People Who Don’t Belong in Church

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. What matters when you come in here is not status or money or success. What matters is that you are made in the image of God and you are purchased by the blood of Christ. Nothing else matters.

That is where your dignity comes from. That is why we love you. That's why we accept you because that's why we are accepted. Thanks for joining us today for Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and apologist J.D. Greer.

I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Though we don't like to admit it, we are often guilty of judging others based on very limited information. And when we do that, it leads to picking favorites. You know what I mean? Showing partiality or favoritism based on appearance, social status, or even just baseless perceptions we have about people.

Does this hit a little close to home for some of you like it does for me? Well, in today's teaching from James 2, Pastor J.D. describes the dangers of showing favoritism, particularly within the church. Now, remember, this is brand new teaching here on the program, so you'll want to stay caught up in our study of James together.

Visit jdgreer.com any time to listen to anything you may have missed. But for now, let's join Pastor J.D. in James chapter 2. All right, James chapter 2. If you have your Bibles this morning, James chapter 2. I want to preach a message that I have entitled the people who don't belong in church, or at least the ones we assume don't belong in church. Don't be looking around right now and trying to identify that. That'll turn on you here at the end of this message.

I'm warning you. Chapter 2, verse 1. Here's what James says. My brothers, James says, my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. No partiality in Greek is literally without respect to face. Don't judge somebody or show favoritism with respect to facial or external characteristics. By the way, as a point of interest, that word, here it is. I'll put it up for you. Let's all say it together. One, two, three. Honestly, I wasn't sure how to say it, so I was hoping that some of you might actually help me out with that. It is prosopolympusai, or something like that, is what it says.

Without favoritism. That is not found anywhere else in the Bible or anywhere else in Greek literature. In fact, as far as we can tell, James made it up. What that means is that this is a uniquely Christian concept.

It is virtually unknown in the ancient world. They didn't even have a word for what James is commanding Christians to do here. This is completely and totally something that comes out of the gospel that the gospel was introducing into the world.

In verse 2, James, like any good Bible teacher, tells a story to illustrate his point. He says, For if a man wearing a gold ring in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in a shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing, and you say, sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, will you stand over there in the back, or you sit down here on the floor at my feet, have you not then become, made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts. So here you've got a situation where a rich man comes into church and he gets ushered right to the best seats down front. And right after him, a poor man comes in and he's told to sit or stand in the back. This illustration does not fully translate to us anymore because today in most Baptist churches, the coveted seats are in the back, right?

But just go with me here for a minute. The point is the church is granting status and privilege based on worldly wealth. If you do this, James asked, verse four again, have you not then made ungodly distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts. The sin of partiality is categorizing people based on things that don't matter to God. Or to quote Tony Evans, it's when you make a value judgment on a person based on an unbiblical criteria.

It is when you judge a book, so to speak, by its cover. Years ago, I read an article by a guy who grew up in a pretty poor community, but he'd done really, really well in school. And so he managed to get an incentive scholarship to Harvard University, or as we like to call it around here, the Campbell University of the North, okay? Well, in his first semester there, he apparently picked up some of the Harvard heirs. He started to speak with a Boston accent. He donned expensive Italian leather St. Lawrence shoes, and he started to wear vineyard vines.

He'd correct his family's grammar whenever they would talk on the phone. He even started to smoke a pipe. Well, when he came home for Christmas, his father invited him out onto the back porch and took out a big box of cigars and opened them up.

And the boy was impressed because he saw the label Padrone on them, which meant they were $30 a stick. He took one out and he sniffed it. Then he cut the top off, and he said in a very condescending tone, see, dad, you can tell this is an expensive cigar because of the way the top just pops off.

It's been properly rolled. He then lit it up and he said, see, dad, you can tell this is a good cigar by the way it lights. The tobacco is still properly moist, so it takes a moment to catch flame.

That's because it's been properly cured. He proceeded to make several more expert sounding observations about the aroma and the way the smoke wafted and et cetera, really lecturing his dad about differentiating good cigars from bad ones. Finally, his dad said, well, that's great, son, especially since these are really, really cheap cigars. The boy said, no, no, no, dad, the Padrone is a $30 cigar. Yes, son, his dad said, but that's a $30 Padrone wrapper on a 75 cent cigar. I know because I changed them myself.

These are Swisher Sweets and Padrone wrappers. At which point the guy writing the article said, my dad then began to explain to me how simply putting a fancy cover onto something doesn't actually make the inside any different. He said, I never forgot the lesson, though to be honest, he said the main thing that I could never really get over is my dad's patience in spending over a thousand dollars on cigars and then unwrapping and rewrapping each one by hand to teach me this lesson.

And of course, wondering what happened to all those really expensive cigars. You cannot judge a book or a cigar or a person by its cover. A similar thing was happening in James' church. The church was differentiating people, making distinctions based on assumptions about them, assumptions that were based on distinctions that carried no weight with God. Now, before you say, well, all right, I'm really going to enjoy this sermon because it's not about me at all. I mean, we're not like that anymore.

There was no usher down front of the church or outside the doors this morning directing rich people toward the front and poor people toward the back. So I think we're good on this. Not so fast. Think about all the ways that we pre-judge one another in the church. I'm going to give you a little trigger warning here.

This is about to get super uncomfortable. Okay. Some of you, just like James says, you have a tendency to look down on people who are poor. You assume that in this country, the only way that you could possibly end up poor is by being lazy.

So obviously that person just doesn't have what it takes like you did. Others of you are prejudice, ironically enough, against the rich. Oh, look at them and their posh lifestyles. I bet they've never worked a day in their lives. They don't know what real life is like. They're so entitled. They got everything handed to them on a silver platter. I bet they're raising their kids the same way.

I don't even want to be a poor person. I don't even want to be around them. Some of you look down on people who are overweight or out of shape. Clearly they have no self-control or no self-respect. Some of you don't like people who are skinny. Clearly they are image obsessed and superficial. Some of you don't like passionate worshipers because you assume that they are attention-seeking show-offs.

Others of you don't like subdued worshipers because you assume they're just unspiritual. Some of you look down on divorced people because clearly they don't know how to make a commitment. Others of you don't like people with happy homes because you assume they're faking it. Some of you look with suspicion at working moms.

Obviously they put their careers above their families. Others of you judge stay-at-home moms because you assume they're pampered and unambitious. Some of you assume people of color come into our church with a chip on their shoulder ready to turn everything into a race issue. Others of you assume white people are blind to their privilege and do not care anything about what you're going through and will turn on you in a second.

Some of you see Hispanic people and you assume that they've done something illegal in getting here and they don't care anything about assimilating into American culture. Some of you are suspicious of those who send their kids to public schools. Clearly they don't really care about their kids.

Others of you don't like homeschool parents because clearly they parent from fear and they're setting up their kids to fail when they encounter the real world. Some of you assume anybody who leans left politically doesn't really care about godliness. They have no backbone and no understanding of how economics work. Others of you assume that anybody who leans right politically just doesn't care about justice.

They only care about preserving a status quo that benefits them. Am I preaching in here yet? Am I talking to anybody? Now please, okay, before you send me emails telling me how unfair my characterizations are, okay, I'm just saying that there's a lot of prejudice at work in our hearts on whatever side of whatever issue you're on.

And if you do send me an email, I'll just know it's, you know, that statement like when you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, it's the hit dog that hollers, okay, so that's how I'll interpret your email. Tony Morita, who is a fellow pastor here in Raleigh at a great church here locally, says in the church we tend to categorize people by number one, affluence. Wealth, that's what James brings out. Number two, appearance, how somebody looks, how they dress, the color of their skin. Number three, accent. You've assumed that somebody's accent means something about them. They have a Hispanic accent, well it means this. So they have a country accent, well it means that. I grew up with a southern accent and I still have a little bit of one, but when I was getting my PhD, I realized that if you spoke with a British accent, you automatically got a 15-point IQ bump in the eyes of whoever you were talking to. If you spoke with a southern accent, you automatically got a 15-point deduction, which man, I could be just as smart as my British classmate, but he'd automatically start 30 IQ points ahead of me. Now I say that lightheartedly, but for many people it's not funny. People make assumptions about them based on their accent or their name. I know people of color who tell me about how frustrating it is for employers to make assumptions about them because their name is Keyshawn instead of Scott. Hey, good news for those of you in that category.

The disciples were looked down on for having Galilean accents and they still changed the world, but you should not have to overcome those suspicions in the church. We make assumptions because of number four, age. Old people love to talk about kids these days and those dang millennials who, by the way, are not kids anymore. They're all middle-aged, right, or Jim Z lunatics. Young people love to talk about how old not-of-touch boomers are. By the way, that was a problem in the early church, too.

Paul had to tell Timothy not to let people look down on him because of his youth. Number five, ancestry. In some parts of the world, this is everything. What family are you from? What caste do you belong to? There was a day not too long ago in this country when black people either could not come into a white church or if they did, they had to sit in the balcony. That was not only a horrible sin, it is, as James says, a betrayal of the very gospel that we preach. Number six, achievement.

We make assumptions about people based on their education or their vocation. Lastly, number seven, alliteration. Some people, like me and Pastor Tony, have the ability to make everything start with the same letter, and some of you don't. And that doesn't make us better than you, just more badness.

It's a gift, okay? So that is the sin of partiality. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer.

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The number is 866-335-5220, or you can visit us online at jdgreer.com. Now let's get back to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor J.D.

Why is it so wrong, especially in the church? James gives you three reasons. The first is in verse five. Listen, he says, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

Here is reason number one. James says, external riches rarely reflect internal excellencies. If anything, James says, those who are worldly rich tend to be spiritual blessing poor. James says to the church, he says, look around, look around, look around. It's not the rich who are flooding into your churches, it's the poor. The rich, the rich are the ones who are resisting you and persecuting you. It was the rich young ruler and the Pharisees who missed Jesus. It was the prostitutes and tax collectors who flocked to be around him.

In fact, we could say the same thing today, couldn't we? Go over to the halls this morning of academia at Duke University or UNC, and there they will tell you that Jesus isn't the son of God and that the Bible is a joke. Go over to the country clubs this morning and you'll find rich people who see no real need of Jesus in their lives.

That's why they're on the golf course. Meanwhile, sitting in here is a guy who drives a dump truck and a single mom working two jobs with tears in their eyes as they worship who are now joint heirs of the kingdom of God. Paul says in Corinthians, echoing James here, 1 Corinthians 1 26, for consider your calling, brothers, for consider your calling. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. God chose what is foolish and the world ashamed the wise. In other words, this wasn't random or circumstantial. No, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

Why did he do that? Verse 29, he did it so that no human being might boast in his presence. God more often than not chooses the poor, James and Paul say, chooses the poor to fill his church in order to humble human pride. It's not that no rich or no powerful or no super intelligent people come to Jesus. He didn't say not any, he just said not many. He didn't say not many.

He just said not many. It's just that it's not our riches that attract God's attention. It's not our intelligence that figures him out. It's not our goodness that earns his favor. God gives knowledge of him as a gift of grace. And when it comes to receiving grace, riches and strength and righteousness, if anything, those can be liabilities to putting you in a position to receive grace. So reason number one that partiality is wrong in the church is external riches rarely reflect these. In verse 8, James gives you the second reason. If you really fulfill, he says, the royal law according to scripture, which is you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing well.

But if you show partiality, you're committing sin and you're convicted by the law as transgressors, number two. Showing no partiality is the essence of the great commandment. Matthew 22, Jesus was asked, which is the most important commandment? And Jesus answered, easy. First, love God with all your heart, soul and mind.

Second, love others like you love yourself or love them like you would want to be loved. And then Jesus said, those two commandments sum up all 613 of the old Testament laws. These are the heart of everything. James says, well, look, those came from our king, King Jesus. They're royal laws. And when you treat somebody differently because of how they look or how much money they have or don't have, you're breaking the second commandment.

One of the only two that was given directly by Jesus. Then in verse 10, James really drives his point home by means of another gut punch. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. Because the one who said, do not commit adultery also said, don't murder. If you don't commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. You say, well, I don't murder or steal.

Well, good for you. But one of the two commandments that Jesus gave directly, that he said was the summation of all the others and more important than all the others, you just flout at will. So you got a guy in a courtroom who's murdered multiple people. Right before being sentenced, he asked to address the court.

And he tells everybody, y'all, I just want you to know, I want to let you know I've never committed adultery. And for that reason, the court should go easy on me. What's the judge going to say?

He's going to say, that's great, but who cares? We're all glad you kept that law, but arguably the essence of our law is that you respect the property and the lives of others, you have utterly disregarded. James says the same thing to those showing partiality or prejudice in the church. You claim to keep God's laws, but then you break the big one, his royal law.

You say, I'm pro-life, I'm pro-traditional marriage. Yeah, but if you're racist or preferential, you have rejected the authority of King Jesus at precisely the point he said the law mattered most. So what if you avoid orgies of sex, if you foster orgies of anger and suspicion and racism around your dinner table? So what if you have your family in church every Sunday, if you despise a lot of the people there, or you look with prejudice at a lot of the people in your community? This is when you realize that a lot of those churches that claim to represent Jesus the most in our country actually don't represent him at all.

Churches that have crosses on the top and Jesus saves on the billboard, but would probably hate the actual Jesus if he actually showed up with his emphasis on loving the refugee in the outcast. In fact, Tony Evans says, maybe the reason we haven't solved the race problem is that we haven't put it on par with murder, but King Jesus is the one who said, love like you've been loved. The same one who said, do not murder, also said, receive like you've been received. And if you are racist, you are definitely not doing that. Now, listen, looking down on somebody for any superficial reason or treating them with any less respect because of something they are or are not externally is a sin, not just a sin, a royal sin. Y'all, that means if Michael Jordan, Joe Biden, Taylor Swift, and Nicholas Cage all walked into this church at the same time this morning as a homeless man, all of them had better received the exact same welcome.

I got a pastor Fred who painted the doors entering their worship center, painted them red, symbolizing the blood of Jesus, because he wanted it to be clear that when we come in here, we don't bring our appearance or accomplishments or influence or achievements, our ancestry, our good works, or our status, our bad works, regardless of our status or the color of our skin or our religious past, we are all sinners in need of a savior made clean before God only by the blood of his son. It's like the old saying goes, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. What matters when you come in here is not status or money or success. What matters is that you are made in the image of God and you are purchased by the blood of Christ. Nothing else matters. That is where your dignity comes from. That is why we love you. That's why we accept you because that's why we are accepted.

Now, real quick, this is a clarification. Saying that we don't show favoritism in the church is not to say that we don't give honor to whom honor is due. That's a biblical command. And so, yes, if the president of the United States walks into our church, we should all respect him with the unique respect that is due to the president of our country.

The same would be true for the governor or the mayor. That would not be a violation of James 2. What I mean is that at the most fundamental level, we recognize the value of each person comes from being made in the image of God and purchased by his blood. And things like appearance, affluence, achievement, they have no value before God.

Those things do not change your status or where you sit, metaphorically speaking, in the people of God. In verse 12, James turns the knife one more time. Verse 12, he says, so you should speak and act as those who are going to be judged under the law of liberty. Number three, disdain for the poor demonstrates disconnect from the gospel.

Remember, James says, how you expect to be judged. If you're a Christian, you have put all your hope for eternal life in God's mercy. Embracing the gospel means embracing that there is nothing about your worthiness that earns God's favor. God gave it to you, the unworthy.

He gave it to you freely as a gift. The gospel is about God's rescue of the poor, not his rewarding of the rich. The gospel is that before God, we were all poor, blind, wretched because of our sin.

Children of wrath, sons and daughters of disobedience, enemies of God, outcast strangers to the covenants. But now in grace, God has brought us near. And now our hope is in his promise that he will not judge us according to our sins, but he will judge us according to the mercy given us in Christ. And a Christian who understands that should treat others in the same way.

Are you treating others like you want to be treated? What a great reminder from the book of James. Well, here we are in the new year, and one of the things I love about Summit Life is that we are so committed to the Word of God, to the point that we emphasize memorizing it each year.

I sat down with Pastor J.D. not long ago to ask him why we always start with an emphasis on scripture memory each January. Molly, in short, because I can't think of anything that will better shape your year than putting the Word of God so deeply inside of you that it just, it comes out in how you talk and how you think. It is perfect to start the year with that.

Of all the resolutions you could make, this is probably, I think, the most significant one. And so what we do, and we've done this at the beginning of every year for the last several years, is we put together 52 memory verse cards. What if next year this time you knew 52 verses that you did not know before? Can you imagine how that's going to shape your faith and your hope and your prayers?

So don't hesitate. If you love the Word of God and you want to see it make a difference in your life, head on over to jdgrier.com and reserve your set of Summit Life memory verse cards today. Let's start 2024 with God's Word etched into our hearts, ready to face whatever comes our way.

Ask for your set of the 2024 Scripture memory cards by calling 866-335-5220, or request them when you give online or when you make your first gift as a monthly gospel partner at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch, and thank you so much for joining us. Listen tomorrow as we finish up today's teaching called People Who Don't Belong in Church. That's Wednesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.