FAVORITISM

James 2:1 "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism."

The writer of the General Epistle of James is James the half-brother of Jesus. He is the Lord's half-brother because though they have the same mother, Mary, they have different fathers. James' father is Joseph, the carpenter and Jesus' Father is God the Father. I remind you of this to say that I believe that when our Lord came home that there were things that He undoubtedly shared and though His brothers and probably sisters came to believe in Him as Messiah and Savior later, they heard and remembered what He said earlier. I believe Jesus had very strong principles about favoritism and James knew that as he did many of the truths he shares in the Book of the Bible the Holy Spirit inspired him to write.

Jesus came for everyone. He loves everyone. He wants to be the Savior of everyone. He doesn't play favorites, ever. He also expects us not too. James absolutely forbids it here. In the following verses he uses the example of rich and poor to instruct us about not showing favorites. How tempting it is to favor the rich and to ignore the poor. Somehow in our twisted thinking we are tempted to believe that somehow we benefit from giving special attention to the wealthy. It is part of our culture. We practically worship the super-rich. We idolize their exploits and pander to their opinions. They can seemingly do no wrong. We cut them slack in hopes that they will 'spread the wealth around'. We are impressed by their generosity and we give those overblown accolades and preferential treatment. Hate to say it, but we know it to be true.

Churches can be particularly prone to this kind of preferential exclusivity. James says all Christians of all kinds must not show any favoritism whatsoever. It happens subtlety and sometimes it is done with great fanfare. This favoritism that is forbidden also refers to gender, to race, to age, to status and title. Certainly respect is deserved if merited and honor is given appropriately, but favoritism is not to be tolerated. I watch as some of us fall into this practice and we must resist the temptation and treat all with the same love, acceptance and attention. How easy it is to assess the next new person who comes to Grace Harbor and by some system of acceptance or rejection we include some and exclude others. Our church has a warm reputation, but not everyone represents us that way. If you have a way of making people feel unwanted or neglected and you are aware of it, please stop, James admonishes us to not show favoritism.

Love you all, Pastor Fred

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