Introduction

James 2:1-9 ESV  My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.  (2)  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,  (3)  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,”  (4)  have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?  (5)  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?  (6)  But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?  (7)  Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?  (8)  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.  (9)  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

• James wrote this 10 to 15 years after Jesus died and rose again.
  • The disciples and apostles were planting churches all over.
  • The spirit had descended on believers and empowered them with supernatural gifts.
  • And thousands upon thousands of people were coming to Christ.
    • Of course this meant bigger church services, which James here calls “assemblies”.
    • And as these church services grew, there were naturally a variety of people coming.
    • And the leaders of these church services seemed to have a tendency to treat rich people differently than they treated poor people.
      • They gave the rich people the best seats.
      • They pushed the poor people away.
      • They acted like one group was honored guests and the other group was a burden.
        • And James was like “YO! This is sin! You are committing the sin of partiality!”
        • Jesus didn’t just die for the rich, He didn’t just die for the poor, Jesus died for everyone, for the whole world.
      • Are we not supposed to be like Christ? Are we not supposed to be Christians?

• Black church, white church, rich church, poor church, small church, big church, young church, old church… CAN WE JUST BE A CHRISTIAN CHURCH?
  • Can we just be a church that loves God and loves people?
  • Can we just be a church that open’s our Bibles, that we read them, that we do what they say?
  • Can we just be a Jesus worshiping, God obeying, Spirit lead church?
  • DO WE REALLY NEED TO BE DEFINED BY LABLES THAT THE WORLD USES?
• (“People Like Us” story): A few years back a wealthy family in our church asked for a meeting.
  • In our meeting they had a list of complaints.
    • They complained that we allowed prayer at the altars.
    • They complained that we allowed and even encouraged homeless people to attend the church.
    • They complained that I said things from the pulpit like “I want to be a church were felons come and get saved and redeemed.
      • And they ended all of their complaints with “If you want people LIKE US to come to the church you have to stop doing these things”
      • And I was like what do you mean “People like us”
      • And they said “We know this church could use some more money, and we love this church… so we want more people like us to come so we can do more as a church”.
        • Do more as a church?! You literally just asked me to do less as a church… less outreach, less altar time, less love for the least of these…
        • Frankly I don’t want to be a church for your people… I want to be a church for Christian people… all Christian people.
        • And I want to be a church were all people can come to become Christians.
• (“More comfortable in a Black Church” story): When we first started the church we used to go to Hyvee on first Ave to pick up a few people. There would always be homeless people in the cafeteria area drinking coffee so I would always ask “Does anyone else want to go to church this morning” to the whole cafeteria.
  • One such morning there was a black man having a meeting with three older white people, now I knew these people as being influential people in the city… but I couldn’t believe what happened next.
    • The black man said “I want to go” and started getting up.
      • When all of the sudden, one of the old white people reached across, grabbed his hand, and said with convection “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in a black church?”
        • I looked at her trying to hold back my disgust as I said “I don’t know what black church is, but we are a Christian church ma’am.”
• All these people think there are different kinds of churches. Black church, white church, rich church, poor church, young church, old church…
  • Can’t we just be a Christian church?! I PROMISE YOU THAT IS ENOUGH. And that is what we are going to talk about today.
    • Being a Christian Church, not showing partiality to anyone…
    • And being Christians in our lives, not showing partiality.
    • Let’s pray.

• Point one this morning: Partiality is Sinful.

Point One – Partiality (Classism, Racism, Ageism, Etc.) is Sinful

James 2:1 ESV  My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

James 2:8-9 ESV  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.  (9)  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

• Partiality is sinful.
  • Classism, meaning treating people differently based on their class or on how much money they have, classism is sinful.
  • Racism, treating people differently because of the color of their skin, is sinful.
  • Ageism, treating young people differently than old people, is sinful.
  • Any kind of partiality, except for one, is sinful.
    • I will get to the one kind of partiality that Christians should practice in a bit… but for now let’s focus on the sin of partiality and how to counter it.
• For James the sin of partiality was easy to point out, it had to do with wealth.
  • And man, this is an easy one to fall into.
  • I want to be friends with rich people, because when we go out to eat I know they are paying…
    • And when I go over to their house I know that we are watching football on the 100 inch TV.
      • And if we could get a bunch of rich people in our church wouldn’t that be great? Because let’s be frank, 10% of their income is way more than 10% of these poor people’s income…
      • I mean, just a couple more rich families coming to church and we could maybe afford a new parking lot.
      • And if we just had one wealthy family then maybe we could hire on some more full time ministers.
        • I mean it just makes sense, if I am going to put effort into getting people to come to church, I might as well put effort into getting wealthy people to come to church, right?
  • WRONG! What faithless nonsense.
    • New’s flash, our church is NOT dependent on your tithes.
      • OUR CHURCH IS DEPENDENT ON GOD.
      • The God who has more wealth than you could ever imagine.
      • The God who uses pure Gold as PAVEMENT.
      • The God who has the Cattle on a 1000 hills.
        • I know that a dozen eggs is breaking the bank right now…
        • But I serve a God who created the CHICKEN!
    • For me to pander to wealthy people as a pastor is for me to say that God’s wealth is not enough.
      • And that is sin!

Romans 14:23b ESV  …For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

• I don’t think I have ever ONCE thought to myself “how can we make more money as a church”.
  • We have never discussed in our pastors meetings “What can we do to raise more money?”
    • The closest we have come to that is “how can we help people be more faithful in fulfilling their mission faith pledge” but it has never been “How can we increase people’s mission faith pledges”.
  • But what we have done, in times of need, is cried out to God.
    • We have prayed.
    • We have fasted.
    • We have asked for our daily bread.
      • And God has always provided.
        • Note that I said “God” has provided.
        • Not wealthy people.
        • GOD.
    • God has given us wisdom, such as how we raised money in the building fund…
      • But it was always HIS wisdom and not our own.
      • It was always HIS plan in not our own.
      • BECAUSE GOD IS OUR PROVIDER.
• So to treat people differently because of their wealth is sinful. It is greedy and it is faithless.
  • It is also not very loving to the poor whom we are supposed to be treating as ourselves.
• But let’s take a moment and talk about race.
  • Treating people differently because of the color of their skin is an incredibly worldly thing to do.
  • To think like the world is to treat people differently based on race.
    • It makes total sense doesn’t it.
    • If you believe that we all evolved from monkey’s, and that we are all simply more advanced forms of monkeys but basically the same thing… then racism makes sense.
      • Clearly there is differences in physic between races, this must mean that some people are more evolved forms of monkeys than others.
      • Hitler thought that white people were the most evolved form of monkeys.
      • He also felt like, hey, we are all worthless bags of chemicals that have no real meaning.
        • So it makes sense for him to have no remorse in killing millions of others he thought of as less evolved monkeys.
• But Christianity teaches that we are not animals. We are not just the product of random chance. We are each dearly loved and individually created.
  • We are masterpieces from the Master craftsmen.
  • To hate someone because of their race or nationality is to literally hate God and His creation.
    • Therefore racism has no place in a Christian church.

Galatians 3:28 ESV 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.

• We are all CHRISTIANS.
  • We are not Black Christians, and white Christians, rich Christians, and poor Christians, old Christians and Young Christians.
    • We are Christians.
      • WE DON’T SHOW PARTIALITY.
• Now that brings me to my second point this morning… Kingdom Culture is the Culture That Matters.

Point Two – Kingdom Culture is The Culture That Matters

James 2:5-7 ESV  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?  (6)  But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?  (7)  Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

• Are all rich people blasphemers?
  • Do all rich people oppress Christians?
    • Do all wealthy people have a nasty habit of dragging Christians into court?
• Is this what James is saying? Of course not.
  • But what James IS saying is that there is cultural differences between poor and rich people.
    • Poor people know what it is to live by faith.
      • To be humiliated time and time again.
        • To suffer, to strive, to persevere.
    • As such, poor people make GREAT Christians.
  • Wealthy people, on the other hand, especially those who have been wealthy since birth, don’t know what it is like to depend on God for daily bread.
    • They have no need to cry out to God for provision.
    • Their suffering, and pain, is cushioned by their pocketbooks.
      • As such, Jesus says Mark 10 that it is easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.
        • So while these Christians are so busy trying to impress the rich, they are neglecting the poor who have a much more favorable culture when introduced to Christianity.
• But was Jesus showing partiality when He said it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven?
  • Is James being a hypocrite here and showing partiality by suggesting that rich people are somehow worse for the church and poor people better?
    • NO! Of course not.
    • Partiality is sin and Jesus never sinned.
    • And I think James is smart enough to not contradict one statement he made two sentences later.
• No, what Jesus is talking about, and what James is talking about, is culture.
• Rich people have a different culture than poor people. That’s just a fact of life.
  • The culture that I have in my family may be different than the culture you have in your family.
    • I have never once cooked collard greens, they are delicious, especially when made with bacon and bacon grease, but I have never cooked them.
    • I don’t have fufu at home every night.
    • We rarely make curry.
    • When we make taco’s we do so with ground beef and hyvee brand taco seasoning packets.
      • And when someone with more Mexican culture comes to our house for taco’s they look at them and are like “What is that?! What are you doing? What is this seasoning? ARE YOU MICROWAVING TORTILLAS?!”
        • For crying out loud y’all, my wife puts KETCHUP on her taco’s, it’s an abomination.
    • And it is ok to recognize that cultures are different. And it is also ok to recognize that some cultures do some things better than other cultures.
      • Mexican culture is MUCH better at making tacos then my culture. It doesn’t mean that I dislike white people or idolize Mexican people… I just enjoy a good taco.
        • And what Jesus is saying, and what James is saying, is that poor culture is better at having faith than rich culture is.
  • This is not a judgment of the people, but a judgment of the culture.
• Now it is important to note that James is NOT saying that you should be showing favor to the poor people.
  • He is not saying that you should treat the poor people better than the rich people.
  • He is simply pointing out how stupid it is to elevate the rich over the poor, but then he makes it very clear what we should be doing:

James 2:8 ESV  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

• Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • The rich person, you love as yourself.
  • The poor person, you love as yourself.
  • The person in a different age group, you love as yourself.
  • The person from a different culture, you love as yourself.
  • The person from a different country, you love as yourself.
  • The person who grew up in and out of prison, you love as yourself.
  • The person who has never even so much as gotten a speeding ticket, you love as yourself.
• Here is the trick: EVERY CULTURE RESPONDS WELL TO LOVE.
  • When we are talking about partiality, we are not talking about who makes the best tacos…
    • It’s ok to admit that one cultures tacos are better than another…
    • We are talking about love… regardless of how you make your tacos, I am going to love you like myself.
      • Even if I don’t understand your culture, I am going to love you as myself.
      • Even if I disagree with some of the things your culture does, and you disagree with some of the things my culture does… I am going to love you as myself.
• When you start loving people like yourself, what you are really doing is exhibiting Kingdom Culture.
  • Kingdom culture doesn’t care about how you make your taco’s, or how you pronounce your words, or how you dance, or how you whatever…
    • It cares about how you love God and how you love others.

Matthew 22:37-39 ESV  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  (38)  This is the great and first commandment.  (39)  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

• You can’t love God without obeying His commandments. That’s what John 14:15 says.
  • And you can’t love your neighbor if you are showing partiality.
• So listen saints, this means that  you are going to have to learn to love people from different cultures than your own.
  • You are going to have to break out of your cliques and go hang out with someone your normally wouldn’t.
    • And this can be uncomfortable at first… because they speak differently, dress differently, act differently.
    • They may have been raised differently and have different family dynamics than you…
      • But if they are your Christian brother or sister, you need to love them as yourself… and if you are ignoring them, or avoiding them, you are not loving them as yourself.
      • Rich people loving poor people, poor people loving rich people.
      • Old people loving young people.
      • City people loving rural people.
      • San people loving people who put ketchup on their taco’s.

1 John 3:11-19 ESV  For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  (12)  We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.  (13)  Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.  (14)  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.  (15)  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.  (16)  By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  (17)  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?  (18)  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.  (19)  By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;

John 13:34-35 ESV  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  (35)  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Conclusion

• Now when I started this message I talked a bit about how there is one kind of partiality that we are allowed to show as Christians without sinning.
  • And that is to show partiality between the saved and the unsaved.
  • Between Christians and non-Christians.
    • We must, of course, love both Christians and Non-Christians.
      • But it is a different kind of love.
      • That is, we are NOT called to treat non-Christians the same way we treat Christians.
      • Christians are our brothers and our sisters, our friends.
        • We share our lives together, lay down our lives for one another.
        • We sharpen each other, encourage each other, rebuke one another, mourn together and rejoice together. We gather together for fellowship, study, worship, and all aspects of life.
        • Regardless of culture, wealth, background, whatever, this is how we treat Christians… as our family.
      • But for non-Christians we treat them differently.
        • We still love them, of course, but our love is focused on getting them saved. How could we say we love them and then accept that they are going to hell? What kind of love is that?
        • We do not fellowship and worship with non believers, we do not treat them as family or close friends… in fact there is a strong argument that you should NOT be friends with people who are not Christians… you should be acquaintances, you shouldn’t shun them, you should be close enough to share the gospel with them… but you are not weeping with them, rejoicing with them, fellowshipping with them, worshiping with them, and doing life with them.
          • Your focus should be on leading them to Christ.
          • They must know the love of Christ first!
          • (if time, story about cookies… love transcends culture).
• Gospel Call

Aaronic Blessing