James 2:1-4, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
“Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”
Worldly, carnal thinking does not serve the Christian well. We are not to be bound by the confines of pragmatic philosophy. The reasoning we would employ to solve our own problems or seek the favor of others fails us. Our own understanding fails us. We must learn to “trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
The sensible thing to do if your church needs money is to attract those who have money and coax them into giving. Send special invitations to impress them to come. Give them a special place to sit—only the very best in order to make a good impression. Grant them priority access to whatever conveniences them most. Once they are happy, then perhaps they will give of their wealth, and it will have been worth the extra attention. Christians becoming fundraisers can be very tempting, but we must be extremely wary of this path. We need to trust God.
Maybe it isn’t a matter of money, but maybe you want to impress the affluent in order to gain your own measure of influence. You might think you are being ministry-minded because if you can impress those who are important then you can become important and have greater influence to all. This reasoning also fails because we who are saved and make up the church cannot operate as the world does. God is the One who can grant you favor before others. We aren’t going to impress the world with Scripture and Biblical reasoning. If we try to impress the world in this way, we just end up compromising truth to their way.
There is no place in the church for “respect of persons.” Praise the Lord that God does not show respect of persons toward us, else none of us would qualify for His saving grace. We are poor and needy in our sins, but God is gracious so that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
When we show respect of persons, we are taking the grace and love that God has given us freely and rationing it out to those we deem worthy. This does not represent who God is to anyone, the rich or the poor. The rich have to humble themselves to receive Christ (this is the difficulty spoken of in Luke 18:25, “For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”). Showing the rich this special favoritism does them no favor at all. The poor also does not see Christ because they are shown lesser favor though Christ gives to all. We need always to represent Jesus Christ.
“Are ye not then… become judges of evil thoughts?”
When we become partial in this manner and show respect of persons toward those we deem worthy, we have become judges of evil thoughts. This doesn’t mean we are judging evil thoughts, but we are judges who have evil thoughts. In other words, we become unrighteous judges.
A judge is supposed to be impartial when it comes to upholding the law. We rely on judges to consider the merits of a case based on its accordance to the established law of the land. Other considerations should have no bearing on the decision of the judge.
An unrighteous judge, however, does not judge according to the law but according to himself. He would focus on what pleases him most or what suits him best. He can be bribed and manipulated, and he desires to show favor when it suits him. He has no place in a courtroom and has no business exercising judgment. He is not suitable for the task given him.
But a righteous judge considers a case based on the law, and no outside influence will matter to him. The prominence of a person in society will have no bearing on his decision. He will treat all equally under the law. A society functions well only under the judgment of righteous judges.
When we show favor, we assign to some a higher value than others, and we unrighteously judge those we consider less important. We need to see people—all people—as God sees them. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” but “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” All are sinners either saved by grace or who can be saved by grace.
I am reminded of the great equalizing passage of Ephesians 2:1-10:
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
God had every right to be a respecter of persons when it came to us. Praise God that He made us alive and changed us. Let us show God’s grace to all others.