THE WORKS OF FAITH
James 2: 1-10, 14-17

           Last time, we began a five-week journey through the Epistle of James. We spoke of James as a “pep talk” for the persecuted early Church; that James was primarily concerned with “practical applications of faith”. We talked how “religion” has gotten a bad name and looked at some of the marks of “pure religion”. One of those marks is doing the word of God, and not merely hearing it. As we continue on in James, our passage for today provides an application of that teaching.

           If we were to be completely honest, our text is difficult to swallow. It is a text that speaks to our relationships with others and provides a commentary on the “status quo”. It has the ability to be a “convicting” text, especially if our actions/attitudes are similar to those being warned against. However we look at it, it has the ability to make us uncomfortable.

           Mistreatment of the poor was common in the first century. In that society, material wealth was seen as a sign of God’s favor and blessing. The more stuff a person had, the bigger the house, the more servants, the fancier the clothes, etc. was seen as God’s blessing upon that person and their household. Poverty, on the other hand, was seen as a mark of sinfulness and God’s punishment upon it. This sinfulness could have been that individual’s sin, the sin of someone in their household, or one of their ancestors. Regardless, poverty was seen as God’s punishment and judgment on the persons. As a result, the poor were often treated as second-class people. They were forced to yield to the wealthy in all things and were unwelcome in virtually all social gatherings…no one wanted to associate with “sinners”. Unfortunately, as we see in the text, one of the biggest perpetrators of this mistreatment was the church. It is apparent that those who were wealthy, and, therefore, socially respectable were given priority treatment. Those who were not wealthy, while not completely excluded, were made to feel exactly as they were socially considered: beneath everyone else.

           Have things really changed since then? In society, are the non-wealthy treated any better today than they were in those days. How about in the church? Are the non-wealthy treated any better? We might say yes, or at least want to say yes, but my guess is that not much has changed in two millennia.

           While the thrust of this particular section is the value of the poor, it fits into the overall framework of “Faith in Action”. Pay attention to what is said in v. 17, “faith without works is dead”. In other words, a faith that just sits there and doesn’t do anything, isn’t practiced, has no life, and is worthless. Last time, we touched a bit on the controversy of faith and works, in relation to Martin Luther. Although Luther reacted against works, it must be said and noted that what we do, how we act, is vitally important to our faith.

           Our works are important because they, above all things, display our faith. What we do shows what we believe. Our actions display what is important to us. It’s not enough to simply say what we believe. Talk is cheap! It’s easy to speak faith and speak what we believe. I can spend all day talking about what I believe and why. I can spend all day speaking about how important my faith is and how I have felt grace. But that’s not enough! If we would have read v. 18, we would have been presented with quite a challenge. The author says, “show me your faith apart from works, I by my works will show you my faith.” What it seems the author is saying goes right along with our cliché, “actions speak louder than words”. What we do really shows what we believe and what we do speaks far louder and longer than what comes out of our mouth. Confession of faith is a great thing, please don’t misunderstand that. However, we MUST show our faith for the world to see that a faith in Jesus Christ makes any difference whatsoever.

           Our works are important because they are our response to God. Let’s be honest: God has given us so much and done so much for us. Are we, then, going to take these gifts and run and keep them for ourselves? Think about when another person offers or gives us something. We were taught and we teach our children, grandchildren, students, etc. that the proper response is “thank you”. And deep down, when we offer or give something to someone, we expect some sort of acknowledgement. Shouldn’t God expect the same from us? Shouldn’t God expect something that acknowledges our gratitude to God? That something, that acknowledgement is our living of faith. Our actions declare to God that “we got it”. Have you seen the movie “Pay it Forward” or heard of the concept by the same name? The basic gist is not repaying something to another, but to, in turn, do the good to someone else. I firmly believe that our “paying it forward” is more of a blessing to God than trying to repay God for all that God has given us. What we do, therefore, becomes our way of repaying God; of paying it forward, in response to God’s goodness and grace.

           Our works are important because, by them, we follow in Jesus’ example. If we read through the stories of Jesus in the Gospels, we don’t see Jesus spending every moment in the Temple or in solitude in prayer and self-enrichment. To be sure, he did those things; but they were not the extent of his expression of faith. Just as Jesus didn’t do it, neither does he expect his followers will. What we see Jesus doing, though, is being active in the world—sometimes at inconvenient times or with less-than-respectable people. That’s what Jesus expects from his followers: learn the stories of faith and then put them into practice. Grow in your relationship with God, and then help others to grow in their relationship with God.

           It is this example we are called to follow, if we desire to follow Jesus. We are commissioned to bear the Good News to all the world—to let our actions show our faith and let our faith inform our actions. All this so that, in all things, we might be a witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christ would be exalted. AMEN.

|| Home || Welcome || Pictures || Sermons || Maps || Special Sprouts || Opportunity || Missions || Newsletter in pdf || VBS || Women of Promise || Easter || Links ||