How Do You Treat People?
1 My brothers,show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place,"while 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? James 2:1-4
Hmm. Believers, sometimes we forget we are examples not exceptions.
Two visitors, perhaps neither of them believers came into the meeting (assembly) of worship. The first was wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes. He was wealthy and he looked the part. The second one was obviously a poor man, dressed in dirty clothes. How did the church respond?
The first was ushered to a good seat. The poor man was not welcomed, but he also wasn't thrown out. (I mean come on, that would just be rude.) No, instead, he was told to stand over there-possibly in the back of the church, the other option (v3) was to "sit down at my feet"--so this guy could sit at the back, or sit on the floor.
The man's shabby appearance was greeted by a shabby welcome.
Maybe the people labeled him a beggar. Maybe he smelled. But, maybe he was broken inside. Maybe he had heard of Jesus, and the love that He had for all people, and he was hoping to find some of that love in the eyes of His followers--fail.
James lets us know that the problem is often not how we gather, but how we separate. How we display partiality. We become judges with evil thoughts when we treat people with our own motives and discrimination.
Read on...
5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
James is not yelling at the readers or belittling them (v5) he says my beloved brothers. He is offering them guidance. God doesn't show favoritism, He invites us all. He grants each person the right to reject HIs love, but He extends it nevertheless.
The Christians in James' example had honored the rich man, but treated the poor man as unwanted.
The readers knew the rich as a class of people that oppressed the poor and most of the readers were in fact themselves poor. The mistreatment of the poor often had to do with personal debts. A creditor could seize and drag a debtor into court right off the street. If they could not pay their debt, they could be imprisoned or even sold into slavery along with their family.
James wasn't trying to keep rich people out of the church. He also wasn't saying that all rich people were this way. He was telling us we should welcome all people. We should see all people through the filter of God's eyes.
8 If you really fulfill 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 accountable for 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 is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
As long as we are treating others like we would treat Jesus, then we can rest assured that we are doing the right thing. Leviticus 19:18 knocks favoritism in the head. It insists we relate to people positively, seeking to be a blessing to them. We are ALL created in God's image.
Discrimination is a sin and when we have failed in this area, we have failed in all areas of the law. There is no excuse.
I would dare to guess that many of us have been on the end of this problem. Ever walked into church and felt uncomfortable because you shop in a different section of clothing than most of the other pew sitters?
One time when my husband and I were visiting churches (he was preaching) we had two little old ladies meet us in the foyer and look us up and down and ask us how they could help us. Our attire did not match theirs. Suddenly that didn't matter when he took the pulpit and they slumped in their pew. --See each other through God's eyes.
We only have to commit one sin to be placed in the camp of sinners. Readers we are all there. It doesn't matter what we look like, how we dress, and where we find ourselves on the geographically map--we have sinned. We fall short of God's glory. The playing field is leveled. You and I have no right to judge one another.
We ourselves will be judge, by the only One who can judge. How can we avoid favoritism? We can live in light of God's judgment. We can remember that we all sin (it may look differently than each other) but we all sin.
We will be judged by how well we practice love. Show mercy friends. If we show no mercy to others, we will receive no mercy at the time of judgment.
And for those of you who have felt out of place in a place of worship. I am sorry. I am so sorry. I invite you to not give up on God because of an action or attitude of His sinful people. We mess up too, and we often do not represent Him well.
Join me for worship tomorrow. Come as you are. http://www.metrocommunitychurch.com/
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