James 2:1-4
Ps Paul Cheng
“…Being partial is in total conflict with our faith, our salvation and with what the Bible teaches…”
~6 min read
Dear Bethelites,
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4).
Have you ever walked into a top upmarket shop, waited for a while and yet no one attends to you? Then a lady walks in dressed in an elegant gown and with glittering jewelleries and all of a sudden, there would be two or three salespersons attending to her. Or perhaps a well-dressed man with two gold rings and a big Rolex watch walking into a restaurant and immediately the manager would lead him to a nice table and say, “Here is a good table for you.”
This is all too common in the secular world where people will embrace the rich. But sadly, this kind of attitude has also crept into the church. Some of you may not agree, “How can this kind of attitude creep into the church? Surely, Christians know better that they should not behave like this.” Well if you study church history, you will find such occurrences happening everywhere.
In the 18th century, the Church of England became so exclusive and inhospitable to the poor and the common people that John Wesley had to go to the open fields whereby almost 30,000 coal miners attended and heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Later, he founded the Methodist Church. In the 19th century, there was a man named William Booth who noticed that the poorest and most degraded were never in church because they were not welcome by the rich and influential in the church. So one day he brought a group of shabbily dressed people into the church and led them to the pews facing the pulpit. Those were places reserved specially for the rich and because of that action, he was expelled by the church and he went on to start the Salvation Army.
In our time, most churches would not be that obvious in esteeming those who are rich and successful and disregarding the poor, but they still do it today with a whole range of attitudes ranging from having special seats and reserved car-park spaces for the rich. In Singapore, there is a church in Orchard Road which is known by many as the church of the elite. They may not have this big signboard at the front of their church saying, “The church of the elite.” It is unwritten; it is in the attitude of the people. There is one BP Church in Singapore that has more Politicians, Governmental Ministers and Members of Parliament in their congregation than probably all the BP Churches added together. For a while they did not have a pastor but it did not matter because people are just fascinated to attend and worship in a church where they could intermingle with the influential and they could tell their friends, “Do you know that I attended the same church as Minister so and so?”
Money is often the culprit for partiality. Churches tend to listen more intently to the successful businessman and to refer to his wishes or to place him in places of leadership. The common attitude is “If he can run the bank, he can lead the church.” But money is not the only factor because people also look up to those with much education. A man or woman may not be rich but if he or she is an intellectual, then “Welcome to the church leadership!” People look up to those who are well-connected as well. If they have good connections with influential people or the government and perhaps they can click the right buttons and make things happen, then “Welcome to the church leadership.”
The Principle
There are a few things we can learn from James 2:1-4 that we may not fall into the sin of partiality. Firstly, James gave the principle and he invoked the name of Jesus Christ. What has Christ got to do with this matter of partiality?
As Christians, we were bought by the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and we must live our lives exemplifying His life. 1 John 2:6 says, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.Thus even in this matter of partiality, we are to learn from the life of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Second Person in the Triune God, the One who is the eternal God, yet He humbled Himself and came into this world and dwelt amongst men. Not only to dwell amongst men but of all the places, He was born in a manger, not in the great holy city of Jerusalem but in Bethlehem. He grew up in the Galilean region so much so that Nathanael said to Philip, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? (John 1:46b). In His life and ministry, He showed no partiality which was a virtue that even His enemies acknowledged, And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men (Matthew 22:16). It made no difference to Christ whether the one to whom He spoke or ministered was a wealthy Jewish leader or a common beggar, the high priest or the common worshipper, educated or ignorant, etc. His only overriding concern was the condition of their souls. That should be the attitude of every Bethelite in this church. It does not matter who walks through the door, likewise we must have this overriding concern about the condition of their souls.
Verse 1, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. My brethren indicates that James is speaking out of love and as a fellow believer and brother in Christ. Here the basic principle is that having true genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ while holding on to an attitude of personal partiality is contradictory.
Being partial is in total conflict with our faith, our salvation and with what the Bible teaches. In Lev.19:15 God said to Moses,Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Proverbs 24:23, These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. Similarly, the Apostle Paul taught that if we are God’s children, we ought to exemplify Him, For there is no respect of persons with God (Romans 2:11).
Of course, there is a proper special respect and honour that we should show to the elderly and to those in authority, both in the church and in the society as well. Through Moses, God commanded, Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD (Lev.19:32). The Apostle Paul told Timothy, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine (1 Tim.5:17).
Here, the respect of persons has the literal meaning of lifting up someone’s face, with the idea of judging by appearance and on that basis, you treat the person specially and you esteem the person differently. It is judging purely on a superficial level, without consideration of the person’s character and spiritual standing before God. This is the sin of partiality!
(To be continued next week)
With love in Christ,
Pastor Paul
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