What Does Your Life Teach About Jesus

If you’ve ever wondered why someone hesitates before walking into a church, James 2 gives a blunt answer: favoritism and subtle bias can turn God’s house into a place that feels unsafe. We start with the uncomfortable picture James paints a rich man gets the best seat while a poor man is pushed aside and we call out how modern versions of that same partiality still show up through clothes, tattoos, grooming, money, and social status. 

We also sit with a question we hear all the time: “Will I be welcome there?” That one line exposes how many people feel disconnected, judged, or talked about, and it forces us to look in the mirror instead of pointing at someone else. We bring in why research like Barna’s finds outsiders often describe Christians as judgmental and hypocritical, especially younger adults, and we clarify the difference between accountability that restores and judgment that nitpicks preferences and first impressions. 

Then James turns the corner to action: faith without deeds is dead. We talk prayer, practical help, and why a living faith actually moves toward people in need. From Abraham to Rahab, James uses an unexpected contrast to prove that nobody earns a seat at the table by image, background, or reputation only by trusting God in a way that changes what we do. If this challenged you, share the episode, subscribe, and leave a review, and tell us: what makes a church feel genuinely welcoming?

Transcript

Mic Check And A Kitchen Wipeout

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So we've been going to the the book of I know Jessie's work on I don't even know. I don't know what that is. I can yell louder, but I mean I'm um I see you hilarious. Wow. Not even That's fine. I don't like my own voice that much, but that's good. So oh okay, that is too loud because I'm gonna like cry. But not really. That sounds good. By the way, I learned something yesterday. Um falling in your kitchen at 20 is not nearly as painful as falling in your kitchen at 40. Um so if you see me limping, mind your business, I'm fine. Uh no, I I wiped out coming in our kitchen door because the floor was wet. After I told the kids not to fall, because the floor was wet, I walked in and like full sale across it. But uh we've been going to the book of James, and and if I'm honest, I don't like the book of James. Primarily because James is very blunt about what it means to be a Christian. And we talked about this last week. He's he's dealing with a church, uh, an early church, and he's dealing with some of their attitudes, the way that they live, the things that they do. Uh he doesn't waste any time. Right? He gets right to the point of everything. He's writing to the believers and persecution. Uh in chapter one, kind of recap that he says, you're counting all is joy when you meet trials of various kinds. Don't don't worry about when things are happening, be joyful. Um he says, enjoy suffering, which no one wants to hear that, but but he says, enjoy suffering, but recognize the God who uses trials to produce uh perseverance in you. So this faith is tested and endurance grows, and endurance leads believers towards spiritual maturity and completeness.

Why James Feels So Blunt

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So the chapter one is James saying, listen, understand the trials you're going through. But grow up. Like you and I are called to become mature, and I talked about this last week with my kids. Our expectation for our kids is to grow up, to not stay the same way that they were. We had a conversation yesterday with one of our kids, and I was telling them, you know, I know that you don't like the things that I ask you to do, but I'm trying to make sure that when you get married, your wife doesn't hate you because you can't run the vacuum. Like those are important things. And and I say that jokingly, but but there's an expectation. So that's what James goes through. It says, Grow up. Don't be worried about trials. It says, Don't don't blame God for your temptations, the things that you struggle with. They come from within you. That that's a burden that you and I bear, that we struggle with those things. Don't blame God. Everything good comes from God. The things of this world that are bad are not from him. The things that we struggle with are not from him. And then towards the end of chapter one, he says, listen, watch your mouth. Watch your what you say, watch your tongue, be careful of the words that come out of your mouth. These things are important. And he's he's giving practical information for ways to live as a Christian. And the reason that I say that I have a hard time with the book of James is because it confronts a lot of the way that we handle ourselves sometimes as Christians. But he's specifically saying, listen, if you are a follower of Christ, these are expectations that are meant for you. And again, the book of James is difficult because if we're honest, it is so easy for you and I to look at everyone else and tell everyone else what their sin is. But looking in the mirror is hard. James even talks about this that you know a foolish man looks in the mirror and looks away and forgets who he is. He's saying a foolish man looks at the word of God and doesn't learn from it. So now we get into chapter two. This is probably one of my favorite chapters, and James starts off, and again, he starts off strong. He says, My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious, our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, he says, to the believers of Jesus. He doesn't start with an ethical question, he starts with a theological statement. He says, to the those who believe in the glory of our Lord, they must not show favoritism. He says, Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing the clothes and say, Here's a good seat for you, but you stay to the poor man, you stand there or sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminated among yourselves to become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, 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

Favoritism In Church Is Sin

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inherit the kingdom he promised those who love it. But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are escorting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you in the court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name to him to who you belong? If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sit and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and gets fumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said you shall not commit adultery, also said you shall not murder. If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful because mercy triumphs over judgment. And he he says it so plainly, he says, if you show favoritism, you have sin. You you talk about the rich man, you you give him the best place to sit in the church, the person who's gonna tithe the most, and yet these are the people who are exploiting you. They're taking advantage of you. And yet you tell the poor man, the person who comes in dressed in rags, to go sit on the floor or sit at your feet. He says, this is not how it's supposed to be. It cannot be this way. He says, if you do this, if you treat people differently, simply because of how they look, you're sinning. And again, that that that's one of those harder conversations because none of us want to think that we mistreat people, but we do. And a lot of times it's it's subtle. Like I've never I've never had anyone come up to me in church and say, I don't want you here. At least not yet in my life. That might happen someday. But but I've had people come up to me in church when I was younger, and they're like, Oh, you have tattoos. And then they walk away. And I'm like, are you complimenting me on them? What's happening? I I I've walked into churches and I've had people this is the weirdest one with me. Oh, you have a beard, you're not clean shaven. And I'm like, I I didn't realize that disqualified me. But but but that's all I'm saying is like we we have these subtle nuances, right? We we don't actively ignore people, but we don't include them either. We're not getting, you know, going out of our way on Sunday after church to invite so and so to lunch because we already have plans with somebody else. Listen, that that that's what James is, he's calling it what it is. He says if you use partiality to anyone based on what they look like or based on what you think their status is, you have sinned and you need to repent. Is this not what God, this is not what God wanted. This is not his intention is to make people feel less than. Because that that's where we have to guard ourselves. You know what one of the hardest conversations that that I have, and it happens more and more, and you know, people reach out and they'll ask about our church, and and the one thing that I almost get asked consistently is, will I be welcome there? And listen, I know why they're asking that. It's not your fault. It's it's it's the way the world, other Christians have treated them. It might not even be a church, but but but maybe they've come across someone who's a Christian who looks down on them or speaks poorly of them or gossips about them. And so they look at the church and their question is valid are people gonna love me there? Because let me and John kind of talked about this a little bit, the idea of being connected. The the number one reason that people stop coming to the church when they don't come back is they feel disconnected. They feel like no one cares about them. And and so the the problem with this whole idea is you and I are called to serve a God who died for the sinners, who died for everyone, and yet we treat people as if we have the right to say whether or not they belong here or not. The most beautiful thing about the church is that there's room for everybody. That that's the reason why I started going to church. I I was one of those people that that couldn't see myself going to church because of the life that I lived, the things that I did, the mistakes that I was making. But but I found people who met me where I was. And and so that my whole life, there's one question that is always stuck with me, and I ask it of myself almost every day. If someone were to judge Christianity by the way that I live my life, what conclusions would they reach about Jesus? If if I was the only Christian that people ever met, what would they assume God is like? Would he be loving? Would he be merciful? Would he be interested in who I am as a person? Would he understand my struggles? Or would he talk about me? Would he gossip? Would he make me feel less? It's not about this idea of being perfect, but but James is addressing the problem with humanity. You and I, we label people whether we'd like to or not. You and I, and science tells us this uh you know, the idea of the science of first impressions, a lot of times in the first 10 minutes we decide what kind of people people are. The problem is that science has proved that that's flawed. Because you and I meet people for 10 minutes and think we know everything about them, and so your brain starts to categorize people, but that's not how this works. Every person is a child of God. When Jesus died on the cross, he didn't go and put himself to death and say, Well, today I pick you. Today I pick you. No, he said, God, forgive them. Forgive all of them. My death, my sacrifice was meant so that everyone could come to me.

Will I Be Welcome There

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I was doing some research this week, and and I don't think this is news to us. Uh, recent Barna research found that many people outside the church describes Christians as judgmental and hypocritical while questioning whether Christians genuinely love each other. Nearly half of the people who were questioned came with the same answer that we as a church, and I'm not saying us as a whole, but just the entirety of the church, we are judgmental and hypocritical, and they're not even sure that we care about each other. This is highest among millennials. By the way, if you wonder why younger people aren't in the church, this could be it. They they they question because they hear this this idea of this God who loves them, who shows them mercy and grace, and then they find us, and we treat them like they never should have walked through our doors. Now, now understand there's a difference between holding someone accountable and holding and being judgmental. Holding someone accountable is when I hold them to the standard they're supposed to be living as a Christian. So I'll use Jesse as an example. If Jesse is living in sin as my brother, my job is to go to him and tell him and help him overcome that sin. Right? That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm restoring him. Now, if Jesse's drinking a grape energy drink, judgmental is saying he can't come here until he throws it away. Because grapes growth. I said, I say that jokingly, but but a lot of times those are how we judge people. By their first impression or something they're doing, or their behavior, or way their hair cut, or whatever you're talking about. But but that's not that's different, right? James is saying, don't do that. Everyone deserves a seat at the table. Not just you, not just me. Whatever. And and it's really easy for you and I to we can look at that and say, well, the world, the world just doesn't get us. Like that's that's their that's their problem, right? Like, we're not like that at all. But here's the thing. In my experience, there's a little bit of truth in everything. If people aren't coming to us as Christians, as new believers, if they're not coming to our church because we're judgmental or hypocritical, it doesn't mean that they get to define how we live our life, but it means that we should take note of those things. What what what barriers are are we allowing to get in the way of other people finding Jesus? Because that that's what James is concerned about. He's not worried about the reputation of the church. God will take care of that. What he is worried about is are we living in such a way that we are denying people access to meet and interact and get to know the Christ who is crucified for them. So it says, don't be partial. I was thinking about this recently. I did a I sent out like an anonymous survey on Facebook. And so the information I'm sharing, I really have no idea who it came from. Uh so if someone hears this and you think I'm coming for you, I promise I have no idea. Like, so don't get mad. So one of the questions uh in the in the survey was asking specifically about me, which I shouldn't have done, but I did because I was curious. And so one of the questions was about Sunday morning service, and whoever wrote this, they said that his sermons lack depth and they lack the ability to be practical, and they're not encouraging to me. And I was like, well, that's a bummer. And listen, my my initial reaction was I was hurt by that. Because I was like, I I think that there's a lot of depth to what I do. I I mean, I I I pray a ton about the things I'm preaching on. I I trust what God is doing in my life. I I I realize that sometimes I can be repetitive. By the way, I don't know if you read the Bible. It's fairly repetitive. Same things keep coming up, right? And and so my initial reaction wasn't to be offended. And I could I could write that person off and say, they don't know what they're talking about. But that's immature. That's what children do. And and so I had to start digging a little bit. And I started praying and and I started asking God, what what is it in this statement that's true? What do I need to work on? I went through the last four years of my sermons. You know, what have I preached on too much? You know, am I being encouraging? Am I being bold? Am I offering people practical ways of how to live their life? And and so I've I've tried to re-address, I've tried to address some

Judgmental Vs Accountable Christians

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of those things. Because here's what I know I don't think I'm a bad preacher, but there's always room to get better. Always. Like we are constantly growing. And so that that's what James is saying. Don't miss the opportunity to grow and mature in your faith. Because that's that's the danger of all of this. Is we can read this and think, well, James isn't talking to me. I I I had someone say this to me a couple times, and they were like, um, and I got done preaching, and then walked up to him, and they said, Man, I wish my husband was here. He needed that. And I was thinking, yep, but so did you. Because that that's the reality, right? Where it's easy for us to look at other people and say, Well, yeah, you you need to stop showing favoritism. You need to stop using your tongue for poor things. But but James isn't worried about the whole, he is worried about the individual. He says, Listen, grow up, stop showing favoritism, don't treat each other different, show each other respect. It doesn't matter where someone comes from because at the foot of the cross the ground is level. Everyone belongs. Jesus has made a way, he has invited the world to participate in this thing that you and I are part of. This is not our church, it's his church. It's never been our church. Everyone is welcome. That's how it's supposed to be. Having chooses to wrap up the end of chapter two is fascinating. Starting in verse 14. It says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but he has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food, and if one of you says to them, Go in peace, keep warm, well-fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by accident, is dead. The moment that I read that, the one thing that I consistently think of is, and listen, I'm not I'm not taken away from that. I I believe in prayer is the most important thing in the world. I think praying and trusting God. But a lot of times you and I have the ability to help people, and all we do is we say, Hey, we'll pray for you. We don't go out of our way to help them, to to give them what they need. That's what James says. What if you, if you have a brother and sister who's hungry, what good is it to have them leave and say go and peace, be warm and welcome? Like that that's not, again, it's not supposed to be your faith. The faith that you have in Christ is supposed to produce action in you and I. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God? Good. Even the demons believe that, and they shut it. You foolish a person. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son to Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was credited in his righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that person, see that uh you see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. And then he ends this chapter. He says, In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute, considered righteous for what she did, when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Criticism That Leads To Growth

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What a contrast. Abraham, a patriarch of the faith, the man who found that started the nation of Israel, the one who God used to build a green nation. I mean, so much came out of his life. Abraham is was like the example of what a good Christian would be. He did everything he was supposed to. He lived a life that would rattle most of us. So much so that if he was willing to give up his son, he trusted God. He had such great faith. And then James says, and Rahab the prostitute. How do you go from Abraham, the patriarch of a nation, to a prostitute? A Gentile, one of that. But James says, because of her willingness to trust God, because of her willingness to hide, despise, she was considered righteous. I love this contrast because he starts talking about a rich man and a poor man. Says, you church, you're showing favoritism. You're not even letting them sit on a pew. This this man who doesn't look departed. And he ends by saying that Abraham and Rahab entered to the kingdom of God. Both were equally welcome because their faith produced actions, and because of their actions, they were considered righteous. It didn't matter who they were, it didn't matter what their name was, it didn't matter what their background was, all that mattered was at the right moment they trusted God with their life. Abraham and Rahab the prostitute. How many of us could honestly say that if a prostitute came into our church, we wouldn't whisper about her? How many of us could could honestly say that if someone showed up to church and and they smelled a little off, we wouldn't talk about it? James calls this thing. Do not show philotism, do not show partiality. Because Jesus died for all of them. And and and that's such a difficult thing sometimes. Because

Faith Without Deeds Is Dead

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our our our nature is to try to protect and preserve. But our pursuit of God can't exclude the people who need God. That's not a church. That's a social club. That's not why Jesus died so that you and I could sit and feel pretty on a Sunday morning. He died so that when the prostitute shows up, she can still find Jesus the same way. Right? And and and that's why this matters so much. And I think that's why it's such an important conversation for James to have. I think it's such an important conversation for us to have. Because here's here's what I've learned. The world is a whole lot messier than it used to be. Lines have been drawn in the stand that should have never been drawn. People are doing things and living things and making decisions that even 20 years ago would have seemed so far-fetched to us. It's getting harder. Sometimes it's getting harder and harder to be like Jesus in a world that doesn't want him there. But it doesn't change the mission. It doesn't change our focus. Yeah, if you've been in our church long enough, one of the things we have, and like Cody has our shirt on, it's on the back of the shirt, and it's just helping people refocus on Jesus. Listen, that that's the whole point. Like if I had to sum up the entire mission of the church, that's it. It's not to get people to come to our church, it's not to get people to study more and learn their Bible. That's part of discipleship. Our goal is to help people focus, refocus their life on Jesus. The perfect sacrifice, the one who accomplished salvation for humanity. And if you've been in any kind of relationships long enough with people, it's not easy. Church is messy, man. I know. We all come on Sunday mornings and we put on our best face and we smile and we act like there's no problems and none of us are struggling. It's just not true. But that's the beauty of it. God expects us and understands that we come to him as broken people in need of grace. And James even says it that mercy triumphs over judgment. Always. I've said this before, but you and I are we're not gatekeepers to the kingdom. We don't get to decide who finds Jesus and who doesn't. Because if that's the case, Rahab the prostitute, we're never made it. And it comes back to being so kingdom-minded. If we see people the way God sees them. And so there's nothing wrong with trying to part of that is maturity and growing. And I've talked about this. And we're supposed to grow, right? We're supposed to help people. We don't want them to stay where they were. That's not the point. But James says to the believers, do not show favoritism in the church. Because the same Christ who died for you died for them. Your patriarch Abraham was considered righteous. He was a prostitute. Because what made them righteous was their relationship and their faith in the God that you now serve. So that's the question, right? If people were to judge Jesus by the way that I live my life, what conclusion would I come to? If you're the only Jesus that someone ever sees, what are they gonna think about it? I'm not saying that that every critique

Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment

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of the church is valid. There's a lot of truth to it, too. My prayer every day is that we race all of that. Because I'm either helping people get closer to Jesus or I'm pushing them further away. There's no one between