The faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice...

At the church where I server we have been spending our time on Sunday mornings looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. James was the half brother of Jesus who repeatedly doubted Jesus claim to be God, but became a follower of Jesus who was the pastor at the church in Jerusalem and who was ultimately killed for believing that Jesus was God. James turned from being a doubter in Jesus to being a pastor of Jesus church and an author of this letter that is recorded for us in the Bible after seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead.

And as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus. This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, called the book of James, we will see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works.  So let’s discover that timeless truth together beginning in James 2:1:

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

James begins this section of his letter to early followers of Jesus with a command. And that command is this: do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. Now when James uses the phrase with an attitude of personal favoritism, this phrase literally means to have partiality or prejudice. This phrase conveys the concept of making judgments about others based on external appearances.

If James was communicating this command in the language we use in our culture today, this command would have sounded something like this: Do not live out your day to day life as a follower of Jesus in such a way that you judge others based on externals. Make sure that you do not look up or down on others based on the external appearance of others.

And it is here that we see James reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to the faith that works. And that timeless truth is this: The faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice. Just as it was for followers of Jesus in James day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice.

Now a natural question and objection that could arise at this point is “Well Dave, why would you say that the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice? How can you say that the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice? After all, there is slavery throughout the Bible. And there were Christians who had slaves up to the civil war in America. So how can you say that the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice?”

My response to those objections would be two-fold. First off, the vast majority of slavery that was participated in by the people of God in the Bible involved individuals who were not able to take care of their financial obligations. And as a result, these individuals would enter into slavery as a way to pay off their debts.

In addition, God provided specific directions to the Jewish people when it came to how they were to treat these slaves and instituted the year of Jubilee to bring freedom to slaves. Second, just because there were Christians in America who participated in slavery prior to the Civil War that does not mean that God approved of such slavery that was prejudiced in nature. You see, simply put, prejudice is making judgments about others based on the external appearance of others. Prejudice is prejudging others based on the external social, economic, cultural, or ethnic appearance of others.

And in James 2:1-13, we will see James reveal for us three different reasons why the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice. We see James reveal that first reason why the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice in verse 2-4. Let’s look at it together:

 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

Here we see James use an illustration to unpack the devastating effects of prejudice. However, to fully understand this illustration, we first need to define some terms. First, when James refers to the assembly here, he is simply referring to a gathering of followers of Jesus. This could be at a Sunday worship gathering; this could be at a community group.

Now when James talks about a man entering into this gathering of followers of Jesus with a gold ring and fine clothes, it is important to understand that in the culture of the first century, a gold ring was worn by those who were in the upper classes of Roman society. In addition, when James uses the phrase pay special attention to, this phrase conveys the sense of paying special attention so as to look on someone with favor.

By contrast, when James refers to the poor man sitting down by a footstool, to sit at a footstool was a sign of contempt and disdain. In the first century, the footstool would often be the place that would be occupied by a servant or slave. If James was writing this letter in the language that we use in our culture today, this illustration would have sounded something like this:

"If someone comes to your church or community group driving an Astin-Martin and wearing Louie Vitton and you go out of the way to pay attention to them and say “here is a really nice place for you to sit” and then another person who is poor comes to your church or your community group and you ignore them or simply say “go sit out of sight” have you not made distinctions among yourselves?”.

You see, what was happening was that the poor were viewed as outsiders who were forced to sit on the outside, while those who were wealthy were viewed as insiders who were invited inside. Now what is so interesting is that the phrase “make distinctions” literally means to be at odds with oneself. But not only does this prejudice make us at odds with ourselves and others. James explains that this prejudice results in us becoming judges with evil motives. James point here is that prejudice results in us rendering judgments about others that are morally and socially worthless.

And it is here that we see James reveal for us the reality that the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice because prejudice puts us at odds with one another.  You see, prejudice puts at odds with ourselves because at one time we were outsiders when it came to God as a result of our selfishness and rebellion against God. Yet, God sent His Son Jesus so that we would have the opportunity to be insiders with God as a result of placing our confident trust in what God had done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection.

James point here is that as followers of Jesus who were once outsiders but now have been made insiders, how can we treat anyone as outsiders?  To demonstrate prejudice and treat people as outsiders puts us at odds with ourselves because of how Jesus treated us when we were once outsiders. As followers of Jesus we are to reflect Jesus by treating outsiders as insiders instead of demonstrating prejudice towards those who we may consider outsiders.

And as followers of Jesus, when we demonstrate prejudice, we put ourselves at odds with others by making judgments about others that are morally and socially worthless because those judgments are based on externals such as the cotton count of their clothing or the color of one’s skin instead of the content of one’s character. As followers of Jesus, our faith and confident trust in Jesus should bring unity and community. However, prejudice will only put us at odds with one another in a way that brings division and disunity.

James then reveals for us the second reason why the faith that works does not demonstrate prejudice. We will look at that second reason tomorrow…