James 2:1-13

Tom Shrader examines James 2:1-13, addressing the problem of favoritism in the church based on wealth, status, or appearance. He emphasizes that true faith means seeing people through God's perspective rather than the world's values. Using examples from Paul's ministry and David's mighty men, he shows how God deliberately chooses the weak and foolish to shame the wise and powerful.

“If there should be a place where we find acceptance, and love, and care for the people who are different than us, or let me say it another way, people that the world wouldn't value, it should be the church.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Blue Jean Theology (2011)

Recorded: 2011

Duration: 37 min

Themes: favoritism, perspective, pride, humility, judgment, wisdom, brokenness, disappointment, struggling with judgment, church leader, dealing with disappointment, middle aged adult, married couple, parent, new believer, feeling superior

Scripture: James 1:2, James 1:5, James 1:22, James 1:27, James 2:1-13, 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 1:26, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, 1 Samuel 21:12-15, 1 Samuel 22:1-2

Theological Themes: sanctification, worldliness, biblical worldview, spiritual maturity, sin nature, godly perspective, christian living, faith formation

Full Transcript

Open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of James. It happens all the time—you start studying a book and the more you're in it, the more you see the logic of the book and understand it. Now, James has a huge advantage over many authors. He's moving under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that helps a lot. But James progresses in this beautiful sense, and it came to me what James is doing.

In a conversation, I had breakfast with a guy the other day. He's a guy I meet probably every ten weeks or so, and he is a really thoughtful, contemplative kind of guy. I normally wear out on those pretty fast, but this guy, there's something about him. He sent me an email the other day the night before I was explaining something to Sandy about aging, and this email just nailed it cold. So I texted him and said, "Hey, let's have coffee." So we got together.

The Power of Perspective

This is a universal point, way beyond James. I hadn't seen him for ten weeks or so. I said, "How are you doing?" He said, "Great." And I said, "How's everything?" He said, "Great." And I said, "Wow, that turned around fast. What happened? Things get better at work?" No. "Things get better at home?" No. And I said, "What happened?" He said, "I got a whole different perspective."

That's what we've used as kind of our working definition of faith: seeing the world as God sees it. So if you go back to chapter 1 of James, beginning in verse 2, where he's talking about trials, the whole key there is to see and know that God is at work. God is at work in the midst of our world. God's at work in the midst of your challenges. God didn't leave you. God has a plan.

So I said, "We'll talk more about that perspective." He said, "Here's what I've done. I have for years been disappointed with life. I'm disappointed with my relationships. I'm disappointed at work." And he said, "I came to the realization about four or five weeks ago: I'm a sinner. The world's a sinner. We live in a sinful world. I'm going to be disappointed forever."

"My wife is never going to meet my needs, just like I'm never going to meet her needs. All of a sudden, I realized what a giant disappointment I must be to her. I've been focused on how disappointing she is to me." The phrase that we've used historically is, "I spend all my day managing sin—my sin, the world's sin, the sin of the things around us." If I think somehow everything's going to go smooth, I just am denying the reality of the brokenness of life. So I just need to calibrate.

Recalibrating Our GPS

Sandy and I, there was a second and third grade year-end concert the other night for our granddaughter. That's hell. The only thing worse is if they had a swim meet. Their mom, my daughter Sarah, thinks like I do. So she said, "Dad, this is at Agritopia, which means there's no parking. It's cute and everything, but it's going to be a nightmare." So she texts me and said, "Are you still coming?" And I said, "We're on our way." And she said, "I said, 'Are you saving seats?'" She said, "It'll take care of itself."

So I go in and she has the same place she sits for every concert: back row. So you're at the top of the gym. You have a back on your seat. You can't see, but the kids can see you perfectly. So we're there. It's a violin. I can't hear anyway, and it doesn't matter. I'm sure it was awful, but it was done in thirty minutes.

So we're walking to the car and I said to Sandy, "We need a reward for this. I think Dairy Queen is the answer." So she goes to GPS Dairy Queen at Santan Village. Now you all live up here. You don't go to Santan. It's a nightmare. It's like I designed this thing and laid it out. It's just terrible. About eight times it said, "Go up here, make a U-turn. Turn right." That's a circle is what that is.

Finally I said, "I'm done." What God is saying and what I need to do, not just every day, but four or five times a day, is recalibrate that GPS to see it as God sees it. So literally in the morning when I start, I don't spend a lot of time, but I'll spend thirty to sixty seconds praying over the day saying, "God, retool me. Help me see each day. What are you doing?" And that's what He does in chapter one. Understand I'm working. These trials have meaning. In verse 5, if you don't get life, ask for wisdom, ask for insight, and He'll give it to you. He'll help you see it and understand it.

The Key Verse: Doers, Not Just Hearers

Now, chapter 1, verse 22 is the key verse to this book and really sets up what we're going to see in the rest of the book: "Prove yourself doers of the word, not merely hearers." The problem with our tribe is that we, by and large, go to good Bible teaching churches and like to study the Bible. All of a sudden, the study becomes the end rather than the means.

I started this year with a resolution to read four books—not for the whole year, but of the books I read, four books by authors on topics or points of view that I would disagree with. I sat down on December 30th and ordered on Amazon the first of these books. The minute I pushed "place order," I had buyer's remorse. I got the book. It's about a guy and he's just not my guy. He was president once from Arkansas. I'm forty pages into it and I'm saying, "What am I doing?" But the more I read, the more I said, "I don't agree with this, but at least I can see how you got there."

The Warning Against Our Echo Chambers

What James warns against is really a warning to those of us that are loving the scripture and love to read. We read books and we pass them around and we hang basically with people like us. If you look around the room, the demographic is essentially older, white, middle class to upper middle class people. You in all likelihood shop at the same places, go to the same restaurants, vote the same—

think the same. And James is saying, I don't want you to just become a student of the word passing around these theological books and going, wow, that's deep. He said, I want it to affect the way you live. If it doesn't, then this whole thing is a waste of time.

Now I can go the other way and just do do do. But I don't understand why. And James says at the end, and it's why we left off last week, really abruptly. Chapter one, verse twenty seven, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is two things concerned for the weak, the orphans and the widows in keeping yourself unstained by the world.

Now, here's what He's saying. Let me state it negatively. He's not saying you don't have anything to do with the world. He's not saying that at all. Go and make disciples. By definition, I have to be in contact with the world. Here's what He's saying: as you encounter the world, you walk away and the world has been affected by you. But you haven't been by them other than your heart to be broken for them.

True Religion in Practice

And the way to know that this religion is real is you have a compassion for the orphan and the widow, the hurting the weakest among you in our context, for the immigrant, for the refugee, for the working poor. Here you go. I'll give you a group that's really vulnerable. When you go into church Sunday, look at the back three rows. That's where all the old people sit. That's where the walkers are lined up. That's the one they can barely get in. I mean, the reason you let them park by the front door is they can barely get in.

I might have given you this stat last week. Every 19 seconds, an older adult goes to the emergency room as a result of a fall. Every 29 minutes, an older American dies as a result of a fall. Physically vulnerable, slower, financially vulnerable.

The Problem of Favoritism

Now, He says, let me give you something practical. Chapter two, verse one, my brethren, I didn't get very far. Here's what He's saying. I love you, brothers. Whenever you hear that, you know, there's something coming after it. I love you, but and that's what He's going to do. I love you. You're my brother, my brethren. I love you. But don't hold your faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude. And here's the issue of favoritism.

For if a man and it gives you the example, it could be a variety of things. The one He uses is this. If a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes a poor man in dirty clothes. So you get it. The rings are a big deal. In that culture of rings, bling meant a great deal. It was a sign of wealth. It is so much so that people would rent rings just to flaunt them and have you at least think that they were wealthy.

So you have people come in, and they're dressed in great clothes, and they look good. And then you've got somebody who doesn't have anything. And He says, James says, you show favoritism to the rich guy. You pay special attention to the one who's wearing the fine clothes. And you say you sit here in a good place. And you say to the poor person, you stand over there, you sit down at my footstool. Have you not made a distinction of your among yourselves and become judges? Nothing wrong with judging, you're going to judge all the time. You're making assessments all the time. The problem here is you have evil motives.

God's Perspective on Rich and Poor

Listen, here is the phrase again, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and the heirs of the kingdom, which He promised to those who loved Him? But you dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich man who oppresses you and personally drags you off to court? He said, you know, this from your own personal experience, you're being put down, put down, put down, put down, the one who's taking you to the court, the one who's taking advantage of you, the one that's working the system is the rich guy.

Now let's be really careful. He's not saying rich, bad, poor, good. He's just saying, here's human nature and here's what's going on around you. If you're going to judge, judge like God. It's verse five, God chooses the poor of this world to be rich in faith.

Our Celebrity Culture Problem

James is saying this and it resonates with me. He said, I get it in the world. There's a celebrity attitude in the world. I get it. But He said, it's there in the church. We're by nature. I met a Best Buy one day and there's a guy in there that I thought was Mike Tyson. Now he's fairly easy to pick out in a crowd. He was the only guy with a tattoo in his face. So I knew it was Mike Tyson. And I start following him around Best Buy. And I keep waiting for him to go, hey, are you following me? Boom. Which I would have taken that and I could have. And I'm thinking, what are you doing?

But we're prone that way. You know, you're at the ball game and the game's going on and all of a sudden you spot somebody in the crowd. It's a political figure. It's somebody who's got wealth. It's somebody successful. Your eye goes to them. You nudge. You go, hey, look at that. Isn't that Tom Schrader? No. It just popped into my mind. That was pretty good. I didn't have notes on that. But that's just what you do. You just do it.

I'm watching a fight the other day. I've got a lot of stuff recorded and I'm watching a fight and I can't remember who it was. But sitting in the second row. Now, obviously, this is taped. Sitting in the second row is Ali. And I watched that whole stupid fight, ignoring the two guys in here and watch to see what Muhammad did. It's human nature. Got it.

Bringing Celebrity Culture Into Church

Here's what He's saying. The problem is, you're bringing that into the church. And you know it. And many of you hear, not to single anybody out, but many of you go to SBC. By the way, not this Sunday, but the following Sunday, from what I've heard, it's going to be an incredible Sunday. I've heard the teacher is amazing. That's all. I'm so excited to hear what he's got to say. When you go in SBC, you're going

to see a little bit of who's who in Scottsdale. And you're going to go, "Hey, so-and-so was there. Senator, congressman, businessman, movie star, celebrity, athlete." And it's okay, I guess, to see it. But here becomes the thing. All of a sudden now, you're persuaded by that. You're showing favoritism or bias.

We can flip it. That's a positive way. We can flip it the other way. I've got this thing about education. I'm talking to Jamie one day, and I said to Jamie, "I'm not very smart." And I was expecting him to say, "Oh, no." And he said, "No, you're not very educated." And that's true. And I have this thing. I mean, when somebody says to me, "I went to Harvard or Yale, even Princeton, Stanford," I go, "Wow." It matters to me. "I studied at Cambridge." Wow. It can be positive. It can be negative. It can be racial.

Personal Bias and Everyday Favoritism

I'm watching the old Roy Firestone shows right now up close. And last week he had Mickey Mantle, Jim Brown, Joe Namath, Jimmy Connors, and Arthur Ashe. And Arthur Ashe, I don't know how much you remember about him, but was the first African American to win a major tennis title. He won four of them. I don't know why I say this, but a soft-spoken, quiet guy, born and raised in Richmond, then went to UCLA, then burst on the scene.

And Ashe is talking—some of you are going to push back here, but we'll be fine. Ashe is talking, and he's talking about growing up. And he said, "I went to school every day. And we said the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the country for which it stands, one nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for all." And Ashe said, "I was in about the third grade when I said to myself, not without prompting, not from his dad or Stokely Carmichael. He just said, that's not true. I don't have liberty and justice for all. When I get on the bus in Richmond, there's a white line, and I can't go past that. I can't eat there. I can't go there."

And here's what I've learned over the years, as an obviously white guy, is if you grew up black in this country, by and large, your experience was totally different. Just totally different. Now, there's some exceptions. I saw an interview with Steph Curry the other night, and he said, "I never felt any of that." Well, your dad's 16 years in the NBA, and it was probably a little bit different. But by and large, if you grew up black in this country, you were at a disadvantage.

And if I heard that from one person, it'd be one thing, but I hear it. Virtually every black person I talked to tells me that school was different. I have a couple of lady friends, and one in particular, and I keep pointing this out, just a quiet, docile, cute, nicest girl in the world. And she said, "When I walk into the mall, if I walk into a Nordstrom, there's somebody on me like that." And she said, "They're not there to try to help me get the best deal, or the right fit. They think I'm stealing." And I said, "Come on." And then I hear it again, and again, and again. And it might be way better now than it used to be, but it was there. And I got it. We see it in the world.

The Church Should Be Different

Here's James's problem. James's problem is, you're bringing it into the church. If there should be a place where we find acceptance, and love, and care for the people who are different than us, or let me say it another way, people that the world wouldn't value, it should be the church.

And so if we could say it simply, what James is saying is, can you start to see the world as God sees the world? Paul's writing a letter to the church in Corinth, and it's a messed up church. It's got all sorts of problems. First of all, it's in one of the wickedest cities in the ancient world. I remember when Larry was there, and he did the tour, he said there would be this old pottery from thousands of years ago, and graphic pictures depicting literally pornography on it. They know in the church at Corinth, we know from one of Paul's letters, that they had a problem. They had a guy in the church who was sleeping with his mother, all sorts of stuff. So Paul's writing back to that church.

How God Views the World

Look what he says. This is really important, I think, for perspective. 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 18: "The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it's the power of God."

I think sometimes we forget how crazy in the natural the gospel sounds. Imagine sitting down, and I know you can't do this, but imagine sitting down with somebody who says to you, "Here's what I believe. I believe that thousands of years ago, God made a man and a woman and said, don't eat from that fruit. And they ate from it, and when they did, everybody, so they estimate, I don't know how they figure this stuff out, that about 14 billion people have lived on the earth. About half alive right now. I don't know, argue the number, but not with me. But whatever that number is, all of those people have sinned as a result of Adam's sin. And God then worked through the nation of Israel, so that about 2,000 years ago, God became human. That's a big leap. And then died on the cross, and then rose from the dead. And when He did, He satisfied God's wrath against His people."

That's out there, isn't it? I mean, does that make sense? Which makes more sense? That or me saying to you, "Listen, I know you messed up, we're even going to call it sin, but do the best you can." That makes a lot more sense. But God says, this stuff is crazy. When you're sitting down, you go to coffee or dinner, or you have people to your house, and your intention is to share the gospel with them, you've got to understand that if God doesn't change their—

heart and mind, they're never going to get it. You can't argue them into the kingdom. You're not going to be able to explain it into the kingdom, because when you're done, it sounds nuts to them. It's science fiction. It's goofy. But then, God opens your heart, and it changes.

I don't want to lose track. Paul talks about the church, verse 26: "Consider your calling, brethren. There are not many among you according to the flesh. There's not many wise according to the flesh. There's not many mighty, not many noble." He says, look around the church. There's not many.

God Doesn't Choose the Impressive

I don't know this. This is total speculation, and it tips my hand in my preconceived notion. But I'm guessing if you went to a faculty meeting at ASU, and you get all these people with more degrees than a thermometer sitting in a room, and they're talking, and you say to them, "Hey, what are you going to do this summer?" "Oh, we're going to the mountains. We're going to Coronado." "What are you going to do?" "Oh, we're taking a cruise." "Hey, where do you go to church?" They would scoff at you. "I don't go to church."

You go around. There'll always be a few, but you don't have a whole bunch of PhDs running around church. You don't have many who are mighty. You don't have elected officials. The only time—cut me slack—the only time we see elected officials in church is about 30 days before an election. They're not hanging around there. You don't have many noble. You don't have a bunch of rich people.

Now, I got it. There's some exceptions. I got it. But He's saying, by and large, that's not who God uses.

Paul's Weakness Was Intentional

In fact, Paul says, "Let's talk about me." Chapter 2, verse 1: "When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." That was my message. Crucifixion, resurrection, crucifixion, resurrection.

In fact, He said, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, in trembling, and my message and my preaching were not persuasive in words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit of power." Why? So it was verse 5. Mark that first phrase, "so that." Here's why. Here's why it was that way. "Your faith doesn't rest in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God."

He said, "Look it, I'll give you a prime example. When I came to you, I was not much to look at." We obviously don't have any photographs of Paul, but as best we can, if we do a sketch artist of Him, He was a balding, predominantly hook-nosed gentleman, frail, kind of physically deformed a little bit, hunched over. He had a thorn in the flesh, and many believe it was a continually dripping, drooling eye.

So imagine the setting when you go, "We are so honored today to have the Apostle Paul with us. Help me welcome Paul." And this hook-nosed, humped over guy with a drooling eye gets up to speak, and when He speaks, He said, "I kind of stuttered and stammered, and I was afraid." I mean, that's not—when you see somebody get up, and you know, "Is this thing on?" Whenever anybody gets up, and their first comment as they look around the room is, "Wow, there's a lot of people here," we're in trouble. And Paul's saying, "This is how I came, and I didn't come to try to argue my way with you, though I'm a great mind, it's that God would be glorified."

The Power of Being Unimpressive

I think I've shared with you before, I can't remember, I was in California somewhere doing a men's conference, and this guy picked me up at the airport, and we're driving along, and He said, "Are you hungry?" And I said, "I'm always hungry." And He said, "Well, where do you want to go to eat?" And I said, "I could not care less. Not something fancy. You know, Cracker Barrel, they got a hash brown casserole I like. I don't know, I don't care."

So we're at lunch, and He's acting weird. And I said, "Are you okay?" And He said, "Yeah." And I said, "What's wrong?" And He said, "You're not what I expected." I said, "Really?" And He said, "Yeah." I said, "What do you mean?" He goes, "You're short." You know, He didn't say fat, but He was trying to say, "You're short, you're fat, you're unimpressive, you're not articulate, you're not very bright." Well, that's what we look for in the speaker.

If you had a historical Lloyd Ogilvie type of a guy—coiffed, tie, great shirt, cool blue, kind of a Jordan Spieth blue shirt, suit—who speaks in that voice that sounds like God. But if you notice, when the person is done, everybody sitting around goes, "Isn't He something? Isn't He something?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah." But He can be so much something that He gets in the way of what God's doing. When I'm done, I never hear, "Man, you're really something." I hear, "God is really good. God's really gracious."

Ted Stockfish, any of you remember that name, Ted Stockfish, couple? He used to come to this study. And I got all kind of enraptured by His story. And we're one day down at La Posada, and it's afterwards, we're sitting at the bar having coffee. And I said, "You know, you're amazing." And He said, "You're my inspiration." I said, "Really? Everybody needs a role model." He said, "Yeah." And I said, "Really?" And He said, and He's dead serious, He said, "When I watched you, I thought anybody can do this." I said, "I watched you, and I thought anybody can do this."

That's what Paul's saying. That's what James is saying. God, it's not that God is adverse to smart, handsome, pretty people who are wealthy and have degrees. God uses them. But by and large, that's not who He chooses.

David's Disgraceful Moment

Turn real quick, really quick. And you're going to have to go to the table of contents. That's all right. 1 Samuel, chapter 21. I don't go to the table of contents because I have tabs. 1 Samuel, chapter 21. And we meet mighty King David. He is on the run, and He's fled to Gath, which is the home of Samson and the enemies. And He is hiding.

1 Samuel, chapter 21, verse 12: "David takes these words to heart. He fears the king of Gath. He disguises His sanity. He acted..."

God's Unlikely Army

David provides a perfect illustration of how God works. When David was fleeing from King Saul, he went to the Philistine king Achish. But David was afraid, so he pretended to be insane. He's scribbling on the wall, and he has saliva running down his beard. The king says to his guys, "Why did you bring this guy to me?" He says in verse 15, "Do I lack madmen?" He said, "I already have you guys. I don't need another nut." I mean, that's what he's saying.

So here's David, the mighty king, acting nuts, scribbling on the wall, drooling in his beard. In chapter 22, he's in a cave, in a place called Adullam. He goes in. His brothers and his father's household heard he's there. And verse 2: "Everyone who was in distress and in debt and everyone who was discontented gathered around him, and he became the captain over them. And now there's about 400 of them."

These are the mighty warriors of David. David's mighty men. Do you get this scene? Here are 400 guys—distressed, in debt, discontent. They're a mess. They said, "We need a leader. We'll take the nut in the corner who's drooling in his beard, and we'll make him the captain." That's what God does. It's a perfect picture of this.

Seeing People as God Sees Them

And now I come into my church setting. I ought to look around, and I ought to begin to see people as God sees them. Not overly impressed with the rich and the educated and the smart and the wealthy. That's not a negative. It's just not the reason to be dazzled.

The people that I run into that when I'm with them, I walk away and go, "It seems like they've been with God," tend to be people who are, by the world's standards, pretty average. And He says, guard your heart. Be careful in the midst of that. We're going to pick up that exact thought next week as He carries that out.

Father, help us with this truth. Take it, drill it deep into our hearts. Let us see people as You see them, as creatures that You created. God, let us see the world, including ourselves, as You see us. We pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.