As we continue through the book of James he continues to focus on the question …‘What the life of someone who professes to be a Christian looks like.’…so far he’s offered areas we should be aware of as Christians…
One…how we encounter trials that come into our life.
Two…importance of maturing as a Christian so we can perfect and complete
Three…Importance of asking in faith without doubting
Four…That God will give rewards in Heaven based on our faithfulness.
Five…Temptations do not come from God.
Six…Our anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.
Seven…Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.
Eight…Prove yourselves doers of the word and not just hearers only.
This morning we’re looking at another concern that is often overlooked…ignored …or unseen…it can take many forms…affects many different people and be called by many names…in James 2 it is called the sin of partiality.
2 My brothers, …a term he would use only when referring to professing Christians…do not hold your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothing and there also comes in a man in dirty clothes 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and 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?
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6 …you have dishonored the poor man.
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8 If however you are fulfilling 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.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of 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 murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be merciless to the who has shown no mercy.
The kind of partiality referred to is the result of judging others and doing it unfairly.
BUT…at the same time we are not to pander to the various ideas…lifestyles and philosophies of the world that takes the position…‘Well it’s not for me to judge’ …the idea of different strokes for different folks is not an acceptable position because we should not condone a lifestyle that is in opposition to God’s values.
James’ concern is protecting the faith, NOT protecting diversity of ideas…He is telling us to make careful judgments…to be discerning and not accept the ideologies of the world.
What he is saying is we should not show partiality or favoritism toward people because of their position in society…should we be respectful?…yes…but being partial is sinful in God’s eyes because showing partiality is hating your neighbor …which violates one of the two fundamental laws of God [Matt. 22:37]:
37 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 39 And…‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
When we show partiality we’re making distinctions among ourselves…and thereby making judgments that are inconsistent with our faith.
The Bible identifies a number of people who probably had the best intentions and reasons for their bias…but their partiality had unfortunate consequences even when that was not the intention.
»Isaac favored Esau…Rebecca favored Jacob…this instilled a spirit of strife, and resentment that has been ongoing for more than 3,500 years.
»Jacob’s partiality to Rachel was the source of hostility and scheming among Jacob’s wives which created rivalries between their sons.
»Jacob’s favoritism for Joseph made his half-brothers so jealous that they were ready to murder him.
»King David’s partiality blinded his eyes to his children’s evil actions,…Amnon’s rape of his half-sister Tamar…Absalom’s murder of Amnon and his rebellion against David himself.
»The story of Esther is a story of one man’s prejudice that almost cost the lives of all the Jews living in the Persian Empire.
As Christians we are not to judge people based on race…color …greed… gender …gender identification or on how they’re dressed or their demeanor (Rom. 2:11; 3:22).
We are not allowed to let our personal biased opinion dictate our acceptance of people.
Unfortunately our wrong assumptions and preferences can affect the way we treat others…even those in the faith.
This really goes back to last week’s sermon and James’s warning regarding the tongue:
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle
his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Let me explain this verse…So…if I curse then is my religion worthless?… Scripture tells us that we are going to sin…it’s inevitable….in fact the Bible says
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).
There’s that word deceive again…a word that is used almost 40 times in the New Testament…SO…what does it mean that when we don’t curb our tongue it’s a sign of worthless religion?
There is practically no one who is immune to occasionally using inappropriate language…nor…is anyone…including myself…immune to the temptation of partiality.
BUT…the promise of 1 John 1:9 is that when we do occasionally sin confession removes the sin…BUT…just in case someone is using those verses as an excuse to sin because the Bible says we all sin [Rom. 3:23] …that’s an unwise decision.
What is not permitted is the deliberate…determined…persistent and continued use of bad language or the habitual showing of partiality towards some then trusting that all I have to do is confess it and I’m forgiven.
God is patient and slow to anger but his patience will not abide forever…God’s patience does have a limit.
It seems at times that I’m a habitually pessimistic person…that I’m always displaying the dark side of the Bible…I’m not…actually I’m a realist…a person who accepts a situation as it is and is prepared to deal with it accordingly.
I’m not wanting to always display the dark side of God…instead I want you all to know how God interacts with people.
God does display patience and forbearance with the world…that ought to lead people to repentance…but instead…people take advantage of that…causing people to be more rebellious…by mocking the patience of God.
Here’s what happens when we do that…that does nothing more than store up greater judgment because of people’s ungodly response to His kind patience…mistaking God’s patience for His grace.
When a person continues in their sinful habits without experiencing immediate correction from God, they falsely reason there will be no consequences…it is foolishness to assume a day of accountability will not come.
https://wildwoodchurch.com/the-sin-of-partiality/
James then makes a statement that most people are not even aware of…how God views sin….is all sin equal or should we think of there being degrees of sin? …are some sins more serious than others or does God view all sin as the same in terms of its consequences?
Does the Bible distinguish between greater and lesser sins…in terms of their damaging effects…some argue all sins are the same…but some argue that some sins are worse than others. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/degrees-of-sin/
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of 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 murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
At the expense of turning this into a seminary lecture…because I do teach more than I preach…I don’t intend for my sermons to be a seminary discourse… however…there is a disagreement between Reformers and our brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic church…Two aspects in Catholic theology:
FIRST…is MORTAL SIN which is the deliberate or intentional rejection of the decalogue or the Ten Commandments.
SECOND…is what is known as VENIAL SIN…sins that are less serious…like cussing or getting drunk…which if you’re a Christian won’t keep you out of Heaven but will result in temporal punishments.
That is all I’m going to say about those two because this is not what I believe the Bible teaches…rejecting both the mortal-venial distinction in defining sin.
Let me just sum this up in language anyone can understand and is plainly defined in the Bible…attempting to distinguish between which sins are greater or lesser is futile… because sin:
…Results in both spiritual and physical death [Rom. 6:23].
…Separates us from God [Isa. 59:1-2].
…places us all under God’s wrath [Rom.[ 1:18-32].
Therefore….all sin before God is mortal…there’s no splitting hairs…to break any point of the law is to break all of it…breaking just one commandment results in our condemnation before God.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
James is reminding us that as believers we are no longer under the old Law… instead…we are under a new law…the law of freedom that was established through Jesus’s death and resurrection known as the New Covenant.
BUT…at the same time it’s not a matter of telling ourselves that we are saved and therefore we don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments or any of God’s other precepts.
As believers we do have the freedom to choose…we can elect to sin or not to sin BUT…we willingly choose to obey God not out of necessity but because Jesus gives us the freedom from the power of sin…therefore believers should see a decreasing pattern of practicing sin as a way of life. (1 John 3:5–6; 5:18)
We have that option…unbelievers who do not have that option…they will continue to practice sin as a way of life…they become slaves to sin (Romans 6:20-22)…they don’t have the power to not sin.
That’s what separates a believer from a nonbeliever…a believer will not be able to excuse their sin by saying ‘I couldn’t help it,’ because the cross did away with the bondage to sin…whereas an unbeliever is still under that bondage.
Because we are no longer under bondage to sin…James gives us a word of encouragement:
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
Most people don’t associate ‘law’ and ‘liberty’ as being synonymous…what we normally think of when we think of laws is something that is oppressive… restrictive…many see ‘law’…in any form…as a threat to freedom…that’s the way some people see the Bible…as oppressive…and restrictive.
But that’s not the intent…in the Greek this verse makes more sense…
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom
That’s what God wants for His people…to be free…He gave us the Law to protect our freedom…that’s why it’s referred to as the Law to protect our freedom.
Jesus said…
You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
If the Son shall make you free you shall surely be free indeed” (John 8:36).
When we walk in…and continue walking in God’s Word we are being led by the Spirit…(Romans 8:14)…as we put God’s word into action/practice it will change minds…putting God’s word into action will change hearts…putting God’s word into practice sanctifies us and makes us more like Him.
Again…James is specifically addressing believers…that’s why partiality has no place in the life of a Church…because God is not a respecter of persons neither should we…we should be respecting of every member of the church as an equal brother or sister in Christ.