Best Seat in the House

We all have favorite things. Our favorite color, place to eat, sports team, and that’s perfectly normal. However, our preferences go beyond that to people. We all have people we like, and this becomes a problem when the things that draw us to people, including our judgments about them, become pictures of what we think their value is.

We don’t simply see people, we evaluate their usefulness. And when usefulness becomes the measure of value, favoritism is never far behind. James challenges us to learn to see people the way God sees them and to see their value the way God sees it.

In the beginning of James Chapter 2, there are a couple of things happening. Many of the early Christians James is writing to are very poor, beginning to experience discrimination, and are looking for relief. The “meeting” is like our church service, the rich man and poor man are guests who don’t know where to sit, and there happens to be a seating chart in order of “importance.”

James makes 2 key points throughout this passage.

• God’s idea of “rich” is a lot different than ours – Blessed are the poor in spirit. How we interact with people paints a picture of what we believe God is like.
• We shouldn’t be focused on cozying up with the “in crowd” – What are you hoping to gain from being around people outside of faith who are rich and powerful?

James 2
6 But you have dishonored the poor. 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 blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

The audience here is largely poor believers scattered by persecution. James isn’t saying every rich person is evil, he’s saying we shouldn’t surround ourselves with people who have historically used their power against us.

They’re exploiting you, openly rejecting you, and ridiculing the name of Jesus. James points out the irony – you’re honoring people because you assume their status makes them worthy of special treatment, but many of those people are the source of your suffering.

God repeatedly chooses the people the world overlooks. Not because poverty is inherently righteous, but because God isn’t impressed by the things that impress us. And He calls His people to a different way – not a suggestion, but a law.

James 2
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

The way James says this is interesting. “Royal law” suggests that this is the most important thing, but Jesus had some things to say about it.

Luke 10
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

Jesus is telling us that this is the entire Gospel. Everything else comes under and after this. He follows the passage with the parable of the Good Samaritan – the story of an outcast going very much out of his way to aid an injured man who wouldn’t give him the time of day even at full health. One has been made powerless by society, the other by circumstance.

We can do nothing to earn God’s favor. And He calls us to serve those who can or will do nothing for us. Even when we think we’re better than others, or that others have something (wealth, influence, power), we don’t have what we think we need. God says that’s not true because the field is level.

James 2
9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

If you need to add the endorsement of people, any people, to your Christian faith, and you lean in their direction at the expense of others to do it, your actions show that the Gospel is not enough. It’s not sufficient. You need something more. You’re showing partiality.

When you show partiality, you’ve stepped out from under the Gospel, and you’ve become the judge, not God. The size of the sin doesn’t matter, lawbreaking is lawbreaking. If you crack a glass window with a pebble or shatter it with a rock, the damage might be different, but it’s still broken.

Now, James isn’t saying that all sins have identical consequences. He’s saying that they all reveal the same problem – we all have hearts that don’t align with God’s heart. So, what should we do instead?

The Gospel calls us to embrace the value God sees in us through Christ, but then to reject the things the world uses to define value and to measure people's worth.

James 2
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Not FEEL differently, not hope that things will be different, SPEAK and ACT differently.

Judgment = an assessment based on the evidence. You have the opportunity to get, inflict, or win something.

Mercy = compassion, acceptance, or forgiveness despite the evidence. You’re required to give something up or away. He says to speak and act with mercy because you have been shown mercy.

Remember, one day we’ll stand before God and be shown mercy based on the mercy we showed others. The way you talk to people, treat people, or respond to people. All of it matters.

Think about everything James has exposed:

• We’ve judged people.
• We’ve ranked people.
• We’ve assigned value to people based on the wrong things.
• We’ve looked at image-bearers and treated them differently.

If God treated us the way we often treat others, we’d be in trouble. But He doesn’t.

God didn’t evaluate your usefulness. That’s the Gospel. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. How God sees people, and you, is how we need to see people.

How do you know if you’re seeing people the way God sees them?

Find someone and give them the best seat.

Give someone your attention, your time, your dignity, your kindness, and your mercy. Even, and especially, when they can’t do anything for you. When they don’t make you look better, stronger, more fashionable, more important, or more impressive.

Go and give someone the best seat because we’ve been given mercy and can now extend it to those around us.