James 2:1-13,  My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. ²For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; ³And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: ⁴Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? ⁵Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? ⁶But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? ⁷Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?  ⁸If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: ⁹But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

James is not concerned about your comfort zone.

He is not an author who wishes for you to sit back in your easy chair and bask in your goodness.

He is not an encourager of your self worth, nor does he wish to build you up further than you build yourself up.

No, James is directed of God to provide the mirror for you to continually look in order to examine your real self and, by God’s grace, to do something about it, for your real self is not as yet in conformance with God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Every passage hits the reader in the face with a confrontation.

It is a face to face confrontation that we are not to run away from, for if we do that our faith is vain.

The Word of God is given to increase our faith and to help us to have a faith that works.

It is not to be a feel good faith but is to be a working faith.

He starts this chapter with the words,  have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

Have not the faith!

In other words God is not giving you faith in order for it to be wasted on vain things for it is to be a faith that accomplishes God’s will.

In this case it is not to be wasted with respect of persons.

We live in a nation that is founded upon the truth that under the law all men are to be treated equally, meaning justice for all whether they be rich or poor.

This is symbolically emphasized when we see Lady Justice blindfolded.

This is done in order to indicate that justice is meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness.

This idea is not an idea of men but it is clearly taught in the Bible and specifically here in James.

We have heard in recent years cries of outrage over profiling people in order to catch criminals.

In other words putting people into various categories which describe their tendencies to commit crime.

It is a thinking that by their appearance ye shall know them.

So as we see in our passage today, profiling is nothing new for James admonishes us in the church not to do this for he knows that this goes on or he would not have brought it up.

It is our nature to size others up by their dress, their comportment and their carriage.

And from this sizing up of others conclusions are made about their worth.

Judgments are arrived at which determine our behavior toward them.

Do I want to know this person?

Will this person fit into my group?

Is their any advantage to knowing this person?

It is not usually how can I help this person for the Lord’s sake, but it is usually of what value is this person to me.

This is nothing new for our Lord addressed these prejudices or respecting of persons many times while He ministered on earth.

One particular passage where this is so clear is in Luke 14 verses 7-14.

Jesus had come to dine at the house of a leader of the Pharisees.

He had just had a face to face confrontation with them regarding His Sabbath healing of a man with dropsy.

After that confrontation he again instructed them in:

Luke 14:7-14,  And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, ⁸When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; ⁹And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. ¹⁰But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. ¹¹For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.  ¹²Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. ¹³But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: ¹⁴And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

This passage plays out in reality what James warns us about.

It is clear that profiling has taken place at this dinner.

The guest list is confined to those of prominence in the community, those who can reciprocate toward the host in providing a return invitation.

The dinner is replete with jockeying for position as each guest moves to get the best seat in the house which indicates their status and standing among the rest who were seated.

Jesus first rebukes the guests for such status seeking and instructs them instead to take the lowest seats and from there perhaps be invited to take upper seats.

This is of course wisdom, for such a humble one will never be humbled but instead may be exalted.

Jesus does not let go the fact that profiling took place as to the guest list.

Where were the poor people?

Why were there only guests invited who could return the favor?

Was the dinner truly a dinner of giving or was it simply an investment in which the host could expect a return?

Jesus told the host that if he was looking for a heavenly reward, he would have to change the way he chose his guests.

He should rather invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

By the way Jesus right here did not count the man with dropsy as an invitee.

Most likely he was simply there at the door to be used of the host to test Jesus in His Sabbath observance and not an invitee although he most likely needed this meal more than any of the guests.

But the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind were the people in most need of a good meal but they were not invited.

For they were the people who had no earthly means to repay their host for his hospitality.

In terms of worldly economics, a banquet for the poor would have to be written off as a loss.

But in heaven’s economy, it was a great investment, because the host would be generously repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

Putting people into categories as to their worth is not having the faith of Jesus Christ as to respect of persons.

Favoritism is not compatible with the Christian faith.

The character of God speaks volumes as to this principle.

God does not show partiality and he also commands his people not to do so.

Listen to 2 Chronicles 19:5-7,  And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, ⁶And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment. ⁷Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.

God is not a respecter of persons for His judgments are always without partiality.

He has declared that all men fit into one category, the category of sinner.

But not only that, all men are deserving of eternal judgment and that judgement is damnation for each and every man and woman, for all come short of the glory of God.

There is nothing in man, absolutely nothing in man that will save him.

No race is favored, no amount of wealth or position is preferred, no good works will move God to save.

Men are saved on the basis of God’s sovereign choice, which has nothing to do with man’s merit.

Men are saved on the basis of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, in the sinner’s place.

That is grace, and grace is unmerited, unearned and has no debt.

Grace does not come with an IOU.

Since God shows no partiality, and He has created us in His image, He commands that we be like Him in this regard.

Favoritism, then, is incompatible with faith in Jesus Christ.

So James paints a clear picture in our passage so that we have no excuse to misunderstand.

Here again we have the comparison of two men.

They are men who are at opposite ends of the economic ladder.

Two men enter the church at the same time.

Perhaps they both are late and come in during the service, we do not know, but if this happened in our church most of us in the congregation would turn our minds and then our heads from the preacher to see who is coming through the door.

The contrast between the two men is glaring.

It is obvious that the clothes of one man reveals to us that he is a wealthy man.

He wears a gold ring large enough to be noticed, he wears goodly apparel which from the Greek word reveals apparel as magnificent, sumptuous, gorgeous and bright.

He is wearing fine clothing, clothing only worn by the very rich.

This rich man is dressed to the nines, which is dress intended to display his wealth.

He wants others to immediately know that he is a man of wealth for he desires to be treated with partiality, with favor.

In other words he wants to be thought of more highly than others and to be treated accordingly. He desires the VIP treatment.

But the WOWS of the congregation quickly turn to WOES for another man arrives at the same time, but this man has no bright clothing.

Again clothing gives this man away for he comes in the church with vile clothing which in the Greek reveals clothing that is dirty, cheap or shabby and I would imagine has an odor most penetrating.

The rich man chose clothes for the occasion that immediately revealed his wealth but the poor man had no clothes to choose other than what was on his back.

Literally what was on his back was not only ragged but it was filthy.

And you can imagine what that filth would do to the fine material upon which the clean people of the church sit.

Now what happens in this Bible scenario? What happens is revealed in verse 3

The usher immediately jumps in to handle the situation.

He must project the majesty of the rich man and subjugate the filth of the poor man.

So the brightly adorned rich man is given a fine reception and taken to the finest seats.

If this is a Baptist church he is taken to the back row where you will find the most desired seats.

But in contrast the poor man is considered to be too filthy even to take to the poorest of seats so he is told to sit at the usher’s feet.

James uses the word "you" when talking about the usher and I think this word "you" makes this very personal for all of us would have a first reaction to this situation.

What would be the first thing to come into your mind if this occurred in our church?

Would it be, God spare us from this filth and bless us with these riches?

That I believe would be the reaction of many and James knows that, thus we are given this admonition.

What are these thoughts?

Are these biased thoughts, thoughts that the body of Christ should think?

Thoughts like thinking that the rich man could do so much for the church and what can this filthy man do?

This thought translates into what can the rich man do for the body of Christ instead of what can the body of Christ do for the rich man.

There is certainly nothing that this filthy man can do for the body of Christ but isn’t it to be the other way around.

Isn’t it to be "What can the body of Christ do for the filthy man?"

Aunt Carolyn has a story where a little filthy boy was directed to the John 3:16 house where he was not despised for his filth but he was given a warm bath and new clothes and in that gesture found the love of God.

That is easy to imagine happening to a child but can that love be extended to a filthy man?

The body of Christ is Christ’s body on earth, kept here to do the work of Christ, kept here to minister, not to be ministered unto.

Mark 10;45,  For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Showing partiality reveals an underlying motive of hoped for gain.

Showing partiality either to the rich or to the poor is contrary to the mission of Christ.

Both, whether rich or poor, are to be ministered to in our Savior’s name.