James 2:1-4

Passage

My brothers, do not have the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with unjust distinctions between people.  For if a man wearing a gold ring and wearing bright clothing should enter into your synagogue and also a poor man in filthy clothing should enter, and you all should look favorably upon the man in bright clothing and you all should say, “You, sit here in an important place,” and to the poor man you all should say, “Stand over there” or “Sit here where I normally keep my feet,” did you all not make a distinction in yourselves and become judges with evil reasoning? 

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

James now begins to talk about community.  Before we get into judging between other people it is important to understand how community is affected by this dynamic.  When we treat some people better than others because of what they have done we set a works-based precedent in our midst.  When we give public and communal accolades to people we inherently create a pecking order in our midst.  The minute we give public recognition to one person and single them out, we demonstrate to everyone that we are not about treating everyone the same in Christ.  We must be very careful with the praise and esteem that we give to others – especially when done publically or communally.

Do you think it is wrong to show appreciation to one another?  How can we learn to show appreciation but do it in a way that it doesn’t affect our communal life together?  How important do you believe it is to walk the balance between appreciating God’s gifts within people yet creating a public dynamic where all people are thought of as equals?

Second Thought:

James does talk about making distinctions.  Furthermore, James talks about making distinctions based on external appearances.  As discussed above, there is always danger in a community when we start to publicly elevate some in our midst.  But there is an even greater danger when we do this based on a person’s appearance.  If we treat better those who dress nicely or wear expensive clothing, then we are reacting to their worldly appearance rather than their inward spirit.  I believe this is also one of the core issues with James.  It is so easy for us as human beings to make distinctions based upon what we see on the outside that we must be careful to not encourage this behavior.  God does not judge based on what He sees on the outside.  Neither should we.

What are the external appearances that you often use as a basis of judgment?  How can these lead you astray in your judgments?  What are you likely to miss when you judge based on these things?

Third Thought:

James also speaks of evil reasoning.  What James is showing us is that this external judgment leads to an internal corruption.  When we treat other people differently based on their appearance, it is actually us who lose!  We learn bad habits.  We learn to be worldly.  We become corrupt.  Yes, we teach it to those whom we treat differently, but we ourselves also become corrupt!

How have the distinctions you’ve made between other people in the past corrupted who you are now in the present?  What can this line of thinking teach you about how careful we must be in the judgments we make about other people?

Passage for Tomorrow: James 2:5-7