“The ground is level at the foot of the cross. This being so, it is absurd to be partial toward anyone. All should be treated equally – as beings created in the image of God. Rich and poor should be accorded equal honor and cordiality. Discrimination or favoritism is spiritually irrational.” -Kent Hughes
The Sin of Favoritism
Everyone has favorites. My favorite food is tacos, my favorite sports team is the Dodgers, and my favorite movie franchise is Star Wars. There’s nothing wrong with having these kinds of personal tastes and preferences, but we do need to make sure we don’t start playing favorites with the way we treat other people. That’s something the Bible condemns as a sin in James 2:1-8.
So what exactly is the sin of favoritism?
James illustrates it this way: Imagine two guests arrive at a church gathering. One of them is obviously wealthy and the other is obviously poor. If Christians in that church give special privileges or preferential treatment to the rich person while ignoring or mistreating the poor person, they’ve committed the sin of favoritism. They are treating people differently based on surface-level distinctions like wealth, status, race, or cultural background.
And even more to the point, their generosity towards the rich person is entirely self-serving. They are hoping that if they go out of their way to bless this rich person, one day they will return the favor. They’re not giving out of compassion or altruism, they’re giving out a self-centered hope that their gift will come back to them with interest.
Meanwhile, the poor person is ignored precisely because they have nothing to offer in return.
Loving Your Neighbor is the Antidote to Favoritism.
James 2:1 tells us plainly that Christians “must not show favoritism.” Instead what we ought to do is love our neighbors as ourselves (James 2:8). That command isn’t something James thought of on the spot; it goes back to Jesus’ teaching about the Greatest Commands in the Bible (as well as the Law of Moses itself).
James wants us to know that we can’t love our neighbors well if we’re judging people based on appearances and demographics. In reality, if the church took the command to love their neighbors seriously, they’d be going out of our way to help that poor Christian instead of ignoring them to get on the rich persons good side.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
That’s the point Jesus made with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Love is practical. Love makes a difference. And love shouldn’t be restricted to people who are just like you.
If you remember back in Luke 10, the impetus for Jesus telling that parable was a question about who God had in mind when he commanded Israel to love their “neighbors.” Was it my physical, literal neighbors? Neighbors who look like me and share my values? Neighbors who vote like me and worship like I do? Or is it everyone?
One thing the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us is that loving our neighbors means loving them in a way that makes a difference. The Bible uses the word “mercy” in that parable, and mercy means offering kindness or concern for someone in need. It’s love made tangible and practical. That’s what the poor visitor needed in James 2 — not to be told to sit on the floor.
Another lesson the parable teaches us is that loving our neighbors means loving everyone, not just our friends or people who are likely to return the favor.
The Love James Witnessed in Jerusalem
So going back to James 2, let’s think about the author for a moment. James was a devoted member of the church in Jerusalem starting in Acts 1 when the disciples were gathered together in prayer, waiting for the gift of the Spirit. Over the next several chapters, James personally witnessed the kind of compassionate love for the needy that he was advocating for in James 2.
In Acts 2, James witnessed wealthy Christians selling their possessions to provide for the needs of impoverished Christians.
In Acts 6, James witnessed the church come together to take a decisive stand against favoritism in the distribution of food. Certain widows were being overlooked because of their cultural background, and the church appointed seven men full of the Spirit to make sure that inequality did not continue.
And then in Acts 15, James made the decision to not make it difficult on outsiders who were trying to commit their lives to Jesus.
All of these experiences help us understand where James is coming from when he calls upon the church to stop showing favoritism and to start loving their neighbors in the way Jesus talks about — a practical love that makes a difference. James must have been so discouraged that the church was looking more like the world instead of living up to the values he witnessed as a member of that Jerusalem church.
Consider the difference:
The way of the world is to treat people based on what they can do for you.
But the way of Jesus is to treat people based on what God has done for them.
Seeing our Neighbors Through the Eyes of God
So what has God done for them? And what has he done for all of us? There are two universal truths that apply to every single person you’ll ever meet:
They are someone who is made in the image of God
They are someone that Jesus thought enough of to die for.
Those two truths do not cease to be true simply because that person looks, speaks, votes, or worships differently than you do. And by the way, if that person is also a believer, then the same Spirit of God that resides in your heart resides in theirs. So imagine how heartbreaking it is for God to see two people, both made in his image, both people he sent his son to die for, who have the same Spirit dwelling in their hearts, mistreating one another because of their surface-level differences.
Loving our neighbors starts with learning to see them from God’s perspective, not our own. They don’t have to share your values, worldview or preferred vision for the future in order to be treated with dignity and respect. That’s something you decide to do regardless of who the other person is or the way they’re choosing to live your life.
So today, let’s make a conscious decision to see people from God’s point of view. And from there, let’s make a choice to love people—all people—based on who they are in God’s eyes and what he’s done for them.
By doing this, we’ll reject the sin of favoritism and embrace the way of Jesus.
Watch the Sermon
This summer I am preaching through the book of James at Southwest Church of Christ. This post is based on part of my sermon from June 23, 2024, which you can watch here:
I so appreciate this reminder and want to be proactive in implementing this mindset in my own life—
“But the way of Jesus is to treat people based on what God has done for them.”
1) They are someone who is made in the image of God
2) They are someone that Jesus thought enough of to die for.