Home > Teaching Moments

Sin of Partiality

Today we want to take a closer look at James 2:1-13 for it says this,  “My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Messiah Yeshua with an attitude of personal favoritism.  For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?  Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?  If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ you are doing well.  But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.  For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.  So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.  For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”     Is our faith in the Messiah based on an attitude of personal favoritism? James is speaking about our churches. It goes on to speak about the rich and the poor and how they are treated in our churches. James is reprimanding us and warning us, not to have clicks or favorites in our places of worship and not to be quick to judge. There have been churches that we have attended as first time visitors and never received a welcome from the established members or even the pastor. If we show partiality when and where we congregate, then we will also show the same partiality in our workplace and in our neighborhoods. And we will not stop with the dividing between the rich and the poor, but the color of our skin and our political preference and our gender preference and we will divide between religions and every matter of life. Is this loving our neighbor as ourselves? We will be so righteous in our own opinion that we will only think that those we  associate with are the only ones worthy of our attention and consideration. To exalt oneself is the highest form of arrogance. God wants us to be humble and lowly and contrite. Remember Yeshua washed the feet of all of His disciples, even Judas who was going to betray Him, (Matthew 26:47-50) and Peter who would deny Him( Luke 22:54-62), and the rest who would run from Him. We see Yeshua  forgave the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)because she was no worse than the ones who wanted to stone her. Matthew  7:1-5 says, “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.  For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!” Our churches are generally represented by the one who leads them. 1 Peter 5:1-5 says this, “Therefore, I urge elders among you, as your fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Messiah, and one who is also a fellow partaker of the glory that is to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not with greed but with eagerness; nor yet as domineering over those assigned to your care, but by proving to be examples to the flock.  And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.”                                                                   

 God hates the sin but loves the sinner and we must not get the two confused. God is the judge of all things and we must only do what God commands and that is to love one another, to love our enemy, to love those who are unloveable. Today we must repent of any kind of attitude that we may have toward anyone. We must repent if we consider anyone to be beneath us. If we judge people for any reason we must repent for God’s commandment is to love. Yes, we do not overlook sin, but we can not treat people differently because of their sin. To be poor is not a sin, to be dressed not like the crowd is not a sin, to be someone who does not fit into your mold does not mean that you can snub them. Luke 10:31-37 says, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’  Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him. Yeshua told him, ‘Go and do likewise.”’