Bishan church

God is not a respecter of persons. Are we? Part 2

August 14th, 2007

People of certain cultures are more predisposed to being respecter of persons than others.

Asian cultures especially those with some form of hierachy/patriachy would ensure you know which rung of the social ladder one is perched on simply by the title you have. Honorific titles inform the members of such groups whether you are an insider or outsider, elder or younger etc. For such folks being a respecter of person IS showing respect. They may struggle to disguish the two.The struggle to decouple showing respect and being a respecter of person provides fertile ground for favouritism.

The lack of ability to separate the message and the messenger thwarts one’s efforst in truth seeking. To such a person what matters foremost is who said what, before considering the weight of the message. If you are a person of no or low status, or poorly esteemed, what you say does not carry much even if you talk sense. When a person who is highly regarded speaks, even if he tells half truths, share secular worldly message, the audience will just lap it up.To such folks, a common verse to justify this behavior is “give honour to whom honour is due”.

Truth is independent of messenger. If something is true, it is true even if the messenger is your enemy,uneducated, not eloquent, low status or poorly dressed.

How do we know we are respecter of persons? An easy acid test is to use what our Lord suggested.
“By their fruits you shall know them” Matthew 7:20

What spirit is at work from one’s behaviour? Is it the Holy Spirit or the spirit of respecter of persons?

Let’s see 2 examples. Ask yourself , can you detect a hint of respecter of persons in this behavior of speech?

Spirit A
We are going to have a meeting. All bible class teachers: Charlie, Willy, Eddy; and maintenance supervisors: Barney, Fred and elders: Paul, Peter, John meet at the foyer after worship.

Spirit B
We are going to have a meeting. All bible class teachers: Bible Class Teacher Charlie, Bible Class Teacher Willy, Bible Class Teacher Eddy; and maintenance supervisors: Supervisor Barney, Supervisor Fred and elders: Elder Paul, Elder Peter, Elder John meet at the foyer after worship.

Spirt B is very troublesome for me to type. The deliberate effort to capitalise and repeat each role and make it a title reveals a lot of the person who would go to such extent. Such people do exists. To them it is showing respect.What kind of spirit is at work in such a soul?

There is a difference between title and role. We all play various roles. A role serves a function in an organization. What happens when a role is elevated to a title in the name of showing respect?

Elders, deacons, apostles and evangelists are biblical roles. They are not title to elevate one person above the rest of the flock, even if it is done in good intention of ” showing respect”.

The apostles never called each other with capitalized A as in Apostle Paul or Apostle Peter. When the word apostle is used it is mentioned as a role, a responsibility, a stewardship.

Peter mentioning Paul
2 Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

Paul mentioning Peter
Galatians 1:18-19 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.

A word used quite often by the apostles was the word DOULOS meaning ” bondservant or slave” . In NIV, this meaningful word is lost in translation as “servant”.

In the following verses, the word servant is DOULOS. Replace each word servant with slave and ask yourself what kind of spirit did they have.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

Jude 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

If the apostles dare not elevate themselves, conscious that they were slaves of God, dare we elevate ourselves in the name of showing respect?

By their fruits you shall know……….

Entry Filed under: General, Respecter of persons