NOV 9 2025 | Storm Proof: A Study in James S1E7 | A Study of James

Sea Change Church · Storm Proof: A Study in James · "A Study of James" Pastor Joshua Pigg · November 9, 2025
James 2:1-13
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

my brothers show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in. And if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say you sit here in a good place while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brothers has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith, in heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him. But you have dishonored the poor man are not the rich ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court. Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

You are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors for whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not murder. If you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak. And so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty for judgment, is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. This is the word of the Lord. Well, good morning, church. Uh, so excited to be here with you this morning. Uh, my name is Joshua. I am the campus pastor here. As I previously said, uh, I'm so excited to kind of bring the word today as Patam and a couple of our other team members are away right now. But before I do that, and I, I actually actually asked Pastor Adam if it was okay if I, uh, said something.

And what I'm about to say is not something that we typically do at our church. So just bear with me, uh, uh, when I talk about this. But, um, yesterday I was on a hike and, um, as I'm on my hike and I go to this, this specific place I love to go to and just really sit and just let God just minister to me and the Holy Spirit minister through me. And, um, as I'm sitting there, I see often the distance. There's this lake, uh, there and in the lake it's a group of white birds.

And I'm like, why is I took a picture of, I have it on my phone actually. 'cause I was just like, man, that's just, it is just gorgeous. And as I'm looking at it, I then see that the birds, like, there's like this divide and it's, is split all right with these birds. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. But then as I'm still sitting there for about 30 minutes, you start to see the birds are going to different places and they're all kind of scattered around.

And I ho I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, he was like, warn the church to be careful about division. And, and this is not, this is not, uh, geared to anyone. This is the sea change church, the body of Christ. 'cause it's so easily to be deceived, uh, when so much is going on in the world. And we have to be very careful of how we seek God's face in this time, in this season. Because the devil would not want anything more than to see a church divided.

'cause he could destroy that church. So I want to bring that message today. And this this message is for me too as well. I'm not above what the Holy Spirit speaks through me at this time, but I, I really want us to make sure that especially as we're going into a different season and in a different time, that we are unified. And unif unification doesn't always mean you agree on everything, but the Holy Spirit is doing something that see change church, and we have to just go for it.

It's not gonna always be pretty. But I do know this one thing that I love this church. I love every single person here. And I would hate for what God has been doing here for almost a hundred years to be destroyed because we are divided. Amen. Thank you Lord. Um, so let's get into the word now. That was not the message, but we'll get into the word now. Oh man. Uh, so we are back in this series, storm Proof, which, uh, if you, this is the first time at the church.

We did this some months ago. And, uh, my friend Pastor Harry was like, let's do it again. I was like, let's do it. So we decided to go to James two. And, uh, just to give you guys a back little, little background on, uh, this particular, uh, chapter within a Bible and a little bit about James. This is the James that is the half brother of Jesus Christ. Right? And if you remember last time I said, I was like, if I'm the brother of Jesus Christ, half brother Jesus Christ, like I'm letting everyone know that, right?

Just simple as that. But James does not do that at all when he writes this letter to some Jewish, uh, tribes who are, who have been scattered abroad to different places. So they're all over the place right now. So I want you to kind of get into, uh, just, just think for a minute of what, how would you be feeling in this time if everything you had is now just taken away from you and you are trying to figure out how to kind of restart life all over again?

And maybe some of you have experienced that we had to move to a whole different place. But James points out some things that they should do or should not do. And one of those things is to know, to have no favoritism, to show no partiality. And with this particular, uh, chapter, there's three things I want us to take away from this, uh, this scripture. The first is this. You must not show favoritism in your faith. You must not show prejudice.

You must not show a respecter of person in your faith. And it's, to be honest with you, it's kind of easy to do. There's just some people just like more than other people, right? Just it is what it is. And two, I want you to remember this. Two, I want you to remember this, that partiality, it actually contradicts God's love. It truly contradicts the love of God and, and how he views and see people. And the final one, I want you to remember this, that partiality looks at merit, impartiality looks through mercy.

I love Romans two 11. It says this, for there is no respect of person with God. Now, if you have your notes, I would tell you to circle that with par. That with is very important. It says with God, now you could have partial alley outside of God, but when you are with God, it should not be nowhere close to that. And the main point for this topic is this right here, faith that favors is faith that falters faith, that favors is faith that falters.

And I love that Jesus, I mean Jesus. But James, he points out this because this is the half brother of Jesus Christ. So he's probably watching how Jesus actually acts around people and he's learning from a firsthand experience. Because one thing, if you read the scriptures, Jesus was always breaking social norms. So that's like, that was his mo. We see Jesus sitting down with a Samaritan woman at a well. Uh, we see Jesus, uh, which in that time people would not touch a person who had leprosy.

But he's like, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go touch that person, heal that person. We see Jesus dying with sinners and having dinner with so many different people who the faires and Sadducees was like, why are you even sitting down with them? So he broke social norms. You even see how he kind of handles, um, those who are widows, who are children and who are poor. He just handles people totally different. He, he views them from a place that, from the human perspective, it seems kind of strange.

But Jesus looking deeper into who the person is. 'cause Jesus did not see categories. He just saw people. And that's what James is saying to us today. If your faith is real, it looks like Jesus and Jesus does not play favors. It is so funny that, uh, I was preaching this about to preach this message. 'cause I had a, a crazy encounter. I ain't gonna say crazy, but it was, it was just different. So, uh, I, I dropped my kids off at school on Thursday and I'm driving back home and I see this guy on the side of the road and you know, when like you feel that that Holy Spirit like saying you should do something and I really just want to get back home and just chill.

You know, it's my day working at home. I'm like, you know, I don't wanna do that. So I thought if I created distance, it was gonna go away. Uh, it didn't go away. I actually hit a U-turn. I go back to the God and I'm like, Hey, what do you need? He's like, I need a jump. I was like, dang, I don't have no cables, but I have cables at the house. I'll be right back. So I go to my house, which is like three miles. It's not even that far to be honest with you.

I was being silly. It's like three miles from my house. I drive to my house, I go, uh, get the jumper cables. I come back and I start to go through the process of hooking everything up. And the guy says to me like, square my eye, which I was like, okay. He was like, why are you helping me? I'm like, what? What, what do you mean? I'm like, what do you mean while I'm helping you? Like, because you're stuck here. But it's crazy, right?

But what I say to him was just funny that I said this. I was like, I'm a pastor and it's the right thing to do. Like, what, what, what does that mean? You know, like, it was just funny. But, but what it did was open up a conversation that he starts asking questions about, are you, do you preach and did you go to school? And everything like that. And I'm like, yeah, you know, I'm actually preaching on a message about partiality by having to respect the person.

And he's like, okay, cool. So we still trying to jump this car. The the dude need to gas. Okay? Uh, so I like, bro, like what's going? I'm like, holy Spirit, what is going on now? Like, why am I still here? It is like almost a hour, probably like 30 minutes in at this point. So, uh, I go, I I tell him, get his gas cans. Let's go down to the, uh, gas station to fill it up and it, the gas place, the gas station is like probably like a mile from where we're at.

And uh, he breaks his two cans and there's lights in between. So we hit every single light. So it's like, I'm like, bro, like I'm just trying to get to the gas station, get us do some gas and go back to my home. Uh, but in this, in this moment of us, Dr. Me driving to the gas station, he says this to me, and this is a, a older white male, right? He's 58 years old. And he says to me, he says, you know what, almost came a skinhead.

Now if you know, if you know what a head, you know where the skin head is, I was like, where is this going? Okay? I'm like, what is going on? What just happened? It's like a huge shift. I'm like, yo, okay, what does that mean? And then he says this to me, and this is the revelation right here. He says, he says, then I realized that it's not the outward exterior, it's what's in the soul. And I was like, wow. But then when I'm thinking about, he's telling me about this story about him going to jail and everything like that, and I come to understand that a lot of times when it comes to having respect of person or showing partiality, it comes from the fact that our environment has trained us or conditioned us to actually act that way.

But it's not until you truly get an understanding of what God is trying to do. You see, when your environment dictates how you respond, you will develop a partiality to people. You will develop a respect the people. And my first point again was you must not show favoritism in your faith. Verse one, it says this, my brothers show no partiality, circa no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Now, if you guys don't know, I'm actually, uh, studying Hebrew right now. So I'm learning Hebrew. So I'm gonna break down this word. No partiality or the word no. Be honest with you. And the word no, when you look at the Hebrew, it's astounding. It actually means no, it means no. There, there is none, no zil, whatever you wanna call it. It means no partiality in our faith because God doesn't play favors, he doesn't play favors when it comes to our faith because God is not about partiality.

He's not partial. But God is personal, like the God that we serve. The God that some of you are still trying to understand and know. He is not about partiality having a respect person, but he wants to be personal. He wants to be in those situations to where you are hurting and you have pain. He's like, look, come to me, all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest. That's the God that we serve. But when we have favoritism, when we have partiality in our faith, it also, uh, distorts our judgment.

You ever try to like, have some glasses? Like if I, the gentleman right here, if I grab, grabbed your glasses and put 'em on, it's gonna, I'm, it's gonna be blurry, right? It's gonna be blurry. See, when we have favoritism, when we, when we have respect of a person, it, it clouds our judgment. And that's what, no, that's not, that's what God is not about at all whatsoever. It's like, I don't know if this is just me or anyone else, but if I see someone driving a Lamborghini, I'm like, that person is blessed.

Oh my goodness, I wouldn't mind crying in a Lambo. Okay, that's just me, right? Or if you see someone with a Toyota, you like, you know, you know, they humble, you know, and then if you see someone, right, Toyota, right? But if you see someone driving a bus, you like, I need to pray for them, right? Like, I just need to pray, you know? And if you ride a bus, look, no judgment, all whatsoever. Been there, done that, right?

But it's sometimes we view things incorrectly. And when you're looking from a place of a respective person, or are you looking at what a success a person has created, it will cause you to judge incorrectly. But when you get to a place where you are still like walking in favoritism or showing, uh, partiality, it also is gonna breed a place of division and jealousy. You see, if you, uh, go to Genesis 37, I know if you're, most people probably aren't familiar with this particular scripture, but you have Jacob and Joseph, right?

And Jacob, like he just loved Joseph outta all his kids. Because Rachel has had this son to him and he's getting Joseph like everything. Got him a, a cult with many colors. And just imagine like if you, you know, some of us may have experienced this where you feel like your sibling is the favorite, right? So just imagine Joseph got this coat on, he's walking around just twirling around like, yeah, look at what I got on.

Like that right there. Just, you could just, it would burn me up. So what they did, they was like, we got something for you, Joseph. We gonna throw you into slavery into a pit, right? And that's what sometimes when we show favoritism, uh, uh, or we show that you have a favorite, sometimes people end up in a pit. Just simple as that. So we have to be very careful when it comes to showing partiality. Uh, point number two is this right here, uh, partiality, it contradicts God's love.

Let's read verse eight and nine real quick. It says this, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as a transgressor. Now, some of you may not know what a transgressor is, but a transgressor is someone who said, well, you, you know the line to what you shouldn't do, but you go ahead and cross it anyway, that's a transgressor.

So we know that we shouldn't be prejudiced, we shouldn't, you know, show favoritism. But if we cross that line and do it in a way you are guilty because it misrepresents God's character. 'cause God doesn't show no partiality. He loves us all equally. And the love of God is not about, uh, it's not earned, but, or selective. Like you don't have to earn this love that God gives to us freely. The Bible talks about that in plenty of verses where it is not about your works.

We are not saved by our works, but we are saved through grace, right? And the love of God is very consistent. It's not conditional. Like sometimes I look at my kids and I see how they could try to work for my love and I'm like, look, I'm going to love you no matter what you do. And that's the heart of God where he cares deeply. He says that I desire that none should perish, but that all should come to everlasting life.

That's the God that we serve. So when we show partiality, it's it, it's contradicting God's character. And the moment you mislabel someone, you misrepresents God's grace. You ever seen a person like in church where they're like, I I say they have like a spiritual label maker that just go around too loud, uh, not wholly enough. Uh, what you just, you continue to name all different things, not spiritual enough. Are they sitting in my seat? I don't like them no more.

You know, so it, we, we get these little routines like, like we judge people from a perspective that God does not honor. So we have to be careful when we are judging 'cause God love, it doesn't fluctuate with our performance, but it flows from his perfection. That's the God we serve. I think God, that I don't have to try to earn his love, that I don't try to, I don't have to do all these things in order to be in right standing with him.

I have to believe in his son. And because he then fill with his Holy Spirit, it causes me to walk out a life that's pleasing to him. There is no good thing in this body, in this vessel. And to the Holy Spirit is now in it. I could then walk it out. We have to be very careful. Point number three is this partiality. It looks at merit, impartiality looks through mercy. Verse 13, it says this, we're here for judgment is without mercy To the one who has shown no mercy.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. You see, real faith remembers the mercy it receives real faith, remembers the mercy it was given. And it gives that mercy freely to those that comes in contact with you. See, mercy is God's compassionate withholding of the punishment we all deserve. Every single person here deserve it. And it extends kindness that we have not even earned. Like thank God for Jesus Christ down on the cross for all of our sins.

We don't have to earn that no more. Your sins are forgiven. Just put your trust in him. And what I have seen just over the years is that when a person is truly merciful, uh, it's truly a sign of a mature Christian. 'cause mercy does not, does not ignore sin. Now I'm not saying like you just let people do whatever they want to to you. No, that's, that's not what we're about at all. Mercy does not ignore sin. But mercy does this.

It means handling people with the same grace God has given us. That's what mercy is. If your faith doesn't look merciful, it might not be faith, it might just be a form. If what you have believed in it doesn't cause cause you to extend grace, then I would ask you to reevaluate what you believe in. 'cause in this scripture that we just read, verses one through 13, he talks about like if you break one thing of the law, you are guilty of it all.

Like so who am I to judge someone else? Like we have to be very careful that when we judge that we are doing it from a place of God's spirit, not our feelings. 'cause it's so easily to confuse the two. But God is not the author of confusion, sick of Timothy 3, 3, 5. It says this, one of my favorite verses that I always just kind of go back to, it says, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away from like, let's not be me included as well, the person who looks like a Christian.

But in the, in our inward parts, we are always showing prejudice. We are always partial in our judgment. Let's not become those people like that. But let the love of God transform us to the point where we start to look more and more like Jesus Christ. You see truth, faith isn't about performance. It's power. And that power shows up in the mercy we give to people the love that we show people and the change that takes place in our life.

You see, when, when we believe in Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross for our sins, and when we understand, we got the revelation that if I break one thing of the law, I'm guilty of it all. It makes you more compassionate to those who are lost. Like every single person. We need mercy. We need grace. Jesus said, I judge no one Jesus. He said, look, but if I did judge my, my judgment, it it would be righteous. It'd be right. So we have to get to a place where we are just very careful because partiality, it could have a form of godliness.

It looks polite, but mercy has the power of godliness and it looks like Jesus. As we come to Atlanta here, there's two things I want you to take away from this, uh, summer today. Two things. And I really want you to truly think about this, uh, 'cause I had to do it too for myself. It's the first thing is to repent of partiality. Repent. And repent means this to have a change of mind and to have a change of direction of how we view things, uh, of how we respond to now knowing the truth.

That's what repent looks like. Now, it doesn't mean that you may not stumble. That's why we still had the blood of Jesus in our lives. It doesn't mean you're gonna fall short. Sometimes we all fall short. But when someone truly repent, you will start to see a change in their life. It may not come fast, it may take some time. It's a process, but it will change. And the last thing is this. And you know this better than I do, is that I want you to go show mercy to those who hurt you.

And this is hard. It's sometimes hard to show mercy to someone who has hurt you deeply. But we cannot forget the mercy that we have received. We cannot forget the grace that God has given us. Go show mercy and watch what it does to you. It will get you up out of that pit that you have put yourself in. Amen. Amen. Amen. That's the word today. Uh, Bonnie, you go ahead and come forward, um, As we get ready to close the service.

Uh, my heart is that we self-examine where we are at spiritually and what has could, could possibly have crept in, in us and made us be partial in our judgment and our thinking and desire to get closer to Christ, to the revelation of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And watch what it does. Go ahead. Stand to your feet. As I pray for us prayer team, go ahead and come forward. Uh, if you have questions, we also have a next steps table that you can ask those questions.

We have some very, uh, wise, uh, believers in this church who I've been walking with Jesus for a long time. So if you have questions, please go to that table or come up for to get prayer, whatever it may be. We are a church that prays, I heard it once says that a family that prays together stays together. Let's pray together. Let's not just let the times that we pray only be on Sundays, but let's take prayer out and extend mercy to someone who could be hurt.

And right now. So if you need prayer after I pray, I want you to come forward and get prayer. No matter what it is, there's nothing too small. God is more than able to set us free from whatever it is may be struggling with. Amen. It is about heaven and prayer. Heavenly Father, we uh, thank you for this word today. Lord Jesus, we thank you for just all that you're doing in our lives. Oh, heavenly Father, uh, renew us.

Transform us so heavenly keen to look more and more like you. Oh, heavenly Father, let us extend mercy, Lord God, to those