11 James 2:5-7 - The Rich and The Poor

January 22, 2023

Christopher C. Freeman

Title: The Rich and The Poor Text: James 2:5-7 FCF: We often struggle favoring or dishonoring people within the body based on irrelevant factors. Prop: Because earthly wealth and status do not indicate God’s favor or disfavor, we must hear this truth and not show prejudice. Scripture Intro: CSB [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to James chapter 2. Chapter 2 begins a 13 verse application of all that James has been discussing since verse 9 of chapter 1. He knows that his audience is lacking a godly worldview on wealth and status and what receiving the word of God actually means when applied to how they treat one another in the body of Christ and how they perceive themselves. Last week, James commanded his audience to hold their faith in Christ without showing partiality or prejudice. His reasons for them to obey this command were that it sowed unnecessary division among the body of Christ and made them into judges with evil motives. Today, James will start to unpack some of those motives. And it is all in how the wealthy and the poor are viewed in this world. What James makes clear – is that the way the wealthy and the poor are viewed by this world, is not the way that we ought to view them in the church. I am in James 2, I’ll begin reading in verse 1 again, just to remind ourselves of the context. I am reading from the CSB this week, but you can follow along in the pew bible on page 1361 or whatever version you prefer. Transition: I am finally starting to keep my promise of short sermons in the book of James. Today will be quite short and could have probably been listed as a part 2 sermon from last week. Nevertheless, there are unique thoughts here that we need to see and unique applications we need to get to. So, let’s dive in and get all that we can from these 3 little verses. I.) God exalts the poor of this world, so we must hear this truth and not show prejudice. (5-6a) a. [Slide 2] 5 – Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: i. This is the only command in this passage. ii. It is the command to listen. It is the command to hear with intention. To learn. To accept. To receive. And to obey. It is not just to take in the information that is being given, but to live differently because of it. To hear and heed – we might say. iii. As such it is both dependent on what we saw last week and on what James will tell them this week. iv. Last week, James forbid judgments of favor or prejudice based on external characteristics in the body of Christ. Meaning that for those who claim Christ, things like wealth, status, nationality, ethnicity, whether you are one gender or another – and any other God given external characteristic that has no moral connotation – are not a class that can be distinguished or disenfranchised. There is no loftier group within the church given more freedoms, perks or liberties because they are wealthy, men, black, white, or popular. Nor is there a lower group kept from activities, roles, plans or privileges because they are poor, women, black, white, nerdy or weird. v. I am going to go on a tangent. It is not one that is in this text. I am admitting that... UP FRONT. You can feel free to tune me out because I am admitting that James isn’t saying what I am about to say. But I feel I must make something abundantly clear here, since this passage is frequently abused by our culture to say something God didn’t say. 1. Just to be clear, sexual orientation and gender identity are NOT classes that would be included in this discussion of not showing favoritism or prejudice. Why? a. Because God reveals that He has made mankind in two genders only and that He weaves us together and assigns our gender from conception. b. And God reveals that He has made mankind for 1 sexual orientation and purpose and that is 1 biological male married to 1 biological female for the duration of their natural life. 2. This teaching is found not only in the “archaic and outdated” Old Testament – but in the New Testament as well. Despite what all the Progressive “Scholars” of New Testament Greek say – the words for homosexuality do not mean rape victim. They mean homosexual. 3. This of course doesn’t turn those who would identify as a gender that is not their divinely assigned gender or those of a sexual orientation outside of God’s moral will into some class that we are free to treat poorly or unkindly. Because that isn’t James’ point. 4. James’ attention is on the church itself. Believing ones. Visitors who are unbelievers and still slaves to their sin ought to be treated with the respect and dignity of someone who was made in the image of God but whose image is now broken by their sin. Which includes even the sin of gender denial and sexual immorality. Christ died for these sins too. 5. But when a professing believer claims these identities and classes – we have left the context of James and the body is free to make judgments concerning them with a heart of love and toward the goal of restoration and purity of the gospel witness. 6. It is not a violation of this command to not show favor or prejudice, when God’s people come together to rebuke the sin of an unrepentant member of their body. And it is not an act of prejudice to put them out of that body when they remain unrepentant. 7. Ok – Tangent officially over. vi. James commands them to listen. They have heard this message about not showing favor or prejudice, but there is more to say. More that they need to hear. vii. But before He tells them… he once again calls them his dear or beloved brothers and sisters. viii. James is correcting. James is commanding. But James loves these folks. ix. Because He loves them, he wants them to hear and heed his questions. b. [Slide 3] Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him? i. Regarding their prejudice toward the poor – they didn’t learn it from God. ii. Now we might interpret this as James saying that only the poor can be rich in faith. That God only chooses those who are poor. iii. Not only is this untrue experientially but even biblically there are many examples of those who have wealth which is stated either obviously or easily surmised… and they are still believers. iv. However, even a cursory understanding of the scriptures show that God’s heart is near to those who are poor and desperate. We’ve already seen this with the command in chapter 1 to care for widows and orphans. We’ve seen this as we’ve discussed how God uses weak vessels to maximize His glory. v. The fact of the matter is that the universal body of Christ is made up of, and always has been made up of, primarily…poor people. vi. That doesn’t mean we ought to take a vow of poverty so that God will choose us. That doesn’t mean that we ought to not help the poor believer to escape their poverty. That doesn’t mean that we cannot be wealthy and still be a believer. vii. All it means, and all James intends to show us, is that God’s heart, his compassion, favors those who the world sees as least. viii. To understand what James is saying I believe it would help us to see “the poor” and “the rich” as categories or classes of people rather than individuals. ix. In other words, James is saying, “Of those whom God chose, were not some (or even many) of them poor in this world?” x. The implied answer would be… well yes of course. So, a follow up question. xi. Did God tell his chosen poor to sit at His footstool or to stand far off from Him or did He make them rich in faith just like every other believer? xii. Well… he made them rich in the faith just like every other believer. Follow up question… xiii. Were only the wealthy believers made heirs to the Kingdom or was the Kingdom given to all who love Him? Even the poor? xiv. All who love Him. xv. I feel like James is confronting his children. Forcing them to see their wrong by admitting things he knows they know. xvi. And here comes the correction. You ready to hear the crunch of their toes? c. [Slide 4] 6a – Yet you have dishonored the poor. i. Ouch. ii. God the righteous judge, in His sovereign plan, has saw fit to draw all kinds of men to Himself for salvation. He has not excluded any kind of man based on their ethnicity, gender, status, or wealth. iii. Indeed, God has favored the poor. iv. Yet James’ audience considers themselves better judges than Yahweh, the Most High God. v. To heirs of the Kingdom of God, to lovers of God, to those rich in faith – they are saying, you are not worthy of the better seat in the worship of our God – simply because their clothes are dirty? vi. They have dishonored the poor. They have spat upon fellow heirs to the Kingdom. vii. They have dishonored God’s beloved. viii. What an egregious sin. d. [Slide 5] Passage Truth: James teaches something extremely important here. And it is about the God we serve. God has chosen the poor of this world to populate His Kingdom. But not as peasants. No… as royalty. God loves the poor and has enabled them to love Him. But his audience has dishonored the poor. What does that mean for them? What must they do? e. Passage Application: Get back on the right side. Stop living counter to the character of God. Listen to how God loves the poor and heed that truth. Stop dishonoring the poor. f. [Slide 6] Broader Biblical Truth: Does the bible teach this- I think it is quite obvious. From start to finish God’s track record is choosing the weakest to accomplish great things. God doesn’t ALWAYS choose the weakest. There are wealthy, strong, powerful people that God chose to be in His family. But God’s heart is near to the downtrodden. He is compassionate to those who are broken and needy. And that isn’t just a spiritual neediness but even a physical neediness. That doesn’t mean that all the poor will be saved. It doesn’t mean that no rich person will be saved. But it does mean that the population of the Kingdom’s royal court is made up of many who were considered NOTHING in this world. g. Broader Biblical Application: So, CBC, we must be so careful to be sure that the poor are not put in a position of inferiority at our church. We must listen to how our God sees the poor of this world. We must recognize that our God is a defender of the weak. That means we should at least show no prejudice toward them and probably that we ought to be caring for and ministering to the weakest among us. We don’t need to pendulum swing and give them a place of honor over and above others. But we certainly cannot treat them as inferior. Transition: [Slide 7(blank)] Since the application remains the same as we press on, we’ll go into greater detail when we reach the end of the sermon. But before we do that, there is one other point of teaching that James wants his audience to… HEAR and to HEED. II.) Wealthy and powerful people are often the oppressor of God’s people, so we must hear this truth and not show prejudice. (6b-7) a. [Slide 8] 6b – Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? i. As James turns to the second truth they must listen to, we must be reminded that we are seeing poor and rich as categories of people. Not the sum total of the category but representatives of them. ii. This is important because the rich that James is talking about now are very obviously NOT believers. They are not Christians. iii. Because of this, many interpreters go back to verse 2-3 and determine that the persons visiting their assembly with fine robes and a gold ring are also not believers. And that the rich in chapter 1 who ought to boast in their humiliation are boasting in their judgment of wrath from God. iv. But along with several other interpreters I disagree. Where James indicates clear unbelief associated with the rich he intends just the category of rich people. But he does not mean that all rich are unbelievers. v. What he is asking is, “Aren’t those who oppress you and drag you into court wealthy?” vi. What is happening here is the same challenge that Job’s friends had when assessing his plight. vii. If you are wealthy and have much on the earth, God is obviously pleased with you. viii. If you are poor and have little on the earth or experience great tribulation, God is obviously displeased with you. ix. But God has chosen some and I think we could even say, many of the poor for His Kingdom. x. Simultaneously we could say that many rich, do not love the Lord nor are they full of faith. As Jesus said, it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. xi. But that is not because he is rich, so much as it is that in riches there is greater temptation for idolatry, self-sufficiency, and various vices. xii. In fact, to James’ audience, the rich are the ones who are actively fighting against God’s people. xiii. They should know this better than any. xiv. The wealthy and powerful are the ones who are trying to squash them and are taking them to court over their strange religious practices. xv. Indeed, taking them to court, they could use their wealth and status to squash them even more. The court systems in the Roman empire were notoriously corrupt and it was often who you knew that mattered rather than the truth. b. [Slide 9] 7 – Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you? i. All God’s people, all who were chosen, who were called, were called by God’s name. ii. Being that James writes this to Jews, this phrase is not obscure or unfamiliar to them. iii. God calls them or places them under His name. He invokes His own name to take them as His own possession. iv. But it is the wealthy and powerful who are actively blaspheming that very name. v. They are mocking the odd practices of the church and scoffing at the Jesus they serve who died at the hands of the Romans, with nothing to his name. vi. And even though the rich are doing this to them – James’ audience is giving preferred treatment to the wealthy Christian as if wealth is some kind of sign that God is more pleased with them than their poor brothers. vii. But if that were true – does that mean the actions of the wealthy outside the faith are pleasing to the Lord also? viii. James then conclusively proves that both the poor and the wealthy have been granted rich faith, they have been made heirs to the kingdom of God, and they have been given love from God so that they can love Him. ix. Whether poor or rich, A Christian must be chosen of God, given rich faith, made an heir of the kingdom, and love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. x. All those whom God has claimed as His own… are the same. c. [Slide 10] Passage Truth: James’ second point of teaching to his audience has to do with the nature of man. Men who are wealthy in the eyes of this world are typically the greatest offenders, oppressors, crooks, and blasphemers. In short, their wealth does not indicate that God is pleased with them. And they are not worthy of being favored over others simply because they are wealthy. God’s economy doesn’t work that way. d. Passage Application: So, his audience must take heed and listen to the harsh reality that wealth often divides loyalty to God rather than unites it. And that favoring wealthy believers over poor believers is favoring those who had to be given just as much by God as the poor. e. [Slide 11] Broader Biblical Truth: But do the scriptures attest to this truth as well? I think it is fairly obvious that from Genesis to Revelation those who are the greatest persecutors and sinners are often the wealthy and powerful. As we’ve seen, this does not mean that a godly person cannot be wealthy. Certainly Job, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, Philemon, Gaius, and several more prove that God can bless with wealth those who serve Him. And it certainly doesn’t mean that a poor man can’t be a vile wicked man desiring the death of believers. But when people have much in this world they can do much more. And the ungodly wealthy can do much against God’s people. And they have done much against God’s people. And they ARE doing much against God’s people. f. Broader Biblical Application: So for us to idealize or favor those with wealth who gather with us – is a bit like playing with fire. They have been given a lot of wealth by the Lord but that wealth can just as easily be a danger as it can be an aid. We ought to strive for unity in Christ. To stop favoring, dividing, or grouping one another by outside appearances or external characteristics like our wealth and status- and start emphasizing that we are ALL wretched beggars whom God has given bread. After we see that - everything else is just trappings. Conclusion: [Slide 12] So, what have we learned today and how then shall we live? James wants us to hear and heed two teachings. He wants us to understand something about man and something about God. Having an understanding on these two items will help us to be careful not to divide ourselves or make evil judgments about one another. First, God has chosen from the foundation of the world to include many who were poor, weak, powerless, and least in this world to be rich in faith, to be made into heirs of His Kingdom and to love Him forever. Second, wealthy, powerful, great, mighty, intelligent, and popular men and women down through the ages have held hands with the forces of darkness as it is aligned against the church of Christ. In almost every persecution, in almost every oppression of the people of God – the rich and powerful lead the way. Although we cannot conclude from these two truths that to be poor is to be one of God’s chosen, nor can we say that to be wealthy is to be far from God… but what we certainly can say is that wealth, status, power, popularity, intelligence, personality profile, prestige, job title, ethnicity, gender, or any other external indicator has absolutely no bearing on the place of a person in God’s Kingdom. Remember back when the disciples were actually arguing over which one of them was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? We have this recorded for us in all four gospels. And because Luke’s record is unique from the others, it is possible that they argued over this… twice. And once was at the Lord’s Supper. Wow. Well – hold on there. Let’s not be too judgmental just yet – lest we have a prophet pointing his finger in our face saying – you are the man! Jesus tells them how to be great in the kingdom. Which is kinda counter to what James is teaching us – or at least it appears to be. James’ message seems to indicate that we are all the same in the body. Which is true. But Jesus’ words don’t contradict James – or perhaps more properly we can say that Jesus’ words don’t contradict what James learned from Jesus. Jesus taught his disciples that those who were servants, those who were humble, those who esteemed others more highly than themselves, those who loved other believers as Christ loved them – they would be called great in the kingdom of God. And the message that external indicators like wealth and power are meaningless among God’s people is essentially confirmed here too. For the economy of God’s Kingdom – the currency of true and genuine wealth in His glorious eternal Kingdom- is in Christlikeness. The more like Christ you are – the wealthier you will be in the Kingdom of God. Do you see how foolish it is to favor here on earth, the wealthy among us, the brilliant, the successful, the extroverted, the young, the energetic, the talented? Do you see how foolish it is to dishonor the poor, the uneducated, the introvert, the old, the weak? Jesus taught a parable of the talents. A man with 1 talent buried it in the earth for fear of losing it and others who were given more invested the talent and produced a return. The master was displeased with the one who had not done anything with his one talent. Taking what Jesus says about those who are the greatest in the kingdom and what James says about favoritism and prejudice we see the parable of the talents as the great bridge between them. How many talents each person started with was irrelevant. The only thing that mattered to the master was that the talent was used to gain an increase. So, whether we are rich or poor, strong or weak, educated or uneducated, extroverted or introverted, male or female, white, black, red, yellow or purple – these things are irrelevant. What matters is that we use what God HAS given us to serve one another and proclaim His Kingdom until He comes. My friends let us not honor or dishonor those among us for things that are irrelevant. Instead, let us as one body grow up into a full and complete stature of Christ. So that we may be held together in Him and grow in His love. This is the goal of the church.