James 2:1-9

William F. Schnell

September 6, 2009

   When I checked with Mary Lynn Griff about the music for today’s service, she and Gordon decided upon a church camp theme in keeping with our outdoor surroundings.  Many of the songs we are singing this morning can be heard at the church camp our youth attend each summer at Tar Hollow in the beautiful Hocking Hills of Southern Ohio.  Hearing them here transports me back to the hillside cabins, log lodge, sandy waterfront and “Green Cathedral” in the woods. 

   Church camp is one of the unique ministries our youth participate in every summer.  There are no adult organizers from our congregation, no fund raisers to cover expenses, no transportation caravans or even advertisement in our newsletter save for one reminder to check the camp website when registration forms become available.  But register our youth do, year after year, in significant numbers.  Now many who exceed the age for campers serve on the staff as counselors.  This is extraordinary when you think about it, for there is no other youth ministry that runs on its own momentum quite like church camp. 

   How do we account for this?  How has this singular church camp continued to draw youth and adults from the bobby sock 50’s through the tie dyed 60’s and polyester 70’s; from the disco 80’s through the grunge 90’s and on into the I-pod present?  Through all the changing fashions and world issues and technological advances church camp has retained its timeless appeal for youth.  What is the appeal that brings them back year after year?

   It is what I call the “uncool rule” which states: “The only uncool thing you can do at camp is to make someone else feel uncool.”  Beyond that, anything goes and usually does.  Some kid will wait a whole year to sing a song in front of the whole camp composed just for that moment.  Never mind that the kid can’t sing.  What is lacking in rhythm and pitch is more than made up with heart and soul.  When the song is concluded, the whole camp erupts in wild applause and maybe even a standing ovation.  To do otherwise at church camp would be very uncool. 

   The norm at camp is to value each person as a unique and precious creation of God regardless of that person’s weight, race, socio-economic background, disabilities, looks, personal histories or any such thing.  Everybody is a child of God and treated as such—no exceptions.  Because virtually everybody hungers and thirsts to be valued and affirmed in this way, church camp continues to hold its appeal for generations of youth.  And it will continue to hold its appeal so long as it delivers the goods. 

   Valuing every person as a child of God is definitely a biblical ideal as we will find, among other places, in our text for this morning.  Today we return to the letter of James in the New Testament where we are counseled not to show favoritism.  Playing favorites is valuing one person above another.  This may be affirming to the one, but it is definitely degrading to the other.  As the text quoted at the top of our bulletins puts it: …God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11).   If God does not favor certain of his children over others, how can we? 

   Therefore James counsels us in our text: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.  Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.  If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (Verses 1-4). 

   We are judging one person as better than the other on the basis of very shallow, superficial and surface considerations.  For all we know that poor person may be a saint like Mother Teresa.  She did not wear gold or fine clothes.  Neither did Jesus for that matter.  But some of the people who contended with him did.  As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.  They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely” (Mark 12:38-40).

   Clearly, what the world values and what God values are two different things.  What the world exalts, God humbles.  And what the world humbles, God exalts.  James continues: Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?  But you have insulted the poor.  Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?  Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?  Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? (Verses 5-7)

   Ouch!  This could be a hard text of scripture for some of us who live in the fair town of Aurora.  I tend to describe Aurora to my friends from back home as “An enclave of prosperity in a relatively poor county.”  But prosperity is a relative thing.  The poorest of the poor in Portage County are rich in comparison with the average Afghan or Darfurian.  Beyond that it is hard to automatically assume increased virtue with relative poverty.  That is why the Bible cautions us against favoring either the poor or rich.  Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly (Leviticus 19:15). 

   Just because some are rich does not mean they have exploited the poor to get rich.  But they might have.  It does happen you know.  The richer have the power to exploit the poorer if they want to.  I am reminded here of the fellow who skipped church to play golf.  When he ran into the pastor on Sunday evening he justified his choice by saying, “You know Pastor, I can worship God just as easily on the golf course as in church.”  The Pastor replied, “I know you can, and I also know that you don’t.” 

   You can get rich without exploiting the poor, but sometimes a culture of greed and excess can become pervasive enough to make it challenging.  An old hometown pal I hadn’t seen for 30 years returned to church camp this year.  He works for a residential and business security firm called ADT.  ADT is owned by a larger company called Tyco International, Limited.  You may have heard about Tyco as it has been in the news of late, and not in a very favorable light.

   Tyco’s former chairman and chief executive, Leo Dennis Kozlowski, is currently serving 8-25 years in the New York Prison System for such things as having his company foot the bill for a 30 million dollar apartment in NY City with $6,000 shower curtains, as well as paying one million toward his now ex-wife’s 40^th birthday party (which was disguised as a shareholder meeting).  The fallout of this kind of excess effectively wiped out my pal’s retirement fund, although a modest rebound may be in progress.

   While that may represent one extreme example, I suspect that there are some here today whose bottom line has been similarly affected of late by a culture of greed and excess which has dominated our financial, banking and business markets.  Greed and excess are nothing new.  I suspect it must have been a similar experience in James’ day which led him in our text to ask incredulously, Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?  Why then do you assign a greater value to that person than, say, a person made poorer by the constraints of honesty, fairness and virtue?

   The former Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, told a story about two young vandals living in London who wanted to bring confusion to a very famous store.  The vandals broke in during the night, but didn’t steal or damage anything.  Instead they simply rearranged the price tags—putting a $50 price tag by a $5,000 item and a $1,000 price tag next to a $50 item.  Then they watched the next morning with a kind of sinister delight as shoppers became ever more confused.

   The Creator of this world has put the highest value on things like faith, honor, character, compassion and servanthood.  Who has changed the price tags?  Who are we to ridicule or neglect the things God has declared worthy of great value?  Who are we to assign great value to things God has assigned little value—superficial things like, say, the color of a person’s skin or the things that person can afford to buy or the nature of a person’s livelihood?

   Dr. Harold Brock, a speech and communications professor at Drew University, once gave his class an assignment: to record the first words and associations that came into their minds when they heard the word “waitress.”  Most of the characterizations were unflattering, such as: “forgetful,” “always looking for a tip,” “abrasive” and “airhead.”  Then Dr. Brock said, “My mother was a waitress and she worked hard to get me through college.  She was the godliest woman I ever knew.”  You might remember that the next time you encounter a waitress.

   Jesus did not show favoritism whether he was encountering a Samaritan woman shunned by his faith tradition, or a woman of ill-repute like Mary Magdalene; whether a rich young ruler on the one hand or a tax collector on the other; whether a demon-possessed person, a leper or any other so-called ritually unclean person.  Jesus affirmed everyone as a precious child of God, the only exceptions being those who broke his “Uncool Rule” by devaluing others who have been created in God’s image.

   In our text James gives a more positive spin on this rule, calling it the royal law because it is the supreme law to which all other laws are subordinate.  It is the law to love one’s neighbor as oneself.  Just like we cannot love our kids if we favor one over the others, neither can we love our neighbors if we favor one over the other.  James concludes our text saying: If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers (Verses 8-9). 

   Let us not break the Lord’s royal law by showing favoritism.  Let us not break the “Uncool Rule” by demeaning or diminishing God’s precious children.  Let us not “change the price tags” so that we fail to value what God values, and value instead much less worthy things.  Let us instead love our neighbors as ourselves so that, as one song we sing at church camp says, “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love.”