Rev. David Holwick Z Book of James #6
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 12, 2007
James 2:1-9
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I. The family favorite.
A. All parents are partial among their children, though they don't
like to admit it.
My family: my sister was not the favorite, and neither was my
brother.
Celeste thinks this explains where I got my personality, but
she can't criticize me because she was the favorite, too.
Favorites always get more, and get away with more.
B. Favoritism causes divisions.
1) In families, brothers and sisters can harbor resentment.
2) In society, riots and civil wars often occur.
3) In the church, it can turn people off to the gospel of Jesus.
II. Pre-judging others.
A. All of us are prejudiced:
- We may resent poor people, because we think they are dirty
and lazy.
- Or it may be rich people, because we think they've gotten
their wealth at our expense.
- We may only want to spend time with young people, or with
the mature.
- Perhaps the biggest prejudice of all involves race.
This month, Barry Bonds will surpass Hank Aaron's record,
just as Hank beat Babe Ruth.
A-Rod has hit his 500th homer.
When this church was built, neither of these men would
have been allowed to play in the major leagues.
The roots of racism go back hundreds of years,
and it continues to be one of the biggest problems
facing our nation, and the world.
B. Even the Bible reflects prejudices.
1) Shibboleth, and tribe of Ephraim. Judg 12:5-6
2) Nathanael doubted anything good could come out
of Nazareth. John 1:45
3) The Samaritan woman hesitated to give a drink
to Jesus, a Jew. John 4:9
4) Even the early Christian church had hangups.
a) Assumed in James 2:1 - "STOP showing favoritism."
C. Many are fighting prejudice.
A few years back the American Airlines ticket office in Fort
Worth, Texas, was picketed by a group called
"UGLIES UNLIMITED."
They were upset because the airline advertised for good-looking
people when hiring.
Apparently a lot of companies did this, and advertised for
"attractive receptionists" or "pretty secretaries."
They can't do this anymore, at least outwardly, but who do
you think gets hired?
The president of Uglies Unlimited, Danny McCoy, says they just
want to be accepted for who they are, instead of what they
look like.
Mr. McCoy estimates that up to 10% of all American are widely
considered to be ugly.
You may think this is all pretty humorous - unless YOU are
ugly.
In that case, you KNOW that the discrimination is real, and
it hurts.
#2639
D. When God remakes us, is there any room for prejudice?
1) If Jesus is truly "glorious" to you, as James says,
you cannot treat people shabbily. 2:1
2) But we do it all the time, don't we?
III. God's standards or the world's?
A. By favoring some over others, the world's standards are used.
1) "Show special attention" - not only favorable look, but
followed up with assistance. 2:3
a) Movie "PRETTY WOMAN."
Richard Geer suggests salespeople lavish attention on
character played by Julia Roberts.
Money makes a definite difference in how they treat her.
Loaded down with boxes and bags of expensive clothes,
she goes back to the store that snubbed her and says,
"You guys made a mistake. A BIG mistake!"
b) "Sit on floor" is literally, sit by my footstool. The
rich get their feet propped up, the poor get nothing.
2) It doesn't make earthly sense. 2:6-7
a) Rich are often persecutors.
b) They follow the world's ways, and get world's results.
B. By favoring some, God is dishonored.
1) Favoritism is incompatible with the glory of Jesus.
a) Jesus focused on the poor.
Luke 4:18 - "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor."
Luke 6:20 - "Looking at his disciples, he said:
'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the
kingdom of God.'"
1> This doesn't mean the poor are automatically saved.
2> But it is hard for rich to see their spiritual need.
(example of Rich Young Ruler)
b) When we show favoritism, we show we really don't know
what Jesus is all about.
Explaining theology in his familiar, homespun way, Garrison
Keillor points out that the Gospel is different from
"People Magazine."
"The Gospel couldn't care who you are...
Its message is always the same:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
The Gospel is sent into the world to comfort the afflicted
and to afflict the comfortable." #1673
2) Most believers have always been of lower classes. 1 Cor 1:26-29
a) Poverty is only in world's eyes; they are rich in faith.
b) By using the poor, God cuts down human boasting.
c) Inherit the kingdom - future millennium in view. 2:5
1> Snobbery is definitely short-sighted.
3) Prejudice cuts against the purpose of the church.
In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during
his student days he read the Gospels seriously and
considered converting to Christianity.
He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find
the solution to the caste system that was dividing
the people of India.
So one Sunday he decided to attend a nearby church and
talk to the minister about becoming a Christian.
When Gandhi entered the sanctuary, however, the usher
refused to give him a seat and suggested that he
worship with his own people.
Gandhi left the church and never returned.
He said, "If Christians have caste differences also,
I might as well remain a Hindu."
#17952
IV. Christian love is the moral argument against favoritism.
A. Love neighbor as self. Positive counterpart to above.
1) This law is "royal" because it is supreme.
a) It is summation of all other laws. Matt 22:36-40
b) It is held up as ideal in both Old and New Testaments.
2) Show favoritism to all people.
a) Don't just pay attention to some due to externals.
b) We can only love people at eye level.
3) It's the right thing to do.
a) Old Testament - judge with impartiality. Deut 1:17
b) A negative way of looking at it: favoritism is sin.
B. The story of the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:25
1) Who is my neighbor? is wrong question.
2) Who can I be a neighbor to? is proper one.
V. Honor everyone.
A. Don't treat people the same - we must treat them great!
1) Warm acceptance of new people.
When nonbelieving friends learn that John Prin goes to church
every Sunday to worship the living God, their faces usually
register surprise.
Why, they ask, does someone like him, a person who functions
relatively well in the "real" world, go to church at all?
Like many of his contemporaries during the sixties, John Prin
was a hippie.
He marched in protests, defied the establishment, and professed
peace and flower power.
But unlike many of them, he did not fall away from the church
- because he was never "in" it to begin with.
The church, any church, had never been the place for him.
For the first 33 years of his life he never willingly set foot
in a house of worship.
Nor did he think that his personal problems were solvable by
religious or spiritual means.
As a boy growing up in a white, middle-class family, he never
even heard God acknowledged (except in profanity).
His family never attended church.
God was not so much rejected as ignored.
But in 1977 John was on the verge of suicide.
He suffered depression and constant frustration, and believed
that life was a hopeless, cruel riddle.
When a neighbor told him his problem was that he was disconnected
from God, John rolled his eyes.
The neighbor explained that God's Son, Jesus Christ, had come to
save him from bondage to sin and had provided the free gift of
eternal life.
John was insulted at hearing such nonsense.
Yet three weeks later John was lying in a wheat field, pleading
for Jesus to save him.
To John's total surprise, God did.
Immediately John experienced peace.
As he began to pray and apply Scripture to his life, his marriage
(once at the point of divorce) started to heal.
Personal failings and addictions began to come under control.
His biggest surprise was finding that a church would totally
accept him.
Fellow Christians knew of his sinful past, but they listened,
advised, and encouraged him to grow into the person God wanted
him to be.
No finger-wagging. No shocked expressions.
John found that his church was a lot like the neighborhood bar
in the TV show "Cheers."
Everybody knew his name. Everybody cared.
They weren't perfect people, but he wasn't perfect either.
John found, to his surprise, that he could bare his soul there
and still be accepted.
So, to answer the question why some one like him goes to church,
John can say that he has been drug-free and adultery-free for
eleven years.
His church provides him with:
relief after a long week of struggles,
refreshment in seeing how God is working in others' lives,
a community where love for God and one another can be shared,
and a haven where he can be completely himself.
#11593
Is our church like this?
2) Continued acceptance of old-timers.
a) They often melt into the background, become invisible.
b) Try to notice everyone.
3) Do not neglect those with pressing needs.
a) Burdens, or opportunities?
b) Ministry is about needy people.
c) Jesus never turned anyone away!
B. God is "no respecter of persons."
1) Note Peter in Acts 10:34: "God doesn't show favoritism."
2) God loves everyone - and will judge everyone.
a) Your worldly status means nothing to God.
b) We all have the same eternal choice to make.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 1673 "A Gospel For Sinners," by Rev. Rob Peterson, Dynamic Preaching,
Fall 1991 "A", October 1991, bonus sermon.
# 2639 "Uglies Unlimited," original source unknown; taken from an old
sermon by Rev. David Holwick, October 10, 1987.
#11593 "My Higher Power Has A Name And A Body: Why I Go To Church," by
John Prin, Christianity Today magazine, September 24, 1990, p. 24.
#17952 "The Christian Caste System," by David Yarbrough,
www.sermoncentral.com newsletter, August 12, 2002.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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