All right, James, we've been going slow. We finally got through chapter one. We're getting ready to start chapter two this morning. We've been taking like two or three verses at a time, but today we got seven verses that we're going to look at. I know we'll get out of here by two, I'm sure. Seven verses. And while you're turning there, James starts off and the text that we look at today is he gives us hypothetical. He says, imagine this. Let's say some wealthy people come to your church and you're so excited to see them, and you give them special attention and you greet them and you give them a seat of honor. And then let's say a poor family comes to your church and nobody really greets them, nobody gives any attention to them. You kind of give them a seat in the back where some people are taking on the floor today. By the way, let me just say this. If you are able to come to the 08:00 you don't serve at 930 or eleven, we would invite you to continue to make space at this service. Sound good? Okay. If it applies to you and you've, like, we've heard that before and you didn't do it, I just want to pause and let you just feel guilty for a little bit. Okay. All right. So James gives this hypothetical, like, can you imagine like a rich people come in and they get treated one way and a poor person comes in and they get treated one way. And James isn't condoning that behavior. He's like, hey, it makes sense. You got bills to pay. You want to treat people differently for that? He's like saying, this isn't right. In fact, we get a command right away in our text. It's the main imperative of our verses and it's to show no partiality or to show no favoritism. Now, the command is plural, so it's actually saying show no acts, plural of favoritism. So that means that could apply to a lot of things or a lot of situations. In fact, we can come up with our own hypotheticals. Let's say a nice white family comes to our church and they feel really greeted. They make a lot of new friends, got some phone numbers. But then a black family comes to our church and they leave me feel like, I don't think anybody really said anything to us. I don't think anybody said hi. I don't think we felt welcome at all or we're a next generation church. Let's say a young family comes to our church and we're excited to see them. I mean, they got children, dedicated, and it's exciting. We got this young family. But then a senior citizen couple comes and they're like, I don't think anybody really said hi to us. Or let's say kind of a local famous person came to our church and everybody kind of recognizes this person and they got this warm greeting. They're excited he got to meet the pastor because that's such a privilege. But then somebody's like, nobody knows who this person is. And they're just like, I don't know if I knew anybody. I don't know if I felt welcomed. Nobody really said anything to me. Or let's say a really sharp, well put together, attractive couple comes to this church and they just felt so welcomed, so seen, so loved. But then some ugly people come. We haven't had to deal with this yet. But down the future, if we keep reaching people and there's like, nobody talked to me, I felt invisible, like nobody welcomed, nobody greeted me. Now, we know we're not supposed to act like that, but I bet there are people in here that have been hurt by this, where you felt devalued, overlooked, mistreated because of how you look or how much money you make or don't make. And to imagine that happening at church. At church, are you kidding me? Now, this isn't a new problem. We can tend to glorify the first century church if we could just get back to the first century church. James is probably the earliest letter that we have, and he's addressing the first century church and the discrimination that is happening in their churches as a problem. Now, before we get too outraged, like, how could that happen at church? Nonetheless, there is a positive perspective we need to embrace before we own the problem. And that is that the fact that this is happening at church is A sign of the beauty of the Gospel. And what I mean by that is the Gospel reached and reaches all different types of people. The Gospel is not just for one ethnicity. The Gospel is just not for one income bracket. And you saw this in the first century where the Gospel was like breaking cultural lines, where it was reaching not just Jews but Gentiles and Greeks and barbarians and men and women and rich and poor and all different types of people were being drawn to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now you got groups of different types of people worshiping together. The trick is like, well, how do we get along? Because we don't tend to get along out there, but now we're brothers and sisters in Christ and there's all kinds of differences and perspectives and prejudice. That kind of get brought into our gatherings. And how are we supposed to get along? And for us as a church, there's something awesome about different ethnicities and different genders and different income brackets. And different generations coming together as a church family to worship. But how do we treat each other right? How do we get along? Let's look at our text. This is James, chapter two, verse one through seven. It says, my brothers, show no partiality. Now let's stop there. We're going to get to all seven verses, I promise. But I want you to know that word partiality is a phrase that literally means receiving the face. Like, when you look at somebody says, I just receive your face. What I see when I see, like, I'm making all kinds of conclusions and judgments. I'm just receiving your face. It would be like our phrase today of don't judge a book by its cover. Right? Because it may be a bad cover, but a great book. Or it may be a bad book with a great cover. Like, you don't know until you read. So you don't judge a book by its cover. But we do. That's why we have covers and that's why they put them in bookstores with show you the COVID and you're going to make some conclusions on, does this book look something I'll read because of what you see on the COVID We do it. Have you guys ever seen those? The talent show, the TV talent? Like America's Got Talent. Anybody? You guys. Like, that's so beneath us. I'm sure you've watched the show. There's those situations where it's like somebody comes out into audition and everybody, the judges, the audience is making this conclusion like, oh, they're going to be terrible. Right? And then they surprise you. Like, wow, there's so many. Like, there's been some viral videos where it's like, I did not think that voice was coming out of that body. And it's just kind of like this major twist. Well, it's because we received the face. We made a conclusion by what we saw. We made a judgment by what we saw. It happens. We act like this. Now, listen, I don't think I have to convince this room that showing favoritism is wrong. I hope not. I would guess that I think the majority, hopefully all of this room, if it's not you, then you need help. But I don't think there should be too much of a struggle for us to convince you that favoritism is wrong. But even though we know that it's not right to show favoritism, doesn't mean we don't still struggle with it, doesn't mean we don't have our own prejudice that we kind of impose on other people in our relationships. I mean, we can be a very image driven, status craving people. We want to be liked, we want to fit in, we want people's approval. We want to have a certain status in society, especially with social media. There's this projection of image based kind of things and social acceptance. You can't just take a picture of yourself. One. If you're taking a picture of yourself, that might be another conversation to have. But you can't just take a picture of yourself. You got to get the right angle and turn and pucker the cheeks and stick the lips out. Right. If you're going to get a picture, you're going to got to turn one leg in, put your hand down so your thigh looks smaller. Don't think I don't know this, right? Because you care. You care how you look, you care how it comes across. We live in a world where images, power, money, attractiveness, it's valued. And because it's valued, it does affect how we treat others. Listen, people tend to treat other people differently based on superficial, receiving the face type of conclusions. It happens and it happens here. It happens in this church. Like, we're not immune from it. And I think we would want to be a church where it's like, boy, I hope that anybody, no matter how they look, no matter how much money they made, any of those things, they would come to Veritas Church and they would feel welcomed that they would feel loved, they would feel received. In fact, I didn't personally get an email. I got shown an email from somebody that they would put themselves in more of the poor category and they said, hey, I know this text is coming. I just want you to know that I felt so welcomed at Veritas. I was like, oh, that's awesome. But I bet other people in this church would have a different story. Maybe you didn't email me, but I bet their story. In fact, somebody came up to me last service and said, I've been coming here for three years. This was the first time somebody said hello to me. I think we feel that. I think we feel this struggle. So maybe more helpful than just saying, don't show favoritism, let's pray and go home. Right? Maybe something more helpful than that is, let's ask why? Why do people tend to do that? Why do we tend to do that. And how do we overcome that? Let's read all our passage here. 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 you 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 and not the rich, and are not the rich ones who oppress you? Are the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blasphemy the honorable name by which you are called? Now, maybe you didn't notice this when we read through those texts, but it can seem like God is both condemning favoritism and practicing it because he's like, hey, don't favor the rich over the poor. But I chose the poor over the rich. Did you see that? What are you getting at here? It can seem like he's saying, don't treat rich people better than poor people because God likes poor people better than rich people. But if that's the case, that just doesn't jive with the rest of Scripture. Okay, James, I don't think you're saying that because we've talked about this. I think week one or week two, when we got into. James, there's all kinds of examples in Scripture about godly rich and ungodly rich and godly poor and ungodly poor. That's not the point that he's trying to make. Now, it can be confusing, because sometimes Scripture talks about poor in different ways. There is poor materially, and then there's poor spiritually. Or maybe an example, this that you might be familiar with is on the sermon on the Mount. When Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit. What is he talking about there? Because poor materially, the opposite of that is wealth, but poor spiritually, the opposite of that is pride. So it's not rich is bad and poor is good. It's prideful, oppressive, earthly status, loving, that's bad, but humble, dependent on God, heavenly focus, that's good. Now, sometimes it seems like these meanings kind of overlap or interchangeable. Because certain groups had a disposition towards these behaviors. So oftentimes it's like I'm addressing material wealthy people and their arrogance and their oppressiveness because this group kind of tends to these behaviors or is addressing like, materially poor people that have nothing else to stand on except their hope in God. So they kind of have a better tendency into a humble disposition and a hope in God. But the issue is not how much money you have or don't have. The issue is. Now get this, the issue is what you love. Look at verse five. Listen to my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world? Or you could say, in the eyes of the world, to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who what? Love him? Those who love him. Okay, now we're, now we're getting somewhere. We're kind of getting underneath the issue to deeper issues here. This isn't just an issue about rich and poor. This is an issue about what you love. This is a division about loving God versus loving the world. Do you love God and the things of God and the accomplishments of God? Are you passionate about that? Or do you love with the world and the status of the world and the luxuries of the world and the promises of the world? Like, this is a tension between love for God and love for world. Now our next deeper dive, which is in a couple weeks, we're going to get more into this issue of worldliness. It comes up a couple times in James. In fact, further on in chapter four, there's a section on warning against worldliness. But he says, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? You can't love the world and love God. They're at odds. Or the text right before this text, at the end of chapter one, he says to keep oneself unstained from the world. And then you get into chapter two and he's talking about showing favoritism. You know what James is saying? I think you got some world stains on you. I think you're wearing values of the world. It's stained all over your shirt. The way you kind of favor the rich people and dishonor the poor, that's worldliness all over you. You're supposed to keep unstained for that, but you got it dripped all over you, the way you act. Look at the way the text in, hE's kind of pointing out how foolishness their favoritism is, he says, but you have dishonored the poor man. And then he's going to go into a series of questions, and the implied answer to all the questions are, yes. Are not the rich ones who oppress you? Yes. And the ones who drag you into court? Yes. Are they not the ones who blasphemy the honorable name by which you were called? Yes. So why are you favoring them? Why do you care so much about their approval and their acceptance? I mean, because they're, like high position in society and we want their favor. It's like, why are you craving so bad to fit in? Let's bring it into our day. That celebrity that has absolutely no moral compass at all or love for God. Why do you want your picture with them so bad? Why do you want their autograph? Or that guy at work or that guy at school who just, like, openly makes fun of Christians? Why do you care so much about what he thinks? Why are you trying to get on his good side? Like, why Christian, do you want to fit in so bad in this world? Why do you want wealth, looks, power, status, approval? And why do we envy people that have it? I mean, isn't that the heart of the question? Why are they showing favoritism? Why do you show favoritism? Well, this is where it gets real. When you show favoritism to the wealthy, to the powerful, to the talented, to the attractive, it is a window into what we love and value. And what we love and value shapes how we treat people. There's more going on in this text than just don't show favoritism. This is about treating people and how the gospel should shape how we treat people. Because there is a mistreatment of wealthy people called favoritism and there's a mistreatment of poor people. When he says, you've dishonored the poor, this is about how you treat people. It's deeper than that. Why, in the example James gives, is somebody giving the wealthy person a good seat? Because they love wealth. They're attracted to the wealth. They're drawn to the wealth. And why is somebody giving the poor person a bad seat? Because they're drawn to wealth and they don't have it. They don't have it. So listen, when somebody doesn't have what we treasure, whether that's power or looks or money or fame or whatever it is, we can tend to despise them, we can tend to overlook them, we can tend to devalue them. And on the other hand, when we see what we treasure in someone else, like they have those things, they have the wealth, they have the status, they have the looks, they have the power, they have the corner office. It's either going to come out in envy that leads to favoritism or jealousy that leads to resentment. It's either going to come out in envy that leads to favoritism or jealousy that leads to resentment. Listen, if you see somebody who has what you treasure, the family that you treasure, the looks that you treasure, the talents that you treasure, the income that you treasure, you could have one of two different reactions. You could look at them and be like, I want to be their friend. I want closeness with them, I want proximity with them, because that's going to increase my status. That's going to make me feel more valuable. I want to be close to them. Or you could look at them and you could despise them, right? For example, Simon playing drums today. Simon has this awesome jeep. I covet his jeep. Simon's a super nice guy. He's told me I could drive it anytime I want. Love this guy. But when I look at his jeep, I could have two reactions. I could be like, I want to be Simon's friend. Maybe he'll let me use it. Maybe he'll take me for a ride. Or every time I see Simon in that jeep, I could be like, I hate you. Right? I think I may key it when no one's looking, right? You can have those two different. Like, you're like, wow, he would do. I might do that. But you could have those kind of different reactions. Like, I'm envious and I treasure. I want close, or I kind of despise. I hate. You have what I want. You have what I treasure. And both are a type of bondage brought on by valuing the wrong things. Both are a sign of how much material things, wealth, looks, talent, status, has a hold on us. And it's like, I see it in how you treat people. I see it on how you butter up to these people. Or I see it how you despise these people. It's a window into something deeper. Listen, church, how we treat people is often a window into our own idolatry. It's like, oh, that's what you love. That's what you crave. That's what you fear. So let me ask you some personal questions. Do you find yourself giving special attention to a certain group of people? Maybe they're athletes or bosses or the cool kids or whatever category it may be. Is there, like a certain category that you find yourself kind of compelled to give special attention to? Or do you find yourself despising a specific group of people. Why? And what does that say about you? It's easy just to say, hey, we shouldn't show favoritism. But we have to ask ourselves, why are we showing favoritism? What is my unique expression of favoritism? Telling me what's going on in my heart? Before we understand that we just shouldn't show favoritism, I think we have to get deeper than and try to understand, why am I showing favoritism? What is it telling me about my own heart? What is it revealing to me? Because we won't be able to properly address it or deal with it until we understand why and where it's coming from. We will think we just need to be nicer. We just need to be more fair. Yeah, I learned my lesson. I shouldn't just judge a book by its cover. Yeah, but you did. Where'd that come from? Like we do. Why? What do we have to learn from this? Because there is something much bigger going on underneath our expressions of favoritism. And that's what James is trying to tell us. He's like, hey, this is bigger than just you giving good seats to certain people and bad seats to other people. Like, that's wrong. Don't do that. But there's something bigger underneath that that we have to address. And it's not just that favoritism is wrong, it's that favoritism is not compatible with ChrIstianity. They don't go together. They don't fit. They're. They're opposed to each other. One. It's not in line with the character of God. So here's some passages that kind of point that out. This is Deuteronomy. Ten for the Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the Great, the mighty and the awesome God. Any amens on that? One who is not partial and takes no bribe, he executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Here's another one. Leviticus 19, you shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great like, either way, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. Here's a New Testament one, just so you don't think it's all Old Testament stuff. Acts ten. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. It's like this isn't in line with the character of God. He's saying, Christianity and showing favoritism. Don't go together. So the division between rich and poor, he's like, no, that's not the real division. If there's division between rich and poor, the real division is between Christianity and paganism or worldlyism. They don't go together. The division is you're either following God or you're not following God. That's the division. You're either loving the things of God or you're loving the things of the world. Here's the real division. You're calling yourself a Christian and you're acting like a pagan. You're calling yourself a Christian and you're valuing the things of the world and not the kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus draws attention. This is in Matthew Six, the sermon on the Mount. He says, therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. He's saying all this kind of stress about this world stuff, right? And it's not just basic needs. Those are a lot of status things, like what you wear. Like you're just kind of wrapped up in this. He's like, you're living like Gentiles, or you're living like people who don't believe in God. That's not how people who believe in God live. That's not what people who believe in God worry about. In fact, right before that verse, he says, oh, you of little faith. It's a faith issue. And James is saying the same thing. Here's what we need to know. Favoritism is a faith issue. It speaks to a faith problem. Because remember, James is going to get really practical with her faith. He's like, this is faith that works, that actually shapes how you live. It impacts your emotions and your actions, even how you treat people. So let's look at a couple of verses to see it in our text. Verse one, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the what faith? Or you go down to verse five. I don't know if it's on the screen, but says, listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich? In what faith? This is a faith issue. Go back to verse one. He says, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Literally, in Greek, that would read, you do not have faith while receiving the faith. So if you're just receiving the faith, you're not having faith. Like those two things. They don't go together. So if you just kind of treat people in kind of this prejudice type of way based on just what you see in receiving the faith that doesn't line up with faith, you are not having faith. If you are receiving the faith, like there is a breakdown of faith, if we have an envy that leads to favoritism. Now, I can understand the pushback if you're like, just because I really want to get rich, or just because I really want to buddy up with people that are talented, or just because I want to fit in with this group doesn't mean I don't believe in God. Now, if you think that way, James is writing to you because you have a very limited view of faith and we're going to get into this in the next couple of weeks. When James talks about faith without works is dead, says you believe in God. Good, so do the demons. I'm not talking about just kind of agreeing that God exists type of faith. I'm talking about a faith that shapes your life, that impacts how you treat people. Like every square inch of your life is just kind of shaped by faith. So James isn't suggesting that those who are showing favoritism have stopped believing that God exists. I mean, it's happening at church, so that's not the accusation. What James is saying is, those of you that are showing favoritism, you have stopped believing that God is enough because you also want their approval and you also want their status, and you also want their acceptance, and you also want their money, and you also want their looks and you also want their talents. But notice this, I think this is really cool in the text, those struggling with overvaluing riches, seeing those shiny clothes and that gold ring and wanting to buddy up, what does James remind them of? Look at verse five. Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith? And what does it say? Heirs of the kingdom. You are heirs of the. You want a little gold ring and some shiny clothes. That's what you're drawn to. Do you not know you are heirs of the kingdom? Listen, the Bible has amazing promises to those who love God. Like he's a way preparing a place for you. You are a child of God, adopted into his family, and you're getting drawn up in what they're wearing and some jewelry. Why would you crave that when you got this? Why would you crave this earthly status when you got this heavenly status? Why would you be all about getting this earthly approval when you have God's approval. Why would you be all about getting this earthly money when you got treasures in heaven? Like, I don't get this. Why are you after all this lesser things when you got something so much greater? And if you are, you got a faith problem. You don't just have a niceness problem, you're believing some wrong things. You are failing to believe that you already have belonging and status and value in Christ. And you can see it in how you treat people. You can see it in how you treat people. James is saying your favoritism is a faith issue. Specifically, they're failing to believe something about God, something so essential, so essential that if this is missing in your Christianity, your Christianity is weak. It's superficial, it's not life changing, life altering. And I'm concerned that too many churchgoers are missing this. You're missing this. And Christianity is just another thing to further our own selfishness. Because, yeah, I want to be rich, and yeah, I want to be liked, and yeah, I want to fit in with this group, and yeah, I want this talent, and yeah, I want this income, and I also want forgiveness and I also want eternal life. And we got this Christianity that's like, just serve me, give me what I want, give me what I want. But we don't need a Christianity that just kind of furthers adds on to our selfishness. We need a Christianity that kills us and gives us new life where we're no longer on the throne, but God is on the throne, and we have completely different priorities and an outlook on life. Look back at verse one, because I don't want you to miss this, my brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And then what does this say? The Lord of Glory. That's an interesting tag on. You don't hear that too often. What is James trying to say here? Why does he include this description of Jesus that he is the Lord of Glory? Well, glory means weight or significance or importance. And Church, the substance of Christianity, is the glory of God. And you have to understand how awesome and holy and better God is than anything this world has to offer. And if you don't get that, then you will only see God as a genie that's here to help you get more of what you want. And you miss the core of Christianity. It's the glory of God. And he's sAying, guys, you're missing it. You're missing it. Now how are they missing it? Look back at the text. Because the example that James gave wasn't a rich person came to church, and a poor person came to church, and they got treated differently. We may make that assumption with some other stuff around the text, but that's not what he says. What does he say? He said, for if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, he's saying, it's not that he has wealth, it's that he's wearing wealth. But you could rent that at that time, too. Like, if you were going to go to a party, you might go and rent a gold ring and some shiny clothings, because that says something about your status. And this guy coming in the church, it's not necessarily that he was wealthy. He was wearing wealth. He was wearing something that said, I have weight here. I have significance. I have value. I'm important. Pay attention to me. I remember my freshman year of college at ASU, right before the season started, came back from camp. We got team issued kind of warm up gear with our name on it. Like, you couldn't get this anywhere else. This is like, you're on the team. Get up. So what do me and some boys do? We get our gear and we go to the mall, because that's what you do back then. You went to the mall, and we were decked out. Now, what does that tell everybody watching us besides that we're morons? Look at me. I'm important. I'm on the team, right? I got value. I got weight here in this mall. I want eyes on me. I want you guys to recognize. That's kind of what it's saying. Now. Maybe you don't got a jumpsuit. Maybe you don't got a gold ring or shiny clothes, but maybe you got some really form fitting clothes because you find your value in your figure and you want people to notice. Or maybe you got some name brand clothes and you're in that crowd and you want people to notice. Right? Maybe it's that schmedium shirt you wear. Boys been lifting. Maybe it's the car you drive. Maybe it's how you steer every conversation back to your own accomplishments. What is it where you're trying to display your own weight? Where you're trying to show off your own value? And in our world, we know that our culture gives that some weight. Are you rich? Are you good looking? Oh, you're talented. It gives it some weight. So are you giving money too much weight in your life? Are you giving looks too much weight in your life? Are you giving talent too much weight in your life? Are you giving status too much weight in your life? Here's a more offensive way to put it. If you are showing favoritism or jealousy or envy over these kind of superficial things, then you are not giving Jesus enough weight in your life. You don't know the Lord of like, you're missing it. And it's like, yeah, I know Jesus loves me, I know I've been forgiven, I know I'm an heir of a kingdom, but I really want that job and I really want that body and I really want that relationship and I really want that income and I really want to belong in that group. It's like I only feel like I'm valuable or worth something if I have these things. And if that's you, you don't know glory. You don't know the glory of Jesus Christ and you don't understand that he is better than anything this world can have to offer. And you're still after it and you're craving it. And it's seen in how you should treat people because that person that has what you want, you want to be by them or you despise them and it's still occupying your heart. Jesus is better. Jesus is better than anything this world can offer. And when you have him, you have more than you can ask or imagine. Do you believe that? Because if so, faith kills favoritism. Faith kills favoritism. When we are in awe of God, people are a lot less impressive and they're a lot less intimidating and they're a lot less threatening. But believing the right things about God shapes how you treat people. This isn't just a be nice issue. This is a what are you loving? Issue. Listen, when you are satisfied in Christ, when you are satisfied in who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ, you are more free to love people because you don't need their approval. You don't need their acceptance. You're not envious of what they have and you don't have because you're so overwhelmed with what you do have in Jesus Christ. The Gospel, folks, means that you have nothing to prove and no one to impress. You get that? The Gospel means you have nothing to prove and no one to impress. Because you have Jesus, you have redemption. You are heirs of his kingdom, you are adopted into his family, so you are free to love. Here's the action step. Kill the favoritism in your heart with the gospel in your head. Kill the favoritism in your heart with the Gospel in your head. And here's why I say that. Because even though that we know that it's wrong, we all still feel that pull. But I want this status. I want this whatever it is, I have this draw to it. But we know we have something better, and we have to reinforce that, because isn't that what James is doing isn't that what James is doing here? Like, to a group of people that show that they're favoring wealth, he's saying, do you not know the Lord of Glory? Do you not know that you're heirs of the kingdom? Guys, you are looking for glory in all the wrong places. And I can tell by the way you treat people. Is that true of you? Are you looking for glory in all the wrong places? Are you looking for value and status and belonging and acceptance in all the wrong places? See, here's what we need to remember. Take this home with you. Treat people better by treasuring God more. Treat people better by treasuring God more. This is a make God more weighty in your life. Make pleasing him more weighty in your life. Make your standing in him more weighty in your life. Make your acceptance in him more weighty in your life. Make your approval in Christ more weighty in your life. Make your future in Christ more weighty than your life. Where it weighs more. It's more significant, it's more important than anything else this world is offering you. And when you do, you will be more free to love people because you don't need anything from them. You're not overly impressed by them, and you're not threatened by them. You're free in Christ Jesus. Let's end with this. This is verse five. Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? That's our hope. That's our hope for this church, that we would fall in that category, that we are people who love him, that he is weighty in our life, that we're just absolutely taken with Jesus Christ and we're satisfied in who we are and what we have in him. And when we are, I'm telling you, it will show in how we treat people. Because when you know you're loved by God, you're more free to love other people. Here's how John puts it. This is one John 419 bonus. Don't have it in my notes. One John 419. We love because he first loved us. We love the rich person, the poor person, the ugly person, the talented person. Whatever category you put in there, we love them because we're loved by God, because he first loved us. And if you need a reminder of just how loved you are by God, we do it every week. That his body was broken for you, his blood was shed for you. And while you were yet sinners, God declares his love for you by sending Christ to the cross. So when you come and partake of communion, be reminded you don't need the approval of others. You have the approval of God. You don't need to be envious of what other people have. You are a fellow heir with Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would wake us up to our own favoritisms. Show us where we've been valuing lesser things more than you. Show us the wickedness of that. Reveal to us and convict us of the lack of faith that is involved in that. Open our eyes to what we have in Christ, and who we are in Christ. That we would be people and we would love other people, like free, accepted people. Pray this in your name. Amen.