Sermon Tone Analysis

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

But you have dishonoured the poor man.

Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?

Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honourable name by which you were called?

“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing well.

But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”

If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.”[1]

God does not show partiality [see *Romans 2:11*].

Each one who receives Jesus as Master of life, each one who believes in Him, is accepted as children of God.

In the same way, believers who bear the Name of His Son are taught that they must show no partiality, especially as they fulfil the mandates God has given to His churches.

As Christians, we are charged with declaring the Gospel to all alike, offering life through faith in the Son of God.

We are responsible to show compassion toward all who hurt and those who are truly in need, revealing the mercy of God that we ourselves have received.

We must speak the truth in love to all mankind, demonstrating the courage to be truthful and forthright in all our dealings.

There is no excuse for those who bear the Name of Christ to show favouritism.

Nevertheless, it is almost impossible that we will not find expressions of bias or favouritism among the churches of our Lord.

At any given time, we will disappoint others and dishonour the Name of the Master.

The message for this day is not an excuse for behaviour that dishonours the Lord, but it is an attempt to confront our natural tendencies so that God can work through us as He transforms us into His image, especially teaching us to set aside our prejudices.

*What are the Responsibilities of Our Church*?  Christians are commissioned by the Risen Son of God.

Individually, and corporately, we are responsible to make disciples, to integrate those coming into the Faith into our fellowships, and to instruct all in the truths that Jesus has delivered.

This outline of responsibilities is provided in what has come to be known as The Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [*Matthew 28:19, 20*].

All this is to be done in an impartial manner.

When we review the conduct of the apostolic church following the descent of the Spirit, we can see that there are yet other activities that should be witnessed in a New Testament church.

“[Those baptised and added to the church] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” [*Acts 2:42*].

In addition to winning the lost, integrating them into the fellowship and introducing them to obedience, this verse reminds us of the vital importance of providing instruction, but adds that part of the discipleship process includes worship and fellowship.

Thus, we can say on the authority of the Word of God that a New Testament church is responsible to evangelise, incorporate new believers, instruct in righteousness, worship together and develop fellowship within the Body.

All these activities are to be conducted in an impartial manner.

Prejudice must not dictate how we fulfil responsibilities as a church.

Both corporately and individually, the people of God must execute the commands of the Saviour without favouritism or bias.

We might well ask what these activities will look like when we apply them as they were delivered by Jesus our Master.

Look at these activities one-by-one, so that we can learn how to be a church.

A New Testament Church will be evangelistic.

A congregation that is not evangelistic cannot lay claim to being a church in the New Testament sense.

It goes without saying that failure to reproduce spiritually is an indication that a religious organisation has grown spiritually senescent.

Tragically, most churches in North America appear to grow—if they grow at all—through biological additions.

That is, they add to congregational numbers through including the children of those already in attendance, which is ultimately a recipe for death as a church.

Multiple studies have indicated that the vast majority of Christians not only have never knowingly brought another person to faith in the Son of God, but the average Christian does not even make the effort to introduce others to life in Jesus Christ.

This should not be!

Each Christian should make every effort to bring others to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are undoubtedly various reasons for the persistence of this dreadful condition.

We are trained in our culture to depend upon specialists for every task, and few of us claim to be specialists at telling others of Christ.

However, it does not require a specialist to witness; all that is required is that an individual be able to tell truthfully what has happened in his or her own life.

The blind man who had formerly sat near the Pool of Siloam was certainly not an expert when haled before the Pharisees.

However, he was able to say with confidence, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” [*John 9:25*].

His testimony was confined to what he knew to be true, and he delivered that statement with conviction and to good effect.

The Samaritan woman whom Jesus encountered at Jacob’s Well returned to the village of Sychar, telling everyone that she met, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Can this be the Christ” [*John 4:29*]?

Her question was sufficient to ensure that “many Samaritans from that town believed in [Jesus] because of the woman’s testimony” [*John 4:39*].

We are not always called to be evangelists, but we are called to be always evangelistic [*Acts 1:8*], witnessing about what we know about the Lord.

We are called to be witnesses to the grace we have received [*Luke 24:48*].

We are witnesses that Jesus lives, since as Christians, we have met the Risen, Living Lord of glory.

Perhaps I cannot speak to crowds of thousands, but I can speak to one friend, telling that friend I know Jesus lives.

Perhaps I cannot marshal the rhetorical powers of a great orator and sway masses of people, but I can speak with conviction to one someone, telling that one what I have discovered to be true concerning Jesus, the Risen Lord of Glory.

I can tell one friend that my sins are forgiven and that I am free of guilt and fear.

I can tell one friend that God has given me life and that I now have freedom to come into His presence at any time.

I can tell one friend that the Risen Lord has never deserted me.

The evangelism we are to perform is to be carried out without prejudice.

We are to speak to rich as well as poor.

We are commanded to carry the message of life to natives as well as to whites.

We are to speak to those who are great, just as we are to speak to those who are small.

There must be no discrimination against those we imagine to be inferior to our station in life, just as there must be no discrimination in favour of those we imagine to enjoy higher social stature than we do.

All alike are to be recipients of the message of life.

Can you imagine what would happen in this community if even one-tenth of all who profess to be Christians spoke to friends and family members, urging them to believe on the Lord Jesus?

Can you imagine the impact even ten people could have on our community if they actually took seriously the command of Christ to be witnesses, and did so without prejudice?

I am convinced that there are seated before me individuals who are far more effective at bringing others to faith in the Saviour than I am, because I am convinced that God has worked in our midst equipping such individuals.

However, I am also convinced that each of us is responsible to tell everyone of the Saviour, using every opportunity and employing every possible means.

This is my challenge to each one who is appointed by God to this Community of Faith.

Keep a prayer list of individuals you know are not believers, or friends and loved ones who are not active in the Faith.

Ask God to give you opportunity to speak to each one about your Faith.

Then, when opportunity is given (as will be given by God who answers prayer), speak boldly, inviting that individual to faith in Jesus the Lord.

This is nothing less than a practical application of the apostolic admonition to “honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks for the reason for the hope that is in you” [*1 Peter 3:15*].

A New Testament Church will integrate new believers into the Faith.

Those who profess Christ as Lord are to embrace openly the responsibility that attends the proclamation of faith through receiving baptism as one who believes.

Baptism is to be administered to all without prejudice.

Peter was as prejudiced against Samaritans as any good Jewish boy could be.

When Philip evangelised among the Samaritans and baptised those who believed, Peter and John travelled to Samaria to witness for themselves what God was doing.

There, the two apostles certified the work that Philip had accomplished through praying that the Samaritans would receive the Holy Spirit [see *Acts 8:4-17*].

However, Peter did not then set aside his prejudice.

Before he could fulfil the Great Commission by carrying the message of life to Gentiles, it was necessary for God to intervene through sending him a vision [see *Acts 10:9-17*].

When messengers from Cornelius arrived at the house of Simon the Tanner looking for Peter, the Apostle journeyed with them to Caesarea.

There, he delivered one of the great evangelistic messages recorded in Luke’s account of the advance of the apostolic church.

“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.

He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” [*Acts 10:34-43*].

If we will honour God, all whom God sends us must be welcome among us.

We must not receive them provisionally, as is the custom among so many churches; but we must accept each one without reservation.

Having received them into fellowship, we must hold them accountable, just as we are accountable to them to do all that Christ has commanded.

I caution you that the model adopted by many modern churches is unbiblical.

People are received provisionally, because they are joining a political entity; they are spoken of as “new Christians” for years by those who have been present longer.

However, the New Testament model is that God appoints whom He wills to a church, and each one so appointed is received as God’s divine gift.