This might just be the craziest thing James has said yet.  He accuses the church of favoritism and tells them, “Stop courting the rich!”  Remember, James is writing to a church that is brand new.  I’m sure they could have really used a financial shot in the arm to help them get off the ground.  All ventures need start- up capital.  Seems to me they would have been smart to try to draw in some wealthy people.  That might have helped them gain credibility in their communities, and given them the start of a solid financial foundation upon which they could build their ministry.  Noses and nickels, that’s what it’s all about, right?

Not for James it isn’t.  He wants them to follow the Royal Law of Love. Loving all of our neighbors, rich and poor.  THAT is what the church is about.  The Royal Law of Love says we are all equal in God’s sight, so we strive to love everyone equally well.  What a contrast to the Royal Law of Fundraising, which says, the richer you are, the more we love you!

Sometimes pastors are hesitant to talk about money, because it is a sensitive subject for many people.  John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, did not seem to ever worry about offending anyone.  He was not only bold enough to preach about finances, he even called one of his sermons, “On Money”!  No beating around the bush.  John Wesley was clear that money is NOT evil.  The Bible says it is the LOVE of money that is the problem.  Putting money ahead of God in our lives, that is idolatry.  That is sin.  But money in general is a most precious resource.  As one of my former district superintendents used to say, “Without money, it is hard to be a blessing to anybody!”  Great things are done by and for humankind using the precious resource of money.

But just as money can give us power to bless others, it can also give us power to hurt others.  We don’t know the details of what was happening in the early church, but James holds the mirror up to his congregation and invites them to see for themselves exactly what is going on.  “Is it not the rich who oppress you?  Is it not they who drag you into court?  Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?”  Perhaps the people in James’ congregation thought that if they courted the rich, if they were extra nice to them, the persecution would stop.  Maybe they thought accommodating the wealthy people is what they needed to do to survive.  Making the rich people happy–maybe the church members see that as their only hope.

James has a different perspective.  He is not interested in appeasement–keeping a certain group of people happy.  He is interested in discipleship.  He is interested in, as James said in our scripture lesson for last week, “the righteousness that God desires.”   The church is to be open to all people, regardless of gender, age, race, or socioeconomic status.  The church members might have thought that courting the rich was their only hope of survival, but James sees that as a sign that they have already died.  As soon as we show favoritism, and treat one type of person as more worthy of honor than another, we begin to suffocate the holy breath that sustains our life.

As I was preparing for this sermon, I read a commentary that said, surely James is exaggerating.  No church would ever say, “Here’s a comfy seat for you, but you, you must sit on the floor.”  I almost laughed out loud when I read that.  Just look in our Methodist history, Old St. George’s Church in Philadelphia.  The church was founded in 1767.  At first whites and blacks worshipped well together.  But it didn’t take long for appeasement to become more important that discipleship.  They caved to the pressure to put black people in their “proper place”.  They were forced to sit in the balcony, and in 1787 the black people left and eventually formed their own church, Mother Bethel AME.

All of us look back on that chapter of our church history with shame.  But hopefully we don’t look back on it and assume the final chapter in the book of church favoritism failures has already been written.  The tension between appeasement and discipleship continues!  We must be ever vigilant to be sure that pleasing God is our first priority, and to stay loyal to that, despite pressure from the establishment in our church. If we fail to do that, we will cause pain to a great many people, including ourselves.

When I was a teenager, a man started coming to my church who was, as we might say today, a hot mess.  He looked bad, he smelled bad, he did not fit in at all.  And the reason he did not fit in is because the people in my church did not fit him in.  I think we all just wished he would go away.

But one Sunday after church, I saw our pastor engage the man in conversation as he left the building.  Rev. Lynde did not just shake his hand and wish him a good day.  He called him by name.  He asked, “how are you today?”, and then really listened as the man answered.  I saw Rev. Lynde’s eyes light up, and smile and nod, as if he really cared about the bad smelling man.  They lingered together at the front door for a few minutes.  And then Rev. Lynde did something shocking.  He gave the man a hug!

I will never forget how small I felt in that moment.  The Holy Spirit took my sense of favoritism and judgment, turned it around like a mirror so I could see myself, and used it to convict me.  James says, “You would do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'”  He’s not kidding.  You want to avoid the pain that comes when you realize you have made appearances and appeasement more important that discipleship?  Stop playing favorites!

But James is concerned with more than just some discomfort when we are convicted of our sin.  He is concerned that, by playing favorites, we are missing the whole point of the gospel.  See, if we love only the people who are just like us, we sin against our neighbors.  And one sin makes us just as guilty as the people we are judging as unacceptable!  James gives a rather loaded example.  Maybe you didn’t commit adultery, but you still murdered someone.  Any one sin makes you a sinner.  We are all equals in the eyes of God.

James is a very practical theologian, and he never says, “Stop doing X” without giving instructions, “Do Y instead.”  In our passage today, we can see clearly that James is upset with Christians who are showing favoritism to the rich and thereby dishonoring the poor.  Instead, he says, really fulfill the royal law of scripture.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  The way to do that, he goes on to say, is to “speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.”  We are all going to be judged one day, and when that happens to me, I am so thankful God is going to judge me through the lens of mercy.  Jesus will stand between me and God, and when God looks at me, God will see Jesus’ willingness to go to the cross and die for our sins, and will not see my sin.  But.  There is a very important caveat!  Jesus flat out said, don’t expect God to forgive your sins if you are not willing to be forgiving, too!  I believe this is what James is talking about here.  If we want God to be merciful to us, we must be merciful to others.

When I think about how that plays out in real life, some practical questions come to mind.  Does that mean anything goes?  What if the other person doesn’t just smell bad, what if they are bad?  What if they are doing things we think are contrary to scripture.  How can we “love” them then?

These are critical questions, and to answer them, I think we can go back a few verses to James 1:19-27, “Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak.”  We show love by not pre-judging.  Instead be quick to listen.  We might learn something!  And then, and then speak and act as those who are judged by the law of liberty–remembering that we, too, are sinners.  Maybe we don’t struggle with the exact same issue.  But we have our faults.  We are not perfect.

Loving all of our neighbors as ourselves is not easy.  I have a clergy colleague who likes to say, “This job would be great if it weren’t for the people!”  But of course, without the people, clergy wouldn’t have jobs!  Getting along with others is a major part of life, no matter what your job is.  But, according to James, it is especially important in the church that we love our neighbors as ourselves.  I remember one time asking an older lady in my church, “Doris, you have been a member of this church for a long time.  Do the people here ever get on your nerves?”  She looked at me and said, no.  She meant it, too.  I was thinking to myself, how could that be possible?  She went on to say, why would they get on my nerves?  Everyone here is doing their best.

We are all doing our best.  What a great way to look at things. You know, God saw that humans were doing their best to live according to the Old Testament laws, but we were still struggling.  Instead of judging us, God sent us Jesus to help us see what true discipleship is.  Instead of judging us, God sent his son to save us, and offer us a new kind of living.  We still struggle, so God sent the Holy Spirit to help us learn and grow.  God could have judged us as lacking, but at each juncture, God sent more love, more support, more grace.  As the old hymn goes, “’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace shall lead me home!”

In the opening chapters of Genesis, there is a story about how, from the very beginning, humans were not content with the world God provided for them.  They wanted more.  So they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  And we have been prone to being judgmental ever since, even though judgment has only ever brought death.  As soon as we show favoritism, and treat one type of person as more worthy of honor than another, we begin to suffocate the holy breath that sustains our life.  Instead, we would do well to really fulfill the royal law according to scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Amen.