. It's caring for the poor and the needy. And now he shows us why Christians ought not favor one class of person over another. He shows us how favoritism is inconsistent with the character of God, a God who cares for the orphan and the widow. And finally, James gives us the solution to favoritism. He does so pointing us back to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the one through whom we have redemption, the one through whom we are adopted into God's family to be made rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom of heaven. So first we'll consider the prohibition against favoritism. Then secondly, the inconsistency of favoritism. And then finally, the solution to favoritism. So first we have the prohibition against favoritism. Look again at verse one. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. So very simply, a person who claims to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must not show partiality. What does that mean? What does it mean to show partiality? Well, the word translated as partiality literally in the Greek means to receive someone's face. And of course, it has the sense of making a judgment about someone just based on their appearance, their external factors. What's interesting is the Greek word here is actually plural, so we might even translate it as acts of partiality. And what this means is that James clearly has a broader application here than only the rich and poor distinction. So the Apostle James forbids Christians from preferring one person over another because of appearance. All this means we're not to make value judgments about others based on any external factor, not on someone's clothes, not on the color of their skin, not on the level of their education or their accent. A person of faith should not do this. And yet it seems that some were doing this, among those who James were writing to. But why might this have been a particular temptation for his audience? Well, many in the early church were not wealthy. They were not powerful. Poverty was a reality for most. We believe that James, of course, is writing to the church of Jerusalem that had been scattered by persecution. So they're sent all over the place and now they're living as refugees in various countries. And in their new home, they were persecuted by the wealthy. In verse six, James speaks of how the rich are oppressing them and dragging them into court. Verse seven, they're blaspheming the name of Christ. It wasn't easy to be a Christian in the first century. And so perhaps these Christians thought to themselves, well, wouldn't it be nice to get some of the upper class on our side? If we get some of these rich types into our churches, then maybe we'll have more leverage in society. We'll be protected from persecution. Then the world would stop making fun of us and despising us. And that's what we need, more of those kinds of people, not the riffraff we've been getting. And sadly, 2,000 years later, the church doesn't think much differently. The sad state of affairs in much of the church is that, though the church is despised and ridiculed by the world, the church is still enamored by the world, and the church craves the attention and the glory and the praise of the world. How often do we see cases where some celebrity or some sports star has an apparent conversion to Christianity, which is great if it's true, but then all of a sudden, churches just go nuts, and they invite these celebrities to speak at their churches. Suddenly, these new converts are given a platform and authority to address God's people. Churches roll out the red carpet, and why? It's simply because they have wealth, they have status, they have power. But James says, this should not be so in the church. Well next, James gives us an example of what he means by showing partiality. Let's read verses two to three. 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 you say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the other man, the poor man, you stand over there or sit by my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves? So the setting here is what James calls the assembly We remember from Sunday school this morning that the assembly is the gathered church meeting in the presence of God. That's what the Bible refers to as our worship service. So it's a regular Sunday, no different from any other, and two visitors walk in to the church, they're visiting the church, and the two visitors are dressed very differently. One man is wearing a ring and very nice clothes. Literally, in the Greek, he's wearing bright clothes because colorful dyes were very expensive in the ancient world. And he's also wearing a ring. Now, this ring isn't that he's married. It means that he's part of the upper class, the Roman equestrian class. So this is the kind of guy who rolls up in his Ferrari and he steps out. Maybe someone else parks it for him. He's got an Armani suit. He's got a Rolex dangling off his wrist. Maybe he's a big businessman or a politician. Someone nice to have around. But then the second man. Well, the second man couldn't look more different, could he? His clothes are not bright, but shabby. And really this word shabby doesn't even do it justice. The word shabby is actually the same, comes from the same root word James used back in verse 21 to describe the filth of sin. Remember, we're to take off the filth of sin. Well, that's how this man's clothes are described. And we can imagine in our day and age the kind of person James is describing. Well, it's the typical homeless person who walks in off the street just to check out a church, and he's wearing mismatched clothes and smelly rags. Well, as both men walk into the foyer of this church, They're quickly spotted by the ushers, and when they see the rich man, they get excited. Think of what a guy like this could do for our church. This would be a nice guy to have around. The text shows how they give him special attention. They hurry over, they shake his hand, they make sure he feels welcome. They make sure he has the best seat in the house. Now in our churches today, thankfully, we all have seats. But in the ancient world, in synagogues and early churches, there were only a few seats, and other people would have sat on the ground or stood at the sides and so be thankful for your pews. So we don't have seats of honor, but they did, and the rich man was given the seat of honor. But the poor man, on the other hand, is treated with dishonor. He's disregarded. He's told to stand there or sit on the floor by my feet. Well, it sends the message, doesn't it, that he's not particularly wanted or that if he does stay, he needs to know his place. After all, what could a poor man contribute to a church like ours? We don't need people like that. Now, without even reading James's indictment in verse four, we know that this treatment isn't right. We know this isn't proper. This isn't how you treat people with respect. It's not what should be done in a church. But is it all really that bad? I mean, do you want a homeless person sitting in the pew next to you right now? Listen to what James says in verse four. Have you not then made distinctions among yourselves, becoming judges with evil thoughts? Notice what he's saying. He's saying that by showing favoritism to one brother over another, you're discriminating between the two. That's what partiality is, it's discrimination. And James says such discrimination is in fact judging with evil thoughts. That makes it quite clear, doesn't it? We might think we're being wise in our thoughts if we take a homeless person or a poor person and we shove them to the back out of sight, out of view. But James says, that's not wise thinking. That's actually evil thinking. It's evil thinking. That's not wisdom from above. That's wisdom from below. By calling them evil judges, he's also saying that the very way you treat your poor brother is how the world treats you. The world drags you into court. The world dishonors the name of Christ. Now you're treating this poor brother the same way. This kind of discrimination is evil because it keeps us from seeing a brother or a sister as one made in God's image, purchased by Christ, by his blood. Instead, we see this brother, we see the sister, we make a mental assessment, we fit them into a category we like or dislike, and we treat them accordingly. It's interesting as some commentators say that James is probably just giving some kind of hypothetical example. Churches don't do this. And maybe some of us are still not convinced that a church would ever do this to a poor person. When I was young, I attended a church back in Cork, back in Ireland. And I remember distinctly one morning, the church intern went out into the city, trying to bring people into church, trying to invite people to church. Well, eventually he did, and he came in with a homeless man. And it must have been, maybe he came in a couple of minutes late from being out in the city center, but many of the seats were taken up. And so he had to sit in the front, so he brought this homeless man right up to the front of the church and they sat down there. And no sooner had they sat down than ushers swarmed him and whisked him away out of the church. Yeah, I remember as a child just being gobsmacked because I had read the book of James and I remember James saying something about that. Now, of course, it's easy, isn't it, for us to think of examples like that and to wag the finger at a church like that, that can so foolishly and blatantly break God's law. But we need to ask ourselves, do we do this? Do we do this? Now, to my knowledge, we've never literally dragged someone to the back of the church, but do we as a church have a culture of showing preference to one kind of person over another? And as I said, this partiality is plural, so there are infinite ways this can apply. Ask that question of your own heart. Are you suspicious and unfriendly towards people based on how they look? Or if they're from a certain social class? Because I know some of you well, I know some of you are thinking, well, I'm just being wise by avoiding a certain class of person. I was a police officer for six years. I was often in situations where I had to make snap judgment decisions based on someone's appearance. So I understand that. But that's the exception. That's not the rule. And we cannot use that as an excuse for making such distinctions and discrimination in the Church of Christ. What about someone's ethnicity? Does that affect how you interact with them? Does that affect how you think of them? When you see a certain class of person, do you suddenly tap into a category and slot them into that and think of them a certain way? That's literally making a judgment based on someone's face. Do you show favoritism to those who school their children like you do, but dishonor and disrespect those who choose to school their children differently? What about age? Do you look down on those who are younger than you, young whippersnappers? Do you look down on the elderly, a waste of time? Men, do you treat women with respect, giving them a voice, lifting them up and honoring them? Or do you treat them like this poor brother to be subjected off silent in a corner somewhere? Beloved, We need to ask these questions of our own hearts, because as James says, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And as he'll even go on in this next section, we'll look at next week. It's a dangerous place to be. It's breaking God's law. It's prohibited. Well, after giving the prohibition against favoritism, James moves on now to show us why. He shows us the inconsistency of favoritism, how favoritism is inconsistent with the character of God. Look at verse five with me. Listen, my beloved brothers. Can you see James's, the strength of his appeal? He's pleading with him to understand that this is important. We cannot tolerate this in the church. 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, you've dishonored the poor man. So first, he reminds them that the very poor brother that they are rejecting and dishonoring, is one whom God has chosen. They look with eyes of the world, they see only his poverty, they smell only the filth of his rags and nothing else. And in doing so, they're blind to the fact that this is a brother, this is a sister in Christ, bought with Christ's blood. God has placed his name upon this brother or sister and has made them an heir of the kingdom. that God chooses the poor demonstrates that he does not play favorites based on these kinds of distinctions. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26 and onward, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. That God shows, or that God saves both the poor and the rich shows that he is a God without partiality. This is something that's stressed again and again in the Old Testament. Moses reminded the Israelites in Deuteronomy chapter 10, the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome. What would such a God have to do with the poor, with the fatherless, with the widow? Moses tells us. He shows no partiality and he accepts no bribes. This great God, he defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow. He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. This is your God. This is your God. And what has this God chosen the poor for? We see it in verse five, don't we? To be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to all who love him. So though poor in appearance, the person called by God is truly rich in faith. James is saying that the very brother you're trying to throw out of the church is one that God has ushered into his own kingdom and made him fit for that kingdom. As Jesus said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is promised to all who love him, regardless of wealth, regardless of status or power or fame or ethnicity. You know what else is promised to those who love God? Look back at verse 12 of chapter one, the crown of life. The crown of life is promised to those who love him. You see, in Christ, God makes paupers into princes. And therefore, we should treat such brothers and sisters, not with dishonor, but with dignity and with respect. But God's evaluation of the poor and of these kinds of categories, it's so different from the way the world evaluates someone. You know, in the world, we look at someone and we size them up. We try to get an idea of who they are, what they do. Do they meet our standards? And if they have the traits of worldly success, then they're worthy of our time. And we give them a seat of honor in our lives, how we spend our time. We're so very impressed by human glory, the kind of things the world loves, like external beauty, wealth, fame, status, power. And we like to associate with those kinds of people so that we look better. But not so with God. God doesn't do that. God didn't do that with you. When he searched for you, when he called you to himself, he didn't search for what was lovely, what was powerful, what was mighty, what was glorious. No, he searched for what was unlovely, what was weak, what was despised. And he brought you to himself and he made you lovely. And God loves all of his saints without partiality. And you see, James is showing us how inconsistent this partiality is with the character of God, because we're supposed to be like God. James is calling us to be like God and not to prejudge a person based on their social status, their wealth, their appearance, their race, because God evaluates a person based on their heart. And we must do the same as far as we are able. on the basis of those qualities of faith, hope, and love. Showing favoritism is inconsistent with the character of God who is without partiality. Well, we've seen the problem. We've seen the inconsistency. Now third, what's the solution? What's the solution to the discrimination we sometimes see in the church? What's the problem to the discrimination and partiality that I see in my own heart? The solution is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice how both times James makes his appeal. In verses one and verse five, he appeals to them on the basis of their common faith in Christ. Verse one, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Verse five, listen, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith? Faith. What does it mean to have faith? Well, here James is focusing not so much on faith as something we do, right? We have faith, we exercise faith, we use faith. No, his focus is on the object of faith. His focus is on the object that our faith looks to, clings to, trusts in, rests in, hopes in for salvation. And that object is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Both the poor believer and the wealthy believer trust in the same Lord of glory, Jesus Christ. And Christ, like his father, came and showed his care for the poor. Jesus took on flesh, a true body and a reasonable soul. He was born of a poor woman. He had no earthly riches. And in his ministry, he showed no partiality. He ministered to Pharisees and prostitutes, men and women, Jews and Gentiles, the young and the old, the leper and the lame, the diseased and the demon possessed. And he gave his life for every kind of person, to purchase them for himself. And out of this bizarre mix of people from every walk and of every background, he built his church. Think of the church in Philippi, who were the charter members of this prestigious church. Well, it was a jailer, an ex-demon-possessed slave girl, and a wealthy businesswoman. What in the world could these three people have in common? And in one sense, the answer is nothing. They have nothing in the world by the world's estimations, but they did have Christ. They had Christ in common. Christ is what brought them together because Christ transcends every worldly, division and distinction. You see, in Christ, we have all been chosen. In Christ, we have all been made into a new people. This means we're no longer divided or defined by the things that the world so obsesses over. No, in Christ, we are all one. In Christ, there is no ethnic distinction. Romans 10 verse 12, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. In Christ, there is no hierarchy between servants and masters. There is no hierarchy between men and women. Galatians 3, verses 28 and 29. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. You see, if we fully grasped the gospel, then we know there's no room for partiality. There's no room for favoring one person over another. There's no place for dishonoring people because they're different from us. When we grasp the gospel, we recognize that none of us deserve to be here. None of us deserve to be heirs of the kingdom. None of us deserve to be rich in faith. None of us deserve to be adopted by God. We are all saved by grace. And when we gather as Christ's church, whatever we are by the world's estimation doesn't matter. All that matters is that though we were orphaned by sin, we are now adopted by Christ, which makes us a family, so that we are brothers and sisters, co-heirs in Christ. You see, when we've grasped the gospel, we don't say to a brother, to a sister, stand over there or sit by my feet. We don't say, who let you in? No, instead, each of us cry with thankful tongues, Lord, why was I a guest? We long to see thy churches full, that all the chosen race may with one voice and heart and soul sing thy redeeming grace. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wondrous grace of the gospel that has saved sinners and wretches such as us. Lord, we thank you for that grace that reminds us that Our place at this table this evening is not one we receive because we were the glorious and we were the mighty and we were the clean and pure, but no, it is because Christ has been all of those things and he has chosen us and he has brought us to his table. He has cleansed us. He has washed us with his blood. He has brought us near to God. Help us, Lord, to Remember and grasp the gospel that it might flow out into our entire life. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.