My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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 those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Speak and 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. (James 2:1-13 NIV)
I once heard an old story about a Confederate general in the Civil War. One day, as the war was raging, he walked into a church to pray. At that very moment, a slave was kneeling at the foot of the big cross in front. The general walked right up to the cross, knelt beside the slave, and prayed to God right there next to him. When the people around scoffed and asked what he was doing, he said: “The ground is level at the foot of the cross. It doesn’t matter where you come from. Rich or poor, slave or free, Jesus died for all. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
I don’t know whether that story is true or not, but it reminds me of what we hear in God’s Word today. James says: “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” Do you remember who James was? Take a moment. Think of your best guess. James was one of Jesus’… brothers. He eventually became the head of the church in Jerusalem. James wrote God’s message to people who were already believers in Christ. So James doesn’t focus on how we come to faith. He focuses on how believers in Jesus will live. And he says: “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.”
The Greek word for showing favoritism is interesting. It means to “look upon the face of someone.” We show favoritism when we look at someone’s face or clothes or position and give them some special treatment based on what we see. Favoritism has no place in the life of a Christian, because “God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11). The way God feels about us is not influenced by appearance or color or gender or job. Whether you’re a mighty general or a lowly slave, God created all. Jesus died for all. His Word is meant for all. So having faith in Jesus and showing favoritism just don’t mix. “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”
But when James looked at the churches around him, he saw something different. When a rich man would come into church with a gold ring and fancy clothes—maybe we’d say he hops out of a limo wearing a three-piece suit—they would escort him right up to the best seat in front. But when a poor man would come into church with dirty clothes, they would quickly send him to a corner way in the back. And for some reason, those Christians thought that was okay. It’s what their society did. They gave special privileges to the rich and famous. It made sense. But James said: “Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
I’m glad we don’t have that problem in our church. Because each week you leave all the best seats open up here in front and humbly take the worst seats in the back of the church! But we should look a little deeper than our seating arrangement and ask: Whom do we show special attention to? Maybe we don’t send people to the back of church, but do you purposely avoid certain people because they’re not worth your time? Maybe we don’t favor the rich or the poor—at least we don’t think we do—but do we favor people like us and we try to avoid those who are a little too different? That’s favoritism. That’s looking at the face of people and judging them.
There’s a reason James points specifically to an example inside a church. This is where favoritism causes the greatest problems. There is nothing more destructive in a congregation than when people can sense who is at their level and who isn’t. Than when people can see cliques forming. There is nothing more destructive than when we who say that Jesus Christ died for all act as though he only died for some. Than when we think that God should love us more than some other person. God doesn’t give you and me the right to determine who deserves his love.
Because God has already made clear that his love is meant for all! James writes, “Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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 those who love him?” Think about the contrast between God and us. When God wanted to save the world, he didn’t come as a wealthy man. Jesus came as a carpenter who died on a cross. When God wanted people to believe in him, he didn’t find the smartest and the cutest people. He found us. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). That’s grace!
Everyone who believes in Christ knows that it’s not by my own thinking or choosing that I believe in Jesus. It’s by God’s grace, so that no one can boast. As a Christian, there’s no room for thinking you are better than anyone else. It is God and God alone who raises us up and makes us what we are. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. That’s why James scolded those Christians for their favoritism: “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith?… But you have dishonored the poor.” Favoritism is so contrary to grace.
But James wasn’t done. He knew how big of a problem favoritism can be. He really wanted to help Christians avoid thinking that wealth or anything else makes one person better than another. So he continued: “Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?… Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?” Think about the rich and famous people whom we so often idolize—movie stars, athletes, singers… How many of them mock God with their lives? Why do we show more interest in the lives of the rich and famous slanderers of God than in the lives of the poor in the eyes of the world who believe in Jesus? It doesn’t make sense!
As if that weren’t enough, James gives one more reason why showing favoritism can’t be part of our lives as Christians. It goes against God’s basic command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So James says: “If you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.”
So maybe you’re thinking: “Alright, pastor, we get it. We need to be a little nicer to other people. But if there are a few people I just don’t want to put up with, is it really such a big deal?” I want you to look at verse 10. This is a verse we need to hear every time we think that our sin isn’t that big of a deal. “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Do you understand what that’s saying? God’s will for us is like one long chain. Breaking any link means you’ve broken the whole thing. It doesn’t matter what link you break. To mistreat a brother or sister in Christ is just as bad in God’s eyes as murder or adultery. “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
That’s when it hits home. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. When you stand before Jesus and his cross, you better not stand with your head proudly held high. Because without Jesus, you are not a good person. Your sin makes you guilty. Mine does too. Everyone is at the same level before God. Without Jesus, you deserve death just as much as the man who was executed this week for hammering someone to death. Without Jesus, I deserve hell just as much as the young man who killed all those students in Uvalde. If you think you’re higher up the ladder than they are, if you think that you are above anyone else, than you are still far from the kingdom of God. Humility comes from acknowledging how poor—how sinful—we really are.
That’s why it’s good that God doesn’t pick favorites! Instead, God so loved the whole world that he gave his only Son. When Jesus died on the cross, he didn’t just die for Forbes’ 100 wealthiest people. When Jesus died, he died for all. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor. If you’re beautiful or plain, old or young, black or white or brown. Jesus died for you! He took you and me who were poor and made us rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom. That’s what makes you special. And what makes the person sitting next to you special. And the person way up in the front. And the person way in the back. God loves and saves you and you and you and you.
Do you see the difference that makes in your life? If you aren’t a believer in Jesus, if you don’t have heaven waiting for you, then show favoritism left and right. Try to gain everything you can. Sit at the best places. Because that’s the best you are ever going to get. If you don’t have God on your side, then you better go out there and fight and claw and cheat and do everything you can to get ahead, because this world is all you’ve got. But if you’re a believer in Jesus, then you know that you are already rich. You already have the kingdom. Let everyone else run after the glory down here. Yours is coming. The King will come and give you the best seats at his table…
Do you see the difference that makes in your life? Your specialness doesn’t come from being better than others. It doesn’t come from putting others down or building yourself up. It doesn’t come from your beauty or your strength or your money or your smarts or your job or your family or any of the other things we like to turn to. It comes from Jesus. It comes from Jesus’ love for you. That means you don’t have to fight for it at all. That means no one can ever take it away. That means you’re free. Free from the competition. Free from the judging. Free in Jesus.
In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” Equality is still a buzz word today, isn’t it? We hear about it all the time. So how’s America doing? Doesn’t it seem like the more people talk about equality, the less equality there is in this country? A widening gap between rich and poor. Striking teachers. Rising prices. All the speeches and policies don’t seem to be helping much. Know why? They don’t address the root problem. What’s the root problem behind the inequality and injustice in our world? Sin. As long as there is sin, there will be inequality of every kind.
Except in one place—at the foot of Jesus’ cross. There every believer—rich and poor, black and white, man and woman—confesses sin and trusts in God’s grace. Our world doesn’t need more speeches or demonstrations or laws or tolerance. What our world needs is more of Jesus. Salvation in Christ is what breaks down all the barriers between human beings. True equality is found only in Christ. There is no one above you in God’s family. And that means there is also no one below you in God’s family either. So, “my brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
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