Favoritism (Part 1 of 6)

Welcome to Truth for Life as we begin a study in the very practical book of James.

At what point does a proper show of respect and honor become an inappropriate display of favoritism.

Alister Ben walks us through the answer today as he investigates the dangers of favoritism in the local church. James chapter 1 verse 26 if anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world, my brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say here's a good seat for you, but say to the poor man. You stand there or sit on the floor by my feet have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts. Listen, my dear brothers has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him, but you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you, are they not the ones who are dragging you into court, are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong. If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture love your neighbor as yourself you're doing right.

But if you show favoritism, you send and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of for you said do not commit adultery also said do not murder.

If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker, speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Thanks be to God for his word and before we study the Bible together will cause once again and asked for God's help. Father we come needing to you with the impact of all kinds of distractions clamoring for our attention and asking for the miraculous intervention of your spirit so that we might hear the very voice of God even through the voice of a mere man, and that in hearing we might believe and obey and live in the light of your truth. We thank you that you've given us the Bible, not simply to increase our knowledge to change our life's so change our lives. We pray for Jesus sake. Amen.

We returned to our studies in James and I encourage you to be following along as we look to the Bible together.

This is a profitable opportunity for me to remind us of the fact that when the New Testament was written and did not have the chapter breaks and it that are present in our English translations. And so James would not of been conscious of finishing chapter 1 and a beginning chapter 2. In fact, there was no chapter 1 I know chapter 2, he was writing a letter and his letter was long letter and it was a cohesive letter and as we've already discovered it was a thoroughly practical letter and I mentioned that this morning and indeed began reading at the end of chapter 1 rather than at the beginning of chapter 2 in order that we might be very clear concerning this, because the danger is that we turn is aware from chapter 1 into chapter 2 and treat the subject matter. The beginning of chapter 2 as if it was to be dealt with in isolation from what is going before nothing of course could be farther from the truth because James is still in the same realm of thinking realm of thinking that really goes all the way back to verse 16 where he says don't be deceived and then in verse 19.

Take note of this and so on, but particularly in verse 26 if anyone considers himself religious.

He says, and yet doesn't. I keep a tight rein on his tongue doesn't show compassion to those who are poor and needy and doesn't remain with uncompromising testimony before the world, then, frankly, that individual has a worthless religion, worthless religion. That's the distinction that comes at the end of chapter 1 the externalism that marks so many in his day and marks many in every generation that seeks somehow or another simply to maintain some kind of outward façade of religious expression is insufficient when it comes to God's understanding of things we define religion and I think helpfully and simply as the outward expressions of a living faith.

That's what James is referencing here that are outward expressions which are not representative of a faith which is alive but the faith which is alive.

He says will not only be a listening faith but it will be a believing faith and it will be a doing faith and the kind of expressions of genuine faith that God the father is interested in and described as being pure and faultless have to do with number one, a controlled tongue which James is going to tackle in chapter 3, a compassionate heart with James is now about to tackle.

In chapter 2, and an uncompromised testimony which James will deal with when he comes to chapter 4, but we now does in the opening verses of chapter 2 is introduced as to the explosion or the expansion of what it means to be genuinely interested in those who are needy. He has identified the orphans and the widows not in a way that is exclusive to them, but in a way that picks them out as being representative of those who, in a culture are in need of care and compassion and need to discover the expressions of the gospel very very quickly. He realizes that those who are the believers in the Lord Jesus may be tempted to differentiate between people and to forget what he has just said concerning a compassionate heart. Here then is a further test where an individual's profession of faith is challenged as he identifies what is a clear and present danger in his own day, and frankly, in every day, namely the danger of treating people in different ways according to their outward appearance. The danger of treating people in different ways according to their outward appearance.

In short, danger of favoritism.

Favoritism and he aptly and succinctly provides a nice illustration of this far these believers to whom he writes and paraphrasing what you have that in verses two, three, and 40 he said let's say for instance that someone arrives at your gathering. Incidentally, the word info gathering as soon ago okay synagogue is an indication of how fairly the letter of James is and how Jewish terminology was interlaced with the developing Christian terminology in the establishing of the church, he says, imagine if someone comes into your synagogue and he has the outward expressions of wealth. He is clad in fine Raymond and he is adorned by gold and simultaneously another fellow shows up and he is obviously at the other end of the spectrum. He shabby his clothes are in disrepair. What happens then he says if you give pride of place to the visitor who is rich and disregard the poor man then says James, you have discriminated in a fashion that doesn't look tall like those who profess to be the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an uncomfortable book. There is no quest which of us can invade the immediate impact and challenge of this direct impact.

Don't show favoritism.

I don't will have any difficulty in understanding what he is saying, but it may be possible that some of us think he is saying more than what you say and therefore we always in study. Our Bibles need to be clear about what is being said, but also about what is not being set and I think I need to make this point before we move ahead. He is not reducing everything and everyone to a common level.

The Bible doesn't do that. Some people log this section in James. I remember even as a boy. Hearing vociferous arguments involving members of my extended family.

As I tried to get to sleep at night and it all had to do with us and of intermingling of socialism and communism and capitalism in the Bible and it was going all over the place. As I was falling asleep as a boy. People arguing extensively and vociferously concerning what James was saying here.

Everyone's the same. Everyone should be treated in the same way everyone's on a common level and so on. Nobody gets a special seat here. Nobody is worthy of this. Nobody gets that in sore and anybody who does is miss the point in time. While I have in my reading this week I came across a wonderful sentence by Alan Madia where he said the Bible is to courteous the book to allow us to lack proper respect for people to whom respect is June. I thought that's wonderful. I must underline that an idea.

The Bible is to courteous the book to allow us to lack proper respect for people to whom respect is June.

You see, James is not condemning preferential treatment out of hand. James is not saying that for example to honor an elderly woman at the expense of our youths seat would be to follow follow his instruction OR society may be so egalitarian, and we may have lost all respect for age so as to forget this in its entirety. But the Bible is far too nice a book to forget this is perfectly understandable that a boy would be asked.

Would you please give up her seat and sit on the floor so that Mrs. Jenkins can sit on this night. See is anything wrong with that is all know it is a sign of respect is respect for age and youth takes its place in relationship to age.

If word were given that the President of the United States were attending the following service at 1115. I don't think any single person in the room would be at all surprised if special preparation were not made for his arrival.

The exact location of his seat with Amanda wrong and that nothing wrong in an adult that is not what James is talking about here is not talking about it beware that he would be contradicting the rest of the Bible you would only need to turn forward a couple of pages to first Peter chapter 2 where Peter says show proper respect for everyone love the brothers feared God and honor the King. I would usually looking part out for now. When you get the point. I replaced it with the president just so that you would feel much more at home. We don't need to go back 200 years in your history and go on to that stuff now, but the clarity and forcefulness of James teaching is not setting aside those kind of expressions of honor with members of our Armed Forces here that are come right from awry.

We recognize the dignity of their sacrifice and their willingness to serve.

I would be very happy to move to clear out all section of seat in order that they might be put in position and so that we might say thank you and that we might honor them by their presence with Amanda wrong with that with a be a violation of James 121214 note would not not for a moment so we need to be clear when we set out to discover what the Bible is saying to make sure what it is not say what he is making absolutely painstakingly clear is this that well does not in and of itself deserve honor well in and of itself does not deserve honor you think about it. It is only God who makes it possible for anybody to become wealthy. In any case. Therefore the wealthy person with her recognizes God's common grace or not is only in that position.

As a result of God's goodness to them or to her therefore that person should never be a snob in the first place and no gathering of God's people should then have cornered or afford to such an individual at the expense of someone less prosperous peculiar positions of authority or leadership or stature or status. Know your sensible people. You can read the Bible and look there and see whether that is in front what is being said. Phillips paraphrases the opening verses follows. Don't ever attempt my brothers to combine snobbery with faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Don't ever attempt to combine snobbery with faith in Jesus and Frank in one punch to the tummy he gives to us the instruction that he is providing don't show favoritism. That's the instruction really the illustration is what then follows but before we even get to the instruction. There is a twofold description which we made very quickly passed by and to do so would be a dreadful mistake. I almost did it myself. I almost went in and immediately took don't show favoritism.

In my study, so that the impact of the pungent, so long of the central teaching would come home forcibly but then I said to myself, this isn't padding the opening sentence, my brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. So what I want us to do is to notice the description that he gives first of his readers and then of the Lord Jesus, my brothers, he says quietly, his brothers well because they are believers because they are believers, we should just jump immediately to that is a lie makes perfect sense because we need to recall that the brothers of Jesus's earthly brothers did not believe in Jesus. There were nonbelievers.

They played games with her brother Jesus. They were involved in the family life with her brother Jesus by they do not believe in Jesus. John chapter 7 verse five tells us that even his brothers did not believe in other people were believing in Jesus but James and the rest did not believe in Jesus.

So what happened well there came a time when he who did not believe began to believe you when James writes in this way to the believers. We shouldn't think of in writing to a group of people who have some vague intellectual awareness of the existence of a person called Jesus of Nazareth. He's not writing to people and made an intellectual assent to historical facts or to bits and pieces of information about a Jesus. It is impossible to embrace in a Believing Way, Jesus until we understand the historicity and reality of who he is and what he's done, but it is possible for us to have an intellectual grasp of these things without ourselves ever having become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I believe in Jesus is able to look back to our precious moment or precious moments, a repeating of time in his or her life.

We are consciously and personally. They moved from a state of unbelief to estate of belief or in the case of some nurtured in a Christian home who moved from a position whereby their belief was in the environment of their home is imbibed in some senses from their parents. But there came a day or a point in their lives. Is it where they were tipped out of the nest and became to themselves to a personal understanding and belief and trust in Jesus, they realize that Jesus is a Savior and that they were sinners and that they needed a Savior and that they needed to ask Jesus to be their Savior and to be there for the means to believe. Do you believe Tivoli is when you get to verse five and you need more about our country will really get there this morning but when you get when you look at verse five and he says listen, my dear brothers is not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith. You need to realize that the fact of God's choosing doesn't deny the necessity and reality of our believe the fact of God's choosing does not deny the necessity and reality of our believe it. People asked me this question just about every single Sunday what God chooses, as I suppose we don't have anything to do with her tall know absolutely wrong. We have everything to do with it.

God does not believe for us.

We must believe that's why today we are either believing or where unbelief John Murray, the late Prof. John Murray in a wonderful passage in one of his books uses this illustration I shared for your help. He says we must never ignore the necessity of personal acceptance and trust. The lifeboat is no good unless the drowning man gets into it and no one can get in for him. He must do it for himself. Yet surely he would never say that the hand which sees the lifeboat was his salvation. He could only view it as the means by which he apprehended the proffered safety ceiling would bring to our salvation is the sin for which we need forgiveness. And when we reach out the hand of faith we are simply taking the safety that is proffered to us in the provision that Jesus has made and it is in that divine transaction. In that moment in that experiential moment in time that all the secret dimensions of the purposes of God, become ours in their fullness and their focus out of the tear puts it as follows new life in Christ may trace its conscious and public history back to the moment of decision of commitment of accepting the Lord Jesus as one's personal savior is there in your life. A moment of decision of commitment of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. That's the question that's the question there is no more important question than the one Alister just ask have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior listing to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life.

If, after today's message you have decided you're ready to follow Jesus or be like to know more about what that means. We suggest to you a seven minute video from Alister called what is the gospel. In this brief video. Alister walks you through the gospel. He offers a sample prayer that you can pray at the end to help you express your commitment of faith to God. You'll find the video and more@truthforlife.org/learn more now whether you're new to Christianity or you been following Jesus for decades. It's important for all of us to continue to grow in faith.

To learn more about God and today we want to recommend a book to you to supplement your daily Bible study. The book is called God is. This is a devotional book that explores 26 unique traits that God reveals about himself in Scripture. As you read the book you learn more about how these attributes of God affect your life as a believer that were only making this book available for a couple more days so you can request your copy with a donation when you go to truth for like.org/donate call us at 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book. You can write to Truth for Life at PO Box 39, 8000, Cleveland, OH 44139. By the way, if you're not listening to Truth for Life right now on our mobile app you can download it from your app store. Just search for Truth for Life. The app provides access to all of Alister's teaching nearly 3000 messages that also offers the complete text of the ESV Bible which you can have read to you the app is a great way to listen to Truth for Life each day at your convenience. From Bob Lapine join us tomorrow as we hear the conclusion of today's message. Find out how religion can become worthless when the church's focus is flipped upside down. How can you keep that from happening in your own local church to find out tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life for the learning is prolific