The Book of James Week Two Lesson Four

“Playing Favorites”

  “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?
   For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?”
                                                                                                                                           James 2:1-4

God doesn’t show partiality. He gave the ability to all mankind to have a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus. No one is better than another. So why do we show favoritism?

We play favorites. We have ideals. We have preferences. It’s not always a bad thing. For instance, some have their favorite sports team or actor. That’s all done in fun. But, when it comes down to the worth of a person over another person within the church, then its wrong. James teaches us, in our passage today, playing favorites doesn’t fit with Christian behavior.

Read James 2:1. Answer the question James poses in this verse.




What is the example James uses in verses 2-4? Describe in your own words.




What do we show when we display favoritism towards certain people?



According to James, we are guided by evil when we show favoritism. Loving others as God loves us is a display of faith. What is good when we only involve ourselves with people we are comfortable?

Read Acts 10:34-35. Does God play favorites? Who does He accept?


God accepts everyone who comes to Him through faith in Christ Jesus. He looks at the heart of the person who bows before Him in humility. Jesus, while on the earth, lived among the poorest of the poor. He touched and healed the untouchable. He associated with the social outcasts. He never condoned sin but embraced the sinner who came to Him in faith.

Not showing favoritism means to treat each person with respect. Don’t look on the outside of the person. Don’t place priority on the worldly riches or influence they may have. Treat each one as you would want to be treated. When believers show favoritism, they don’t have the will of the Father in mind, rather we accept our will over His. This is not living righteously. When we play favorites our real motives are shown. We show that we prefer to associate with those we feel comfortable with.

I am not suggesting that we show tolerance to sin. I’m talking about our preferences for certain people. Outward appearance, popularity, race, position should never cause us to treat one person better than another within the church.

A church I attended would only allow musicians and singers in their band who had an “edge” on stage. It was all about perception. Many talented people where excluded from singing or playing an instrument because of their age, size, and look. Think about what the congregation missed out on. We too, miss out on many blessings because we avoid certain people.

Are their people in your life that you avoid? Tell the Lord about it. Confess to Him and allow Him to give you the perception and strength to love and include others as He loves you. 



How do you feel when you’ve been overlooked by others?


We who are followers of the Way, the Truth and the Life, are supposed to love and treat others as we would want to be treated. The goal is to show people the road to God through Christ, so that they may come to know and be in relationship to Him. Favoritism bars the way.

Read Proverbs 24:3. What does it say about favoritism?

Well, you know, that's exactly what I'm preaching these days and I realize that that's a part of our culture and a part of our society." We tend, as I said last week, to stratify everybody, to evaluate everybody on how they look and how they dress and where they went to school and what kind of job they have and home and car and so forth and so on. And we really are a long way from, in many cases, understanding that God evaluates a person purely and simply and only on the basis of their relationship to Him, their soul, their inner man. And the only legitimate favoritism, and there is a legitimate favoritism to be tolerated in the church, the only legitimate favoritism allowed by God is that which allows us to esteem everybody else better than ourselves. That is a legitimate favoritism.11 John MacArthur

It’s hard to separate ourselves from the culture of the world. We learn to judge others according to what we have learned. Christ taught a revolutionary lesson when He taught us to love one another as we love ourselves. Our tendency is to put “self” first. We naturally seek out others who make us feel better or more comfortable. As believers we are commanded to treat others well without showing favoritism. This is and act of our wills ~ an act of faith.

“Love each other with genuine affection, 

and take delight in honoring each other.” Romans 12:10