{"id":39398,"date":"2017-09-15T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T17:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/?p=39398"},"modified":"2023-03-09T07:18:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:18:58","slug":"the-evil-of-favoritism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/the-evil-of-favoritism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evil of Favoritism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JAMES 2:1-4<\/strong> SPEAKS ON FAVORITISM<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE EVIL OF FAVORITISM<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

GOD DOES NOT SHOW PARTIALITY<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When we think of the attributes of God, His divine nature and characteristics, we usually think of such things as His holiness and righteousness and His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. We think of His immutability (changelessness), His eternality, His sovereignty, His justice, and His perfect grace, love, mercy, faithfulness, and goodness. But another attribute of God that is not thought or spoken of so often is His impartiality. Yet that is a serious and recurring theme throughout Scripture. God is absolutely impartial in His dealings with people. And in that way, as with His other attributes, He is unlike us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HUMANS ARE JUDGEMENTAL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Human beings, even Christians, are not naturally inclined to be impartial. We tend to put people in pigeonholes. We put them in predetermined, stratified categories. Humans ranking others by their looks, their clothes, their race or ethnicity, their social status, their personality, their intelligence, their wealth and power, by the kind of car they drive, and by the type of house and neighborhood they live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

But all of those things are non-issues with God, of no significance or meaning to Him whatever. Moses declared, “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God.\u201d He then added that this great and awesome God, who has the right to be however He wants to be,\u201d does not show partiality nor take a bribe\u201d (Deut. 10:17), and He expects his people to reflect that same impartiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Testament is equally clear about the sin of partiality. To a crowd of unbelievers in the temple, Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment\u201d (John 7:24). Paul specifically emphasizes that God is impartial in regard to social status, occupation, or a person\u2019s being free or enslaved. Like their Lord, believers should treat the lowest-paid laborer with the same basic respect<\/strong> as they do a bank president or the socially elite, and treat those who may work under them with the same impartiality and dignity as they give their boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WE SHOULD NOT SHOW PARTIALITY<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If we do not treat those in need the way God treats them, then His love is not<\/strong> in us <\/em>(1 John). Later in that letter the apostle writes,\u201d In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us\u201d (4:10-12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf someone says, \u2018I love God, \u2018 and hates his brother,\u201d John goes on to say,\u201d he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also\u201d (vv. 20-21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LEARN MORE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The content of this post on favoritism comes from the MacArthur New Testament Commentary<\/a>. Learn more by visiting our website<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GET IT TODAY<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

QUESTION: <\/strong>When is a time that you were shown impartiality and inclusion when you expected to be judged and neglected? How did that shape you and teach you about God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Olive<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Olive<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JAMES 2:1-4 SPEAKS ON FAVORITISM “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":42994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5341],"tags":[6058],"class_list":{"0":"post-39398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-topical","8":"tag-macarthur-new-testament-commentary-set"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Evil of Favoritism - Olive Tree Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If we do not treat those in need the way God treats them, then His love is not in us (1 John). 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