This was today's sermon. I first read the James passage from the NIV translation, then I read it from The Message, below.
James 2:14-26 (MSG)
14 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? 15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved 16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? 17 Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? 18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. 19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? 20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? 21 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? 22 Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? 23 The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." 24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? 25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape - that seamless unity of believing and doing - what counted with God? 26 The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
11-6-11
I grew up in the church. I was baptized, went to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, and even went to youth group a lot of the time along with Sunday morning worship throughout junior high and high school.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t straight-laced Sally by any means! There was many a Sunday I wasn’t there because I’d been out partying too late the night before. But my faith was real for me.
It was a very young faith, theologically and experientially, but it was a real faith...and one of my goals as a young person, which continued into my adulthood, was to show people I knew who weren’t Christians - that not all Christians were hypocrites.
You know, we all hear it - from people we work with or go to school with. “Those Christians, they’re such a bunch of hypocrites! They talk about all this love and care, and then you see them flip you off as they tear out of the church parking lot or when you pass them on the street!”
Now I must say that to some extent we’re all hypocrites and we simply can’t get around that! I don’t want to sin, but in fact I sin daily. I don’t want to lose my temper, but my husband will tell you that I still snap at him.
But growing up as a Christian who mostly hung out with non-Christians, I wanted to show my friends that this Christian tried to live out what she believed. That this Christian tried to live out the love and care that Jesus gave to her, and tried to live out her life using the gifts and talents that God had given her. I have always wanted and tried to live authentically. What you see is what you get, warts an all!
If I was accused of being a Christ follower I’ve always wanted to have lots of condemning evidence to convict me! So I’ve always loved these verses in James.
In these verses, James really lays things out! He says, “Look, this Jesus stuff can’t just be head knowledge that you tuck away and pull out on Sunday mornings where it’s nice, and safe, and comfortable!
If it is, then it’s not the real thing, it’s dead!” James convicts us to ACT on our faith...and I agree with him, I get really excited about his message!
Kim and I have had this little sign on our refrigerator wherever we’ve lived for probably the past twenty-some years, and it says, “People may not always believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do.” Do our actions speak very loudly about our faith?
St. Francis of Assisi said something similar when he said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.” I like that too, although I don’t like to totally discount words because there are plenty of nice people in the world who aren’t Christians, so I think we need to talk about Jesus as well as live like him.
Some have said that James is too harsh in his admonishment that faith without works is dead, but we find the charge to do all throughout the Bible!
Jesus tells us that if we want to be great we need to be a servant and “whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve... (Mark 10:44-45).” We cannot be servants without doing.
Certainly we’re not doing to be saved, that’s not the point. We do because of what Jesus did and continues to do for us....love us.
We serve, we act, we reach out, we love, because it was done to us first, and we are grateful.
Both James and 1 John 3 say almost the same thing when they talk about that when we see someone in need, we’re called to help them (3:17-18). 1 John continues on to say that if we don’t stop to help the person in need, then “how can the love of God be in us?”
When we have faith without works, when we just keep it all in our head as simply a “belief system,” we are actually spared the embarrassment of radical disruptions (and discomforts) in our lives and relationships (Interpretation Commentary).
It can sometimes, actually many times, be very inconvenient and intrusive to live out our faith actively!
That person in need - whether a homeless person on the street, or a young person who happens to walk into our coffee house some night - is probably not going to fit into our “schedule.”
They more than likely will not be a part of what our plan was for that day. But if we want to live out a life of authentic faith, then we need to be open to God’s plan and God’s schedule, and maybe we need to live lives that leave room for “God interruptions.”
James goes on to tell us that simply believing in God doesn’t cut it, that even the demons do that! Our faith cannot be an intellectual exercise, or an ideology, it has to be more, and he gives us two examples of people who lived their faith.
First he tells us about Abraham, who in Genesis 15:6 is declared righteous because of his belief!
So we’re not talking about his works saving him.
But later in Genesis 22, when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac because he was living out his belief in God’s covenant and trustworthiness, his actions fulfilled or completed his faith.
In being obedient and acting on our faith, it completes it. Our works or deeds are the expressions of our faith. Our deeds are part of our sanctification that we talked about last week.
James’ other example was Rahab. She was the prostitute who helped Joshua’s spies by hiding them in her home and sending those looking for them off in a different direction. She acted in faith and helped further God’s kingdom.
Some have said that both Rahab and Abraham have been celebrated for their gifts of hospitality. Rahab when she welcomed the spies into her home, and Abraham when he “entertained angels.” “Perhaps the combined examples of Abraham and Rahab provide a response, showing how active faith demands a sharing of gifts that God has given and a providing of space to those whom God sends unexpectedly (Interpreter’s Commentary).”
Many times our response is not from an unexpected need.
Being a part of a church provides all sorts of opportunities for believers to respond to the faith that God has given them. As we learn about spiritual gifts and start to discover how God has gifted each one of us, our eyes are opened even more to the ways that we can live out our faith in the church...and beyond.
1 Corinthians 12 talks all about the many gifts that God can grace us with - gifts of wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophecy, tongues... and also gifts like administration, leadership, and teaching.
We all receive at least one spiritual gift as well as the skills and talents that we are born with.
And the more we can learn about what gifts we have, the more we can get an idea of where we “fit” in the body of Christ. There are many spiritual gifts inventories and short studies out there, and it’s always inspiring, I think, to see what kind of gifts we have.
For instance I can guess that Shawn, like me, has the gift of apostleship - which means he enjoys and is good at starting new things.
Obviously Nancy has giftings in the arts as well as hospitality. (Did you see her greeting all the folks coming through the doors for the haunted house?)
I’m guessing that Lois might have some giftings in administration because whoever does the money has to be somewhat organized!
I’ve talked with some of you about the idea of spiritual gifts. It’s also exciting because the more we learn about them, and the more we read about the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians, the more we see that each and every gift, each and every person is important. People with disabilities, the old, the young, the quiet, the out-going, everyone holds a vital place within the body of Christ - and when they’re not actively a part of the body, then something is missing!
I remember reading something recently that said, “pastors should never have ‘unemployed’ people in their congregations.” The author meant that everyone who is a part of the church should be involved in some aspect of ministry in the church - whether it’s ushering on Sunday morning, taking the offering deposit to the bank, helping with a children’s outreach, or being a part of a prayer ministry. No one should be “unemployed!”
As Paul tells us, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.”
He goes on to say, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Cor. 12:21-23, 27).”
I also believe that God gives us passions and excitement to do or be a part of certain ministries.
The first ministry that I volunteered with as an adult was the youth ministry. I wanted to do the fun stuff! I loved hanging out with the kids - obviously I didn’t start out teaching anything, actually I was almost like one of the kids!
I hung out with them, got to know them, took part in the discussions and activities with them, and just had fun.
Over time I learned more and had opportunities to lead some of the discussions, plan some of the games, take part in retreat planning, and eventually I was actually hired as the part-time youth director.
The point isn’t that volunteering turns into a job, although sometimes that does happen, but that I jumped in because it looked like fun, enjoyable...and God refined me and molded me in the process so that I actually became good at what I was doing.
Some people may have a passion or excitement for a certain ministry and then find that their place isn’t in the “front lines” of the ministry but in the background or support areas of the ministry. You may love children’s ministry and recognize its importance but not be very patient with young children.
Maybe your contribution is making phone calls to get parents to bring snacks. Or maybe your contribution is to make a webpage or create a newsletter.
The possibilities are endless.
There were many other things that I tried throughout my life that I found I didn’t like so well and I wasn’t as good at - and that’s part of the process as well. The point is to jump in...don’t be unemployed!
Being a smaller church we don’t have multiple ministries that we can choose to be a part of, but as I mentioned some of the different gifts of different people earlier, you can see that it hasn’t really stopped you from jumping in and doing what you do well!
I hope that as we go through this year together that we can keep talking about this.
I hope that we can take note of each person’s gifts, encourage each other as we notice them, and see what other kinds ministry can happen here - beyond holding fundraisers!
As we start a Bible study maybe we’ll find that someone else has a gift for teaching.
Or maybe some of this hospitality that has been displayed at our fundraisers can be used to do some sort of outreach to the community...ahh, but I get ahead of myself, that’s next week’s theme!
James calls us to live out our faith. In doing so we actually complete our faith, it becomes fuller, and more of who we are in Christ is played out before us and in us.
Paul shows us that God equips us in a variety of ways and that we each have a place and a purpose within Christ’s body, the church. Together we do the ministry that God calls us to - caring for one another, worshipping together, growing together, and reaching out to the world. May we be blessed as we minister together. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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