Monday, April 4th, 2022 Evening Service - Guest Speaker Nick Staron on Not showing Favoritism

In one paragraph

Nick walked the congregation through James 2:1-13, the next passage in First Baptist Jackson's ongoing study of James. The message centered on one simple command: do not show favoritism. Show mercy instead. Nick opened by noting that the passage does not arrive out of nowhere. The previous week's teaching had already set the table, warning that religion without a controlled tongue is worthless,...

Read together

1. Job 33:4 quoted during worship to celebrate God as giver of life through the Spirit
2. James 1:26 recapped from last week about keeping a tight rein on the tongue and worthless religion
3. James 1:27 recapped from last week about pure religion caring for orphans and widows and staying unpolluted by the world
4. James 2:1-13 the main passage preached through, covering favoritism, the royal law, and mercy triumphing over judgment
5. Matthew 5:3-10 the Beatitudes read to color the theme of poverty in spirit and mercy
6. Proverbs 17:5 quoted to show God's view of those who mock the poor
7. Proverbs 19:17 quoted about being kind to the poor as lending to the Lord
8. Leviticus 19:15 quoted to balance the sermon, warning against showing partiality to poor or great but judging fairly
9. Matthew 8:5-13 referenced as the story of Jesus healing the centurion's servant, showing Jesus came for rich and poor alike

Talk about it

1. Nick said that Christians today are better known for judging than for showing mercy, and that he is guilty of that himself. Where do you see that tendency in your own life, and what does it cost the people around you?
2. The passage says God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith. Nick connected this to his time in the Philippines, where he noticed people with far less were significantly happier than he was. What do you think it is about hardship or poverty that can make it easier to hold on to faith?
3. Nick read from Leviticus that we are not to show partiality to the poor any more than to the great, and he used Jesus healing the centurion's servant as an example of Jesus extending grace to someone wealthy. How do you keep the call to care for the poor from tipping into a different kind of favoritism?
4. Nick talked about deleting his stock app and his YouTube app because they were pulling him away from his connection with Christ. What distractions in your own life make it harder to be the kind of merciful, unhurried person this passage is calling you to be?
5. Nick shared a moment in the church office where he caught himself holding a ledger over someone who needed help, and he stopped and asked that person for forgiveness. What would it look like practically, in your neighborhood or workplace, to replace that instinct to keep score with the mercy this passage says triumphs over judgment?