Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (7:00 PM LHF time, Wed., Dec. 20, 2000)

Text: James: 2:1-13

"My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

"Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!"

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You are being tested. The purpose of the testing is for you to develop perseverance -- perseverance in doing what is righteous before God so that you will become mature and complete, not lacking anything. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of us can expect to undergo trials of various kinds. Through James, God is giving us some advance preparations and some hints about what to expect.

The question is how you will react when someone shows up who looks as though he might be able to benefit you considerably if you make a favorable impression on him -- and at the same time someone who looks as though he may be a considerable burden to you also shows up. How do you react if someone who you think has power, money and influence shows up? How about the mayor of Columbus, for example? And how do you react if someone you are sure is going to ask for a handout shows up?

James is going to tell us the right and wrong ways to react. The wrong way to react is to show favoritism toward the one you think will benefit you the most. When you do this James says that you have become a judge with evil thoughts -- actually, with evil ways of thinking or reasoning -- with evil motives. The evil way of thinking is to think of people in terms of how they can benefit you and what you can do to get that benefit from them.

As a church, we probably don't look at people in terms of the financial benefit we can gain from them. We don't (I hope) try to get them into our church just because we could use a little extra money. But we do tend to think in terms of how they might benefit our "ministry." (I put 'ministry' in quotes because what we think of as our ministry is likely to not be God's ministry -- the ministry HE has for us.) What is the goal of our ministry? Is it to serve? Or is it to give the appearance of serving? For example, do we think in terms of having a large membership, a large budget or being nationally known -- or maybe all over Columbus. These things better not be the goal.

So, how do you look at people? Here are some things that we may see in people that may cause us to want to give them special attention: "This person is in a position to give a a lot of good publicity." or "This is a person who will attract others and thereby increase our numbers." or "This person has an impressive testimony (maybe even somewhat of a celebrity with a testimony)." or "This person is a good speaker or maybe even has some desirable spiritual gift."

Or on the negative side: "This person will bring nothing to our ministry. He will take up time, use up money and maybe even scare away people that have something positive to offer."

Even if you try outwardly to avoid favoring those who seem to have it all together and have an impressive life with much to offer, what do you think inwardly? Do you just endure the poor? James says that God has chosen the poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he has promised to those who love him. If you show favoritism, you may be insulting the ones God has chosen to inherit his kingdom. And you may be favoring those who are trusting in their riches and ability rather than in God. James says that it isn't the poor that exploit you and slander the name of Jesus.

The law to follow is the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself." James says to act and speak as though you are going to be judged by this royal law. He calls it the law that give freedom. Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! If you show favoritism, you are just as guilty as an adulterer or a murderer. If you show mercy, you will triumph over judgment.

So far I've been talking about how we view people in the context of the church because that's what James seems to be talking about. But what about in terms of personal relationships. Do you just hang around with people you think will 'build you up?' As I was writing this I was reminded of having seen a book titled "Safe People," so I looked it up on Amazon.com. I'm going to reproduce a couple of the reviews that were given. And this is not a book I recommend. Here's the first review:

"Some people are good for us, some are not. Safe people are people who help drive emotional healing and character growth. Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend (the authors) show how we can find the people who will help us down the path to healing and avoid those who may damage our emotional health. 'Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You' provides practical ground-breaking help which lays a firm foundation for personal growth. Safe People is important, practical reading for today's modern world."

And the second review:

"The book is outstanding! It explains step by step how to recognize unsafe tendencies in others and in ourselves. I have learned so much so that I was able to pick a new job, better church atmosphere, and new friends. I went from a level 2 on the happiness scale to a level 9 in about 6-7 mos. I thank God for practical, dedicated authors like Dr Cloud and Dr Townsend."

If everyone only spent time with 'safe people,' who would spend time with you (unless, of course you happen to be a safe person). Do you just hang out with 'safe people?' Jesus did not just hang out with safe people. If he had, we would still be dead in our sins. In fact, Jesus died for us even though we are of absolutely no benefit to God. We can and do glorify God, but God can just as easily glorify himself without us. Jesus died for us because God is gracious and merciful beyond our ability to comprehend. So let's pray to learn to love all kinds of people, some of whom may appear to be of no practical benefit to us individually or as a church. The apostle Paul says that we must, in lowliness of mind, consider others more important than ourselves. If you see someone who seems to be just barely making it spiritually, how do you know how great the odds might be that he is fighting against? How do you know how important he is in God's eyes (He's very important. Jesus died for him.)? How do you know how great a hero he may be in the end? Brothers and sisters, let's love each other and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

Love in Christ,
Dean

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.