I challenge every missionary and pastor to reach everyone, whether Rich or poor, with the gospel. As we followed James 2:1-9, we may have a person with foul body odor sitting next to a person who drove their Mercedes to Church this morning.
James warned the church not to court the rich. There is to be no favoritism, prejudice, partiality, or snobbery in the church. God’s people are to treat the poorest and the richest of the rich similarly.
God’s people are to love others as they love themselves and to treat others the way they want to be treated. We are not to play up to the rich.
I fear that too often, a person’s position in the community, money in the bank, and ability to do for the church determine the respect given. The rich, powerful person in this world leads the church with little regard for their spiritual power and riches.
God’s people adapt to the culture of a people, but only as long as adapting doesn’t violate the spirit of what the Bible teaches us.
In the 1600s-1700s, churches in Europe and North America often used the rented pew system. Churchgoers Paid a fee or subscription to sit in their preferred location in the church building. The churchgoers paid the pastor/preacher through the pew rent.
The church had from premium seating to standing in the back of the church. The rise of the free pew movement in the 19th century, promoted by reformers such as George Muller, sought to abolish the practice of renting pews and instead adopt a first-come, first-served approach to seating. This movement emphasized the importance of equality and fairness in worship spaces, rejecting the notion of preferential treatment based on financial means. This is how churches came to be known as “free churches.”
George Muller took the rented pews out of his church in Bristol, England, over a century ago because he realized that to give special recognition and place to someone based simply on their economic and social level was a sin. He started the idea in his church of a free-will offering and declared that people would be seated based on a first-come, first-serve basis, not according to rank and privilege.
Witness to one and all, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, with no distinction. Don’t preach in order to honor or avoid topics that the rich or poor need to hear.
The one sin that is probably not preached about much is that of covetousness. That is an acceptable word for greed, the hunger for always getting more.
Refuse to turn the church into a social club. Be careful to choose leaders not based on the amount they can give, but based on their walk with the Lord.
Some people are super spiritual on Sunday but carefully avoid the name of Jesus during the work week.
Let’s reach all who will listen. Take the gospel to all nations, every creature, all the world. The common people, the ordinary, the crowd, the mass of people, heard Jesus gladly.
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