James 2:8-9 “Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

Let’s take a minute to consider James’s describing the law as “the royal law.” Some of you remember when CNN founder Ted Turner proposed replacing the Ten Commandments with his “Ten Voluntary Initiatives.” That’s how some see determining moral behavior. There is no one to whom we must answer above. Our choices and actions are just voluntary. There are no real laws or demands outside of us, just initiatives, plans and directions arising from within us to address the problems we perceive. It sounds so much less authoritarian, so much more free–how nice!

Sometimes even Christian teaching and preaching can sound more like advice, less like God’s holy, unchanging law. Here is a list of suggestions for improving your life. Little to no mention is made that failing to follow them endangers your soul and invites God’s judgment.

Though James is pointing us to the “law of love,” he begins by reminding us this is God’s “royal law.” We may make some use of democratic forms in the church, like voting and elections. But God’s church isn’t a democracy. It’s a monarchy. There are no legislators drafting the laws, no system of judges interpreting and enforcing them. There is only our one Great Chief Executive, who gives the law, demands that we obey it, and imposes consequences if we fail.

We need, then, to take the issue of playing favorites as Christians seriously, and not just for how it affects our neighbor. But it does affect our neighbor. Playing favorites undermines “love your neighbor as yourself.” It automatically means that some get treated as second class citizens. It raises questions about their value and dignity. This cannot end well for God’s people.

In some cases, it will drive people from the church, and not only those who are mistreated. You can hardly fault those who receive a cold shoulder for leaving. They have been all but invited to go.

But others are watching–rank and file members who still have a conscience and a sense of decency, children and young people who often have a stronger sense of fair play. In our time of shrinking churches, it is not hard to find examples of people who left–not because of the way they were treated themselves, but because they saw how someone else was marginalized for reasons that had nothing to do with defending sin or false teaching.

Favoritism may raise doubts in those who receive the less-favored treatment. Some tender hearts may begin to question their desirability to God. Their faith is shaken. They begin to believe there is something particularly wrong with them, something that disqualifies them for God’s grace and acceptance.

James doesn’t deny that some individuals may develop closer friendships within the church than others. Common interests, common experiences, common problems may draw them close together and make it easier to relate. But that is a matter of their private lives, not the public life of the whole church. Even then, God’s people will be careful not to let their private relationships get in the way of loving the whole family of believers, where “love your neighbor as yourself” is still the royal law, and playing favorites will only create problems.