God's Opinion on Racial and Tribal Harmony as against Partiality

Now we need to hear the word of God concerning racial harmony. And so I invite you to turn with me to James 1 and let the last two verses in that chapter set the stage for the main point, which is:Don't show partiality because of riches or race; but live under the law of liberty; that is, love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Setting the Stage
The last two verses of James 1 set the stage for this main point first with a word about worthless religion; then with a word about true religion.

1. Worthless Religion (v. 26)
First, verse 26 about worthless religion:"If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless." That's astonishing! If you don't bridle your tongue, your Christianity is a sham. Why? Because Jesus said, "O ut of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). Your tongue tells the truth about your heart.
James tells us the kind of thing he has in mind. He says, in James 3:8- 9, " [The tongue] is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God." He has in mind how we speak about people made in the image of God. That's his central concern with the tongue―how we talk about people. That's what needs to be bridled.
So here the stage is set for our thinking about racial harmony:Bridle your tongue when talking about white people, black people, Asian people, Hispanic people, Jewish people, First Nation people, Muslim people. Behold the image of God in man, and bridle your tongue by the mercy of God. Make the mule of your tongue serve the mercy of your heart.




2. True Religion (v. 27)
Second, James sets the stage of racial harmony for us in verse 27 with a word about true religion. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." When the God- given, Christ- shaped mercy of your heart has put your tongue in the bridle of obedience, then it puts your legs on the path to the poor. In one way or the other every true Christian cares about the poor.
And, James adds at the end of verse 27, every true Christian cares about being pure and unstained from the world. True religion visits orphans and widows, and true religion "keeps oneself unstained from the world." Here is something to provoke the liberal and something to provoke the conservative. James gets in the face of leftward leaning democrats and James gets in the face of rightward leaning Republicans:To the one he says: Care about social justice and works of compassion. To the other he says:Care about private morality:chastity, honesty, fidelity, modesty, purity.
So the stage is set:True religion―true Christianity―is moved by a Christ- shaped heart of mercy. It bridles the tongue when talking about people created in God's image. It cares for the poor, the ones who can easily be taken advantage of and don't have any power to care for themselves. And it keeps itself free from the impurities of pornography and gluttony and greed. The stage is set.

The Main Point
Now the main point of the message and of the text is this. It comes in three different verses and is said in three different ways, moving from the most specific to the most general. I'll give it to you in reverse order from the most general to the most specific. James 2: 12 ― Live as those who will be judged under the law of liberty. That is, verse 8- love your neighbor as you love yourself. That is, verse 1- Don't show partiality to people because of riches or race.
 All the rest of the text is argument―reasons why we should not show partiality. But before the arguments let me say a word of explanation about this main point.

 Partiality
 First, partiality ( v. 1) means that you base your treatment of someone―or your attitude toward someone―on something that should not be the basis of how you treat them. So here in the text, for example, the basis of how people get treated is riches and poverty. You see it in verses 2- 3: "For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, 'You sit here in a good place, ' while you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there,' or, 'Sit down at my feet '... "―this is what James calls partiality. Riches and poverty should not be the basis of how a person gets treated. So treating them differently on that basis is "partiality. "

Now I am applying this text today to race as well as riches. The reason is because of the way this word "partiality" is used elsewhere in the New Testament. I'll give you one example, namely, Romans 2. Here Paul is dealing with an ethnic and racial ( and religious) issue, namely Greeks and Jews. And he says that both are liable to judgment because of their sin. Then gives the reason in verse 11: "For God shows no partiality"―which is the same word as here in James 1.
 So I think James and Paul would be very happy for us to take this text that focuses on partiality because of riches and say that it also applies to partiality because of race. Good treatment and bad treatment, honor and dishonor, rejection and acceptance should not be based on riches or race.

 Law of Liberty
 Here's another word of explanation about the main point, namely, the words in verse 12, "So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. " When you don't show partiality but love others as you love yourself, you are acting according to the law of liberty. What is that?
 James doesn't define the "law of liberty" ( see James 1: 15) but treats it as common knowledge for the early Christians. So I am going to take the definition partly from a verse in Galatians where the language is very similar. Galatians 5: 13 says, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. " Christians are set free from their sins. That is, we are forgiven and freed from the condemnation and dominion of sin. Now we are to live in that freedom―forgiven, not condemned by God. Does that produce lawlessness? Both Paul and James answer no. It produces love. For James the summary of the law of liberty is given in verse 8: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. " And for Paul the summary of the law of liberty is given in Galatians 5: 13, "Through love serve one another. "

For both of them, love is the natural fruit and the necessary evidence of being justified by faith ( Galatians 5: 6; James 2: 17). Love is the kind of law that governs us when we are freed from condemnation by the blood and righteousness of Christ. And we will be judged under this law of liberty. If we have not loved, we will perish, because there will be no evidence that we are born again and justified by faith.
 So you can see that James and Paul put partiality based on riches and race in the context of your eternal judgment. This is not a light thing. How we treat others is the evidence of our relation to Christ. If we have been set free from sin's condemnation and dominion by Christ, then we live in liberty. And in this liberty there is a law―the law of liberty, that is, the law of love. We will be judged under this law. And this law says, Do not show partiality on the basis of race or riches.

 Seven Reasons Why We Should Not Show Partiality
 The rest of the text is argument. I see seven reasons that James gives for why we should not show partiality. We don't have time to deal with all of them. So let me just name them and then close by looking at the last, and the first.
 1. Verse 1: Partiality contradicts faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord of glory.
 2. Verses 2- 4: Partiality reveals a judging heart and behind it evil thinking.
 3. Verse 5: Partiality to the rich contradicts God's heart, because he has chosen many of the poor for          himself.
 4. Verse 6a: Partiality dishonors people created in the image of God.
 5. Verses 6b- 7: Partiality to the rich backfires and becomes your downfall.
 6. Verse 9- 11: Partiality makes you a transgressor of the law of liberty.
 7. Verse 13: Partiality is not mercy. But if you don't show mercy, you will perish.

God is so good to us not merely to tell us what to do, as if he were only an authority, but to tell us why. He has reasons. He wants us not only to submit, but to submit with some understanding. He wants us to see the beauty and the wisdom and the goodness of his commands. So he gives us reasons to do what he says.
Shalom