#GOFAMINTDailyDevotion Sun. 1/10/2017

Quarter’s Theme: CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE CHURCH

UNIT 2 – Preventing Conflict In The Church (Lessons 4-7)

LOYALTY CAMPAIGN MONTHS

Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 195, 208

Devotional Reading: PROV. 18:1-5

Topic For Adults

AVOID PARTIALITY IN JUDGMENT

Topic For Youths

DON’T BE BIASED

Topic For Intermediates

JUDGE RIGHTEOUSLY

Lesson Scriptures

EPH. 6:9; PS. 18:24-26; ROM. 2:11; 1 TIM. 5:21; LEV. 19:15; DEUT. 1:17; JAM. 2:1-10

1/10/2017 LESSON 5

ENCOURAGE EQUITY, AVOID PARTIALITY

MEMORY VERSE

For there is no partiality with God (Rom. 2:11) NKJV

DAILY DEVOTIONAL READING

Sun. 1/10/2017

Hope In The Good And Upright God

Ps. 25:1-22

Oftentimes man looks for justice but gets oppression. He looks for comfort but gets hardship. He desires help but all he gets is trouble. During such periods, he needs to turn to the good and upright God; the God who rewards everyone accordingly and is no respecter of persons. God will never show favoritism. The Psalmist decided to put his trust in God and hope in Him. God is the good and upright God. His ways are loving and faithful. When man fails, God will never. When man makes a mistake, God can never make a mistake because He is the “all- seeing and all-knowing God”. When you need justice and it appears it is not forth coming, why not turn to the righteous God. Verse 3 of our Bible passage says,” No one whose hope is in You will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.” God will never allow His children to be put to shame, nor let their enemies triumph over them. Don’t allow yourself to be frustrated or drawn into depression by the way men treat you. Trust in the Lord, justice belongs to Him.

Point of emphasis: When there is no one to turn to, put your trust in God.

Prayer point: Lord, help me to put my trust in You always.

BACKGROUND

Partiality is favoritism or the act of being biased. To show favoritism is to give preference to one person over others with equal claims. It is similar to discrimination and may be based on conditions such as social class, wealth, race, religion, tribe, appearance etc. God is no respecter of persons and there is no partiality found in Him. It is not the will of God for His children to show partiality, but to demonstrate equity in judgment. At one time or the other we may have fallen victim of favoritism, and so know how it feels. We are not expected to encourage this ungodly act.

NOTES ON THE TEXT

PART 1: NO FAVORITISM WITH GOD (EPH. 6:9; PS. 18:24-26; ROM. 2:11)

The word “favoritism” comes from a compound word that literally means, “lifting up the face”. In those days when a subject, like a knight, visited the presence of a king, he would kneel down with his face bent to the floor. The king would then use his scepter to gently lift up the face of the knight to confirm he has been favoured by the king and permitted to speak to him.

God is faithful and perfect. He does not have favourites. God deals with men according to their faithfulness and commitment to Him. He does not show favouritism. Man can easily be made to bend his rules by bribe or manipulation somehow. There is a common saying that every man has got a price; that is, there is a price every man would be paid to make him compromise a set standard. This should not be true of believers. No price can be high enough to make you give in to partiality. God can never be manipulated. Gal. 6:7 says, ‘Be not deceived for God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap.’

Going through the Bible, all the characters who had good relationship with God and obtained mercy in His sight and were blessed. They gained all these as a result of their faithfulness and commitment to Him. Abraham for example was termed “the friend of God” because he loved and respected God, had faith in Him and was ready to go extra miles to please Him. David was called “the man after God’s heart”. Reading through David’s history, you would discover he was humble before God and he knew how to bless God with his body (dancing and singing songs of praise) and his substance. God shows no partiality in giving spiritual gifts to His children because He gives according to individual’s ability.

PART 2: AVOID PARTIALITY (1 TIM. 5:21; LEV. 19:15; DEUT. 1:17)

The society we belong to is unfortunately corrupt. Equity in judgment seems to be gradually fading away even in our judiciary and common men are being oppressed. But God still instructs His children to avoid partiality.

Partiality or favouritism was a thing that was fast becoming popular among the brethren in the early church. Paul had to swiftly intervene and addressed the issue. Timothy was a young, dynamic and promising up-coming minister of the gospel. He was going to be in charge of the church and was therefore instructed not to do anything out of favouritism. Being a youth, there are tendencies for him to be carried away by his position as a minister of God or to be manipulated by the older Christians in the church. He was warned against favouritism.

The Old Testament provides similar instructions regarding this topic. “Do not pervert justice, do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly”. (Lev. 19:15). This means you should dem-onstrate equity in justice rather than partiality. Justice should be blind, and both the rich and the poor should be treated equal before the law. Favouritism and genuine faith are incompatible. It has no place in the lifestyle of a Christian.

PART 3: WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID PARTIALITY (JAM. 2:1-10)

It is clearly stated in the scriptures that a believer should not show partiality or favouritism in judgment. There is no reason given that is genuine enough for anyone to engage in such behaviour. There is no favouritism in God. The reasons we are instructed to avoid partiality include the following:

1. It is the command of God (Deut. 1:11). It is a straight command from God that no one should show respect of persons in judgment. You must not be afraid of the face of man for judgment is God’s.
2. It usurps God’s sovereignty (Jam. 2:1-5). Judgment is God’s and God gives man the authority to judge rightly on His behalf. When a man shows partiality in judgment he is trying to usurp God’s sovereignty, making himself God and acting like he is unquestionable.
3. It contradicts the heart of God (Jam. 2:5-6a). When the poor is being deprived of justice and favour, he is despised and oppressed. God does not want the poor to be despised in any way. Whosoever does this contradicts the heart of God.
4. It aligns you with God’s enemies v. 6-7. God’s enemies use their strength, wealth and position to oppress the poor, whereas God is concerned about justice. Anyone who shows favouritism is God’s enemy.
5. It violates the law of God v. 8-9; Lev. 19:15. If you love your neighbour you wouldn’t want to deprive him of his right for whatever reason. It is as serious as the sin of adultery. If you show any degree of partiality and injustice, you break God’s law. You are a transgressor.

CONCLUSION

Partiality is a problem we still deal with today in the church. Surely, partiality and favouritism are not from God. Christians are called to love and not to be biased or to show partiality. As humans, we tend to form judgment based on selfish, personal criteria rather than seeing others as God sees them. May we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and follow His example of treating every person with God’s love.

QUESTIONS

1. What do you consider as ‘partiality’?
2. Why should we not be involved in encouraging partiality?
3. “God doesn’t show partiality” Discuss.
4. Why did Paul intervene in the case of partiality in the early church?
5. Despite the Bible’s injuction against ‘partiality’ why do we still have the practice in the church?