See Say Show // James 2:1-9 // Talk Is Cheap 2 // Bianca Juarez

Speaking of which we launched a new series last week called talk is cheap because James tells us that talk is cheap But actions are expensive. He said don't just talk about it. I want you to be about it So last week we went through chapter 1 and you went through chapter 1 on your own through our free DF The resource that we produce so that you can go deeper than the Word of God throughout the week Why I want you to jump into this book I firmly believe that as James was writing years ago to a church It was facing persecution though. We are not facing the persecution that James and his friends were facing There's issues that we are facing and not just that we're facing in our life But issues that are facing our society see James is writing to a people group that we're facing severe persecution Severe persecution keep in mind. This is only 20 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ So all these people are coming together having been transformed by Jesus, but they don't know how to act so James gives them 27 things in just five chapters of the book of James he wrote one letter and addressed 27 things on how to be unified in Christ and so one of the things that he Pulls out that we are gonna pull out in chapter 2 is this concept of favoritism and prejudice now If I were to tell you are you prejudiced 99% of the room will say no And so I'm gonna do like an activity during the course of this teaching Uh, it's we're not gonna play this game, but there's this game that I love playing It's called fishbowl here at the Revere staff. We play it at every staff advance Fishbowl is kind of like charades by a show of hands. How many have actually played the game fishbowl. We raised your hand a couple Okay, good. Oh good now. All right, great So fishbowl is like charades except it's in three layers layer one You can use words you can use hand gestures and you could like sing songs Level two is that you could use hand gestures and use certain words and then in level three You can only do like hand gestures throughout the course of the game You are giving these signals and signs to identify what the word is My hope as we go through our time together Is that if we were to pull out the word favoritism from the fishbowl that you will know what it looks like What it sounds like and what it feels like because if we could hear it and we could see it and we could feel it We could change it because if there is favoritism, that was a ripe place for an amen

Some of you guys will give me cross-eyed Listen, we're gonna get into the Word of God and I firmly believe that if nobody has ever told you that favoritism should not exist Within a church then you have been duped and lied to this is not just James dropping dime and telling people how to live Oh, no. No my Bible boy from Paul the Apostle in Romans 12 He says this he says this in Romans 2 11 forgive me Romans 2 11 says this is on the screen For God does not show favoritism period Why does Paul address this? Why is James addressing this? Why does Jesus address this because they knew that? Favoritism divides and what we need to be as a community is unified The ultimate picture of unity is in the Godhead. It's modeled by by God himself Oneness is him. That's why he says in Genesis the book of Genesis. It's documented Let us Genesis to let us make man in our image Unity is wildly important. The enemy hates unity. That's why he's always trying to divide This is why Jesus said in John 17 He prayed Jesus prayed on your behalf and on my behalf that we would be united as one as he was one with the Father So bring out your notebooks your pens your highlighters, and I want you to jot down the title of today's message It's see it somebody say see it Say it somebody say say it. Oh you guys are ready. I love it. And then lastly show it See it say it show it jump with me in your Bibles to James chapter 2 James chapter 2 1 says this my brothers and sisters of Revere believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism So as you went through chapter 1 this week in your homework James doesn't want us to simply say that we're Christ followers He wants us to act like it. And so now he's gonna ask them to put their faith into actions Well context is needed context is needed We need to understand what was going on at that time that James felt so important to address this early on in the letter During this time the church was very segregated not just Jew and Gentile They're trying to figure out how to intermix and co-mingle but it wasn't just culturally segregated It was financially segregated as well. And James is like Hold up family. Ah, see that game that preferential game the game of favor

It's not gonna be played here in the in the walls of church. Why is he addressing this? Well during this time synagogues temples their church Would be segregated by finances Meaning What you had was demonstrated by where you sat your saddest was determined by your seat Could you imagine if you walked into revered church today? And everybody knew if you made from 1 million to 500 000 you sat in the first five rows bella You a baller. Yes, steve. You are rich. Everyone can see where steve sits. That's right And then if you made between 100 and 200 000 you were in the next five seats So hey jeremiah, guess what you balling you rich you rich dog. Yes. Yes, and he's single ladies ladies Okay, and then and then and then if you made between let's say 85 Thousand all the way up to 100 000 you're in the next Five seats and then if you made under 50 then you're in the last 30 rows Could you imagine? That's why james says favoritism should not exist James says that we must not show favoritism to certain people. So now with that context go to verse two James is going to show us so james says don't do this and then he's going to show us using this illustration Suppose a man comes to you 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 fine clothes and say here is a good seat for you You are gonna sit in the front row right here. Can I get you some water? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but you say to the poor man You said you said over there Or sit on the floor by my feet. Have you not discriminated amongst yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Let me ask you today What do you see? What do you see in this passage now? It's very interesting because when james says That there is a man with a gold finger I want us to pause for a second because I love how james speaks. He speaks to the common people We read this as a man walks in with a gold ring. It's not it The greek word is hapax h-a-p-a-x and that means gold fingered

In fact theologians say it wasn't even a word at the time. It is our version of bougie Do you know that bougie isn't a real word? It's a derivation derivation It's pulled from the word Bourgeoisie the upper middle class and so we can say a man walks in he's bougie This is hapax. James is saying a bougie man walks in he's dressed hgt head to toe. He's got the gucci He's got the lv. He's got the ysl He's got the porsche key lock hanging from his pocket like everybody knows. Oh that man that man is bad and bougie Oh, yeah. Yeah, and then he juxtaposes this with the man that is tore up from the floor up A man that's looking a little haggard a little raggedy and he's asking him and saying check your heart, bro Is that the behavior that we should have as christ followers? So let me ask you in here today What do you see? When you go to your cubicles when you go to your offices when you go to your university campuses when you go to church What do you see? Did you know that we make visual judgments immediately upon meeting someone That within the first seven seconds of meeting someone we judge their height their weight their skin color their eye Color their clothing and their accoutrements whether it's their purse or their shoes or their watch And we immediately make an assessment about who they are And the value that they could bring us that's social scientists at work giving us this data I have somebody that is close to me I was walking through a season of homelessness and addiction And I know this person is homeless and it's wrecking me inside I know this person is hungry and cold and it's wrecking me inside and so i've been praying for this person And I got to connect with this person randomly. They actually hit me up and uh, I looked at them and i'm like Hey, I think you're hungry Before you leave let's go to the market and I just want to buy you some groceries So we're walking through the market And it's my market. It's where I go every week. I know the butcher. It's where I bought my protein So I go I know his name and I say his name. Hey, what's up? Can I get some cold cuts and can I get some packages and and I walk away to get some additional elements?

But my brother who was with me who was homeless And living in addiction was waiting at the counter and the butcher behind the counter says Hey, you can't be here. You're not gonna buy anything. I'm gonna need you to leave To which I hear and I walk over And the defensive side of me wants to reach over the counter and cut somebody but then I remember i'm christian and uh, I said you're saved bianca. You're saved. Okay. Okay. Yeah It was called like a flesh flash where you forget That you are saved for 2.5 seconds and you're like i'm from east la. Let me remind you irvine. What can come out of me? Okay I said oh no That's my brother. He's with me I want to be upset but let's be honest That's the ways of the world That's what we expect. But if my brother, who is homeless and living out of his car, smells homeless, looks like an addict, comes into this room, and he's met with that hostility, you will have to fight me. I want this place to be a place where you can bring anyone in and not be judged by their clothing, by their smell, by their wealth, in any other direction, whether they look bad and bougie or broke and busted. I want this to be a place, because James is saying, if you say that you love Jesus, you need to act like it. Look at verse 2. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, a poor man wearing filthy clothes. Great. So let me put this in a visual example. Let me put this this way. I've taught on favoritism before, so I'm going to give this visual from a different lens.

Great. Great. I'm bringing out Pastor Cesar. I'm bringing out Sam. I want us to give us a visual through the lens of favoritism. So I know that football season just ended. Super Bowl was last week. So we're now in basketball season, so I want to give some props where props are due to the greatest basketball team of every time, the Los Angeles Lakers. Great. Great. Great. The state of California has multiple professional basketball teams. And so let's just use two, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Kings. And the Kings fans, they're diehard. I mean, they are. I don't know why. I don't know why, Jacob, but you guys are holding it. That's what we call faith, guys. Yeah. Great. Depending on what team that you are for, you are naturally and I am naturally, we are naturally attracted to people who look like us. We recognize the colors, purple and gold. We understand our history and where we come from and all of the championships that we have. And we get to say, that's my person. That's my team. You're amazing. You're awesome.

I like you. And to the person in the opposing jersey, we can look at them and say, you're a loser. Why are you like this? I can never be on your team. I can never cheer for you. And we make judgments upon what? What we see. What we see. The world is trying to tell you what to see and how to feel, period. Based on education, based on financial status, based on success, based on victories, based on height, based on eye color, based on sin color, based on weight. The world wants you to make assessments and James is saying, that's not how God wants you to see. No. In fact, when I was teaching about favoritism, I had something hit me. I was looking at a jersey and I realized in this jersey that if you pull out the tag, the tag has the manufacturer's label in here, which is wildly interesting because the name on the manufacturer for this jersey is the same manufacturer on this jersey. Please listen to me. Please listen to me. It doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside, where it is made is the same. And the person in the manufacturing plant doesn't get to say, I'm only going to put a label on this winner and not this team. No, no, no, no. The truth of the matter is, is that you and I, no matter what we look like or what is on us, there is a label on the inside of us that says image of God, right? So I can't look at one person, not the other and think differently. We're made by one. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, gentlemen.

Yes. Go Lakers. Right. Great. The truth is that we have the same label. Our skin might be different. Our political preference and political parties might be different. Our finances, our finances, why did I say it like that? Put the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable. Our finances might be different. Jesus did not play favorites. He didn't come just to the perfect and the polished and the pretty. When the religious people told him who he could and could not associate with, Jesus said, I'm going to have dinner with the sinners. It's like the rebel in him is like, where's the line now, guys? When the religious people at the time said, oh, you do not hang out with women. You cannot talk to Samaritans. You cannot go there. Jesus went and sat at a well at noonday and looked at a woman with dignity and spoke to her and changed her life. And Jesus is like, where's the line now, guys? When people said that Jesus shouldn't be hanging out with those people, Jesus went to hang out with them and not just to set them free, but to have them walk in liberty. Why? Because Jesus didn't play favorites and neither should we. And you would think that the disciples, the 12 followers of Jesus who learned under Jesus, they walked with him for three and a half years. They walked with him. They ate with him. They talked with him.

They learned from him. You would think that after watching Jesus go to the highways and to the byways, to the lame and to the maim and to the bad and the bougie, guess what? You would think that since they had an up-close visual of how Jesus lived, that favoritism and prejudice wouldn't be an issue for them. And yet, He's seen the book of Acts that Peter has this beautiful learning lesson Even though that he had walked with Jesus and he saw that Jesus didn't have preferential treatment Peter demonstrates that he had issues in Acts chapter 10 We are told that there is a Gentile man by the name of Cornelius now Peter is told to go to Cornelius his house Here's the problem Cornelius is a Gentile and Peter is a Jew good Jews. Don't go to Gentiles house So so he's having some confliction like there's no way God. There's no way you're gonna go to the Gentiles. There's no way There's still judgment and there's still issues within his heart But then something happened He obeyed God He went to Cornelius his house and the presence of God was so evident among the Gentiles that this is what he says in Acts 1034 don't turn there. It's on the screen. Then Peter began to speak. I Now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism Peter would have seen Jesus Obliterate favoritism and obliterate judgment and yet he was still wrestling with favoritism and prejudice in his own heart Now before we judge Peter, I pray that we have an eye-opening experience I pray that we have an eye-opening experience today and realize whether we want to admit it or not Whether it's actualized and realized or completely ignorant of it. We have bias and prejudice in our heart I've been serving the Lord for many years and I realized that I Still have issues that I'm working through and I'm in the room of this size I think there's maybe some people in here that are prone to say Oh me. Oh I'm not prejudice. Oh, I love everybody. I have no issues. Maybe you're thinking me. No. No, I don't judge But it's not until we pause and evaluate and take an emotional temperature where we're able to actually look inside and address Where are the issues that I have towards people? What are the judgments I have towards people? What's the anger the bitterness or the bias that I had to have towards people?

I had shared last week that I started 2025 going through the book of James and I was so convicted I ended up spending an entire year in James for my personal devotions every single day reading through the book of James every day Every day every day because I realized if I cannot put into practice the principles of James Why am I gonna go forward if I can't get loving Jesus right like this then I'm doing this wrong Now when I I have to confess when I got to this portion in James chapter 2 I kind of glossed over it because I'm sitting there like preferential Judgmental live on me. Absolutely. Not. No, not me. I love the Lord what I Unintentionally had absorbed generationally was good in principle but bad in practice I Generationally picked something up from my grandmother who gave it to my mother who then gave it to me And I want to stop the insanity right now I'm gonna confess to you that I was super wrecked by this now in my household Grandma and mom always said you dress your best for church. You bring your best to Jesus That is so great in practice, but if we're not careful in principle, it could look like preferential judgment In fact when I say that like I like mom was super serious about this one time for church when I was a kid My legs were ashy and she made me lick my hand and then touch my legs to get the ash off of my legs Okay, pray for her. She needs Jesus. She needs Jesus. Okay Without realizing it. I think I had subconsciously low key high key would look at people and assess it But the old church we went to was in a place. It was it was in Newport It was very fancy and I would see people who I know I know they have a great office job And I'm like, I know you can't dress like that to work or girlfriends. I'm like girl I know you got dressed up for a date You're gonna look all busted and crusted to church or you're gonna have a girl's night or a hangout with your friends You're gonna go do something out on the streets and you're gonna get dressed up But you're gonna show up to church with I crusties. I could not I could not but as I was setting the book of James I began to get very convicted because I don't want to be that person Because the truth of the matter is is I don't know what that person is going through

So I don't wanna bring judgment What if what if church is the one place that this person feels like they don't have to be fake or wear a facade What if this is the one place that someone says I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not What if that morning they were so utterly depressed that the only thing they could muster up was just to roll out of bed and come to church in their bed pants and This is the place that was gonna give them hope Far be it for me to bring judgment But then let's pause What if they got turned up last night? What if they were hungover? What if they came in in their bed pants? So what they're here in the house of God. We need to applaud that Yes If we're not careful we can even become self-righteous about our lack of favoritism as if we deem what is okay and what is not okay if somebody's in the house of God We should have no preferential treatment against it as a pastor and a leader in this community I know that there's people in this room that feel invaluable. They don't feel like they have any value I know that there's people in this room that feel like you do not fit in because you don't have that car you live in That zip code you wear have those shoes There's people in this room that feel unqualified because you didn't go to that school or that University I want you to hear me ever so clearly you matter to God And not only do you matter to God? You need to know as a leader in this community that you are wanted Regardless of the wealth that you wear you have value and I say this because I have lived in Orange County for 16 years and you could have all the wealth in the world and still feel worthless So I don't want us To perceive somebody in higher or lower places just simply by the way that they look look at verse 4 Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? James is saying hey, you're at you're acting with earthly eyes and it's causing you trouble But when you see with God's eyes all that other stuff the worldly accoutrements, it's irrelevant. It doesn't matter It doesn't matter. So I have to ask you again

What do you see because 1st Samuel 16 7 says that man looks on the outward but God looks on the inward So what do you see Revere? Do you see somebody's possessions or you do you see them for the person that God has created them to be? Do you see them for their behavior or do you view them as a brother? Do you see them from the external or do you see them from the internal if we're going to stop and deal with the vision In the church, we have to change what we see and when we change what we see it changes what we say look at verse 3 if You show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say here's a good seat for you But say to the poor man you stand there or sit on the floor by my feet James Goes further to talk about favoritism. Remember, this is fishbowl I'm going to tell you it's not just the things that we're thinking or the things that we see It's also the things that we say James is recognizing that Favoritism affects your speech. What do you say? And now that you've seen how it's affecting what you're saying I let it be very clear the enemy wants to come in and divide with what we say Because what you're seeing is wrong what you're saying becomes wrong Favoritism is a language that is exclusive but unity is inclusive Do you know it's damaged so many churches clicks Now I want to pause for a second because I do want to acknowledge What happens when you run with alongside with someone is that there's natural chemistry and energy and a connection point So if you see people serving on a serve team, you're like, oh, wow, they're so close or they have such great relationships Maybe it's because they're rolling up at 5 a.m. To set up for church If you see somebody like all that group always hangs out Maybe they're a community group and what I will testify and tell you is that if you want to get involved Don't let anything to exclude you from that if you want to be part of this community, you're like nobody knows my name I've been coming here for a year, but you come in and you leave out of the service whose fault is that baby? Well, you got you got to put out if you want to get some poured in you know I'm saying you don't feel like you have community get into a community group

You don't feel like you're being used or seen or no. Nobody knows my name. Hey, why don't you just join with us? Rock with us. So there's natural groupings that happen, but if If we Intentionally exclude people and avoid people or talk about people or judge people that's not revering God That's not revering God's Word and that's not revering God's people. Therefore. It is not revere That is not how we act here and because we have to deal with favoritism Oh, we have to deal with favoritism because it changes not only what we say But it changes what we see the enemy wants to divide and when he's got us divided he's got us against each other So are you analyzing what you say? Do you find yourself saying those people are such bad drivers? Do you find yourself P? Oh, those people are always late. Well got real tight up in here. No one wants to laugh. Oh Those people are super organized or those people are they love to party. They're bad with their money those people though Do you find yourself saying those things? Well, what do you see? What do you say? Finally what do you do look at verse 8 and 9 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 sin and are Convicted by the law as lawbreakers So, how do you know or how do you remain unified? we show the love to our neighbor as We show the love to ourselves We let our love go deeper. We let our love Love go wider we beat the enemy at his own game And I don't listen I don't care what our neighbor looks like what our neighbor sounds like the political party for our neighbor I want us to be known for people who continually love I may not agree with you But i'm going to love you as christ because here in this house. We're family You may not look like me. You might think like me you might live where I live, but i'm gonna love you like christ Now here's the thing james is giving us a narrative and the narrative is within the walls of this house We're family and that's not what we do But there's a meta narrative that we as believers need to hold on to

And the meta narrative that is here is that if there is division and if there's bias and if there's prejudice and if there's judgment And you say that you are a believer of jesus that is incongruous So the narrative is hey in this house, these are the rules But when we go out of here I want the world to know that the people of revere love god with their heart their mind their soul and their life Because we are not going to follow the way of the world. We're going to follow the kingdom way Can we decide not to have favorites? When we see it may we stop it When we say it May we confess it? May we show what the world what true love looks like An action is needed for that. Look at james 2 14 What good is it? the people of revere If someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds can such faith save them love Finds a way for us to have a conversation to move forward as one Love finds a way when difference wants to divide us But are we going to be people that fight for unity and fight for oneness and fight? Not just as revere But as the body of christ different churches from different backgrounds and different denominations Can we not look at them and fight and war against them or think that we're better or think no no Can we come together? Let us not segregate or judge or divide but can we be a house where mercy triumphs over judging? God is asking us in this family to not have favoritism So today we're going to do business I want you to see If you have judged or harbored favoritism or prejudice in your heart And then I want you to say it and confess it And then I want you to show the world what love is

So i'm actually creating space in service for two responses And the responses are this By the way, let the baby cry. It's all good. It's all good actually We should probably take a cue Can we mourn and lament and cry over the issues that we've had towards other people in this house? Can we cry out to the lord today with such a grievance like I confess to you lord i've judged that church I've judged that person. I've judged that girl. I've judged that guy. I've judged them Can we just say that's not the way of jesus? And then after we we just do some self-reflection and introspection and apply the word of god to our lives There's gonna be an invitation for you to receive the way of love to receive forgiveness from jesus But right now I just want us to Humor me for a second I want us to calm our hearts and I want us to calm our minds And so i'm going to invite you to take a deep breath in And I want you to say jesus and then slowly let it out and say speak Let's do that again big breath in Jesus breathe it out speak If you feel comfortable, I want you to bow your head and close your eyes because I want you to actually Do a heart check An emotional temperature check if you will. We have a fever. We put our hand to our head to see if if we're well If you feel comfortable, I want you to grab a hand to your heart And ask Lord, where have I gotten it wrong? Where have I judged? Where have I not applied your word? I'm reading your word. Where have I not applied it? and god Forgive me So If you're here in this space today, and you know the spirit of god has spoken to you and you have had

issues favoritism cliques judgment prejudice biases racism Will you do me a favor? Will you raise your hand and admit? And in doing this we are confessing By raising our hands we're saying god, I need you to look at me right now and I take ownership. It's my fault I'm, sorry. Will you forgive me? God in this posture of confession We come before you and say we got it wrong We've had judgment in our hearts and biases in our hearts and we ask that you forgive us jesus Will you do it only you? can do, transform us, fill us with your love so that we can learn how to love others. In Jesus' name, amen. And in this sacred space with every head bowed and eyes closed to create a sacred space, if you're here today and you've never said yes to Jesus, you're hearing about the way of love and the life of Jesus and you're wrecked because you've never heard that there's a God who loves you and has a plan for you, today is the day of salvation. Or maybe at one point you were walking with God but you've turned your back, you know that you're in sin, you know that there is deep darkness within, that you want to confess before the Lord and repent and come back to a right relationship with him, today is the day of salvation. If you're here today and you've never said yes to Jesus or this is your moment to come back in faith, I'm going to count to three and one, by raising your hand you are saying I want Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Two, by raising your hand you are saying my mistakes and my failures, what the Bible refers to as sin and transgression can be forgiven because of what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary. And three, what Romans 10 says, the same spirit that resurrected Jesus from the grave will live in you, so if that is you and you're saying yes to Jesus for the first time or you're repenting and coming back, one, two, three, will you boldly raise up your hand, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, oh yes God, thank you Lord Jesus. If you're a part of the online family, you can put in the chat box someone will see you, there's some resources we want to give you, but for those that boldly raised your hand, whether you were saying yes to Jesus for the first time or you're coming back in faith, we're going to pray a prayer of faith with you to let you know that you are not alone in this

decision. There's a family of believers, we're jacked up, but we love Jesus, we're gonna do this together to let you know we're not alone, we're gonna pray this prayer of faith. In fact, I'm gonna invite everyone, if you will please stand with me to your feet, because we're going to invoke the mighty matchless name of Jesus, and people are making a bold declaration that we want this seed to go deep into their heart, and we want a war against what the enemy is saying. No, there's no better way than the way of Jesus, and so will you repeat after me and follow those who are making a stand to say yes to Jesus. Can we repeat out loud, dear Jesus, forgive me of my sin, today I choose you as my Lord and my Savior, cleanse my heart, cleanse my mind, cleanse my body, fill me with your Spirit to do what I cannot do, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Can we give God a clap offering, a noise that will make heaven rejoice, and if you feel comfortable, I want the Word of God that has prepared our heart for worship to take seed, so don't leave, don't leave, you got two minutes. I want us to declare that God's way is better, the world will tell us one way, but God's way is better, God's way is better, so I don't care your background, what you think, how you act, you're conservative, I want you to sing, the lyrics are on the screen, I want you to sing out this song and declare, God, your way is better, God, we come before you, we ask that this seed is planted in our heart, the enemy cannot remove it, we choose today, Lord God, one more day, one more week, one more year, one more decade of chasing after you, Jesus, change us and transform us, your way is indeed better, we worship you, God, in Jesus' name, amen, let's worship, let's shake up the room, church, let's shake up the room, church, his way is better, can you worship him? Come on, church.