Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Anger
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Analytical
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Introduction
It is true that people are not ice cream.
If we were we would not last a second in this Texas heat.
Even though people are not ice cream we tend to have a preference we go to over the others.
We walk in the ice cream shop and look at the options, knowing exactly what we are going to get before we walk in.
We have a preference and we are prejudiced towards that choice.
We tend to do the same towards people.
We will look at people and make a prejudiced decision by their looks, much like we do with ice cream.
Prejudiced means a “prejudgment…form an opinion before knowing all the facts.”
We all have a personal favorite with ice cream and many other sweet treats.
We also have some people we rather be around than others.
We will pick people and avoid others only to miss something from them.
We can know that this is not the appropriate way to handle people by thinking if this is the way we want to be handled.
We can make sound and better decisions about people and when we sit aside our prejudices and thoughts.
General Robert E. Lee was a devout follower of Jesus Christ.
It is said that soon after the end of the American Civil War, he visited a church in Washington, D.C.
During the communion service he knelt beside a black man.
An onlooker said to him later, "How could you do that?" Lee replied, "My friend, all ground is level beneath the cross."
That is how we can be in all situations.
We can accept many people through the door of the church and love them and share truth and life with them and not let their looks or even life make us not accept them.
This is what we see in this section of James.
In James 2:1-13 we see,
We see many things in this that preference causes, and none are good.
The first thing we see is...
Preference By Appearance Corrupts (1-4)
Looking back to verse 19 and the quick to hear point, being quick to hear God’s word will help us to avoid favoritism.
We can become like these readers and become susceptible to partiality in oppressive circumstances–trials and tests, and show partiality in hope of assistance.
This may be understandable but it is unacceptable.
It is not how we should be.
If we are we have allowed preference by appearance to corrupt us.
We are no different than these readers of this letter.
We may have faced difficult situations and have financial difficulties.
We may have temptations from that to focus on wealth, which is what we see in this letter in Jas.4:13, and envious of the rich as in Jas.
2:2, and tempted to become worldly as in Jas 4:4.
This may lead us to think of God as miserly, unmerciful, or even an angry and unkind God.
That is why we are told to ask for wisdom in faith (Jas.
1:5-6) and do it without doubting, also why we are told to be quick to hear (Jas.
1:19).
When we do this, we can make appropriate decisions and not become judges with evil thoughts as verse four tells us.
Think of it like this scenario,
Imagine you are on the welcome committee at a church that has been experiencing an ongoing budget shortfall.
It is Sunday morning.
During the sermon, you look to your left and notice someone who must have slipped in after the service started.
He is well dressed in a hand-tailored suit, early fifties, with CEO hair.
After a moment, you remember he’s the owner of several large car dealerships in your area.
You glance around once again.
On the opposite side, in the back, you notice another new person.
He is wearing ragged clothing.
It is clear that he did not shower or shave for this day in church.
His eyes are bloodshot, and it looks like he had trouble rolling out of bed this morning.
He too looks familiar.
Where have you seen him before?
Oh, yeah!
He was the guy who recently changed your oil at the Quickie Oil Change.
No one is sitting close to him either.
The service ends.
Both men are leaving the church.
No one is talking to them.
Worse, they are headed out doors at opposite sides of the church.
You will only be able to catch up to one of them.
Imagine that whichever one you actually talk to will come back again next week and even start attending the church.
Who do you run after?
(Samra, Jim.
James, 1 & 2 Peter, and Jude (Teach the Text Commentary Series).
Grand Rapids: Baker, 30-31.
Kindle Edition.)
What do you do?
Which one do you go to?
How do you handle this situation?
Both need to be reached but most would instinctively go after the man with the money because the church can always use more money.
We make judgments based on appearance.
We do the opposite of God.
In 1 Samuel 16:7 Samuel is sent to anoint the new king.
He is looking at appearance and God tells him that He does n ot look on man as we do but He looks on the inside and sees them.
We cannot do that.
We can only see the outside.
That is what James is saying.
We do not need to judge based on that.
We are to see all people as the same and give each the same opportunity.
We can reach all people if we listen to the word and see that all are wanted by the Lord.
We can stand firm with the Lord and not allow sin in the church but allow people who are sinners in need to come in.
We can get both the shabby man and the rich man when we see both through the proper lens.
We get another person in the church to go to one and we to the other but we go to both the same way and not one over the other.
Because when we do...
Preference By Appearance Misdirects (5-7)
We are turned to three good questions now.
James asks is it not the poor that God has chosen to be rich in faith.
This is not saying the poor are better than the rich or anything else but it is saying that the poor trust God more and have a stronger faith because they have more trials and tests.
The wealthy can get out of much with their wealth and can become dependent on their wealth over God.
The poor will demonstrate to all that faith is more abundant than any wealth.
They do this through staying faithful and trusting God through it all because they have nothing else.
The wealthy may see that and then turn to that way.
Not only that, but the wealthy then were very oppressive and `used that to gain influence and their way.
As one commentator has written, “The word katadynasteuō (oppress) indicates acting in an oppressive way, using wealth to exercise power and influence over others for selfish ends.”
(Samra, Jim, 27).
These are the same who blaspheme as we see in verse 7, not because they are wealthy, nor that all wealthy people are this way, but they do so because they reject God because of their money.
They have all that is needed and that is all that matters.
They do not need God, they think.
I can attest to this because when I have visited the upper middle class neighborhoods and the upper class neighborhoods, they have no time for the Lord, but in the poorer ones, they have time and a need.
Why do we seek the wealthy over the poor?
Because we have bought into the idea that money can get us influence and power and if we only had more money in the church we could reach so many more.
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