James is writing to distinguish the marks of true faith, and in this section he exposes 'partiality'.
Partiality literally means 'receiving the face' - showing favouritism to someone based on a mere external showing.
To treat the poor differently from the rich is to be guilty of partiality - and partiality is evil because it is contrary to God's thought and actions.
Partiality is a fundamental breach of the Great Commandment - a wilful transgression. So our petty prejudices are extremely serious: breaking this one commandment we become guilty of all.
As Christians we are to build amongst ourselves a genuine counterculture in which the values of Jesus Christ rather than the values of the world are being lived out. We must be ruthless with false ideas but welcoming of all people.
And partiality is a denial of the wonder of grace shown to us in Christ. When the needy come our way we do not thank God that we are not like other men, but cry out, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner.'
Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter.
Text-Featuring a sermon is a less expensive way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands on the right bar with optional newsletter inclusion. As low as $30/day.