Book of James 2:1-13 

The Dangers of Favoritism 

We are in the fourth message of a series on the book of James 

There is so much wisdom in the book of James 

As I mentioned before the book of James was written somewhere between 46 and 49 AD, which makes it one of the earliest books of the New Testament 

It was written to Jewish Christians scattered around the Roman Empire 

I love the fact that James is pretty straightforward in his writing 

He writes in a very simple way, which is good because I am a very simple man! 

You don't have to look for hidden meanings in this book, James comes right out and says what he thinks 

Our study today is found in James chapter 2 

James 2:1-13 1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 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," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers: 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? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!  

Again, James shows just how straight forward he is in his message 

Verse 1 tells us plainly “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.” 

Apparently this was a problem in the early church – for that matter it is a problem in the church today as well 

As much as I hate to say it, this passage of Scripture is just as applicable today as it was when it was penned almost 2,000 years ago 

James goes on to give the illustration of two people coming into church –  

Let’s give this a modern interpretation and say that one of these people pulled up in a nice new BMW, is wearing the latest designer clothes, and has a gold ring on his finger,  

The other guy pulls up in an old beater pick up truck, is wearing worn out, out of style clothes, and smells a little funky  

The rich guy gets greeted with a warm handshake and taken to the best seat in the house.  

The other fellow is looked at suspiciously and told, “sit here at my feet where I can keep an eye on you!” 
 
This is a story that hurts  

It hurts because even though it may be a little exaggerated, it comes pretty close to the truth.  

I think all of us would agree that favoritism is a very bad thing, yet as much as we hate to admit it all of us are guilty of it to one degree or another 

Even in our laid back, friendly, and accepting church we can find that it is much easier to be accepting of the people who look like us  

(or of the people that we’d like to look like),  

It’s easier to relate to those who are like us 

It’s easier to talk with those who are like us 

And it’s nice to also hang out with those who we would like to be - because it gives us a sense of accomplishment 

Almost all of us walk around with an unspoken list in our minds of desirable and undesirable people.  

But, how can we refuse to accept and associate with one whom God has received?  

Think about it this way – Jesus died for the sins of the world 

He didn’t just die for certain types of “acceptable” people, he died for all 

And if those people are good enough for Jesus, they ought to be good enough for us 

Paul speaks a little about this in Galatians 

Galatians 3:26-28 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  

In Christ, all the outward distinctions that we have become almost nothing.  

No matter what we look like on the outside, whether it be our ethnicity, our economics, or our gender, we are Christians first. 

God does not notice the distinctions – we are all one in Christ 
 
This is a Gospel principle and should never be forgotten. 
 
The sad truth is the church has not always acted in this Gospel principle.  
 
In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity.  

He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India.  

So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian.  

When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he go worship with his own people.  

Gandhi left the church and never returned, “If Christians have caste differences also, “ he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.”  

That usher’s prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior. 
 

Going back to James, let me point out that there is nothing wrong with extending a warm welcome to the rich visitor.  

The sin was in treating the poor visitor differently.  

We are all one in Christ 

James then goes on to point out the folly of treating the rich person better 

5 Listen, my dear brothers: 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? 6 But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? 

Again the words of James are pretty straightforward 

He is reminding everyone that the vast majority of their problems are caused by the rich, so why are they treating them better than everyone else? 

James continues 

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 

We are reminded to love our neighbors as ourselves – if we truly did this, then favoritism would be eliminated 

After all, we do not like to be excluded because of favoritism towards others so we should not do it to anyone else 

James has been talking about favoritism towards people, but there is another type of favoritism that he is dealing with here as well 

10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 

What kind of favoritism is James talking about here? 

A favoritism towards sin 

I know it sounds weird to talk about favoritism towards sin, but we all do it 

We all look at certain sins as “not too bad” and others as “horrible” 

For example, Scripture tells us not to lie 

If someone lies that would be a sin, but we would not consider that as bad of a sin as stealing 

If I verbally or physically abuse someone that is bad, but not as bad as murder 

We have our own ranking systems towards sin, which is naturally connected to the sinner 

We’ve all heard the phrase “love the sinner, hate the sin” – and that is true 

But James tells us here that one sin is just as bad as another 

That if you are guilty of one, then you are guilty of them all 

So what we do is rank the worthiness of a person based on the sin in their life 

If it’s a minor sin, we will extend to them a welcome, but if it’s a bad sin then we look down upon them 

Sin is sin – it all separates us from God  

Instead of showing favoritism towards certain sin James tells us to do the opposite 

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!  

James tells us to show mercy instead of favoritism 

More than that he specifically tells us that judgment without mercy will be shown to those who are not merciful 

I don’t know about you, but I need all the mercy I can get so I better show all the mercy that I can!