James 2

James 2:1-13 (NKJV) 1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? G4382 - partiality προσωπολημψια prosō polē mpsia; from G4381; respect of persons: - partiality (3), personal favoritism (1).

The above four verses should be in the “How to be an usher for dummies” handbook. Seating people according to money is a SIN – plain and simple. In fact, seating people with any kind of discrimination is sin. This particular sin is rampant in charismatic faith churches. Having been around for 29 yrs and having been in hundreds of different conventions, meetings, and churches – I have been witness to this over and over again. Making people stand outside of locked auditoriums while ushers mark hundreds of seats as reserved. Reserved for whom? Celebrities of course! This is especially true of ministries that are televised. Great effort is made to reserve the front sections for pre-selected good looking people who will show up well on camera. It is sin – plain and simple. 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For years I have been witness to this phenomenon. There are places where spirituality is linked to a certain style of dress – having just the right hairdo or just the right style of clothes. Those who fail to dress in the prescribed manner are denied promotion or places of service. While we would never think to deny a black man a job as an usher because of his skin color – we would deny that same job to a poor man who can’t quite get the concept of matching suit and tie down pat.

We think in terms of money as the measure of a man’s worth. It isn’t. Money can be made by all sorts of schemes such as high interest rates for poor people, outright fraud, and bully tactics. Money can also be made in an honorable way. You can’t judge a man’s character by his bank accounts. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. We would shudder to elect a man a leader in a church if he was a convicted child abuser, yet we don’t think to ask about other issues of character. What if he owned a car dealership that charged 25% interest to poor people? Doesn’t the bible condemn usury? James is very clear that sin breaks the law of love. If we love our neighbor, we will treat him with respect no matter if he has money or not. It’s time we end discrimination in our churches – not just racial, but all types of discrimination.