My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 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. 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,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Modern individuals are fond of saying “I never talk religion or politics”. I guess that leaves sports and explains why games are so important to the modern world. The problem with that approach to living and discourse is that politics and religion deal with reality. Games are by definition “make believe” test of character. Politics and religion deal directly with the way that we treat people and resources. James 2 1-4 are as applicable today as they were when James wrote them.
The verses drive questions that church people may not want to answer honestly. Does my church favor those who dress nice and shun those who are poorly attired? Your church might not have a problem with blue jeans but does it discriminate between those that have and those that don’t? I consider myself a prosperity preacher, I believe that God is in the blessing business. I believe that he wants to bless the poor, so these scriptures are especially challenging. When I discriminate the Bible says I demonstrate evil thoughts.
I commute by bus. It is a city line so “all types’ get on the bus. It has been my experience that it is rarely a man in a business suit, like me, who says, God Bless to the bus driver. It is usually some disheveled person who is a bit too dirty and a bit too loud. (I am doing the judges with evil thoughts thing) verse 5 addresses this directly
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? But you have dishonored the poor.
I don’t think that I have ever heard a message from this passage. This verse puts most of us to shame. We are not rich in faith we are in fact poor in faith. We are especially poor in faith when we use what little faith we have to prosper in this life. When Jesus speaks about a kingdom promised to those who love him you can apply it to this life it you want to but you are foolish if you do. “You have received your reward”
Matthew 6:19-21 reads “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Prosperity is not stuff. Prosperity is faith, and sometimes when we grow in faith we get more stuff. However sometimes when we prosper it is to prepare us for bad times. Believers today and believers in James time both applied this truth badly. It has been a very long time since I have had a bill collector call me, “Praise the Lord” but I remember them as being unkind, rude, and demeaning. James is writing to believers in the passage when he says, “is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Then he refers to unbelievers, many who filled the power positions then as they do now and asked, “Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?’The bill collector then as now does not care that you made a purchase “by faith” when in fact was made “in the flesh”
It would be better if we had lent the money to the poor without expecting anything in return. “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”. Matthew 6 2-4
I challenge you to go the Biblegateway.com and type in the word lend and see what the Bible has to say about this issue. One passage that is familiar reads, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.”
The giving done in secret may be what that brother or sister needs to prosper. It may be a new set of cloths or a job or some other material thing. However, when Jesus says that you will always have the poor among you I believe he is referring in part to those that do not have the capacity to meet their own needs. Paul writing to the Thessalonians says “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.”
The unruly might be us those of us that fail to see beyond our own needs. The feebleminded, the weak may not get better and therefore we should be patient and kind for it could be us and not them.
I road the bus today and had a long conversation with a man who was born blind. He was on the way into the city to make sure that those who are disabled have access to the bus line. There is one neighborhood that I believe the bus line needs to serve. We spoke about it and he promised to advocate for them. He has never seen that neighborhood and unless the Lord grants him sight he never will but he advocated for those in need. The least we can do is shake every visitors hand that comes into our church the same way.
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