NO DISCRIMINATION HERE!
Opening Prayer
Lamb of God, thank you for your sacrifice that purchased my salvation. I want my life to be a sacrifice of praise to you.
Read JAMES 2:1–13
Favoritism Forbidden
2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 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,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: 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? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Footnotes
- James 2:8 Lev. 19:18
- James 2:11 Exodus 20:14; Deut. 5:18
- James 2:11 Exodus 20:13; Deut. 5:17
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism.’1
Think Further
Having completed his introduction, James begins to address some major problems afflicting this community. They appear to have bought into the world’s values, with its emphasis on valuing people according to wealth, showing discrimination between the wealthy and the poor who enter the community. However, the mantra for the follower of Jesus has to be ‘No discrimination here!’
The favoritism shown by the community is completely contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even more problematic is that those who were being favored were actually the people who were exploiting the community and dragging them through the courts (vv. 6, 7). James refers the community to the law that commands love of neighbor, but we are also reminded that Jesus said that this was the second part of the greatest commandment.2 The problem was that every time this community showed partiality, not only were they failing to keep this specific commandment, but they were actually breaking the entire law (vv. 9, 10). Those who truly trust in Jesus Christ will show mercy to others and, as such, will themselves receive mercy (v. 13).
We know that God is angered by the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy3, and that favoritism has no place in the community of God’s people. It would be easy to think that the challenge of this passage does not apply to us today. However, we all need to give ourselves a spiritual health check to ensure that our values match those of our Savior and not the world. We also need to remember that neither wealth nor poverty indicates a person’s spiritual state – only salvation through Jesus Christ can do this – for ‘there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’4
Apply
Give yourself a spiritual health check before God. What is he showing you?
Closing prayer
Father, help me to become more open-hearted and welcoming to those I find difficult to treat as equals.
1 Acts 10:34 2 Lev 19:18, Matt 22:37–40 3 E.g. Amos 8:4–6; Luke 18:18–30 4 Acts 4:12
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