Faith Works in our Social Lives
Use the material to go deeper into this Series on your own, or with your small group.
Series Materials
Good morning Chapel family. Great to see you today. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I want to say a special thanks to my mother, who is part of our Chapel family, and who is just a really big part of why I am the person I am today—I love you mom. I also want to say thanks to the mother of my children. As of this year we now have all adult kids, but Norma Jean continues to give her wisdom and her love to our kids in every season of life. So thank you, sweetie, for being a great mom to our kids. I love you!
Alright, we are taking a few weeks to walk through the book of James, which is actually a letter that James, the brother of Jesus, wrote to a group of Christians in the first century. James was deeply troubled by people who were walking around claiming to have faith in Christ, but their lives didn’t show any evidence of that faith. So he gives this prophetic challenge to make sure we’re not living as hypocrites. But there’s also a very positive aspect to that challenge! Because all through the book, he talks about different parts of life that all of us experience, and he basically says, “If your faith in Christ is real, you now have power to live that part of life so differently. Let me show you how that looks.”
So today we come to chapter two, and James shows us how faith works in our social lives—specifically how we evaluate or assess people, and the danger of favoritism. If you are currently working in corporate America, it’s likely that you’ve been required to take a course in “unconscious bias”—or sometimes it’s called “implicit bias.” Have you heard of that? It’s very well established that we humans tend to make snap judgments about other people based on surface things—like how they look or their gender or even just seeing their name on a resume. And so lots of employers require their employees to receive “implicit bias training” to help them correct that. And it’s a good goal. But here’s the thing: the Bible shows us that the problem runs much deeper than we might think. Because it’s a spiritual problem. So changing it is going require a much deeper, spiritual solution.
So, let’s read the Scripture together. James chapter two, beginning in verse 1. I invite you now to hear the Word of God…
1 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,” 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,” also said, “You shall not murder.” 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. This is the Word of the Lord.
So today I want to talk about three things: What Favoritism Is, Why Favoritism is Wrong, and How to End Favoritism. What it is, why it’s wrong, and how to end it.
So first: What Favoritism Is. In verse 1, the word that James uses for “favoritism” is a very interesting Greek word—it could be literally translated: “to receive the face.” So, “Brothers and sisters, let’s not be people who receive the face.” In other words, let’s be very careful that we don’t evaluate people, and treat people, based on their external appearance.
And then he gives a typical scenario from that culture. Verse 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. So people are gathering for a church service. And back then, you could always tell a rich person, first of all, because they weren’t wearing homemade clothes—they actually had the money to buy clothing—so they stood out. Like, “That guy’s mom did not make that shirt. That’s the work of a tailor.” And they would also wear jewelry that showed sort of their rank in life.
And then he talks about a poor man coming in, and this is not just a lower-middle class guy. The word he uses for “poor” means “one who crouches or cowers.” So this is a down and out sort of person. The kind of person today who smells like they haven’t had a shower in a while, and they’re stooped over in a posture of inferiority. So look what James says—verse 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…” Apparently there were times when a rich guy would walk in, they would fall all over themselves welcoming the guy. And they would treat the poor guy like he was barely human. Here—you can sit on the floor.
Now, you and I read this and we say… “That’s ridiculous.” Right? It seems too extreme; too much of a caricature. It’s unthinkable to treat anybody like that. We would never be like this! Would we?
Not too long ago I was at Newark Airport, standing in the chute between the terminal and the airplane with all the other passengers. I had my carry-on bag and my laptop. I stepped onto the plane and said hello to the flight attendants. And then, I turned right and I saw Row 1; Row 2; Row 3. I don’t know about you, but seat assignment has never started with a single digit. So I walked back to the coach section, which I’m very familiar with. Seat 38D or something.
And I got to my seat, and I started thinking about the differences between coach and first class. First class passengers get nice food served on real china. We got a small bag of pretzels. First class people get room to stretch their legs out and take a nap. I was almost sitting in the lap of the man seated next to me. First class folks have two restrooms to serve about 20 people, we coach folks have 2 restrooms to serve about 120 people. And between first class and coach, there’s the curtain. I think some of the airlines don’t snap it shut anymore, but everyone knows it’s there. And I’ll be completely honest: every time I fly, there’s a little part of me that wishes I were on the other side of the curtain. Is that just me? Anybody else?
And then I started thinking about this passage in James. And I found myself wondering: do I ever relate to people or treat people in a way that makes them feel like they’re on the wrong side of the curtain? I mean, even unconsciously, is it possible that I am “receiving the face” of people—basing my
opinion of them; including or excluding them, based on outward things? Is it possible that I do that, and maybe I don’t even know it? And it didn’t take me long to answer that question, because the answer is “Yes.”
Last week we were in chapter one, but, we didn’t read the very end of the chapter. So let me just read the last verse—this is James 1, verse 27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and (listen to this…) to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. There are certain things about the world—about the secular culture—that can pollute us. Right? Just ways that the world operates—that seem normal to the world—that God says, “As my people, you should look distinctively different from that.” And this is one of those areas.
There are people who go through their entire week feeling like they’re on the wrong side of the curtain. At their job, in school, even in their family. They feel like they’re excluded because they don’t meet some outward measure of something. All of us have probably felt like that some of the time, and some of us have felt like that all of the time. So listen to what James is saying: “If those people, who get excluded all week long, walk into church, and they get the same treatment as they get out in the world, that’s a tragedy. That’s just wrong.”
Now…maybe you’re not convinced. So let me give you a few examples of 21st Century favoritism. And I’ll just use the classic categories of money, sex and power. Let’s call it money, beauty, and power.
So first, we practice favoritism based on money. Wealth. That’s the example James uses, and it’s timeless. Now, in James’ culture, you could pretty much judge wealth based on clothing and jewelry; it’s not that simple in our culture, right? Sometimes the wealthiest people dress really casual and sloppy. You can buy fake jewelry that looks real. So for us, the marker of wealth isn’t necessarily clothing and jewelry, it’s what you do for a living.
Imagine you walk into church and you sit next to someone you’ve never met before. So you shake hands, and the person says, “This is my first time here.” And you say, “Oh—how did you find out about the Chapel?” And she says, “One of your members here is a patient of mine.” And you say, “Oh—are you a doctor?” And she says, “Yes—I’m a heart surgeon at Morristown Hospital.” And you say, “Wow—nice to meet you.”
And then just before the service starts, someone comes and sits on the other side of you, and you greet them. And he says, “This is my first time here!” And you say, “Really? How did you find out about the Chapel?” And he says, “Well, it’s a little embarrassing, but I’ve been out of work for a while, and I met one of your members at a job re-training seminar. And he invited me to come.” And you say, “Oh, that’s great.”
So there you are, with a heart surgeon on one side of you, and an unemployed guy on the other. The service ends. Which person are you more interested in talking to? Next Sunday, which person would you be happier to see again? Some of you are saying, “Nope. Not me. I don’t do that.”
Okay, maybe not. How about beauty? If you meet someone who’s extremely attractive, do you treat them differently than someone you find unattractive? Chances are, you do—even if you don’t realize it. This week I’ve been reading some of the scientific studies, and it’s really unsettling. Research has demonstrated conclusively that when college students view their professor as attractive, they rate that professor higher—even if they’re not a very good teacher. That’s the immaturity of college students for you, right? Well, no—because research also shows that teachers treat attractive students better than less attractive ones. They should know better! Often they don’t. More attractive people
get hired for jobs at a much higher rate than less attractive ones. And the list goes on. “Pretty Privilege” is a real thing.
And maybe you say, “Well, this doesn’t apply to me! I’m happily married.” Or, “I have a boyfriend; I have a girlfriend!” It still does apply. No matter what our relationship status is, it is so common to give attractive people more attention and more honor…simply because attractiveness carries cultural status. And that influences us in ways that we don’t even realize is happening.
So we show favoritism based on money and beauty, and then of course there’s power. And there are lots of ways you could look at power, but in our culture, one of the main sources of power is fame and popularity. I’ll share an embarrassing story. A few years ago, on a Sunday afternoon after church, somebody texted me. And they said, “Did you hear that Mark Sanchez visited the Chapel today?” For you non-sports fans, Mark Sanchez was the quarterback for the New York, Jets for a few years. So I got this text, and I had not known that—I hadn’t see him here. But I’m going to be very honest with you: in my heart, I thought, “I hope he liked it! I hope he comes back!” (By the way, he did not wind up having a very good career, so I don’t want him here anymore). But I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the starting quarterback for the New York Jets came to our church?” Isn’t that pathetic? I’m just being honest.
Now, here’s what I’m not saying: I’m not saying if we meets someone who’s unemployed, and we don’t find them attractive, and they don’t seem to have much power, I’m not saying that we go out of our way to insult them! We don’t actually tell them to sit on the floor. You know what we do? Nothing. We just don’t acknowledge them. Because deep inside, we’ve made a decision that they’re not really worth our attention. Elie Wiesel said: “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” See, the worse kind of favoritism is not outright hostility—it’s simply ignoring people.
So…that’s what favoritism is: forming your assessment of a person based on outward characteristics like money, beauty, and power. So let’s talk about Why Favoritism is Wrong. Four reasons. First, selfishness. Verse 4: If you show special attention to the rich guy, and treat the poor man badly, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Some translations say “evil motives.” What kind of motives? Well, probably to get something for yourself. “This wealthy, well-employed, attractive person seems to have a lot to offer! This would be a good person to know. And this poor person would probably just be a drain on me.” When Mark Sanchez visited The Chapel, the reason I wanted him to like it wasn’t primarily because I thought the Chapel would be so good for him; it was because I thought he would be good for The Chapel; and I’ll be brutally honest—I think subconsciously, I thought it would be good for my ego. So again, here’s this prophetic challenge by James, and he says, “This favoritism comes from a very selfish place.”
Secondly, favoritism is misrepresentation. Verse 5 says 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? See—that’s what God is like! He goes out of His way to pay attention to the ones that society ignores. And that’s one of the reasons Jesus got into trouble—right? He refused to practice the kind of favoritism that everyone else practiced! He spent time with people not because he saw some money, beauty, or power thing in them that he could benefit from, but just because he loved them. So that’s what Jesus is like—that’s what God is like. And church, when we’re not like that, we’re misrepresenting Jesus. We’re giving the world a wrong picture of the God we claim to worship.
Third reason it’s wrong: idolatry. Let’s go all the way back to verse one: My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. It’s very intentional that at the beginning of this discussion, James talks about the glory of Jesus. Why would he do that?
Well, because we humans are hard-wired to seek glory. We are all looking for something worthy of our allegiance and our respect and our worship. And God says, “Come to me—find the glory you’re looking for in me: the God who came to earth and gave up all his privileges and gave up his life on the cross, and rose again. That’s the glory that will fill you and satisfy you.” But instead, we go looking for glory everywhere else. We look for it sports teams and pop stars and social media influencers. We look for it in people who have money, and beauty, and power.
So imagine this: You’re standing in church, singing a song about God’s glory. How great Thou Are, How Great Thou Art. And as you’re singing it, here comes a couple walking in late. And as you’re singing about how great God is, you’re noticing how great-looking this couple is! You notice their clothes and their hair…her handbag and shoes (I still don’t get that, but my wife tells me people notice those things), I mean, this is a good-looking couple! And as your mouth is singing about the glory of God, your heart is captured by the glory of these people. Not so far off of reality…right?
So James is reminding us how ridiculous it is when we find glory in this rich man who comes into church—and we get all impressed and we give him the best seat—in the very place where we gather to worship the Lord of glory! You see how ironic it is? And that’s called idolatry. It’s putting something else in the place of God. And it’s not just in church; it can happen in all of life.
And then finally, favoritism is wrong because of damage. It does a lot of damage. Look at verses 9-11: 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,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Now, James’ main point is that we tend to classify sins as the really bad sins and the more acceptable sins, and most of us probably view favoritism as not that serious. And he’s saying, “No—favoritism is just as much a violation of God’s law as murder or adultery.” So don’t let yourself off the hook so easy.
But here’s the question: why does he put favoritism on that level? And I would say it’s the same reason adultery and murder are placed on that level: these are sins that severely damage people. If you show favoritism, it hurts people. It obviously hurts the people you’re discriminating against, right? Because they’re being rejected or ignored or shut out. But think about this: doesn’t favoritism also hurt the people who are favored? If you are born with natural good looks, and all your life people cater to you and treat you like you’re special, and pay attention to you, what does that do to your character? It can make you very self-absorbed and entitled. Right? And I’ve seen that many times. People start to believe they don’t have to play by the same rules everyone else has to play by, and it makes them shallow people. Favoritism damages everyone.
So here’s the bottom line: those people who say we need to require unconscious bias training—they’re right! This is a problem. And in some ways, we’re all guilty of it. We’re all in the same boat. So, clearly, something needs to be done about this.
Which leads to point number 3: How to End Favoritism. One of the leading voices in implicit bias training is Professor Edward Chang, who teaches at Harvard Business School. He has trained thousands of employees in how to overcome their bias. And here’s what he said: “We did our best to design a training that would be effective. But our results suggest that the sorts of one-off trainings that are commonplace in organizations are not particularly effective at leading to long-lasting behavior change.” That’s a really honest admission, from a guy who has every reason to want this to work. But he says it’s not particularly effective. Why? Because favoritism runs deep. So to really change it is going to require a deep solution.
So here’s what James teaches us—two big things. First, Receive the Love of Christ. Look what James says in verse 5: 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? Think about this: if you are a believer in Christ, that means you have been chosen by God. Maybe you say, “No, I chose him!” And you did, but behind your choice was God’s decision to choose you. Remember, Jesus said to his disciples, “You did not choose me; I chose you.” In Ephesians 1:4, it says, “He chose us…before the creation of the world.” So there’s a mystery to how that all works, but here’s what’s clear: if you’re a believer in Christ, it means that God loves you, and he wants you, and he chose you as his child.
And because of that status, one day, James reminds us, we will inherit the kingdom. Our future is secure, and it’s a really good future. He chose us! He loves us!
And so spiritual growth means learning to find your identity in that reality—in the love of Christ. That doesn’t come naturally—we naturally think we have to earn it, and we’re in danger of losing it. So we need to intentionally find our identity in Christ, and that’s a daily process of reminding yourself what’s true. Part of that process for me as that I pray the Lord’s Prayer every morning. And in the very first line, I’m sometimes stopped in my tracks. I say “Our Father…” and I realize, “I get to call God my Father!” And I’m a father—I know how I feel about my own kids—there is literally nothing that would stop me from loving them. And that’s the way God looks at me, because my sins have been covered by the blood of Christ. And I just receive that truth freshly at the beginning of the day. And I receive it again as I read a portion of the Bible each morning. And when I’m listening to worship music in my car. And when I gather with my small group and we pray for each other. All of that is renewing my mind and deepening my roots in the truth of Christ’s unconditional love. So find your identity in Christ. If you have never done that—if you’ve never opened up your heart and received Christ, that’s the first step. It all starts with receiving the love of Christ.
And then…Give the Love of Christ. Here’s how it works: the more I am receiving the love of Christ—finding my identity and my security in him—the less I need to find identity and security by connecting with powerful and beautiful people. Does that make sense? So instead of approaching social situations empty—needing to be filled—I approach social situations already full. Confident of my Father’s love for me. Which frees me to give! It frees me to take the love that God has given to me, and give it out.
So now, when I see someone who the world says is important—someone who’s rich or attractive or powerful, I’m not so enamored by them. I don’t feel like I need to impress them. And now I can just treat them like people. I can love them. Remember this: the less you desperately need people, the more you’re free to love people. To give to them, just like Christ gave to you. So when I’m filled with Christ, I become free from being star struck by the powerful people.
And at the same time, when I’m filled up by Christ, I’m also freed to start noticing and valuing people who the world say aren’t worth noticing. People that I’ve overlooked in the past. To see the beauty and the character and the depth in them.
In other words, Jesus enables me to treat everyone with grace and dignity, just like he treats me. It’s all about the love of Christ: receiving it, and giving it out. I truly believe the only thing powerful enough to eradicate favoritism is the love of Jesus Christ. Because he replaces favoritism with love.
That’s the kind of people he wants to make us in our personal lives. That’s the kind of church he wants to make us. In a world that operates by favoritism, God says, “Let’s show this world something refreshingly and beautifully different.” Amen
