Living Free from Favoritism (James 2:1-13)

We are still in the sermon series of James, and I said this

in the first sermon of James, that James is not just a letter

epistle, but it's it's also considered a wisdom literature

of the New Testament. It is 2 genres in one wisdom

literature in the Old Testament will be Psalms and Proverbs and

Song of Song of Songs and and all those books.

And James is considered the New Testament version of that.

For example, last week's sermon, James gives us wisdom about

anger. We all know anger is bad.

Nobody needs, you know, a long talk or sermon on why it's bad.

But James was saying we all know anger is bad, but James is

saying it's worse than you think.

Not only anger, you know it hurts feelings.

It makes you do things you regret all of that.

But anger prevents you from receiving God's word.

Anger prevents you from receiving correction, not just

from other people, but from God. You if you have anger in your

heart, you essentially refuse the wisdom of God.

So that's that was last week. And in today's passage, James

gives gives us wisdom about a new topic.

And it's it's kind of surprising he mentions this, but James

says, watch out for favoritism. We all know it's bad.

We all know that we shouldn't do it.

But James says, again, it's worse than you think.

Watch out for favoritism. So the question we want to

answer is how can we be free from showing favoritism in our

lives? How can we be free from showing

favoritism in our lives? Well, I think for .1 I'm going

to 1st define what favoritism is and what is not.

So number one, we need to 1st understand what favoritism is.

James chapter 2 I'll be reading verse one through 4.

James 2 · chapter mention

Today's passage is until 13, but one through 4 for this point, my

brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on

to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.

For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and

dressed in fine clothes, and a person dressed in filthy clothes

also comes in. If you look at look with favor

on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, sit here in a

good place and you say to the poor person, stand over there or

sit here on the floor by my footstool.

Haven't you made distinctions among yourselves and become

judges with evil thoughts? James is Speaking of how

favoritism is affecting the church.

The dictionary says the the standard Dictionary of of

definition of favoritism is the practice of giving unfair

preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense

of another. So it's unfair preferential

treatment and there is a personal group that is at

expense. There is a victim and this is

done usually for some sort of personal gain.

Some examples of favoritism. There's favoritism of a maybe of

a child at home. Typically this happens often.

The last child gets away with everything and while the first

child gets in trouble for the very same things.

Or in more traditional Asian households, the first child,

especially male, kind of gets free reign on whatever he wants

to do. And then the other children have

more strict roles. This is something that I've

experienced with, you know, several people or I, I've heard

from several people, parents give, you know, the children are

getting married and parents give more money to one child than the

other. There's favoritism at work.

Some employees that are, you know, the favorites of the boss

are allowed to bend rules, while others get in trouble for the

same things. So those are examples of

favoritism. But really James speaking about

favoritism in the church, it's when leaders give more

attention, better treatment to wealthier or more influential

members. So in this passage, he says it's

a rich guy and a poor guy, and the rich guy gets the premium

seats and the poor guy gets, since you're not only the bad

seats, it's the one by the footstool.

So the feet that smell like feet, that's the is there a is

there a good and bad seats at our church?

Is the back the better seats? Yeah, well, maybe, but for sure

that we don't have any stinky seats.

I I think most of us have a general idea what what

favoritism is. And but at the same time, we

have often mistaken understanding of what favoritism

might be. So I'm going to give you some

examples of non favoritism. It seems like favoritism, but it

really is not. Remember, favoritism is

preferential treatment that is unfair.

OK, so some examples of non favoritism.

Some people think that time a teacher, a parent or pastors,

any kind of leadership, a boss, how much time he or she spends

with a group could be issued with favoritism.

So if a teacher or a parent spends more time with one person

than the other, ah, there is favoritism.

But often parents or teachers will spend more time with the

person who is in in in need. They say it's a academically,

you know, struggling kind of issue.

Then, of course, the child who's struggling more will get more of

the time. So it's a matter of responding

to need. This applies to pastors and

elders and other leaders of the church.

We spend more time with people who are in need.

We spend more time with people who are perhaps, you know,

becoming leaders soon. So equip and train.

So how much we spend time with someone is not necessarily

favoritism. So it's not time.

It's so also it's not it's not about feelings either.

So we have to distinguish between having favorites and

favoritism. I think it was our tenth year

anniversary service. So a couple years back it was,

it was right here. And then I pointed out the

people that's been here from the beginning for, for, for my first

location. And I said that there I have

special affection and special appreciation for them.

Why our first location? This is our 4th location.

Our first location was terrible. Soon as temperature becomes 78

or higher in here, people start complaining, right?

And our first location, it was minimum 85 everything.

It was impossible, right? If we were people were up in

stage were just covered in, in sweat and people didn't leave.

They they kept coming. The people who were there in the

hard times and the rough times I have special appreciation for.

So in our 10 year anniversary, I point, I I said that I said I

have special love for you. And someone asked me as a joke.

They they weren't serious. But afterwards like, hey, pastor

isn't a favoritism. Well, feelings itself is not

favoritism. But if I gave those people

preferential treatment, unfair preferential treatment, now that

will be favoritism. So for instance, Wesley has been

there in our in our first building.

So I said, OK, you know Wesley. And then there's, you know, like

Sarah over there. Johnny, You know what?

There's a bunch of people here. And for the people who are there

from there, when you guys come in, you guys will get a little

reserved with your name on on whatever seat you want.

Yeah. Who's clapping?

OK, Favorites, your seats will be right here, front row.

Those will be your seats. Now that will be unfair

preferential treatment, right? So you get it.

It's not time, it's not feelings, but it's about

equality in action and treatment.

Every person does every person feel valued, welcomed and

shepherded? And every person who is in need,

do they get the the right person's attention, the leader's

attention in this passage, the people getting the attention,

people getting the time. We're not people in need.

They're just the ones who are wealthy.

They were getting attention a time for really no reason.

That's why this was so damaging. OK, so we got that out of the

way. Defining favoritism Now let's go

to how we could overcome showing favoritism #2 how can we

overcome favoritism #2 we must understand why favoritism, it's,

it's so damaging. We all get as bad.

But it goes further than that. James is saying, hey, it's worse

than we think. It's actually sin.

It's actually very harmful. It's very damaging to the

church. Let's read verses 5 to 7.

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, didn't God choose the

poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom

that he has promised to those who love him?

Yet you have dishonored the poor.

Don't the rich oppress you and drag you into court?

Don't they blasphemy the good name that was invoked over you?

What's James saying here? He's generalizing here.

He's not saying all poor love God and all rich are wicked.

He's not saying that. But in the Bible throughout it

is said that the that we are everyone is poor and desperate

spiritually. And in multiple areas of the

Bible, including James saying that the poor are able to see

their emptiness, able to see their poorness better.

And the rich, because they're independent, they are

self-sufficient through their wealth.

They it is hard for them to see that they are poor in spirit.

It is hard for them to see that they need Jesus like everyone

else. That's what James says.

God chose the poor in this world to be rich in faith in the heirs

of the Kingdom of God. And rich are often corrupt and

oppressive. James is saying in God's

Kingdom, these are our values. God has a way of flipping the

script that the world has. The poor becomes rich, the last

become first, the poor, the sick, the rejected, the

neglected, they all have a special place in the Kingdom of

God. And then the world is the exact

opposite. The world shows favoritism

everywhere. It has the opposite values of

God. The root word, the Greek word

root word for favoritism in the Greek is prose, a poem which

means faith. So literal translation of

favoritism is received by looking at faith.

Favoritism means I will, depending on how you look,

depending on your postal poem, I will change how I react to you,

how I receive you. In college, when I was a senior

in college, I was the president of my Christian club.

And then I ran into some high school friends who, you know, we

all went to EC Irvine together and, and they told me that, you

know, one of them was the president of their fraternity.

So a couple of presidents just talking and, and I was jokingly

and he was talking about clubbing and I was like, you

know what? I'm, I'm, I'm going to go to

that club and I'm going to find you.

And he said, tell me they won't even let you in.

Of course, I, I would always wear UCIUC Irvine hoodies and

shorts and, and sandals or something like that.

And he says, bro, you know, you can't even get in.

And I was genuinely confused. I I've never been to a club.

And I was like, what do you mean I can't get in?

He's like the bouncer won't let you in.

And I thought bouncers were like, if you cause trouble, like

they come in and they beat you up.

I didn't know that they were the gatekeepers.

Some of you guys were like, obviously.

So you guys been clubbing before.

OK. The ones that look confused are

you guys are the innocent ones. I I I like you guys.

So the bouncer's job is literally to look at the

prostopoem and judge accordingly.

The bouncer looks at you. Oh, you're wearing a hoodie and

shorts. Get out of here.

Oh, you're dressed, I don't know, in black and and stylish.

All right, come on in. The bouncer determines whether

you accept it or not. The world, the world's value

system is that literally everyone, we're bouncers.

And we judge on base how somebody looks, color of their

skin. Do they look nice?

Do they look rich? Do they young or old?

And we say, I'm going to base how I treat you based on how I

judge your Prosopone, your face. So there's two ways of living.

The world looks at the face judges this person.

Does this person deserve my time or energy?

Does this person have enough accomplishments, enough similar

things, for me to be nice to them and welcome them?

But the God's Kingdom is opposite.

We do not judge by prose the poem.

In fact, we don't judge at all. Instead, we ask, does God value

this person? If the answer is yes, we treat

them as the valuable person they are.

In fact, God values even more the poor, the neglected, the

sick, the widows and the orphans, the ones who are in the

outside looking in. God values them even more.

So we value them because God values them.

I mentioned this in one of our member meetings, but I don't

think I mentioned in a sermon. But do you guys know some of you

guys have Instagram or TikTok or Facebook?

You guys heard of POV husband? Raise your hand.

I've seen him online before. Three people have heard of him.

You get liars. Anybody nobody heard of POV her.

OK, thank you. Thank you.

It's just a guy who makes food. Don't don't be like oh, I'm so

ashamed. It's OK.

It's just a guy making food. OK 2019 he came to our church

about six months OK. And two years ago he got married

and he came here with his wife. This is pre before he got

famous. Right now he has like 3,000,000

followers or something like that.

Most of you who are here 2019 don't remember him.

OK, If you were here 2019 and you don't remember him, raise

your hand. Just kidding.

You know you don't have to. So before he became famous, he

came here six months and then two years ago he came here once.

Most of you guys don't know that it's OK.

But if he came back next week, let's say it comes back, I'm

betting that more than a few people will be wanting to talk

to him. In fact, I don't think there

will be like a line like when we have tacos, but I think there

will be people like, OK, I want to talk to him next.

There will be several groups of people wanting to meet him.

That's that's my guess now. What changed from 2019, 2002 to

if he came back next week, why would he get different treatment

for my church? The only difference is his

accomplishments. He's famous now.

It's 3,000,000 followers now. Somebody who was largely ignored

in 2019 might get a King's welcome in 2025.

The only difference, accomplishments.

Let's imagine this. I'm, I'm making up a scenario.

Let's say there is this woman, right?

She gets a corporate job. Of course, most corporate jobs.

It's the man's world. And she, she, she gets higher,

she works hard. And then after work, she notices

the boss goes out. What?

Just the men, they golf, they drink.

It's a little good old boys club.

And then she realizes they're the ones who get the promotions.

They're the ones who get raises. Even though she might outperform

some of them, she's getting largely ignored.

It's favoritism and it's traumatic.

And let's say she's also Asian American, comes from a

traditional family background where the males of the family

are typically thought to be more valuable.

And let's say she has the older brother, I guess it could be

younger brother. It doesn't matter.

She has a brother and he doesn't do anything for the family.

They go on family vacations, she pays, she plans, and all he does

is complain about the food, complain about where they're

going. She does the planning and

driving, and the brother just gets to chill with the parents.

She never seems to be able to please her parents, and the

brother seems like the parents are pleased just because he

exists. So she experiences favoritism in

the family, favoritism in the workplace, probably experience

favoritism in the schools that she went to.

And then she comes to church and what happens?

James is saying the same thing is happening.

She favoritism at work, favoritism in the family.

She comes to church and she sees the exact same thing happening.

And that's what James is asking questions here.

Listen, didn't God choose the poor in this world to be rich?

You have dishonored the poor, James is saying.

That very person who's rejected everywhere else, when that

person comes here, that person should be treated like a king or

a queen. James is saying you have

dishonored the poor, the very person that needs to be valued

and loved and cherished. You gave her the world's

treatment. The same rejection, the same

favoritism. That's what James calls the

church. You've become judges with evil.

You've been seeing how you treat that person.

Based on the Prosto poem, one of the symbols of the early church

was the ark, Noah's ark, and I think it was.

It was a beautiful symbol. Perhaps it should be the symbol

of the modern church. See, God sends a pair of each

animal into the ark. Some are magnificent animals

like lions and tigers and giraffes.

And there were cute animals too, Pandas, puppies, koalas.

But it wasn't just the cute or the magnificent animals that

made the cut. The unwanted animals made the

cut too. The rats, the snakes, the

skunks, the porcupines, the bats.

They were all welcomed as well. The symbol of Noah's Ark was

part of the church symbolism because people wanted to stay at

God's church. All are welcome.

You can be a lion or a panda. University loved and university

welcomed here. Of course we'll welcome you, but

we'll treat you same just like everyone else.

That's why a lot of rich people and powerful people, they meant

not going to church because they don't get the special treatment.

It was Noah's ark, because you could be somebody who is

rejected by the world, treated unfairly by the world, neglected

by the world, and you will still be welcomed in God's house.

Noah's ark, everyone is welcome. Isn't Noah's ark?

Isn't that such a beautiful picture of God's Kingdom?

This is why favoritism is so harmful and we need to

understand why it's so harmful. When you show favoritism, you

are representing a different Kingdom.

The entire world judges on looks, give preferences,

treatment for being rich, good looking and powerful.

When someone comes to church and it's the same, then the wrong

Kingdom has been demonstrated. We did not point the way to the

cross, we pointed the way to the world.

We said we are just like the outside in modern day.

You know, back then I think it was easier.

You could tell who was rich. They were jewelry and they were

fine clothes. Like just by looking you could

tell if this person was rich or not.

These days it's really hard to tell.

When you get on the airplane, you know, you pass by the first

class in the business. Sometimes it's like what?

You're in first class, you're wearing the same thing as me.

It's hard to tell. I don't think that's something

that the modern church struggle with.

Someone comes in a nice car. It's not like, oh, you know, sit

over here. I don't think, I don't know,

maybe it's $1,000,000 car maybe, but everyone has similar range

of cars, at least here. So what's the preferential

treatment? I think it's are you similar to

me? Do you have a good personality?

Am I going to enjoy talking to you?

Is there something in it for me? Oh, look at we're at the same

age, similar profession. Oh, but that guy's so funny.

Is there something to gain out of the relationship?

So you're extra nice to one person while ignoring someone

else? James says 8 and 11.

Remember I said it's worse than you think.

That's what James is saying. 8 through 11.

I'll quickly read it. Indeed, if you fulfill the royal

law prescribed in the scripture, love your neighbor as yourself,

you are doing well. If, however, you show

favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as

transgressors. For whoever keeps the entire law

yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking a law.

For he who said do not commit adultery and also said do not

murder. So if you do not commit

adultery, but you murder, you're a law breaker.

James saying this, there's a lot of good people.

You guys do good things, but if you stink just on the side I do

a little favoritism. James is saying that doesn't

make sense. That's like saying I don't

commit adultery, but on the side I do a little bit of murder.

So it does not make sense. Favoritism is serious business

because you're literally representing the Kingdom of God

to that person. And if you represent the wrong

Kingdom, that is a serious offense.

And James ends this section of of how about favoritism of how

we can be free from it? Verses 12 and 13 speak and act

as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

For judgement is without mercy to the one who has not shown

mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

Let's focus on the law of freedom in verse 12.

This law of freedom is the same language from last week's

sermon. It's about the obedience that

leads to freedom. James is saying when you don't

show favoritism and when you give people impartial love, you

are being free. Why are you being free?

Think about it. Why do we show favoritism?

The example is somebody who is rich and it seems like the

leaders are really giving preferences treatment to this

rich guy. Why would I do that?

Why would a pastor or elder do that?

Because if a rich person comes and gives a lot of money, what

happens? It solves a lot of problems.

We have security. We could do more things.

Our our church could be bigger and and whatnot.

There's a lot to gain from it. So if I'm insecure, if I'm

paranoid about how God's going to provide, then I will be.

Favoritism will be something that will be a big temptation.

How do you become free from it? You show love to everyone.

You are impartial and then you're saying, Lord, in my

insecurity, Lord, I give it to you.

I'm not trying to get some rich person to solve my problems.

Lord, I give it to you, our finances, I'm going to trust in

you. I'm going to hope in you.

And then you are free. You don't have to show

favoritism. You don't have to gain something

from somebody else. You're free.

You just have to love that person and serve that person.

And James ends with 13 Mercy triumphs over judgement.

Mercy and judgement are opposite things.

Judgement says. You look like you're someone

that can help me. All right, I'll be good to you.

I judge. And then you pass the test.

You have my time. You have my energy.

Mercy is the opposite. Why are people more some people

more likable than others? There's something about them,

their personality, their achievement.

Something about them. Mercy means there's nothing

about us. Nothing about me is likable or

lovable, but I am loved regardless.

That's mercy is what God has shown us.

There's nothing in us, nothing we did to deserve becoming a

child of God. There's nothing about us that

deserve going to heaven. But God looked at us, he said.

I'm not going to look at what you did or what you didn't do.

I'm going to look at what my son Jesus Christ did for you, what

he accomplished instead of you, and I'll treat you with love.

My son clothes you in righteousness.

But now I will look at you as a righteous person.

I will make you my son, my daughter.

I will love you. I will save you.

God showed mercy to us first. And because of that, we can show

mercy to other people whether they deserve it or not.

We are always treating them better than they deserve.

Judgement is opposite. Do you deserve it?

Did you earn it? Let's be free from it.

Let's be people of mercy. Main point.

We can be free from showing favoritism.

When mercy triumphs over judgement in our lives.

Let's take time to pray.