The Sin of Partiality

Love Your Neighbour


As you live in Christ, the Lord of glory, be like Him.

• He ate with sinners.
• He lived in a humble village.
• He ministered in lowly, contemptible areas.

It's easy in our day to be slightly envious of the rich and famous.  If you have a television, it's almost impossible to escape the latest round of the Mutual Admiration Society, as actors pat each other on the back and vy for the Golden Globe, the Oscar, or the People's Choice Award.  

Yet God tells us not to idolize the rich and famous, nor to be envious of the high and mighty.

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? James 2:5

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.James 2:8-9

The royal law is to love your neighbour.  The law of God requires that we first love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, then we must love our neighbour as ourselves.  Showing partiality by respecting a rich or powerful person more than a barista at the local coffee shop is breaking the law. 

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it James 2:10

All sins are not equally damaging or heinous.  Obviously murder has more of an effect than cheating someone out of money.  Yet all sin shatters unity and makes men into transgressors.  Only one transgression makes fulfilling the basic command to love God and your neighbour impossible to keep.  One sin makes you a lawbreaker.


Law of Liberty

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. ~James 2:10-13 

As the Holy Spirit applies the principles of Scripture to believers' hearts, they are freed from sin's bondage and enabled to obey God.  They are set free from the need to sin, to retaliate, to judge and shun and hate and ostracize. 

The merciful evidence that they are FORGIVEN, REDEEMED PEOPLE.  They are ready for the day of judgment.

So, what does this look like in real life?  

It looks like love.  

It looks like kindness to sinners, to lawbreakers, to the unlovely.

It looks like compassion to the drug addict.

It looks like praying for the homosexual or the child abuser.

Forgiven, Redeemed People know that "there, but for the grace of God, go I."  They do not sit in judgment, for they know that they could have been the ones transgressing the law in that manner, committing that heinous crime, stoning that Stephen, denying that Christ.

God wants to do a work “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6). God wants to show us his grace so that we “might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:9). This is precisely the reasoning of Romans 9:22-23: “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory … ?” In his final judgment God will display the power of his wrath. But God could not demonstrate his capacity for mercy apart from ordaining a world of sin and a way for redemption. He endures with great patience the impenitent, so that he can magnify his all-glorious mercy in the eyes of those who put their hope in him! ~ John Ensor

Are you a vessel of mercy?  Or do you show partiality, preferring the ones who have it all together over the ones who are falling apart?


Be like Jesus.  Be free.

The Older Brother

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me m the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Observations:  This younger son was a sinner.  He squandered everything in reckless living.  He was as low as he could go - even willing to eat the pigs' food.  Do you know any sinners?  Has God put sinners into your life?  How low did they go?  How should you react to them?  When they realize the world does not satisfy, and no one will give them anything, what will you do?

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  22 But the father said to his servants,  ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Observations:  He came to himself.  That was a work of grace.  When a sinner comes to himself and realizes the mess he is in, know that God is working.  He humbled himself, willing to be treated as one of the hired servants.  The father, the one who was sinned against, overlooked the sin and welcomed the sinning son.  Do you know anyone who has "come to himself" and realized that his life is a mess?  Do you recognize that God is working?  Do you see humility?  Have you noticed the reaction of the one who has been sinned against the most?  Can you see the grace of God?

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Observations:  The older son was angry.  He refused to go into the celebration.  He was offended.  Instead of rejoicing with his father, the one who was sinned against the most, he was angry and jealous.  He turned it around to himself.  How have you reacted when you've seen rejoicing over a sinner repenting?  Have you joined in the celebration, or have you refused to fellowship?  


Jesus came to save sinners.  He ate with sinners.  He called sinners, not the righteous, to repent.


He told us to forgive seventy times seven.


He knows the heart.  We do not.


If God can save John Newton, who squandered his life in the most vile and malicious deeds, He is able to save to the uttermost the worst of sinners among us.  


If God can save John Bunyan, who wrote in his testimony (Chief of Sinners) that he tried it all - he tried a sinful life, he tried a "godly" life - but that none of it mattered until his blind eyes were opened, then he can save the worst of sinners among us.


What will you do?  Will you forgive, yet again, and pray?  Or will you refuse to celebrate with the one who was sinned against the most?


Redeemed, Restored, Forgiven - a new song by Matthew Smith.  Listen to it!

God Sees Everything

Leviticus 6 reads, in part:

If anyone sins... by deceiving his neighbour, or if he has ... found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely... he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt.

In Leviticus, God establishes the sacrifices He requires for the atonement of sin.  He includes sin offerings, guilt offerings and even an offering for someone who sins inadvertently.  God requires holiness in all of our interactions.

A few days ago, I was shopping at the local dollar store, and I noticed some plaques that would be perfect in my new kitchen (the kitchen I am dreaming about).  They were the right colours (yellow and off-white) and had some nice sayings on them:  "Believe and you will see His Glory", "Love bears all things", "Faith is hope realized",  "With God all things are possible".  They were embellished with flowers and leaves, and I really, really wanted them.


The lady behind the counter told me that they had just come in and wouldn't last long.  "Will you be getting more in?" I asked.  


She replied, "They came in the summer order, and that's it until fall."


I went back and looked at the plaques again.  I picked them up, turning them over, feeling the weight of them.  They were priced at $2.00; except the Faith one.  For some strange reason, it was priced at $2.99.  I thought it must have been a mistake, because the rest of them, exactly the same size and shape and distributing company, were only $2.00.


If I wanted all four of the plaques, I'd have to buy them immediately, I thought.  There were only two left of a couple of them.  I wanted the whole set.


So, I picked them up and took them to the counter.  The lady picked up the first one and checked the price, then rang in four at $2.00 a piece.  


This is where my sin nature reared its ugly head.  I KNEW one of them was $2.99, but I said NOTHING.  I intentionally did not point out the saleslady's error.  I was guilty before God.


It doesn't matter that it was only a dollar.  It doesn't matter that it was likely priced in error.  I should have pointed it out.  


I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to tell the truth, but I quickly dismissed the nagging guilt.  I paid my $8.00 plus tax, and left the store.  I haven't felt right since.


We Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who reveals the truth to us.  He leads us and guides us, helps us and prompts us to do right, and makes us aware of the sin that so easily entangles us.  I grieved the Holy Spirit for the sake of one measly dollar.


Today, in church, I felt completely convicted of my sin.  As we approached the Lord's Table, I was reminded that Jesus Christ gave His body and shed His blood to make atonement for my sin. I poured out my soul in confession to God, thanking Him for covering all of my sin, even this.  I realized again my need of a Saviour, because I cannot be righteous on my own.  


Tomorrow I will head to town and speak to the Dollar Store lady.  I will tell her the truth and offer to pay that 99 cents plus tax.  

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9

Tonight, I will sleep like a baby, knowing once again that I am a sinner, saved by the grace of God.  I will bask in His forgiveness, and thank Him for His grace.