Slices
Prepare
‘You are precious and honoured in my sight, and … I love you’ (Isaiah 43:4a). As you reflect on God’s love for you, how does this help you respond to the challenge to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ (v 8)?
Bible passage
Favouritism forbidden
2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism. 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 dishonoured 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 neighbour as yourself,’ you are doing right. 9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law-breakers. 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 law-breaker.
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.
Explore
Recognising the danger of personal discrimination, many job applications are required to be anonymised, with no reference to gender, age or ethnicity. Partiality creeps into our lives and our common human tendency is to defer to those most likely to benefit us.
However, this is not God’s way. ‘People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7b). If we believe in the glory of Jesus (v 1), then we are called to reflect this truth. James illustrates partiality through the favour shown to someone with wealth and influence, a theme not unfamiliar in our churches today (vs 2,3). Building on this illustration, James emphasises that spiritual riches are not related to material wealth, and by rejecting the poor, the vulnerable and those different from ourselves, we place ourselves as judge, rejecting God’s sovereignty (v 7).
In obeying God’s royal law (v 8), our faith becomes characterised by action, not just words (v 12), seeking to value everyone as equal. James concludes with the good news that God will judge with mercy (v 13), when we have also treated others with compassion and love.
Respond
Ask for God’s grace to become more open-hearted and welcoming to those you find difficult to treat as an equal.
Deeper Bible study
‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism’.1
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 favouritism shown by the community is completely contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even more problematic is that those who were being favoured were actually the people who were exploiting the community and dragging them through the courts (vs 6,7). James refers the community to the law that commands love of neighbour, 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 (vs 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 favouritism 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 Saviour 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
Spend some time before God giving yourself a spiritual health check. What is God showing you?
1 Acts 10:34 2 Lev 19:18, Matt 22:37–40 3 Eg Amos 8:4–6; Luke 18:18–30 4 Acts 4:12
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Numbers 20,21; Acts 20
Pray for Scripture Union
Supporter Care Assistant John Cartwright asks us to pray for the smooth running of all the different systems that we use – phone, computer and delivery systems – so that we can offer the best possible service to our supporters.
