“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.
James 2:8-9
Jesus kept it very clear and simple. Just love each other. James calls it “the royal law,” because Jesus paired it with the greatest commandment.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:36-40
This was an interaction with a religious scholar, so more of an academic answer. But Jesus said this numerous times to His disciples with a very practical application.
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you… A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:14-15, 24-25
What does real love look like? Practical service. Messy, difficult, humbling service.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:12-13
What is the model for our love? Jesus. How did He model love? Washing His disciples’ feet; and going to the cross.
So real love is sacrificial. It hurts. It costs. James points out a major obstacle to love: partiality.
“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.”
James 2:1
If we claim Jesus as LORD – our Master – our example – then playing favorites should not be expressed in our relationships or gatherings. Rather, we should intentionally and joyfully welcome everyone and build relationships with everyone in the church family and in our community.
Let’s remember that Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. Are we?