{"id":786,"date":"2013-09-03T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/?p=786"},"modified":"2014-07-25T13:38:23","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T17:38:23","slug":"dont-play-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/dont-play-favorites\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Play Favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year in our Sunday School lessons we are going through the books of James and Proverbs to look at the Practical Living from God\u2019s Word. \u00a0What is located below are the high level points we discussed this week. \u00a0Please use this tool to follow up with your teens and see how they plan to apply this to their life.<\/em><\/p>\n

James 2:1-13<\/strong><\/p>\n

You walk into a room for the first time and you look at all the people that are there, what are you thinking about in your mind?<\/p>\n

Are you ranking them in order of how you think they are?<\/p>\n

Are you judging them based on the way they look, the clothes they wear, their size, or their cleanliness?<\/p>\n

You get to know a group of people from your churches youth group and you have strong opinions about who you should hang out with. \u00a0Is it based on their school, on whether or not they are attractive or if they are athletic?<\/p>\n

The sin of Favoritism is one of the easiest sins for us to fall into as a bunch of teenagers.\u00a0 I hear multiple times about the cliques that have formed in our youth group and about the way that it is hard for the new kid to come to our youth group.\u00a0 And while I recognize that there are 2 sides to every story and that a person who has friends must be friendly.\u00a0 I wonder at what level does the sin of favoritism show up in our lives?<\/p>\n

What is favoritism?<\/strong><\/p>\n

How does favoritism show up in our lives?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An Example of What Favoritism Is. (2:1-4)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So the story is given of a person who enters the room and is dressed like a dignitary.\u00a0 The people immediately bring that person to the VIP section and give them the perfect place to sit.<\/p>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then in enters a person who is wearing shabby clothes and the people do not even care that he is there.\u00a0 In fact they give him the standing room only section.<\/p>\n

C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is obvious favoritism.<\/p>\n

D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How could this same scenario play out in a youth group meeting here at Faith?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like this.\u00a0 A kid that you know well or that you know about is coming to our youth group for the first time.\u00a0 As soon as they come you jump up and run over to them and encourage them to come and to sit next to you, and to talk to you.\u00a0 While another teen kind of sneaks in the door and you never even notice that they are there so you do not say a word to them.\u00a0 In fact you kind of ignore them, in fact you really don\u2019t care where they sit or if they even stand for that matter.<\/p>\n

II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Social Argument (2:5-7)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 5 – Because of God\u2019s love for us in salvation we are all the same because we are rich in Christ.\u00a0 God has chosen even the poor in the world to be rich in the faith.<\/p>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 6 \u2013 However when you discriminated against the poor man you put him down and completely treated him the way your do not want to be treated.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the case of the church that James is writing to the people were probably mostly poor.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They would understand well the idea of the rich people taking them to court to get payment out of them even when they could not afford it.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In other words they were treating the poor person who came to their meeting in the same way that the rich would treat them.<\/p>\n

C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 7 \u2013 They were actually showing favoritism to one of the people who was treating them poorly.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More specifically in this case one of the rich people who would drag them to court.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of the people who ignore that they were one of God\u2019s Children.<\/p>\n

D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the potential trap that we could be falling into by showing favoritism to others who appear to be someone we like and ignore the person who does not look like someone we might like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like this.\u00a0 What if the person you are reaching out to actually appears to be someone you would like, but in actuality is totally against everything you stand for? What if they look nice but in actuality they are more concerned about doing wrong or they begin to question your beliefs and you begin to think about what they are saying?<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And what if the person you ignored is actually someone that you should befriend because they will help you in your walk with the Lord or you could help them in their walk?\u00a0 And what if by ignoring them you allowed them to disappear and missed out on the good that they could have brought into your life?<\/p>\n

III.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Moral Argument (2:8-11)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 8 \u2013 You are doing good if you are able to keep the command to love your neighbor as yourself.\u00a0 Congratulations you are not showing favoritism but you are actually fulfilling God\u2019s commands.<\/p>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 9 \u2013 If you however are failing in the area of showing favoritism then you have broken one of the Lord\u2019s commands and therefore you are not keeping the law of the Lord.<\/p>\n

C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 10 \u2013 If you keep the law in all of its forms yet you fail in just one then you are guilty of the whole law.<\/p>\n

D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 11 \u2013 Because the same God who gave one of the commands gave all of the commands so to break one of the commands is to break His command.<\/p>\n

E.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So is it a sin on the same level as lying, stealing, murdering, etc. to show favoritism? Why or why not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IV.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Act Right (2:12-13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 12 – The commands \u201cSpeak and act\u201d are stronger in the Greek text than in the English. James says, \u201cSo speak and so act.\u201d His repetition of \u201cso\u201d (hout\u014ds<\/em>) is emphatic and also serves to distribute the emphasis equally between the two verbs. The present tense in both verbs calls for continuing action. James would have his readers continue to speak and act in light of the fact that they \u201care going to be judged.\u201d Since he is speaking to believers, the judgment to which he refers must be the judgment of believers at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10). The standard of judgment will be \u201cthe law that gives freedom,\u201d rather than the enslaving legalistic system developed by the scribes and Pharisees. It is the royal law of love (v. 8), which the believer is enabled to keep by the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22\u201323).[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Verse 13 \u2013 Why should mercy be shown to you when you cannot show mercy to others.\u00a0 This has nothing to do with salvation but rather is talking about the way your deserve to be treated.<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Favoritism is a sin because we place our self in the position of being the judge over other people.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We need to live by the principle of in honor preferring one another.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is downright silly to think that we can be judgmental on others and still be okay in our relationship with God.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A whole lot of us myself included need to think hard about the sin of favoritism.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> Donald W. Burdick, “James” In , in The Expositor\u2019s Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews Through Revelation<\/em>, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981), 180.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year in our Sunday School lessons we are going through the books of James and Proverbs to look at the Practical Living from God\u2019s Word. \u00a0What is located below are the high level points we discussed this week. \u00a0Please use this tool to follow up with your teens and see how they plan to… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[107,4940],"tags":[13757,13758,13759],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t Play Favorites - 4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/dont-play-favorites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t Play Favorites - 4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This year in our Sunday School lessons we are going through the books of James and Proverbs to look at the Practical Living from God\u2019s Word. \u00a0What is located below are the high level points we discussed this week. \u00a0Please use this tool to follow up with your teens and see how they plan to... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/dont-play-favorites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"4:Twelve - Student Ministries Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-25T17:38:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/20170523133340\/Open-bible.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"277\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"182\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnny Kjaer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnny Kjaer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/dont-play-favorites\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/4twelve\/dont-play-favorites\/\",\"name\":\"Don\u2019t Play Favorites - 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