This week's sermon is a little different than what was preached on Sunday. I had originally planned an introduction that was totally different than what I went with. The Spirit spoke on Saturday night and my new intro never got written down. I also found myself continuing to go back to it through the sermon so none of this actually appears in the written sermon.
So I guess it is worth considering this a first draft or perhaps the shooting script which Sunday's sermon came from. The introduction on this one is totally different and was not used.
Back when I was in grade school, there was a group of us who carpooled to school. There were between three and five families who lived in a general area whose parents took turns taking us to and picking us up from school. One of the parents had to take us a bit earlier than normal and so we had extra time at school before school got started. We would be able to go out to the playground and goof off. One of my friends and I were digging one day in the school sandbox and discovered that under the sand there was clay. Now I don’t know what got it in our head, but we were sure that this clay was worth something. And so, when we were dropped off early for school we would go out and dig in the sand box for clay, which we would then store in plastic containers which we brought home and buried in my back yard.
Again, I’m not sure why it is that we thought that this was going to be worthwhile for us, but we were convinced that this clay buried in my back yard was going to make us rich. And because we believed this, we were willing to do things that we wouldn’t normally do. I think I remember getting into our cabinet where we kept our plates and bowls and taking bowls to put this clay in so it could be buried. Only the best for the clay. I also think I remember getting in trouble with my parents for playing with these bowls. Burying bowls in the back yard was not something I would ever have thought would be right, normally, but because of the clay which would make us rich, it was okay.
The point of this story, other than embarrassing myself, is to show a simple example, a childlike example, of how our beliefs affect our actions. I believed that this clay under the school sandbox was worth something. Therefore I ruined bowls from home and went through all this effort to get the clay home from school and hidden in our back yard. What I was doing didn’t make sense to anybody else who saw it, but it made sense to me because of what I believed. Of course, my beliefs were wrong. The clay at school… not really clay at all and not really worth anything. But really, that’s not the point. The point is that I believed something different than my parents and therefore they were completely unable to understand my actions. The same is true today. We, as Christians, believe something different than others in the world around us. But, this time, what we believe is actually right. The thing is that those around us won’t understand what our actions are all about if they don’t believe the same things as us. Our actions will look like foolishness to the world around us.
I. Faith and Works
The book of James has an important message for us. It tells us that it is not enough to say that you believe something. You have to act out your beliefs. Later on in chapter two, after what we read this morning we are told that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” This is a pretty harsh statement. James goes on, though, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
James makes a good point. Accepting a group of facts as true in the back of your mind is not a salvific event. But so often, this is precisely what we are told our faith really is. We accept that we are saved by “believing in” Jesus. But what does this truly mean? There is a lot of different language in our Christian faith as well as in the Bible that helps us to understand a bit better what it is that this means. A common definition in the Christian Church for believing in Jesus is Accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. I remember first buying into this definition when I was in high school. It has its value. But it also can be a dangerous way to define our faith. The value is obvious. By seeing that Jesus is our personal Savior, we realize that God wants relationship with each of us individually. You aren’t saved because your parents were saved. You aren’t saved because you go to church. You are saved because you have a personal relationship with God. Also, in high school, a distinction was made in some of the reading I did, saying that our relationship with Jesus is personal, not private. I think this touches on the dangers of this language. We often want to think that our relationship with Jesus is a private one. It’s just me and God and that’s it. But that is definitely not the way that God works. Throughout the Bible, God is constantly working with groups of people and he calls for us to come together as a group of individuals to worship him. He honors it when groups come together in his name. He says that that is the place where he is present. The other danger with a personal Jesus is the idea that comes from this language that Jesus is a possession.
But the Bible has different language to describe what it means to believe in Jesus. It tells us that we need to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. This is actually a requirement for leaders in the church. If you don’t acknowledge Jesus’ divinity, you are a false prophet. If you don’t admit that Jesus is God than your message isn’t a Christian one. The Bible also spends a lot of time talking about faith. I love this word because in the original Greek the word has two different meanings. It means to have faith, which is to believe in something. But it also means to be faithful, which means to stay true to something. So every time the Bible tells us to have faith in God it is telling us to trust God, but it is also telling us to be faithful to God.
And so, believing in Jesus is more than just something you do in your head. Having faith means being faithful as well. This is what is described in scripture. This is the way our faith is to work. If you believe something, you’d better live in a way that is congruent with what you believe.
If you believe that there is more than just this world, your life should be lived with the coming world in mind. If you believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, then you no longer live in fear of death. If you believe that Jesus calls for us to follow his commandments, then you’d better not be lying, cheating, murdering, stealing, coveting… well, you get the picture. And if you truly believe what is written in our own Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, then you’d better treat people equally.
II. Favoritism
James talks especially strong about this last one. Listen to what he has to say, “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?”
James is telling us to act in a way that is contrary to the way this world works. He is telling us to treat the poor in the same way that we treat the rich. Show them the same respect. Treat them with the same honor. This just may look like foolishness to the world around us. It may not make sense. In this world we are taught the importance of treating the powerful with deference. We are expected to suck up to those who are in authority over us. The wealthy have earned special treatment and deserve it. This is something that we don’t always see spelled out so very clearly, but it is obvious when you look closely for it. We still live in a world where class matters and where prejudice reigns. We look at those around us who are not as well off as we are and we tell ourselves that they deserve to be where they are because of their lack of work or resourcefulness. Or we look at those who are really wealthy and attack them for taking advantage of those around them to get where they are.
But then we read today’s scripture and we realize that God does truly believe in the equality of all people. Now, in James, this is presented by distinguishing between the rich and the poor, but it is clear throughout scripture that God has more than just this distinction in mind. All people from all backgrounds and all places are looked upon by God with love. And God even has a special place in his heart for those who are weak and poor. In truth, at least half of the Old Testament prophets are written about this very issue. You see, God wants us as his people to treat all people equally. He wants us to reach out to the poor in the same way we do to those who are well off. And this doesn’t mean just to accept them in your worship service, either. It means that we are called to help those who need it. But, we as God’s people aren’t always good at this. And it seems that we haven’t been good at this throughout history. But that doesn’t get us off the hook.
God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him. How can we treat the poor badly? These are the very ones that God loves. We are called to reach out with that same love towards them.
But again, I think that this has more to it than just reaching out in love to the poor. I think it is God reminding us that he has created all people equal. Is that something that you really believe? It’s something we give lip service to, but it’s not necessarily something that we all live out. You see, we all seem to believe that we are better than others. We think that we are better than people of different races, perhaps. Or that we’re more civilized or more righteous. If not other races, we are definitely better than people who are not Christians. We have believed in Christ and these other people have not so that makes us better people, right? Wrong. In fact, in some ways I believe it makes us worse. You see, Paul tells us that even our faith is a gift from God so that we have no reason to boast. And we are also told that as Christians we are promising to be faithful to God. We accept God’s word as law and yet we choose not to follow it. How can we possibly think we are better than those who don’t believe they should be following the rules.
So, don’t let yourself be filled with the sin of pride. Instead realize that if anything, you are luckier, more blessed, than unbelievers, because you have been shown God’s grace. And hopefully, accepting this, you will reach out to those around you with that same love and that same grace.
God wants us to get past our own prejudices and preconceptions about those around us. Instead, he calls for us to radiate his love to this world around us that needs to see it. James refers to this as the royal law. Jesus calls it the second half of the great commandment. It is the center of what it means to be faithful to God. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what we are called to do as Christians. This is what we are called to be. Amen.
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