James 2:1-13 (NKJV)

1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with partiality.
2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel,
and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit
here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at
my footstool,”
4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil
thoughts?

G4382 - partiality
προσωπολημψια
prosō polē mpsia; from G4381; respect of persons: - partiality (3), personal favoritism (1).

The above four verses should be in the “How to be an usher for dummies” handbook.
Seating people according to money is a SIN – plain and simple. In fact, seating people
with any kind of discrimination is sin.

This particular sin is rampant in charismatic faith churches. Having been around for 29
yrs and having been in hundreds of different conventions, meetings, and churches – I
have been witness to this over and over again. Making people stand outside of locked
auditoriums while ushers mark hundreds of seats as reserved. Reserved for whom?
Celebrities of course!

This is especially true of ministries that are televised. Great effort is made to reserve the
front sections for pre-selected good looking people who will show up well on camera. It
is sin – plain and simple.

5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich
in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you
into the courts?
7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself,” you do well;
9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as
transgressors.

For years I have been witness to this phenomenon. There are places where spirituality is
linked to a certain style of dress – having just the right hairdo or just the right style of
clothes. Those who fail to dress in the prescribed manner are denied promotion or places
of service. While we would never think to deny a black man a job as an usher because of
his skin color – we would deny that same job to a poor man who can’t quite get the
concept of matching suit and tie down pat.
We think in terms of money as the measure of a man’s worth. It isn’t. Money can be
made by all sorts of schemes such as high interest rates for poor people, outright fraud,
and bully tactics. Money can also be made in an honorable way. You can’t judge a man’s
character by his bank accounts.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of
all.
11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if
you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of
the law.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy
triumphs over judgment.

We would shudder to elect a man a leader in a church if he was a convicted child abuser,
yet we don’t think to ask about other issues of character. What if he owned a car
dealership that charged 25% interest to poor people? Doesn’t the bible condemn usury?

James is very clear that sin breaks the law of love. If we love our neighbor, we will treat
him with respect no matter if he has money or not. It’s time we end discrimination in our
churches – not just racial, but all types of discrimination.