Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Everyone's First Class - #4066

Monday, August 12, 2002

The bad news that I got at the airport was that my flight had been canceled, and the airline I was booked on couldn't get me to my destination in time for the meeting I was supposed to speak for. But the good news was that they found me a seat on another airline. But the bad news was that it was an airline I had barely heard of; I wasn't sure what to expect. Ah, but the good news was, it was an airline with a wonderful difference from all the others. There was no first class section, but every seat was as wide as a first class seat! And instead of the plastic plates, paper napkins and average food I'm used to in economy class, I got (we all got) china plates, cloth napkins, a real meal - I mean like they usually get in first class. That's the kind of treatment you would only get if you've paid for those expensive seats up there. But what a great concept this particular airline has - treat everyone as if they're first class!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Everyone's First Class."

That kind of treatment may be unique for an airline, but it's supposed to be standard operating procedure for people who belong to Jesus Christ! After all, we are followers of a Lord who, according to the Bible, is "no respecter of persons."

This kind of non-discriminating way of treating people is illustrated and encouraged in our word for today from the Word of God, beginning in James 2:1 . "As believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here's a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand there' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ... If you keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin." Now, when you love your neighbor as you love yourself, when you treat each person as you would want to be treated, you'll be giving everyone first class treatment.

The challenge is to make sure we don't have the people in our life divided into two categories, like most airplanes do. OK, over here are the people I treat special, and here are the people I give something less than my best to. See, our human nature tends to turn it on a little more when the person has some money, or when they're physically attractive, when they're "important," when they've got a great personality, when they can help us in some way or make us look good or feel good.

And there's also something in our human nature that sometimes wants to do as little as possible with the people society classifies as "losers," or with the unattractive, with the needy, or the different. We are surrounded by people who feel ignored, passed over, rejected, unheard, unnoticed, uncared for. Those are the very people Jesus seemed the most attracted to. As you read the Gospels, you get the distinct feeling that every person Jesus was with felt very, very important when they were with Him. And you follow this Jesus.

It's part of developing Christlikeness to examine our heart for any pockets of discriminating between people, to identify the people we've been assigning to second-class treatment. When you're like Jesus, every person feels like the only person when they're with you.

Whether it's an airline or a person like you, when everyone is treated like they're first class, you will be remembered. Make sure there's only one section for all the passengers in your life ... first-class.