James
James 2v1-13: Don't show favouritism - demonstrate love
I don’t know whether many of you used to watch Harry Enfield’s comedy sketch shows. Those that did may remember the teenagers Kevin and Perry. At the stroke of midnight when Kevin became a teenager he suddenly turns into a moaning horror, with the catchphrase ‘It’s not fair!”, rolled out at any and all situations. I laughed because I could remember being like that. I’m not laughing so much now because both my daughters trot it out with alarming regularity. “It’s not fair!”.
It’s funny, but we seem to have an inbuilt sense of justice when it comes to the way that we are being treated ourselves. We are finely tuned at recognising when someone else is receiving preferential treatment over us…
What a pity that our human nature is not so finely tuned at recognising when we treat others unfairly – whether by what we do (showing favouritism) or by what we don’t do (discriminating against them).
James continues his blunt assault on behaviour which is inappropriate for Christians by forcing his readers to face up to these issues – stating the principle and then giving arguments by example, from theology and from scripture, highlighting the grace of God, the word of God and the judgement of God – which together give testimony to the principle: Don’t show favouritism.
Don’t Show Favouritism
The principle (v1)
In the opening verse of this passage, James states the key principle that he is going to talk about. “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism.” Because our time is short I want to move straight into his arguments, and then finally think about what lessons it has for us today.
An argument by example (v2-4)
Just in case the original readers might miss the point, James opens with an illustration about a finely dressed man and a poor man coming into a Christian meeting and the treatment they receive varies depending upon their apparent status. Favouritism. Discrimination. James calls this ‘becoming judges with evil thoughts’. It is wholly inappropriate for Christian behaviour.
How well someone was dressed was very significant in the culture of that day, and of many cultures around the world today, but possibly not so significant for us in Britain right now – although I have known churches where undue favour was given to a wealthy family who were supporting much of the churches activities financially (nobody wanted to take the chance of alienating them and effectively they didn’t trust God to keep the church running).
Unlike inner city churches it is not so likely that we will see shabbily dressed people come through our church doors. But favouritism for those with ‘good’ characteristics and discrimination against those with ‘not so good’ characteristics is a potential risk to us. We can’t easily dismiss this warning.
An argument from theology (v5-7) / the grace of God
Who are the poor? What is their value? Maybe not much as the world would value things – as Paul writes in 1 Cor 1v26-29 “…think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not” why?“so that no-one may boast before him”
But their value is this: Has not God chosen.
All are chosen by the grace of God alone, so that none should boast. All of us. And that should be one of the great levellers whenever we think of other people.
I remember twenty years ago, when I’d just started work and I was sharing a house with three other people, one of them decided to have a major falling out with me and started giving me the silent treatment. I never did work out what I’d done wrong, but it seemed as though it was everything. If you’ve been on the receiving end of something like that, you know how it can get you down, and I can still picture standing in he kitchen one evening on my own, ranting away to God about this miserable woman who was making my life a misery. I was telling God how venal and stupid and annoying and illogical she was, and rhetorically asked the question “do you know how much she is worth?” Unexpectedly God answered me. “She is worth the life of my beloved Son. He died for her too”. I broke down in tears.
An argument from scripture (v8-11) / the word of God
James turns to scripture, making an appeal on the basis of the word of God. “Love your neighbour as yourself” originally came from Lev 19v18, we know it better from Jesus’ description of the great commandment. When asked ‘who is my neighbour’, Jesus then told the parable of the Good Samaritan.
If you look at v9, we see favouritism shown in opposition to love. Favouritism is unloving. If we really keep the law to love our neighbours as ourselves, we don’t fall into the trap of favouritism, of discrimination.
James then harks back to Jesus’ sermon on the mount, where it has been made clear to us that failing at any point of the law makes you as guilty before God as if you broke all of it.
In Gods eyes showing favouritism, discrimination, is as horrible as adultery or murder – no matter how much we might be tempted to sugar-coat or justify it.
Concluding appeal (v12-13) / the judgement of God
The law that gives freedom. An interesting expression – sometimes I hear people argue that true freedom is only found in anarchy – the absence of restricting laws. But in truth, freedom comes when you have certain boundaries which act as safety nets.
Illustration: The childrens school where do-gooders didn't want the children to be fenced in, so they got the fences removed. The children no longer felt safe and huddled around the buildings. Only when the fences were replaced did they range all over the school grounds at lunchtime again. The fences were not a restriction to them, they were a safe boundary.
So the laws that God has given, whether the ten commandments or the commands of Jesus, are there for our freedom – they give us the opportunity to live free from harm and without harming others.
Demonstrate Love
We have already seen that the opposite of favouritism is demonstrating love. That is what we are called to do.
Jesus said in John 15 “Love each other as I have loved you”. And we are not to show favouritism or discrimination in that love. I rejoice that I’m in a church where people across the social and intellectual spectrum freely give each other time, listen to one another across boundaries which this world would expect to see between us.
I think there is more too. We are 21st Century Christians living in the 21st Century. And that means that the horizons of our ‘village’ are wider than they’ve ever been before. We have a higher level of awareness of the grinding poverty, the awful oppression, the terrible injustice around the world than any generation before us.
And you know what? Think back to the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. Jesus asks “which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” and the expert in the law replied “the one who had mercy on him”. Jesus told him “Go and do likewise”.
Go and do likewise.
The poor come into our house every week through the medium of the television. How do we respond to them? I believe that Jesus calls us to demonstrate love
In the parable of the sheep and the goats, in Matt 25, Jesus says “"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' ”
I’ve just received this map from Open Doors, showing the countries where Christian persecution is at its worst, and I’ll be putting it up on the notice board in the entrance area after the service. You may have seen the article in the Independent newspaper (29th April) which pointed out that a 99p bag of salad costs Africa 50 litres of water which it can ill afford. Within the last month the United Nations has launched a $425m appeal to help feed 8m people in urgent need of assistance across East Africa. Examples are legion.
We can’t do everything, of course. But we can do something. We heard last week about true religion and Richard explained to us that true religion was about our relationship with people, about following the true God and about being doers and not just hearers of the word.
If we want to demonstrate love to the poor, if we want to avoid discriminating against them, then we need to think through what we pray, what we give and perhaps even our purchasing habits...
Alex White
Choose your preferred style for this site: