The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 1]

SERMON OUTLINE

• I. The Principle
• II. The Illustration

TRANSCRIPT

I greet you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning's message is taken from James 2:1-4.

Have you ever walked into a top upmarket shop, waited for a while, and yet no one attended to you? Then a lady with glittering jewels and an expensive outfit walks in, and immediately there are two or three salespeople attending to her. Or, well-dressed men with a huge gold ring and a big Rolex watch walk into the restaurant, and immediately the manager leads them to a nice table and says, ‘Sir, here is a good table for you,’ while the rest are kept waiting. This is all too common in the secular world, where people will embrace the rich. But sadly, this kind of attitude has crept into the church. Some people may question: how can this kind of attitude creep into the church? Surely Christians should know better, and they should behave better. Well, if you study church history, you will find such occurrences happening all the time.

In the 1700s, the Church of England, the Anglican Church, became so exclusive and inhospitable to the poor and the common people that John Wesley had to go to the open field to preach. There, almost 30,000 coal miners heard the gospel for the first time and they believed. Later, he started the Methodist Church. In the 1800s, there was a man named William Booth who noticed that the poorest people would not come to church because they were not welcome. One day, he brought a group of poor people and led them into the church to the front pew, facing the pulpit. But those were seats specially reserved for the rich. Because of that action, he was expelled by the church. He went on to start the Salvation Army. That was how the Salvation Army was established.

In our time, most churches may not be that obvious in esteeming those who are rich and disregarding those who are poor, but it is still prevalent today. Some churches have special seats and special carpark spaces for the rich. In Singapore, where I came from, there was this church in downtown which is known to be the ‘church of the elites’. There may not be a signboard that says, ‘This is the church of the elites’. It is unwritten; it is in the attitude of the people. Even in our Bible-Presbyterian denomination, we are not spared. There is one B-P Church in Singapore that has more politicians and ministers in the congregation than perhaps all the other B-P churches combined together. For a while, they did not have a pastor, but it didn't matter at all because the people were just fascinated to attend such a church and worship with prominent people so that they could say to their friends, ‘Do you know I'm attending a church where we have Minister So-and-So?’

Money is often the culprit for discrimination. Churches tend to listen more intently to the successful businessman, to suit his desires, to place him in a position of leadership. The common attitude is this: if he can run the bank, if he can manage a big company, he can lead the church, so, ‘welcome to church leadership’. But money is not the only factor. People may not be rich, but if they are intellectuals, that is what other people would seek after. ‘If you are an intellect, welcome to the church leadership.’ People also look up to those who have good connections. If they have good connections with politicians or influential people, once again, ‘welcome to the church leadership’.

Is this the way we relate with one another in the church? Is this the way Christians should behave? From James 2:1-13, James will be speaking about the sin of showing partiality. He would give us the principle, why it is wrong; the illustration of showing partiality in the church; the contradiction, why showing partiality contradicts our Christian faith; and the transgression, why showing partiality is a transgression of God's commandment.

For today's message, we will only focus on the first two points: the principle, and the illustration. Next week, we will consider the other two points: the contradiction, and the transgression. The title of our message is "The Sin of Showing Partiality"

I. The Principle

Our first point is the principle. Let us begin with James 2:1. "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons". The phrase "respect of persons" means showing partiality. It has the literal meaning of lifting up someone's face with the idea of judging his appearance, and on that basis, you show the person regard and high esteem; you treat the person special. It is purely on a superficial level, with no consideration of the person's character or spiritual standing before God. The construction of this sentence is such that James was calling for an action to stop immediately, that which was already going on. In other words, they were already practicing favouritism and it had to stop immediately.

Remember, James was writing this letter to all the Jews who were scattered abroad throughout the world outside Palestine. Over the previous several hundred years, various conquerors — the Babylonians, Assyrians, including the Romans — had invaded the land. They had deported the Jews from their homeland and spread them throughout the known ancient world. Some of the Jews had also willingly moved to other countries for business or other reasons. The majority of the Jews were poor. However, some of them were rich, and people were showing partiality to those who were wealthy. This had to stop.

Notice, James invoked the name of Jesus Christ. What has Christ got to do with this matter of showing partiality? As Christians, you and I were bought with the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We ought to 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". So, we ought to walk as Jesus walked. Even in this matter of showing partiality, we ought to follow His example. We ought to learn from how our Lord Jesus lived His life.

Jesus Christ is the Second Person in the Triune God, the one who is eternally God, yet He humbled Himself and came into this world and dwelt amongst men. Jesus came not only to dwell amongst men – of all the places, He was born in a manger. He was not born in the great holy city of Jerusalem, but in Bethlehem, a little town. He grew up in the Galilean region, so much so that Nathanael said to Philip, who wanted to show him the promised Messiah, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46)

Throughout His entire life and ministry, Jesus showed no partiality, absolutely none. It was a virtue that even His enemies acknowledged. In Matthew 22:16, the Pharisees sent their disciples to Jesus, 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". It made no difference to Christ whether the person He was ministering to was a wealthy nobleman or a poor beggar, the high priest or the common worshipper, the educated or the simple. His main overwhelming concern was the salvation of souls, the condition of their hearts. That was all that mattered to Christ.

Dear friends, that should be the attitude of every one of us in this church. It doesn't matter who walks through the gate of our church. It doesn't matter who is visiting us for the first time. It doesn't matter what car he drives or which neighbourhood he lives in. Our main overwhelming concern is the condition of their souls. Are they believers, or are they still outside the kingdom of God? If they are unbelievers, how can we share with them the gospel of salvation? If they are believers, how can we help them in their spiritual growth? That should be our main concern.

The basic principle here is that having a genuine faith while showing partiality is contradictory. Showing partiality is opposed to our faith in Christ, to what the Bible teaches, to who our God is. Leviticus 19:15, God said to Moses, You, Moses, as the leader, “…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 says, "…It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment". In Romans 2:11, Paul said to the Romans, "For there is no respect of persons with God".

Of course, there is a proper place for honour and respect. We ought to give honour where honour is due, respect where respect is due. For example, there are certain honours we ought to observe in our family life: children must honour their parents. In society, you and I must honour and respect the elderly. If you are traveling on the subway or on the bus, and you see an elderly person, please give your seat to the elderly. There must be honour and respect to the governing authorities. In our workplace, the employees must show honour and respect to the employers. In the church, the members must show honour and respect to the spiritual leaders. As 1 Timothy 5:17 says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine".

Sadly, there are some people who profess to be Christians who are extremely rude and disrespectful, and sometimes they will quote this verse and say, ‘Well, I'm not going to be a respecter of persons. Why? Because the Bible said so.’ They have totally misquoted this verse and taken it out of context. You and I must judge, and we must render honour where it is due, respect where it is due.

This verse has to do with the wrong standard of valuation. It is when we view people with a standard that God did not intend to be the standard. It is the standard of this unbelieving world. The world's standard is an external standard. The world evaluates a person according to how much money he has, what kind of car he drives, which neighbourhood he lives in, how many degrees he has, or even according to his outward appearance, whether he is handsome, or beautiful if it is a woman. When we view people with the standard of this lost and dying world, it is contrary to our Christian faith. Christians must never do that.

So here, James was saying, ‘My brethren, you profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and as believers, you ought to follow His example. Jesus is no respecter of persons. Jesus shows no partiality according to the standards of the world, never.’

II. The Illustration

Next, James gave the illustration of showing partiality in the church, which is our second point. Look at James 2:2-4: "For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel” – goodly apparel means nice garments – “and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment” – which means filthy garments – “And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing” – gay clothing means bright, glittering, expensive 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?"

In order for us to better understand and appreciate this passage, it is necessary to remember, as we have mentioned a moment ago, during James's time, many of the Jews and, for that matter, the vast majority of the early converts of Christianity, were poor. If they were not already poor, they would suddenly become poor because of their Christian faith. They would be ostracised from society, many fathers and husbands would lose their jobs, many wives and mothers would be thrown out of the house with nothing but perhaps only the clothes on their backs.

That was the reason why, immediately after the Pentecost in Acts 2, you see all the believers coming together and they had all things in common. Some believers even sold their properties in order to support the poor. There were also pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the Passover; they did not have any source of income, so the believers at that time shared everything they had with those in need. The emphasis is that there should be no partiality, whether they were Christian Jews from Jerusalem or Christian pilgrims from somewhere else. They were all one in Jesus Christ, just as you and I are one in Jesus Christ.

However, there were a number of Christians who were wealthy. If you remember, Joseph of Arimathea, he was someone who was known to be a believer of Christ. He obtained approval from Pilate to bury Jesus in his own new tomb. He might have been quite wealthy. The Ethiopian eunuch who was converted under the ministry of the evangelist Philip, he was an official, so he might also have been quite wealthy. Then you have the Roman centurion Cornelius, who was a prominent Gentile convert, Lydia, a seller of purple fabrics, Aquila and Priscilla – they were all quite wealthy. Nonetheless, most of the Jews were poor.

Now it is very obvious from this passage that some of the churches to which James was writing to had wealthy believers, and at least occasionally, there were wealthy visitors as well. Otherwise, it would not make any sense for him to say, "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". The word "assembly" is from where we get the word for synagogue because James was writing to the churches which were primarily made up of Jews.

Please do not think that the Bible condemns wealth or those who are rich. The sin is not in the person wearing a gold ring or dressed in fine clothing, nor was it a sin for the man to be poor and dressed in filthy garments. The problem is the sin of showing partiality, which is an attitude of the heart. In those days, most of the synagogues had only a few benches, perhaps only one or two rows in the front, and perhaps some rows along the walls for the people to sit. Those were called the chief seats in the synagogue. The rest of the people would either stand or sit on the floor. The Pharisees and scribes loved the seats that were known as the chief seats. Matthew 23:6 says they, the Pharisees and the scribes, “…love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues".

Some years ago, when I visited Israel, the Holy Land, our tour group visited a ruined ancient synagogue. There was a bench along the wall in the synagogue, and then the tour guide explained to us that these were the benches that the Pharisees and the scribes loved to sit in their time. One of my friends said to us, ‘Why don't you all sit on the bench, and I will take a photo of you?’ Foolishly, we did as he suggested. He took a photo of all of us, and then he put a caption below the photo, ‘These are the Pharisees and scribes who love the chief seats in the synagogues’, referring to us. That is a joke, but you understand my point.

There are people who love the chief seats, the prominent seats; they want to be esteemed highly, to be treated differently. Occasionally, someone would also have a footstool – to ask another person, especially a visitor or a guest, to "sit here under my footstool" was a double show of disrespect. So, when the people saw a wealthy person walking into the assembly, they would immediately rise up and direct the person to a good place. And then, when they saw a poor person walking into the church, they would not only not give that seat to the poor visitor, but they would direct him to the footstool. That was most disrespectful.

Today, we may not have chief seats or footstools in our church, but in application, do we show special treatment to those who are rich? Do we treat people differently based on their wealth, influence, and credentials? Like we only talk to those people with titles attached to their names, or we only invite those people who are well-to-do to our homes, or we only let people with high status in the secular world serve as our church leaders. Are we such a church? God forbid!

I know some churches would introduce their elders and deacons on their websites with their worldly credentials, like ‘so-and-so is a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or CEO of a multinational company’. In my opinion, it is totally unnecessary. Interestingly, very seldom do you find those churches introducing their leaders as unemployed, retrenched, or seeking employment. Does it mean that people who are unemployed, retrenched, or seeking employment are not spiritually qualified? Most certainly not. Again, in my opinion, if we want to introduce our leaders, we should introduce only their spiritual qualifications because it doesn't matter what they have or who they are. It is their spiritual qualifications that matter the most.

Well, James said, if you do that, “Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" (James 2:4) Here, he used the strongest word for evil thoughts, which carries the idea of evil intentions that have destructive effects. In other words, they have become like judges who decide the outcome of a court case not based on facts and truth but by considering what they will stand to gain personally by being partial. That is very wicked and evil.

Do you know why in God's eyes it is considered evil and wicked when you show partiality in the church? Firstly, it is to pass judgment based on the wrong standard—it is a standard according to the world. Secondly, remember the context is about showing partiality in the church, so it is about bringing the world into the church, bringing the world's standard into the church to supersede the standards of God. Thirdly, if it is about judging the rich to be morally superior, smarter, wiser, better, and much more important and worthy than the poor, that in itself is already a terrible sin. All of us would agree, right?

But there's something worse than that because the context is about showing partiality in the church, so there is this spiritual element. The church is dealing with the souls of men, so when you do that, you are putting a value on the souls of men, that the souls of the rich are more valuable than the souls of the poor. That is a horrendous sin, and God knows. That is why the Bible says, how can you judge with evil thoughts? It is so wicked.

Dear friend, are you someone who is partial? Is our church partial in the way we deal with people, in the way we fellowship with one another, in the way we communicate with each other? If a rich man and a poor man enter into our church and we reach out to the rich man, disregarding the poor man, we talk only to the rich man without caring for the poor man – do you think God does not know? Let's say you are a rich man, you are a very successful businessman, very wealthy, and you expect to be treated differently, you expect to be regarded highly – do you think God does not know? If we choose our spiritual leaders according to their wealth, secular credentials, or worldly connections, not according to their spiritual qualifications – do you think God does not know that Bethel Bible-Presbyterian Church is such a church?

Man may not be able to see the heart; sometimes they may not even be able to see the actions, because people are so good at covering up, but God is able to see into the innermost of our hearts, the deepest recesses of our hearts, and He knows whether we are partial or not—not just in our actions, even in our thoughts.

One day, you and I would have to give an account for all our actions, intentions, and motivations. If we truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is no respecter of persons, then you and I must understand that there is a total contradiction between true faith and showing partiality. If we are followers of Christ, it is a total contradiction to show partiality. If we have either one—true faith or showing partiality—we cannot have the other. Do you realise that? If we have true faith, then we will not show partiality; if we show partiality, then we do not have true faith, or at least we are disobedient believers.

God has saved us, dear friend. He saved us in spite of us, not because of us, in spite of all the things that we have done, in spite of who you and I are. He did not show any partiality. How can we then show partiality? If we have committed this sin, may the Lord forgive us. A true believer will not and must not show partiality, to the glory of God. Let us pray.

Father in heaven, we thank Thee for enabling us to consider a portion of Thy word. Indeed, this is something so prevalent even in our days—showing partiality—for the human heart will always judge according to the standards of the world. It is a wrong evaluation. It is an evaluation not according to the standard Thou has intended. It is a standard that is based on this dying and lost world. We do not want to follow the world; we want to follow our Lord Jesus, who Himself is no respecter of persons. It did not matter to Jesus whoever that person was. He could be rich or poor; he could be wise or simple. It did not matter. What mattered was their salvation, was the condition of their hearts. That was all that mattered to Christ.

O Lord, help us that we will always follow our Lord. As believers, we must walk as Jesus walked. We must be no respecter of persons. Having true faith, genuine faith, while showing partiality is contradictory. Thou hast taught us. If we have committed this sin of showing partiality, whether it be in the church, or even in our homes, or even in our workplaces, O Lord, forgive us. Teach us that we will always follow our Lord and be no respecter of persons. Our main concern is the salvation of souls. May Bethel B-P Church be such a church that is no respecter of persons. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

THE BOOK OF JAMES

Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 1]

Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 1]

James 1:1-4

Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 2]

Facing Trials With A Joyful Spirit [Part 2]

James 1:1-4

The Need For Wisdom In Times Of Trial

The Need For Wisdom In Times Of Trial

James 1:5-8

Trial Is No Respecter Of Persons

Trial Is No Respecter Of Persons

James 1:9-12

How To Deal With Temptation

How To Deal With Temptation

James 1:13-15

Remember Who God Is And Who We Are

Remember Who God Is And Who We Are

James 1:16-18

Be Receptive To The Word Of God

Be Receptive To The Word Of God

James 1:19-21

Doers of the Word

Doers of the Word

James 1:21-25

Be Responsive To The Word Of God

Be Responsive To The Word Of God

James 1:22-25

Are You Transformed By The Word?

Are You Transformed By The Word?

James 1:26-27

The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 1]

The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 1]

James 2:1-4

The Sin of Partiality

The Sin of Partiality

James 2:1-13

The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 2]

The Sin Of Showing Partiality [Part 2]

James 2:5-13

Show Me Your Faith, And I Will Show You Mine

Show Me Your Faith, And I Will Show You Mine

James 2:14-20

Faith In Action

Faith In Action

James 2:21-26

A Warning To Want-To-Be Teacher

A Warning To Want-To-Be Teacher

James 3:1-2

Seminar: The Role of the Sunday School Teacher (Part 2 of 2)

Seminar: The Role of the Sunday School Teacher (Part 2 of 2)

James 3:1-13

The Power Of The Tongue

The Power Of The Tongue

James 3:3-6

The Taming Of The Tongue

The Taming Of The Tongue

James 3:7-12

The Danger Of False Wisdom

The Danger Of False Wisdom

James 3:13-16

The Blessing Of Heavenly Wisdom

The Blessing Of Heavenly Wisdom

James 3:17-18

Dealing With Conflict In The Church

Dealing With Conflict In The Church

James 4:1-6

What Constitutes True Salvation

What Constitutes True Salvation

James 4:7-10

Speak No Evil

Speak No Evil

James 4:11-12

God’s Plan Or My Plan?

God’s Plan Or My Plan?

James 4:13-17

Physically Rich But Spiritually Poor

Physically Rich But Spiritually Poor

James 5:1-6

How To Be Patient In Times Of Trouble

How To Be Patient In Times Of Trouble

James 5:7-11

Simply Speak The Truth

Simply Speak The Truth

James 5:12; Matthew 5:33-37