1My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ MUST NOT SHOW FAVOURITISM. 2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3If 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,” 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: HAS NOT GOD CHOSEN THOSE WHO ARE POOR IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD TO BE RICH IN FAITH AND TO INHERIT THE KINGDOM He promised those who love Him? (James2:1-5)

The first four verses of James chapter two largely speak for themselves. Christians should not show favouritism, especially to those who come into their places of worship. Judging people by their wealth of apparel or lack of it is far removed from how God considers these matters. Indeed, James goes on to suggest, it is almost diametrically the opposite – and that is the aspect on which I will briefly focus.

In verse 5, James, like all other contributors to the New Testament who make reference to the matter (most profusely Paul), affirms that those who are to inherit God’s kingdom do so as a result of God’s sovereign choice. And whilst Paul in particular is careful to maintain that divine election is not on the basis of merit, there is a general observation to be made. Both Paul and James make it, as indeed does Jesus in His comments regarding the rich young ruler who declined to follow Him in view of his personal wealth (Mk10:17-22). Whilst (nota bene) the narrative records that Jesus nevertheless loved him (v21), He comments to His disciples concerning how difficult it is for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom, applying the well-known analogy of the camel and needle.

Paul made a similar observation to James when he wrote, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,  so that no one may boast before Him” (1Cor1:26-29).

Referring back to the rich young ruler, his folly was to imagine that what he would ultimately attain as an inheritor of God’s kingdom could in any sense be inferior to what was available to him in the present as a wealthy mortal man. On reflection how could that be the case? But then, unlike ourselves, he did not have access to the teaching of the New Testament which speaks of barely imaginable glory, both spiritual and physical, for we shall have a material body. Glories such as being corporately betrothed to the Son of God, even to share His throne and (by implication) His domain (Rev3:21). For in Paul’s language we become “joint-heirs with Christ, providing we share in His sufferings in order that we might share in His glory” (Rom8:17).

Such stupendous prospects have tended to be obscured and over-spiritualized by the churches, partly I suspect through neo-platonic influences such as possessed by arch-influencer Augustine of Hippo. And yet I believe this to have been in accordance with God’s purposes for the Church (and its evangelism), which I allude to in my book and from which I will briefly quote to finish:

“If the stupendous benefits and holistic (spiritual and material) nature of future service in God’s Kingdom had been historically appreciated, all and sundry may have wished to force their way into it once again (Mt11:12). That is why certain inessential mysteries of the Kingdom have been veiled through much of the gospel age even from the Church: so that the rich, the mighty, the proud and the glory-hunters might be detracted by the shame of the cross of Christ and humble cruciform service as His disciples; whilst the humble, the gentle, the poor in spirit and in material possessions who are rich in faith will be the true inheritors of the Kingdom and the earth. Such is the teaching of James and such is the wisdom of God”. [Quote adapted from “The Little Book of Providence” chapter three].

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