I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT? (part-17)

I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT? (part-17)

DISCRIMINATION
One thing you have to love about the scriptures is – it gives us instructions
and sometimes provides example to emphasize the commands we are given.
This is what we see here in the book of James. The command we were just
given to not show favoritism is followed by an example.
    Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring
    and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old 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 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? (James 2:2-4)

We should probably take a moment and dissect these verses.

Which types of people are contrasted here? A rich person and a poor
person – both ends of the spectrum. Isn’t it interesting that two similar
people are not compared, but rather two people who are about as far
apart as they can be, financially and probably socially as well. More
than likely this was so that believers would know that from a worldly
perspective, there couldn’t be two people who are more different.

Was there anything wrong with the way the rich man was treated? Although
there may be a tendency to say “yes”, the answer is “no”. The problem was
not the way the rich man was treated, but the way the poor man was mistreated.
Imagine for a moment that you were the poor person, how would you feel?
What emotions would you have?

Chances are that you would feel like this was just another reminder of how
you are unacceptable and how you don’t ‘fit in’ with the rest of society.
Things have not gone well for you financially and at every turn it seems
that you are reminded of the heartache it has caused in your life. Not only
do others seem uncaring and unconcerned about you and your situation,
but they also look down on you as a human being. In addition to putting
you down, they build up others around you, which magnifies the hurt you feel.

If you were a poor Christian in this situation, it may actually enhance your
relationship with the Lord as you learn to depend on Him even more. Not
just to improve your financial situation, but to help you cope with the treatment
you have experienced from others. You realize that the Lord is the only true
friend you have who accepts you just as you are. Regardless of how you feel
when being mistreated by members of a church, more than likely you would
start visiting other churches.

If you were a poor non-Christian, the treatment you received could result in
your losing interest in anything related to the church, faith, or salvation. I
doubt that you would ever think about attending that church again. It may
leave such a bad impression on you that you have no interest in attending
any church in the future.

See what a devastating impact we can have on others when we show partiality?
We could have a lasting impact on where someone spends eternity and cause a
believer to be ineffective in serving the Lord. How much more inconsiderate
could we be?

The scriptures are clear in pointing out that when we treat others in this manner, we
prove that we are discriminating and prejudiced. Discriminating and prejudiced may
sound redundant but prejudice involves making judgments about others without
adequate information about them. We form an opinion based on how a person looks
and how their appearance compares with our standards of how we think a person
should look. When we are prejudiced, it means we have ‘pre-judged’ someone else.
We don’t even know the person or anything about them. Is ‘pre-judging’ bad?
Of course it is! Since Jesus said that judging is wrong then pre-judging has to
be wrong as well.
    “Think about what you are doing when you judge others”.
Nor did He say,
    “It is okay to judge others in certain circumstances”.
He said,
    “Do NOT judge”.

As human beings we have an ability to justify our actions to suit our desires
and that may be why Jesus stated it as simply and straightforward as He did.
He did not leave us any ‘wiggle room’ for judging others.

If we are commanded not to judge, then certainly pre-judging is even worse.
Why is it wrong to judge? Because that is God’s position. He is the judge of
all things and when we judge we are assuming the position of God Himself.
None of us have the right, the wisdom, or the power to take the place of God
in any shape, form or fashion. We aren’t capable of being on the same level
as God, so we could never take His place in any situation.

Whenever we ‘pre-judge’ someone, we are making a decision based on what we
see. We do not know the person and therefore we cannot know their beliefs, their
faith or anything else about them. We would hate for someone to judge us in this
manner, so it stands to reason that we should not pre-judge others. When we do,
the scriptures say that we can expect others to be prejudiced against us as well –
    “…you too will be judged”.

It could also mean that we will be judged by God Himself for our own disobedience.
If God says “DO NOT” do anything, it is not a suggestion, it is a command. When
we ignore His commands, we are being disobedient. When we are disobedient, we
are claiming that we know more about what is good for us than God does. Sounds
ludicrous doesn’t it?

The scriptures say that when we have discriminated, we have become judges with
evil thoughts. What could that possibly mean? It probably means that we are judging
others based on worldly and not godly standards. If we judged by godly standards,
we would look for the best in others. Since the world is full of evil, whenever we
judge by worldly standards, our judgment is with evil intent as we look for the faults
in others.

Since believers are instructed not to judge others, does that mean we are to go
through life blindly accepting everyone at face value? No. God gave us the
capability of ‘examining the fruit’. We should exercise godly wisdom throughout
our lives. For instance, if we know someone has been scamming people financially,
then we know it is unwise to consider investing any money with that person.

God sees everyone the same, but the world sees individuals differently based on
any number of factors, including social status, financial status, and popularity just
to name a few. Some have self-serving reasons for showing partiality and judging
others. If they feel they will benefit in some way, then they will probably show
favoritism. When they treat a wealthy person in a special way, they believe they
might influence him to give them money, tickets to games, a free week at their
condo on the beach, etc. In essence their purpose in showing favoritism is not to
be a friend, but to take advantage of the other person. A person with this kind of
ulterior motive is driven by evil thoughts. They are not being honest and genuine,
but are instead living a lie.

Whenever we mistreat others in our attempt to show favoritism to the affluent,
we are showing that our thoughts are not like Christ’s, but are evil in nature.
Evil thoughts prevent us from having a loving spirit, which is a distinguishing
characteristic of Jesus.

Incidentally, many Christians show partiality in other ways. For instance, some
will stop listening to a person who is speaking in order to listen to another person
who is more prominent or affluent. They will also stop listening whenever a more
interesting person begins to talk. There is no doubt that we tend to favor talking to
some more than others, but whenever we are rude to anyone in the process, we are
showing partiality. We would not want anyone treating us rudely, yet many times
I have seen believers disrespect others in this manner. How does that compare with
the commands we are given in the scriptures by Jesus Himself?
    Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Matthew 6:31)

Remember, this is not a suggestion from Jesus, it is a command from Him. We do
not have the liberty to choose which commands we will obey. We can’t just select
the ones that we like, or those that benefit us. If we want to me more like Jesus
(which should be the goal of every believer), then we need to make every effort
to obey ALL the commands we are given. Obedience is how we prove our love
of the Lord. 
    If you love me, keep my commands. (John 14:15)