How Our Faith Challenges Prejudice - James 2

Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv

Introduction

Today I’ve entitled our message “How Our Faith Challenges Prejudice.” What is prejudice? The dictionary defines prejudice as “a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.”

The world that God created is bursting with diversity showing God’s great creativity. We see enormous diversity of animals, plants and people. People are the pinnacle of God’s creation, being created in the image of God.

Every person, no matter who they are, has value as an image bearer of God. Yet, we witness in our world, the prevalence of prejudice. We have a tendency to pre-judge someone based on skin-color, nationality, socioeconomic status or many other outward factors.

What does the Bible have to say about prejudice?

Galatians 3:28 (ESV) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

These three categories were causes of prejudice in Paul’s day. The verse teaches us that in the church, the body of Christ, each person has equal value and worth. The church should be a unity of diverse people who love God.

1 Samuel 16:7b (ESV) For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

The root of prejudice is looking at the outward appearance of a person and judging them by that appearance according to our preconceived opinions. We ought to look as the Lord does at people’s hearts. Each person’s heart has been created by God to have great value.

God desires for each person to become His child.

Acts 10:34-35 (ESV) So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

God doesn’t show partiality or prejudice depending on where people came from or what they look like. He accepts every person who fears him and walks in His ways into His family. Our church should be the same.

We must welcome people of every kind, every skin color, every nationality and every status. Our church should be a picture of what heaven looks like, where Jesus is worshipped by every nation, tribe, people and language. So, let’s look more closely at how our faith challenges prejudice.

The Danger of Surface Judgements

James 2:1 (ESV) My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Partiality is having an unfair bias in favor of one person compared to another. Partiality is judging someone’s outward appearance to either favor or disfavor them. Partiality is the same as prejudice or favoritism.

According to this verse, those who have faith in Jesus should show no partiality. James then goes on to give us an example of what not to do.

James 2:2 (ESV) 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,

In this example, two men come into church one Sunday morning. The first is obviously a wealthy person from the clothes and jewelry he wears. Maybe he comes with a wife, similarly dressed.

The second man who comes into church is dressed very differently. He is poorly dressed, his clothes show wear and tear and are out of fashion. It is plain to see that he is poor and doesn’t have much money.

Maybe the poor man comes in by himself, without a family. How should you treat these two different men?

James 2:3-4 (ESV) 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,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

James is going to show us what we should not do, yet we would be tempted to do. If we pay attention to the rich man and offer him a good seat in the church. And then tell the poor man that he must sit in a poor seat or even stand, something is wrong.

We have judged these two men by outward appearances. James says that we have evil thoughts.

What might those evil thoughts be? Well, they may be that we or the church may gain benefit from the rich man’s wealth. On the other hand, the poor man may ask us for help that we may not want to give him.

These are the dangers of surface judgements.

Recognizing Our Temptation to Judge by Appearances

What kinds of surface judgements are we tempted to make with people? These surface judgements do not just take place at church, but in every aspect of our lives. We might make surface judgements based on our estimations of a person’s wealth.

Or we might judge on the basis of a person’s education or career. We might be tempted to judge on a person’s skin color, nationality or speech. We might be tempted to judge on the basis of a person’s physical appearance.

We might make a judgement on the basis of a person’s age or marital status. And the list could go on and on.

God is calling us to treat every person as someone created in God’s image with great value. What will be result in a church that does not make surface judgements? We want to be a church that welcomes and values people of all kinds.

Young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, single and married. We want to be a church that welcomes and values people of every skin color, nationality and background. May God help us to understand the dangers of surface judgements.

Valuing All Through Christ’s Love

James 2:5 (ESV) Listen, 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?

What we see and make judgements on the outsides of people is often wrong. God choses those who are poor to have faith and become His children. The Bible tells us that there are more poor than rich saved.

Why is that? The poor, whether in money or other aspects of life know that they have a need. As they cry out to God, God hears their prayer and draws them to Himself.

Jesus tells us that it is far easier for a poor person to be saved than a rich person. Yet, some rich people are saved, those who seek God and put their faith in Him, not their money.

James 2:6-7 (ESV) But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

James tells us that usually, it is the rich who oppress the poor and persecute believers. The rich our often prideful and eager to do anything to make more money. The rich are often antagonistic to the church and the Gospel, especially when their evil practices are disclosed.

Does that mean that we are to despise the rich and show them no value? Not at all. Jesus loves the rich just as much as the poor and so should we.

However, we must realize that we should show love to the rich, nor for their money, but for their souls. Each person, whether rich or poor has the same value in God’s eyes and we must value them all the same.

James 2:8 (ESV) If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well

There is the great commandment given to us by Jesus. Love your neighbor as yourself, whether rich or poor. This is not optional for the believer, it is Jesus’ command to each one of us.

Notice that we must love ourselves as God loves us in order to able to love our neighbor. Not loving yourself as God loves you is just as wrong as not loving others. Yet, we are not to love ourselves more than others, but to love each as people created in God’s image and love by Him.

God desires for us to learn to value all through Christ’s love.

Learning to Love Without Expecting Anything in Return

The world loves those from whom it can get some advantage from. We love everyone because Jesus commanded it and we have God’s love in our hearts. Jesus told us to love those who we know can never repay us.

But God promises to repay us as we show His love to those around us. Who is there in your life that you have difficulty loving? Maybe it’s a person who is not very nice to you or upsets you.

Surely you may think, I don’t need to love those who don’t show love to me. Jesus loved us when we were still His enemies and didn’t love Him. Loving those who don’t love us is the key to changing the world through God’s love.

Christ’s love is the most powerful force in the world. As we allow His love to flow through us to those who seem unlovable, we can change our world. May we learn to value and love everyone through Christ’s love.

Choosing Compassion Over Condemnation

James 2:9 (ESV) But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Not only is partiality or prejudice not wise to practice, it is sin. It seems as though some people of James’ day thought partiality or prejudice was not a big deal. They had the idea, as many do today, that there are little sins and big sins and the little sins don’t matter much.

James 2:10-11 (ESV) For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

These verses make it clear that blatantly disregarding one of God’s instructions while keeping the rest is not OK. If you choose to disobey one command, keeping the rest doesn’t help you. The example given is two of the ten commandments.

If you don’t commit adultery, but you do murder, you have violated the ten commandments. If you keep all of God’s commands, except showing partiality, you are still guilty of sin. This is a serious consequence.

So, how should we live out our faith?

James 2:12-13 (ESV) So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

These final verses bring us to the heart of the matter today. What are we doing when we show partiality or prejudice? We are judging people based on outward appearances.

The opposite of judging people is to show mercy to them. James then describes to us the principle of sowing and reaping. If you show no mercy to someone, perhaps based on their clothes, looks or something else, then God will bring you under judgement without mercy.

Love, the love of God shows mercy to everyone, rather than judgement. God calls us to choose compassion over condemnation.

Responding With Mercy Instead of Judgment

Let’s go back to James’ illustration of the rich man and the poor man coming to church. What may be the condemning thoughts that go through our minds when we see the poor man? We might think the man must have done something wrong to be so poor.

Perhaps he was addicted to something, perhaps he was lazy, perhaps he had done something wrong and God was punishing him. Those are thoughts of condemnation and judgement, rather than mercy. Perhaps none of those things are true.

But what if they are true? Does God then give us the permission to condemn the man, rather than to love him? No, we are called to show compassion and mercy, no matter what state a person is in.

For God showed His love to us when we were still sinners and in rebellion against Him. We must do the same. God calls us to show compassion over condemnation.

Conclusion

In a world where divisions are growing deeper, where the news is filled with conflict, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. We are tempted to retreat into our comfort zones, building walls rather than bridges. As followers of Christ, we are called to a higher purpose, the purpose of showing God’s love to everyone without exception.

The purpose is showing compassion and not judgement. The purpose is building bridges to people, rather than walls to protect us. As we leave today, let’s not just be hearers of the Word, but doers.

Let’s commit to viewing every individual as a unique creation of God, worthy of respect and love. Let’s challenge ourselves to be the salt and light in a world that desperately needs to taste the love of Christ.

May God help us to learn how to challenge prejudice in our own lives and in those around us through faith. By doing so, we’ll honor Jesus and play our part in bringing the kingdom of God to our world.

📘 Continue the Journey

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