Please turn with me and your Bibles to James chapter two. We're continuing a series in the letter of James It's called Discipled by James when you're Discipled by someone They point out hard difficult blind spots That we all have And calls us to believe the gospel To believe it in a way that's radical changes our lives And he does that today with the issue of favoritism chapter two verse one My brothers As believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ don't show favoritism Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man and shabby 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 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 to those who love him 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? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? If you really keep the royal law founded 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 Forever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it For he who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder if you do not commit adultery, but 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 It's right Lord these are wady words and they come from you and so we bow this morning asking you to teach us to change us by your mercy And the precious name of Jesus our brother our shepherd our savior and our friend on the end
James calls these people brothers And If you're not a not a man don't feel left out. That's the way of addressing Brothers and sisters in the first century Dear brothers and sisters. I have something very hard to tell you
That you belong to the glorious Lord Jesus Christ But you're showing favoritism And dear brothers and sisters if you show favoritism Two people you are not living like you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ You're living out of line with the gospel of Jesus Christ And you are becoming a judge with evil thoughts Don't do that James is saying
because mercy The mercy of God that you have known Has triumphed over God's judgment of you So you can no longer show judgment on anyone based on external things
It's what this passage means and you know James love these people And you know that they knew that James loved them Because he's speaking to them as a brother If we take these words to heart We us They will change us This is counter-cultural Three points this morning favoritism Is easy and it is evil It comes real easy Secondly, favoritism is a denial of the gospel And then finally how does favoritism die at independent Presbyterian church And the only way that favoritism can die at our church and in our lives Is if we are transformed by real mercy The bottom line is the gospel is radical And it must change the way we treat people Let's look at our first point favoritism is easy and it's evil Scholar say I said in the first service that's a good way to start a sentence Scholar say Scholars cannot find this word for favoritism outside of Christian literature
They can't find this word because they believe that Christians invented this word to describe the Old Testament word for partiality And this word literally means to look at the face To look at the appearance to look at externals
And God is someone who does not look at externals God is someone who looks at the heart James speaks of this In this passage about looking at someone's external wealth Someone that looks like they have money Someone that is powerful in this world He says don't look at the face Don't look at what they're wearing Don't look on the outside But we know it's broader than that To look at the externals means not just a socioeconomic class It means don't look at their race
Don't look at their distinction And make a judgment on them based on their race or their age or their sex Don't judge them or look down on them based on external things Don't look at the face
Because God is someone who looks at the heart We know that from 1 Samuel 16 One of the greatest examples of this Saul has been rejected his king And so Samuel is called to go and look for another king And he goes to the house of Jesse And Jesse brings his stud sons in front of him And the first one comes out And he is tall Just like Saul was He is tall and he is handsome And his Ralph Davis one of my professors said He was probably Part of the all Judean team
He is the man And Samuel is like well this is easy There's our king The Lord says Do not consider his appearance Or his height I have rejected him The Lord does not look At the things that man looks at Man looks at the outward appearance But the Lord looks at the heart And that is very hard for me Nothing comes easier to me And I would venture to say for you too Then judging someone based on the outward appearance It's like a fish in the water Isn't it? We are taught to look at people And judge people based on who they are on the outside
That we naturally look on the outside And we make judgments on people About people We look down on one person Because they don't match up And then we look up to someone else Because they are greater than us Based on externals Even in prison Do you know this Even in prison there is a hierarchy Based on what offense someone had committed There is no culture That is untouched by favoritism Wherever there are people There exist partiality And I'm not just talking about cultural distinctions Those are very real Honestly I'm not really interested in the phony It's a small world after all Thing And to erase those distinctions And act like they don't exist Cultural distinctions are real But James is talking about something much deeper And we can't be let off the hook
He is saying that those distinctions That you see among people Among brothers and sisters In this very church Cannot be barriers by which you judge other people
They can no longer be reasons To show favoritism To one person based on externals No matter how much we want to And no matter how easy it is So here's what happens My tendency To show favoritism to a certain type of person It's coming head to head With a god who showed his favor To all different types of people Big little rich poor Black White Male and female God is so offensive Do you know why? Because I want to make those cultural distinctions A big deal I like people that speak the same language that I do There's nothing wrong with that I like people that like the same kind of jokes that I do I'm naturally attracted to those kind of people I like people that look like me And smell like me And talk like me And like the same kind of food I like That's natural James is saying But there are brothers and sisters That are united to Jesus Christ That don't look like you And they don't smell like you And they don't talk like you And they don't think the thing jokes are funny And you have to make room in your life for them
Like I've said before We're just good at being snobs I'm just a real I'm just a pro snob I can be a snob in every way imaginable Do you know? I've said this before I think Coffee snobs Oh I don't drink that type of coffee I like certain blend Right? Sport snobs Some of you are movie snobs You look down your nose It's some silly romantic comedy You like the critically acclaimed work
Do you see it's funny But do you see what is at the core of us? The core at our core is a deep sense of unrighteousness That attracts us to people that are like us So that we can look down on someone else Especially those who have nothing
James says don't do it You can't do it You cannot hold He's literally saying You cannot hold the glorious Lord Jesus And hold on to favoritism in your heart At the same time One of them has to give It's easy And it's evil Let me ask you this Do you just think that James is being unreasonable? I mean I've heard sermons like this before And years passed and I go like You know what That's easy for a preacher to say Up in his ivory tower He's not in the real world Oh he's so super spiritual I'm very impressed That he can just love everybody Who by y'all
Or is he saying something That can change the world
I believe James is saying
Brothers and sisters I want you to believe the gospel To the point Where it makes you treat people Radically different than the world treats people
So much so That in treating those people It will feel unnatural at first Because what feels natural is favoritism
And I've looked forward in this passage But he doesn't say that it's easy
Because it's not easy It's not easy To not show favoritism Here's why it's evil Which brings us to our second point It's evil because it is a complete and direct denial of the gospel And James being such a great pastor and friend He's showing them You're doing this but you believe this If you believe this And you have experienced God's mercy You can't live like this anymore That's the way the world lives You have to live this way This is the denial of the gospel It's easy but it's the denial of the gospel Due to the reason the first reason it's the denial of the gospel in verse 5 God loves the poor Can Bennett said last week during a devotional last Saturday There's some 300 plus verses about God's Particular love for the poor For the widow, for the orphan He loves them He has a special place And his divine heart for them He says in verse 5, James says My dear brothers Has God not chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world
To be rich in faith To inherit the kingdom that he promised to those who love him Verse 6 But you Dear brothers have insulted the poor
God has a special heart for the poor Because he chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise He is unusual like that And he says it to his over and over again God has invited The uninvited the nobodies to the great party at the end of time And he's not having them there at that party begrudgingly We think oh well you can come into Do you know what he's doing? He's celebrating those who are uninvited and unwanted He celebrated them in his kingdom That's what James is saying They're poor in the eyes of the world But in the eyes of God they are loaded
And it's not that poverty is any more righteous than riches It's just that God has a very big heart And he loves showing compassion on those who have no hope in this world
He's a god of mercy Look if you go through all the gospels And you watch Jesus of Nazareth I want you to watch where he goes That he goes out of his way to show compassion to the lowly To the poor to the prostitute to the orphan To the child Let's just take that one for example In our culture children are like warm fuzzy we have you know kids say the darnedest things Aren't they cute In Jesus' culture they were pests They were in the way in the first century Which is why the disciples when they were going somewhere very important I'm sure They shoe the children out of the way several times in the gospels get these kids out of here We don't have time for this go go go You know what Jesus does He rebukes his disciples Have you lost your mind And he picks these poor smelling little Pests up and he holds them like he was holding a prince or princess And he gives them a blessing You know what that message is for us here
The people that God that the people that the world will not let into the front door Are the people that Jesus Christ brings right into the throne room of the palace
And so now why you understand why James says Who is the brother of Jesus the earthly brother half brother of Jesus
Don't show the poor don't treat the poor like that It makes a merciful God very angry
God loves the poor The second thing it shows us as a denial of the gospel because it sends the wrong message to the rich When you show favoritism to the rich It sends the message that the rich really don't need the gospel James is saying when you show someone coming in the very ones that oppress you The very ones that are taking you into court and you're showing them the nice seat And you're saying to the poor person you go sit over here you go sit in the chapel You go sit in the balcony and you show the ones that are oppressing you that are making fun of the noble name of Jesus Christ You're sending the wrong message to them and that is this You're okay Sinclair Ferguson says we're sending the message that there's somehow an exception To fall in humanity To show favoritism in a church like independent Presbyterian church Is to send a message that the rich Aren't just as needy as the poor in the eyes of God
I remember wanting famous people to become Christians They're one of that You know when you're a kid you're like oh if Tom Cruise could just be converted Then everyone would want to be a Christian it's like it's like if you wore Ray bands and top gun Everyone would think it was cool
If if if the right people would just come to independent Presbyterian church If the cool people in Memphis and the cool the halves The in crowd would come here then everybody would want to come here because that's the way the kingdom works That's the way it works in our mind, but that's not the way it works in the kingdom Christianity Let's just go ahead and say this is never going to be cool
Do you know why? Because Jesus was not cool Jesus was a poor man He was one of the people that The world would say you sit here at my feet and he He is the Lord of glory
If you're here today And honestly it's a pretty big circle pointing out myself Compared to the rest of the world even the city we have a whole lot
Do you know that if you have Jesus you have everything that you possibly need
That is Jesus that makes you rich That we have bought a lie a lie i'm telling you
It sends the wrong message to the rich and finally It sends the wrong message about the character of God We haven't taken God's judgment into account When we judge other people and we show favoritism to people based on externals And we've said what those externals are when we say you can come here or you can't come here You go out you come in when we do that We're not looking behind us and seeing the great judge that says you know what you all deserve Hell i know that is really really offensive in the 21st century But you know god is not interested in what i think about him
God is a holy righteous roaring flame and lion and what every single person in this world deserves is his righteous wrath and judgment So for us to pass judgment on other people is a joke
James says you are lawbreakers if you broken the law in one place and brothers you have broken the law in this place You're a lawbreaker and a lawbreaker deserves judgment that here's the good news You know the one That we would not even let sit In the place of honor the one that we would throw out the one who was the Lord of glory He was treated like a piece of garbage on the cross Because he took judgment in order for the god of the universe to look at us and say i show you mercy
We deserve judgment and god said no no no no no i'm going to show you mercy Don't you dare show judgment That's my job and mercy triumphs over judgment The Jesus Christ took the place of the lawbreaker God showed us mercy when we deserve judgment and here's what he's saying don't water down this gospel independent press
Okay, well then how does favoritism die preacher? two things first We have to really be transformed by the mercy of god
We have to really be transformed by the mercy of god
If you have an experience mercy Then you do not know how to show mercy Verse 12 speaking act is those who are being 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 This means if we believe that god has been merciful to us in Jesus Christ That if we really believe that we deserve judgment and we deserve hell do you realize that you took a vow if you remember this church You took a vow that says this i believe That i stand before god in the side of god justly deserving his displeasure. You know what that is That's in Presbyterian way of saying i deserve hell displeasure displeasure Do you know what we're actually saying man? If you really believe that you deserve god's displeasure and he should have given you grace Then mercy must wash over your soul
You know the greatest picture of this being shown mercy John chapter 13 Jesus washing his disciples feet He said whenever John says that whenever Jesus had realized that all power and authority had been given unto him He took all that is out of garment and he wrapped The garment around him and he filled up the bowl with water And this is what he did when he realized that all the authority and power had been given to him He began to wash the disgusting smelly feet of the disciples You know what peter says poor peter i pick on peter all the time I think peter's gonna be mad at me when i see him in heaven peter goes You're not washing my feet Jesus looks at me says if i don't wash your feet peter Then you have no place with me Here's the point Having your feet washed having mercy shown to you will humiliate the socks off of you You know why? Because your feet are filthy Your soul is filthy god knows your sin and look down Jesus Christ is washing your feet the son of god is washing your feet And that will undo you are you pushing god's mercy away
i do And i do it in the form of pushing other people's mercy away just this week Someone asked me in passing someone who really cared about me go figure Richie are you are you okay? And i stopped And i wasn't okay by the way I wasn't i was just having a bad hour You know one of those Richie are you okay and i went yes of course i'm fine I'm seeing your pastor Well there you ask me if i'm okay i'm supposed to ask you if you're okay
And you know what they said you don't look okay Can i pray for you? I don't want to be needy I don't want to hurt I want to push mercy away and Jesus keeps drawing me back And he keeps drawing you back if i don't wash your feet then you have no part of me Do you hear what i'm saying if you don't taste my mercy if you don't let me wash you If you don't become needy then you will face my judgment my friend
See he wants to show us his mercy And if you've experienced that mercy if he has washed your filthy Stinch filled soul
Then leads us to the second thing Then you will begin to wash feet Because Jesus says you call me teacher after he washed the feet And you call me lord and you're right for doing that that's that's exactly what i am Now that i your lord and your teacher have washed your feet
Now you better wash one another's feet with the emphasis on you wash each other's feet washing feet and showing mercy to people That are different People that we don't naturally like People that smell different Even our enemies Jesus washed the feet of Judas
It is going to be inconvenient It is going to be awkward It is going to be funky
But the more we see Jesus's mercy on us the more we will be transformed to show mercy the more you and i see our dirty feet The more we have been changed by the mercy of God the more we are free to say i'm not judging anymore Because i know what i deserve Memphis come
And it will be real Do you know the only thing that's going to hear that's going to kill favoritism in our church
Mercy The only thing that can kill racism in my heart and in your hearts Mercy The only thing that's going to kill hatred And classism in our church and in our city. It's not programs. It's not policy It's a god that it's a god that put on the outer garment He took it off and he filled a bowl with water and he began to wash feet. That's what changes the world Who do you hate in this place? Who do you avoid in this very church?
Do you think that the god of all mercy Cannot give you the mercy and the forgiveness and the love and the wealth To begin to wash that person's feet and show them mercy
Father god This is impossible You bring us to the water You bring us to the water and you tell us to go across but you have to part the water Lord We are snobs and Lord we have stifled your spirit Lord we have pushed your mercy away now. We want it to rain down upon us Do it for your glory because we long for your kingdom to go forward And it's going to hurt It's going to feel like a culture shock we know but nothing like the culture shock That the everlasting sun felt when he came to Israel
On the backs of our brokenness build your kingdom In Jesus name on the end