James 2:1-7- Five Gracious Virtues Of These Poor Dishonored Christians

My friends, I have decided to spend one more week in this text because it can be so valuable to us as a congregation who will have to endure sin and repent of sin often.

Let’s begin by reading James 2:1-7,

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 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, 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,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

James Is Describing A Terrible Sin

Last week we considered the sin of partiality that James is dealing with in this text. Let me illustrate how terrible this sin is by using another text in scripture. In Joshua 7 we read about the sin of Achan. Perhaps you may remember that moments before Israel conquered Jericho Joshua instructed the people, saying, “But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them to destruction you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all the silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD.” (6:18-19)

Unbeknownst to anyone Achan coveted the things that were forbidden and he took these things for himself and he hid them in his tent. Achan had convinced himself that no one knew about this sin. In this moment Achan did not consider that nothing is hidden from God’s sight. (Dt. 27:15, 24) Because of Achan’s sin Israel lost its next battle and 36 people died.

After this defeat Joshua and the elders cried out to the LORD and God revealed to them that someone had sinned. When it was discovered that Achan had sinned Joshua said to him, “Tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” (19)

Having no where to hide Achan confessed and said, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 Shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” (20-21)

When Achan saw these things he coveted them in his heart and he took that which belonged to God. Achan disobeyed God’s clear command even though a very strong warning had been given to them all that same day. If you are familiar with this story you know that because of this sin Achan and his family lost everything, even their own lives! Their punishment seems so harsh to us but even Achan confessed to the seriousness of this sin when he said to Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel…”.

We may not take sin all that seriously but God never sees sin as a trivial and insignificant breach of faith. This ought to make us pause and consider the seriousness of the sin that is mentioned in James 2:1-7. In this text James shows us that there were some who were coveting the wealth of others. James says, “For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly...and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place...have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (2-4)

In the Book of Joshua we saw that Achan coveted the clothes, the silver, and the gold that he saw laying around after the city had been defeated. In James 2 the sin is similar in the sense that some in this congregation were coveting after clothes, silver, and gold but they coveted these things even while the people were wearing them. Having coveted these things they sinned outwardly by showing partiality to the wealthy and dishonoring the poor among them and God’s people were hurt.

I have found it to be surprising that in James 2:1-7 it is not the poor who were coveting the wealth and admiring these rich and influential people. We would expect that they would be the ones sinning in this way because they lacked wealth, riches, and popularity. Instead we see that this sin is being committed by the middle class and upper class people!

As I have thought about these things I often thought about Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” We will discover that James, the servant of God and of Jesus Christ (1:1), could see this sin when so many others could not.

This sin caused James to write in verse 6, “….you have dishonored the poor man.” Let me make a few observations about these words,

• In the past I would get caught up in watching animal packs hunting other animals. If I watched these videos I would become depressed and more than a little melancholy. Those poor animals who were being preyed upon did not stand a chance against the pack of lions! Similarly, in this verse the word ‘you’ is plural but the words ‘poor man’ is singular. The picture that we have here is like a pack of predators ganging up on a single prey. This group of people were ganging up on the poor man and he did not stand a chance. Response: We should become emotional, melancholy or even angered by what we are witnessing here. Is no one going to step in and help this poor man or woman or are we just going to watch this happen again?

• There were many people who were ‘dishonoring’ the poor in this congregation. The word ‘dishonor’ means that the poor were being shamed, treated with contempt, and insulted. Imagine being a poor father who is treated this way in front of his wife and children! If this man tried to speak of this injustice his pleas fell upon deaf ears so he entrusted himself to the LORD. (James 5:4)

• When James says, “….you have dishonored the poor man.”, he uses a verb (aorist) that speaks of something that began in the past and it has been allowed to continue. This sin has become part of the culture of the church and it is now accepted and seen as no big deal. This sin is probably getting even more flagrant and unseemly but their consciences are not troubled.

Who were these individuals?

• The pastor and elder may have dishonored this poor man and they engaged in this or when they did not stop this.

• The greeter and usher may have dishonored the poor man when they sat people.

• The rich person was guilty of this sin by allowing this to be done.

• The congregant who sat passively by and let it happen and also dishonors the poor man.

Illustration: {Al Mohler The Briefing} Recently there was an article about how ½ of all people who ride the buses in NY City do not pay the fair. Everyone sees that this is a problem but no one will do anything about it. Even the bus drivers admit that they see this happening but they do not say or do anything about it because they are afraid. Al Mohler, who spoke about this problem, admitted that he probably wouldn’t do anything either. Dr. Mohler admitted that we all become part of this problem out of fear when we don’t respond to sin.

Another thing we should take notice of in verse 1 is that James says, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory”. The word ‘partiality’ here is plural. By doing this James is letting us know that the sin of partiality in any form is not to be tolerated. One commentator writes, “This ought to have warned us that the illustration of the poor man (2-4) was not meant to be an exhaustive account of sinful favortism, but only one example.”1 This week at our District Counsel Meetings one youth minister lamented that someone in their congregation came up to him and said, “Do you have to bring so much riff raff into our church?” That man was expressing evil thoughts. (4)

This sin of partiality that is described in our text is just one expression of it. This sin can take on many forms and it can be committed in many ways. Even more sobering is that James will address many other sins in this letter to these Christians. (Examples: sins of the tongue, worldliness, spiritual adultery, worldly wisdom, pride, etc.)

(Encouragement:  The Biblical Truths and Gospel Realities that James spoke of in James 1 are sufficient to provide forgiveness and sanctify us from all these sins!)

 James is called a ‘General Epistle’ because it speaks to all of God’s people and not to one particular congregation like (Romans, Galatians or 1&2 Corinthians). Therefore this sin can show up in any congregation. Community Church is not exempt from having to repent of sin and by faith pursue together sanctification. There is no church that is without iniquity. (Scriptural examples to consider: Consider the way Jesus spoke to the seven churches in Revelations 2&3.)

The LBC says in 26.3, “The purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error.” Truthful statements like this ought to keep us humble! When sin is seen and the call for repentance comes to the church we should respond with repentance and faith. As this happens everyone can rejoice in the LORD! Especially, the one who was called by God to address the sin like James is doing here. James will speak of this in James 5:19-20, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (2 Corinthians 2:5-11)

If someone calls the church to repent of a sin and they refuse to do this the LBC warns these congregations, “Some churches have degenerated so much that they have ceased to be churches of Christ and have become synagogues of Satan.”

It would appear that the believers that James is writing to were not able to see this sin. James, however, is aware of these sins and he was willing to be the messenger who will call this congregation to repentance and faith.

Personal Experience: There are times when God will use other people who will come to me and they will discuss something that they have seen or experienced here at church. Some of those conversations are difficult to hear and they are sometimes challenging to work through but they are usually always beneficial and helpful if both of us desire to glorify God and honor His church.

When this happens I have discovered that there is a shared responsibility between the messenger (like James) and those to who receive this message (the pastor, elders, congregation). First, The messenger who speaks has been given a burden and they must bear it in a godly way by the grace that God provides so that repentance and reconciliation can occur. Second, those who are confronted with their sin should immediately repent and seek reconciliation with God and their neighbor.

 The LBC describes part of this process in 26.13, “Church members who have been offended and have performed their duty concerning the person by which they are offended, should not disrupt any church action or absent themselves from the assemblies of the church or administration of any ordinance because of the offense at any of their fellow members. Instead they should look to Christ in the further action of the church.”

When someone has been sinned against it is NOT easy to respond in this way. This is when our flesh and carnal nature want to lash out in anger. We must remember that man’s anger does not bring about a righteous life. (1:19-20)

Because this is so difficult James highlights the profound grace that can be seen in these poor brothers and sisters who have been so terribly dishonored. James does not just portray these poor people as the victims but as those who are overcoming in the midst of these trials and maturing through them. (1:2-4) James puts a spotlight on these individuals in a special way.

Look at how James begins to do this in verse 5. He says, “Listen, my beloved brothers...”. These five gracious virtues ought to capture this congregation but it has not thus far so James demands that they pay attention. James says, ‘Listen’.

• They are to listen, pay attention, take notice of what is about to be said. Many in this congregation are commanded to listen because their attention should NOT be on the gold, the clothing, and the rich people. They should be paying attention to these poor people in their congregation who are rich in faith! How easy it is to overlook those grace filled people who are sitting in this very room. (Response: Acknowledge to someone today the grace you see in them while they endure difficulties! {Poverty, sickness, loss of spouse, loss of job, loss of friendships, etc.})

James also says, ‘Listen, my beloved brothers’.

• James may be disappointed with these believers because they are not currently walking worthy of the gospel but he reaffirms his love for all of them. James calls them ‘loved brothers’.

• In scripture the term ‘brother and sister’ speaks of God’s grace in adopting diverse people into His family by His sovereign grace and mercy. We can conclude that our Heavenly Father is grieved by this sin but they are loved by Him and He will discipline them in love for their good. (Hebrews 12)

Five Graces Seen In The Poor Which We All Need To Acknowledge

Look at what James says in verse 5, “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” Do you see the five gracious virtues in these poor people? They are chosen, rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom, looking to God’s promise, they love God.

First, James is reminding those who are dishonoring the poor that those brothers and sisters are chosen by God but I think James is also describing the poor as those who know that “God had chosen them”. This is a doctrine that James has already spoken about in James 1:18 when he said, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstruits of His creatures.” The poor were the best examples in this congregation about what some of these gracious fruits looked like in those who are new creatures in Christ. These poor believers understood that God had chosen them so even as they were being sinned against they entrusted themselves to the LORD and His steadfast love.

You might be asking, “Isn’t God showing partiality if God chooses, calls, appoints, and elects some to salvation and not others?” This is a great question. If the scriptures teach that God chooses the elect because of any righteousness, goodness, holiness, or any other commendable virtue in a person then it could be said that God shows some form of partiality and that He made distinctions among people.

The scriptures teach that God does not choose anyone to be saved because of any righteousness, or holiness, or goodness that He finds in them. (Ephesians 2:8-9) He does not save anyone because of any commendable virtue or merit that He finds in them. The Doctrine regarding the Depravity of Men teaches that there is no goodness in man that draws God to them and obligates God to save anyone. (Romans 3:9-20) God does not choose anyone because of any physical, intellectual, moral or spiritual quality in which He finds commendable and would obligate the Lord to save them. (LBC VI)

God saves people according to His own sovereign mercy and grace. (Acts 13:48, 16:14) (1:16-18; 2:1)

Secondly, James says that these poor believers are ‘rich in faith’. These dishonored believers possessed a real and sincere saving faith that was not only enduring and bearing up under this difficult trial, but their faith was being growing and being made stronger. (James 1:2-4) They possessed a faith that looked to God and trusted Him and they did not focus on those who were sinning against them. These poor and dishonored Christians knew they had been saved and adopted and that they enjoyed a special relationship with God by faith alone. (2:1) Therefore, if God was for them, who could be against them? (Romans 8:31) It is the LORD alone who justifies. Who can condemn the saints that God has chosen by His mercy and grace? (8:33-34)

Thirdly, James says that these poor believers were ‘heirs of God’s kingdom’. Therefore they were not preoccupied with the temporal things of this world, but they looked towards heaven and to God’s kingdom. One who is rich in faith will not have their minds on the flesh, but on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:6) They will not look to what can be seen, but to what is unseen. These poor saints looked heavenward and by faith they forsook the treasures in this world so that they could be ‘heirs of God’s kingdom’. These saints were content to be pilgrims, sojourners, and exiles in this world. In contrast to this, those who were sinning were looking at the things of this world which would soon pass away.

Fourth, these poor saints looked by faith to the promise and to the One who had made the promise. They were not like the Pharisees who looked to the Law for their justification. No, they were like their forefather Abraham who believed the Promise and they were saved. (Romans 4)

Fifth, the ‘poor’, the very ones you would expect to covet the rich, are free in Christ from the covetous spirit that is seen in the others in this congregation. Because they were not covetous they did not love and serve these earthly things which moth and rust will soon destroy. And because they were not covetous these poor believers were free to love God and serve Him and His people. Even those who are sinning against them!

Note: Not every poor person in the church has these five gracious virtues. There are some who may be poor in the church who were just as enslaved to money as those who were sinning in this congregation. It could be, unlike the poor in this congregation, that some poor people would covet the wealth of the rich in the congregation. If this is the case...

• They might demand the money and possessions of others.

• They may be full of bitterness towards those who had better jobs, better possessions, better bank accounts, etc.

• They may demand that they should receive from others instead of obeying the LORD and looking to Him.

The poor in our text that James commends here understood and experienced the blessing…

• of being called and chosen,

• they were rich in faith and were grounded firmly in Christ,

• they looked to the kingdom of God and knew that as citizens of that kingdom they possessed an inheritance,

• they had faith in the promise and the one who gave it and God provided for them and worked miracles in and among them, (Galatians 3:1-6)

• and because they knew they were loved by God, they loved God and they were set free from covetousness enslavement.

Admonition: If we are honest, I think that we would admit that in our day we tend to take the doctrines that James has spoken of for granted. We tend to take doctrine so casually as if we can take it or leave it. We look at the scriptures and we reserve the right to pick and choose what we accept and how we may apply these things.

Slogans like, “Deeds not creeds!”, have become very popular. If given the opportunity to speak and emphasize either deeds or creeds we would most often stress the need for deeds. James will emphasize deeds in James 2 but before he does this he has preached Gospel truths to us. We often make two things that go hand in hand out to be enemies.

I hope that you have seen in James 1&2 just how profitable it is to strive for doctrinal clarity and the application of those doctrines into our everyday lives. It is a lack of biblical clarity that keeps us from seeing and overcoming sin.

I have often appreciated the irony involved in these things. We so naturally think that if someone teaches a strong Gospel message regarding the grace and mercy of God that it will lead the hearers into sin. We tend to think that if we emphasize doctrine and theological clarity that it will only serve to divide us. (Romans 3:8)

The truth is, however, the church(es) that James was writing to were sinning more because of their lack of doctrinal clarity and the application of it. These congregations were being torn apart by sin because they lacked gospel clarity and how it is to be practically applied. Therefore, may the LORD help us as we also seek to be bold and courageous regarding being biblical and applying these things into our everyday life and relationships. Amen.

1The Message of James, J.A. Motyer, p.95