The False Leg Of Prejudice

AN EXPLANATION

Prejudice is a bias built upon a fixed idea. It is often an opinion arrived at without taking time to evaluate something fairly. Many wars and even world conflicts have been the direct result of prejudicial thinking. Prejudice is one of the false legs upon which discrimination stands.

James took a firm stand against prejudice, against coming to a conclusion based only on an external appearance. James warned, “Don’t do that. Don’t show partiality or favoritism based on what you see on the outside.”

James’s warning here was not to those in the political or social arena; he was specifically addressing the church. Our Lord Jesus never looked at outward appearances but instead on the heart. Jesus is still not impressed by how many goods we have accumulated, whom we know, or how high we have climbed up the social ladder. Jesus had as much respect for the poor unnamed widow offering her two pennies as He did for wealthy Joseph of Arimathea. And Jesus was known for His compassion.

But the people James was addressing apparently flattered the rich in hopes of getting something from them. So James said, “Stop this prejudicial behavior. Don’t show favoritism.” We are never more like Jesus than when we look to the heart of others instead of on their outward appearance. Prejudice shouldn’t have a leg to stand on in the Christian faith.

AN ILLUSTRATION

James illustrated this truth, saying, “If there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” (2:2–4).

Picture this. A worship service is about to start. In walk two men. One is wearing an expensive designer suit, a gold watch, and a diamond ring. The other’s clothes don’t fit properly and most likely came from a clothing ministry. An usher guides the first man to the best seat in the house and instructs the latter to go stand in the corner, out of the way. The problem is not that the usher found a good seat for the wealthy man; the problem is that the usher showed no respect for the poorer man. But realize, too, that poverty does not make a person special in God’s eyes.

When I was pastoring in Fort Lauderdale, God blessed me through two different men. One was extremely wealthy. For years he had been a quiet backbone of the church. He generally sat at the rear of the sanctuary, and he never pushed himself into leadership. But he did more anonymously to help struggling people than anyone I have ever known. The other man lived in an institutional center not far from the church. His pants were always about two sizes too big. The cuffs were rolled halfway up his calves, revealing sockless feet and worn tennis shoes. His shirt was buttoned in the wrong holes more often than not. And there he sat in the front row every Sunday. Only heaven knows how many times I looked at his face and breathed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for this reminder of how welcome the outcasts of society should be in God’s house.

Again, we must be careful not to confuse the issue here. There is nothing wrong with wealth. It is “the love of money,” not money itself, that is the root of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). It is also wrong to have the mind-set that if we have money, we are better than someone who does not. On the contrary, some who have little money love it more than those who have lots of it. Put differently, it is not sinful to be rich, and it is not spiritual to be poor. But it is always wrong to show partiality based solely on outward appearances. Discrimination stands on a shaky leg of prejudice, and James exposed it here.

AN ACCUSATION

James’s accusation is stinging: “You have dishonored the poor man” and taken away his dignity. We should guard against dishonoring anyone, especially those whose dignity is about all that they have. Let us keep in mind that Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). To paraphrase James, “Don’t deny their dignity; don’t steal their honor.”

James also made this point: “Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” Have you noticed that the poor often seem to grasp the gospel in greater numbers than the rich and more privileged do? In general, those who have materially less are more aware of their powerlessness, so it is easier for some of them to recognize their need for salvation. Often the rich and powerful, however, see no reason to have Christ in their lives. Frequently, the greatest barrier to reaching the wealthy with the gospel is their pride, while the greatest barrier to reaching the poor can be their self-pity and bitterness.

As if giving rich people places of honor based solely on outward appearance weren’t bad enough, the people James addressed were at the same time pushing back into a corner the very people among whom Jesus spent His entire ministry. Our Lord never showed such partiality. When He went to Jerusalem, He spent time with an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda as well as with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. When Jesus journeyed through Jericho, He called out to rich Zacchaeus who was perched in a tree, and He healed blind Bartimaeus who was begging by the roadside.

Early believers knew this about Jesus, and one of the reasons the early church grew so rapidly was that prejudice was laid aside. Although the Jews and Samaritans despised each other passionately, Jesus made a place for Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, as well as the woman at the well of Sychar who was the former town prostitute. As the early church grew, it made room for Onesimus, the former slave, at the same table as Philemon, the wealthy landowner and his former master. Wealthy Barnabas gave a piece of real estate to the missionary church at Antioch, and alongside him was a place for a blind beggar rattling a tin cup asking for alms. The gospel gives everyone, everywhere a place of dignity at Christ’s table.

Yes, the vile sin of discrimination stands on two false legs. One of these is prejudice, which has no place in the heart of a true believer. The other leg, as we shall see next, is presumption.