James (10) The Church Mixing Bowl (James 2:1-7)

Evening Service 9 August 2009

What upsets sports fans more than anything else –a part form their team loosing I mean? Is it not inconsistent calls by the Umpire or Ref, decisions that always seem to favour the other side? We don’t like it in the classroom either do we, seeing someone who seems to always get favourable treatment from the teacher. Certainly in the courts we expect the symbolism of justice to be realised – a blind impartiality where no person is treated preferentially on the basis of wealth, social status, gender, age, or physical appearance.

There are differences externally between us, we acknowledge that, but we look for equity and fairness. As James begins chapter 2 he says it should especially be evident in relationships within the church. He underscores this by beginning with “my brothers” which speaks of our commonality by grace, ‘a powerful reminder ‘ says Tony Bird, ‘that if we are brothers it is because God has made no distinctions among us.’ We belong to one family, the same family, and each of us is totally dependent upon Jesus for that inclusion. We should be the very model of what the world is constantly through law and education, and sometimes through intimidation and even war, are seeking to achieve.

Yet sadly one of the polluting factors of the world is that we do find faith-denying distinctions and favouritism creeping from time to time into the church.

James takes up the point of caring for others by describing the sinfulness of partiality which he describes by a typical scenario in v.1-4. Two visitors come into the church meeting, but notice two things that happen: their appearance is noted – they see that one is rich, well attired; the other is poor with filthy clothes. Secondly, the approach is identified – to the one attention, to the other indifference; to the one, indulgence, to the other insensitivity; to the one the attention is given more as an invitation, to the other as an instruction.

The first one was treated well because of his wealth and potential for the life of the congregation, the other was treated indifferently and harshly because of the perception of nothing to offer, unimportance, or of being ‘beneath me’.

He concludes “have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we are forbidden to have an opinion about others people – indeed we are constantly told to distinguish truth from error, good from evil; to be alert to false prophets coming in our midst (Matt 7:15) and to “know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:16) requires discriminating thinking. Nor does it mean that we should not show respect to others – we are called to show a proper special respect and honour to the elderly (Lev. 19:32), and to those in authority, both in the church (1 Thess. 5:12–13; 1 Tim. 5:17) and in society in general (Rom 13:1f; 1 Tim 2:2; 1 Pet 2:17). But that is not what is meant here – as the phrase “judge with evil thoughts” indicates. The reference is to judging purely on a superficial level, without consideration of a person’s true merits, abilities, or character. ‘When factors like these determine our relationships with people, we have not understood the heart of God, or the nature of faith we profess.’ (Tony Bird).

Now this is not something that 21^st century Christianity has no experience of. Favouritism and partiality are not just seen in society, it is also seen in the church. The stories of this are legion.

John Blanchard writes of the minister who was called to a dead kind of church and how he immediately began going to pubs to witness for Christ. When the church members heard about it they gave him an ultimatum to stop or leave. Why? ‘We cannot have you going into places like that with the gospel. If you carry on talking to those people, do you know what they might do? They might come to church! They might sit alongside us. We cannot have that. Either you stop going or you leave the church.’ Almost unbelievable isn’t it? Yet I am sure we can add our own stories.

The tragedy is that we all discriminate in some way. There are people in this congregation to whom you give little attention. Why is that? Some people are easier for us to relate to than others and that is natural, but to treat others differently for that reason is sin and a denial of our claim to believe in Jesus. It is to turn an obstacle into an excuse.

How do we address it? James takes us back to the gospel. He begins with:

It is at the very heart of our faith that we believe in Jesus Christ. James draws our attention not to the content of the faith we hold, but to personal faith itself, to our faith in Jesus, and says you cannot hold this and yet show favouritism.

For to believe in Jesus is to acknowledge His glory. The NKJ reads “the Lord of glory”. Now this is an interpretive translation, but one that strikes me as being unnecessary, and one that clouds what James is doing here. If we read it literally: “our Lord Jesus Christ – of the glory!” it becomes an exclamation of praise and wonder. By which James is reminding us of what is at the heart of our faith. The word “glory” reminds us of Exodus 33:18 & 34:5-8 where we read that Moses saw the glory of God and his face shone afterwards. Motyer: ‘Glory is shorthand for the personal presence of God in all His goodness and fullness of character.’ Jesus is God’s glory – He is divine and a partaker of that divine glory; but also the manifestation of that glory to man, to us. See 2 Cor 8:9; 4:6

Yet even with this reality Jesus did not treat people differently. Though we were poor and vile wretches through sin yet He came to us, and even among us He treated each equally, giving no favour to race, resources, rank, reputation, or responsibility. He lived among men without fear or favour, treating all alike.

If we know the glory of Christ then we will get a true view of ourselves which works against us thinking we can possibly judge another person into levels of importance. But also we would find ourselves not wanting to do what Christ didn’t do to us personally.

Do you not see what James is saying? Jesus’ treatment of us is so amazing, we can only be discriminatory to others if we have forgotten the magnitude of His glory and at the same time His grace and love to us as an individual. What Joseph Parker once said, it says it all: ‘He whose eye is filled with Christ never sees what kind of coat a man has on’.

James takes us behind our personal experience of faith in Christ to the origin of our coming to faith which lies in the sovereign electing choice of God. In discussing God’s sovereign grace he stresses that

It is Unconventional. When we make choices we so naturally go towards those who we think will best suit our purposes. Men naturally chose the good, rich, talented. Have you ever been in a group at school being picked for a teams? The last ones always feel they weren’t chosen but thrown in!

But God’s is very different to man. He chose the “poor of this world”. In making this a question James is showing that this is incontestable. It is an echo of Paul’s observation in 1 Cor 1:26-29. God chooses some notable people, but relatively speaking, not many.

It is Unconditional. This naturally follows from the unconventional nature of God’s choice. Yet we do well to state it here. He did not chose the poor because they were poor, nor passed by the rich because they were rich. These words are in the context of which is arguing against conditional relationships. Rom.2:11 tells us that there is “no respect of persons with God”. This was equally true with God’s choice of Israel to be His covenant people in the OT (see Deut 7:6-8).

If you are a Christian, why has God chosen you? The Bible’s only answer is because He decided to love us. It has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with Him. He loved us because He loved us. Whatever is good about us as a Christian is because of God’s choice, not the cause of God’s choice.

It is Unlimited. It was a choice full of purpose and packaged in promise both in the here (“rich in faith”) and hereafter (“heirs of the kingdom”). In giving us Christ He has given us all things in Christ – despite what we were before Him in our sin and to each other because of our sin, yet He pours blessing upon bless now and forever. Again this is not the reality for all, but only for those who are the objects of His sovereign grace. How do we know if it is our portion? When we see ourselves loving God.

God’s purpose then is a very broad purpose, and one that will extend to all the objects of His electing choice – regardless of their place and position in the eyes of men, and despite their background before Him.

Here we see how practical the doctrines of grace are for the church. It determines how we should treat one another. By discrimination you are acting in a way that is different from God and indeed in a way that cuts across and undermines the eternal purpose of God.

Is a jewel less precious because it is in a package of inferior quality? Of course not! Because other believers are the objects of God’s eternal love in Christ they are a jewel. Don’t let any present packaging distract you from that reality. Even more, don’t place yourself in a position of working against God. His purpose is to make them rich in His blessings, don’t you rob them of it by robbing them of even that smallest blessing of the fullness of your fellowship.

Favouritism in the church is not only a transgression of God’s divine law but is a mockery of His divine character.

Thomas Manton said, ‘James writes these words to show that their practice was not only vain and evil, but mad and senseless!’

James is not saying that these rich ones did or that the poor didn’t. He is not condemning or dismissing the rich or indicating that the poor never harbour vindictive thoughts or engage in destructive behaviours – indeed that would be to go against all he has said against favouritism and discrimination on unfair superficial impressions or assumptions. No, he is simply making an observation that the Lord’s people in the midst of persecution had known only too well by focusing on the rich as a class – seeing that these are the ones that seem to naturally receive special treatment. Yet such thoughtless partiality is to be blind to realities all too frequently experienced – how they dragged the Lord’s people into court. Acts begins with “mocking” (2:13) and ends with the abuse “you are mad” (26:24), and of the 50 or so references to persecution of Christians in-between it was usually at the hands of the rich or influential people. And how they dragged the Lord’s Name into contempt – that name which Christians bore and respected.

James is saying that there is no sense in pandering to the rich as a class for their very wealth and power so easily and sadly often are used against us. To do this is to perverse logic.

But He is also saying that this fails to realise a central aspect of faith – the impact of sin upon our hearts is to make us perverse. It is to attribute to man what man cannot do, what only God can. To favour the rich because of some perceived advantage even for the church if not for self is to turn the gospel on its head. The gospel tells us to distrust human nature and to depend only on God. It is to Him we should look and on Him trust – never to men. The future prospects of the congregation lie not in the hands of the richest persons here, or on nay persons here, but solely in God and in God alone. He will use human instruments, yes – both poor and rich, but we are never to substitute them for God.

James very clearly knew what churches could be like and how a local church could easily do things that were against its very being. That he writes these things in a general letter shows that it was one to which the congregations would easily identify with. What about us?

Do you recognise and practise oneness amongst the people of God who understand and delight in God’s salvation? Are you committed to this? Do you think of others in terms of Christ’s dealings and the Father’s purpose? Gal 3:28 says we are “all one in Christ Jesus”. Let us be committed, because of God’s relationship to us, to be just that.

So Paul brings to bear the implications of this to Philemon when sending back his runaway slave Onesimus – in effect saying: Onesimus was a slave, but now Philemon “receive him forever as a beloved brother”.

Let us as be careful about our dealings with one another. Be alert to those being ‘passed by’ so as to fellowship with them; be alert to mercenary tendencies within the fellowship so as to attack it with the gospel; and be alert to always reminding ourselves, ‘Who am I to judge my neighbour?’