Playing Favorites – James 2:1-13

Playing favorites is a human trait that affects every area of our lives. We make judgments about people on a daily basis. Those that we perceive to be favorable to our lives we approve of and those we perceive to be unfavorable we push aside or ignore. When we choose a plumber to work at our house we practice a process of discrimination in order to choose the plumber we favor. However, James decries this practice in the church saying that we make such judgments on our own “evil thoughts.” (James 2:4) “Ism’s” such as racism, ageism, sexism, ableism, antisemitism, sizeism, elitism, tokenism, and religionism have no place in the church. All are equal at the foot of the cross.

And all are equal at the foot of the cross no matter their social or economic status. “God has chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?” (James 2:5) “Ism’s” have no place in our treatment of people in the church and money (or lack thereof) is no measure of a person’s status in the church.

Rather that practicing favoritism we must practice the “Royal Law” that James describes as loving your neighbor as yourself. (James 2:8; also see Mark 12:29-31) The Royal Law includes loving others and showing grace and mercy to others in the name of Christ. Your loving and giving mercy and grace to others – especially those who you may not like, those who are different from you, those who have nothing to give you – is a measure of your love for and your relationship with your heavenly Father.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, September 10, 2023. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons is The Making of Authentic Faith. You can find printed and digital versions of this series online at:

gc2press.org/the-making-of-authentic-faith-james-study-guide/ .

Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .

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