Doers of the Word

Tim Shaw
Adult Education Pastor

"My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?" James 2:1-4 (ESV)

James chapter 1 teaches us that mature Christians are not only patient in their testing, but they also practice the truth. James referred to this as being doers of the Word – not hearers only. This theme of practicing your faith is continued now in chapter 2 where James gives some specific illustrations and examples of what it looks like to either fail to practice our faith or to succeed.

A command is given that as believers we are not to show partiality to people. James then gives a simple test to see if they would practice their faith or resort back to evil thinking. Give yourself the same test. Two visitors show up for a church service. One of them is rich, dressed in fine clothes and expensive jewelry. He no doubt has neatly combed hair and I suspect reasonably good looking. The second visitor to come into the service is poor. His clothes are dirty and he is not wearing any jewelry. I imagine he might even have a foul odor about him and he is not clean shaven much less has his hair combed.

The test is how will you treat your two visitors? James points out that if you pay special attention to the rich man, offer him the best seat in the auditorium, and talk with him as if you desire to be his friend; then treat the poor differently, telling him he can either sit on the floor or stand in the back of the auditorium then we have made a grave mistake and demonstrated that we are not practicing true Christianity.

Let me give an illustration from my own experience. The church I attended during my first year of seminary had a homeless ministry that sent church members into the downtown area on Saturday nights to witness to the homeless and invite them to church the next day. On Sunday morning, drivers would go back to the downtown area and bring any of the homeless that wanted to attend church. What I loved about this ministry is that the church body as a whole loved on those homeless people and they saw the love of Christ through the church body. Also, the Life Groups rotated providing lunch for the homeless that came to the service that Sunday. This gave several members the opportunity to not only show them love in the actual church service, but also to sit and talk with them one-on-one. It was heartwarming to see how many in that church grew spiritually as a result of this ministry.

Sadly, we make the same mistakes that James is pointing out. We tend to judge people outwardly rather than inwardly. Socio-economic status, dress, race and other superficial things often carry the weight of our decision to like someone. Did you know that how you treat other people reveals what you believe about God? 1 John 4:20 tells us, "If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." You may say well this does not describe me. Are you sure? Have you ever gone out of your way to make a new friend with someone who thinks, looks, and acts like you? That is easy. When was the last time you went out of your way to make friends with or even to make contact with someone vastly different than you?

Why are we prone to act this way? James identifies the motive is sin or "evil thoughts" that cause us to make judgments of people base solely on outward appearances. How then do we practice our Christianity in our relationships? I know this is easier said than done, but we are to look at people the same way Christ looks at them. We are to love all people either because Christ lives in them, or if they are not a believer, because Christ died for them. The basis of our relationships with other people is the Person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, God can use a person for His glory that we deem unlikely. Look at Matthew, the tax collector, and Paul, the Christian murderer. He can use the poor person that we tend to reject.