Bridge Church Vancouver

Dodie Gadient, a schoolteacher for thirteen years, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping. Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, “Please God, send me an angel . . . preferably one with mechanical experience.”

Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and, without even glancing at Dodie, went to work on the truck. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached
a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the whole 56-foot rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.

The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket: “Hell’s Angels – California.” As he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say, “Thanks so much,” and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you’re talking to.” With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared.

Looks can be deceiving. There are times when we believe that Christians have to fit a specific mold or a specific picture that we have created. In reality, often our ideas are based in areas that we have favouritism – we want and expect Christians to be a certain way and do certain things for us to feel comfortable around them and want to be with them.  Christian holiness matters, but sometimes issues of money, or age, race, language, appearance, place in life matter almost as much and will keep us from experiencing and expressing the love of Christian Community

We Judge People By Their Appearance – the things we “see” in a person.  Just as the congregation in James 2  they judged two visitors by how they looked we often do the same thing.

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favouritism.”

Favouritism
noun 1. an inclination to favor some person or group  2. unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice

Favouritism in the Bible literally means “to receive one’s face.”

Favoritism, partiality or as it is translated in some versions, “respect of persons” is mentioned several times in the New Testament. But in every other case it speaks of how God does not show favouritism...

“God does not show partiality.”(Acts 10:34) “God is not a respecter of persons.” “God does not receive people by face.” “God does not judge by externals, he judges the heart.” (1 Pet. 1:17)

James uses the phrase “as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” or more literally “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory”, two different ways of translating the verse – the first is more qualitative describing the dignity of Jesus.  The second way is to look at it more positionally – like the Shekinah glory of God – in the localized presence of Yahweh. 

In this sense – James would be saying “My brothers and sisters, when you gather, the presence of Jesus is in your midst so do not show any favouritism.”

James uses an example of a wealthy guest who comes to a gathering of the church as an illustration of favouritism.
Thomas Lea says in the Holman New Testament Commentary that “the word describing the ring of the rich man indicated that he was ‘gold-fingered’ .    Someone with gold rings would be showing off both status and wealth, a person with both rank and money. 

 . . The word ‘fine’ was used to describe the rich man’s clothing, and means ‘sparkling’ or ‘glittering’ . . .

Someone bringing attention to himself and his wealth.

The word ‘filthy’ was used to describe the poor man’s clothing, and pictured clothing which was dirty or shabby.   The man may have come from work, his clothing stained with the evidence of his labor.  The word for ‘poor’ is a greek term for the most severe form of poverty, implying destitute, without virtually any resources.   

The handsome apparel on the rich man earned special treatment for him. The greeter gave him a place of special honor.

It is interesting that the problem begins with speaking – James had just told his readers they should be “slow to speak” – and here we can see how hasty judgement leads to sinful speech.

                “here is a good seat for you”...”you go stand in the corner

James 2:4 “have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

James says “you have looked at the situation and made a determination about two people that is completely wrong from the way I see them.”

You have turned your attention from worship and set your sights on the things of the world.

We must learn to “see” people as God “sees” them – learning to look with spiritual eyes and not material eyes, where we are captivated only by the things we physically “see”

1 Sam 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

God is not going to value the things the world values.  In the world we seek status, power, position, in the eyes of others.  We set our sights far too low, because we look at those just slightly ahead of us, whether it is in our career, or in life circumstances.  But God does not look at us or others around us in that way.

God sees everyone as one He made – special and unique, ones He created to bear His image.

He is not impressed by what we have or don’t have – He has no favourites except every one of his children.  Like a good parent who shows no favouritism among their children, but love them all deeply.

I remember shortly after my mother died, someone was speaking of her and said “she had the unique ability to make all her children think that they were her favourites.

God also sees everyone as a sinner – who by their own choices have gone their own ways, they are lost and in need of a savour, a sinner in need of forgiveness, outcast from heaven and in need of grace.

Each one of us have entered into his presence with filthy hearts.

God sees every person as one he accepts through their repentance and faith in His Son

Ones who must turn to him...

Everyone needs grace, forgiveness, love and acceptance

Regardless of their race, spiritual background, gender, age, education, intellect, wealth, athleticism, charisma, all the things we can look at that tend to sub-divide us.

When we only want to be around certain people with certain attributes – whether it is age, race or class we are not acting like God

When we only want certain types of people in our meetup group – we are in sin

When we only are willing to hang out with particular people we – we are not being Godlike

What did Jesus ‘see’  and who did he associate with?

When Jesus looked at people he had – compassion, hope, love

Jesus went to whom...?

Lepers, prostitutes, thieves, swindlers, blind, demon possessed, poor, destitute, adulterers, working class, uneducated, common, paralytics, lame, crippled, needy, old and infirmed, dumb, ones with shrivelled limbs, the sick, the afraid, the hungry, the harassed, the helpless,  the desperate, the children and women, the off-breeds and half-breeds, the bastards of humanity.

Who did Jesus bless...

The poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungry, persecuted, children, old

Who did he rebuke and challenge = the religious, educated, powerful and the rich

“Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

Who did he chase away = the confident and consuming, the ones looking for comfort and ease

Favouritism is fed by our own selfish motives – comfort  of being with people ‘like me’ or those I’d like to be like.

In the world – not everyone is welcome everywhere.

In the church, the family of God, the body of Jesus – everyone is welcome and equal.

We all stand on level ground at the foot of the cross.

Gal 3:26-29

 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Prejudice and racism is all around us – but it is not to be here at The Bridge. 

Classification by economics drives many social settings – but not here in our church.

Favouritism by age or gender has no place in our church – that does not mean that we don’t at times do things specifically for different groups  = like a ministry time specifically oriented towards our children

or we may have some of our meet-ups oriented to men or women, but no one group is favoured or more special than another and no one is treated unfair or less important.

 James 2:5 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?

James poses a rhetorical question – the key idea here is the word “chosen” .  James is saying that Christians have been chosen as the new community of God’s people here on earth.

Paul has a parallel teaching

1 Corinthians 1:26-30

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  NIV

It has been said that “God is on the side of the poor, not because they are poor but because they are responsive to him and are near to the kingdom.”

Whether a person is rich or poor makes no difference to God, and it shouldn’t make a difference to us. 

Regardless of what would make a person different from us, in Christ we are one and equal and there must  not be favouritism. 

We should be marked by love, Jesus said:

 John 13:35

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another

Here at The Bridge, we are a wonderful church, and we come from many different places, around the world and in life. 

On any given Sunday – we will have 50-60 people worshiping here with us – a relatively small church BUT – we will have 16 different Nationalities and cultures represented – 12 different mother-tongues – we span everything from birth to mid-70’s and from poverty to upper middle class. 

We don’t have a homogeneous bone in our body = the thing that holds us together is our faith in Christ, the bond of the Holy Spirit.

The way we will keep favouritism from growing among us is by continuing to reach out to get to know someone different from us – you don’t’ have to look far and celebrate the commonality we have which is in Jesus.

This morning Let us commit to one another and before God that we – The Bridge – will not be a church that allows favouritism to enter and grow. 

One evidence of our faith is we accept everyone on the basis of how God accepts them, not by the worlds standards. 

How do we break the hold of Favouritism? 

-          Repentance – “I have sought to be with people like me”

-          Become willing to accept others who are not like you

Rom 15:7  Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

When we think that the other person doesn’t have something to offer me then we know we have fallen into the trap of favouritism

-          Sacrificial service to others – serve someone who cannot repay you

-          Look for someone you do not know and start a conversation