“Saved by faith – full – ness”
James 2:1-17
The Letter of James is a difficult read. So difficult that Luther and Calvin were both
afraid of it. The Gospels contain plenty
of challenging verses, but the Gospels were written for people who had an understanding
of the history of the children of Israel and the words of the prophets. The Gospels were written to demonstrate that
Jesus is the Messiah foretold of old.
Because of that, certain assumptions were made.
If I say to you “Elvis was the king!” most of you would
understand that I’m talking about Elvis Presley who was often called the king
of rock and roll. If in 2000 years some
archeologist from Mars arrived on earth amid the ruins of our planet and found
the statement “Elvis was the king” they might assume that some guy named Elvis
ruled the land back in the 20th Century.
They would need an understanding of cultural history and
historical and linguistic context before they came to realize that Elvis could
be called “king” but it didn’t mean that Elvis ruled the land.
Many people don’t take the time to understand the historic
and cultural and linguistic context within which the Gospels were written. As a result, many Christians look at Jesus’
own words recorded in the Gospels and – even though they say they believe
everything in the Bible – they conclude “He didn’t really mean that.” In
Matthew 5 Jesus says:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the
earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive
mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute
you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my
account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in
the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I’ve been told by some “Christians” that those words are
simply a pretty and poetic way of describing the way things should be or even
that those are the words that describe what God’s kingdom will look like
someday when we get there. They tell me: “They aren’t about anything in the
here and now.”
When the words of Jesus challenge us we often say that they
don’t have anything to do with the way we live here and now. We often find them easy to dismiss from our
own lives even when we claim that we believe everything written in scripture.
The Epistles in the New Testament are a bit harder to
dismiss, especially the ones directed at new churches who want to live as
Christians. The early Christians were
more concerned by what it meant to follow Jesus – to live lives that were
faithful to the ways of this King - than by what it meant to issue oaths about
their “faith” in Jesus. Jesus said time
and again to follow him. The epistles to
the young churches tend to get pretty specific about how to follow him. For them “faith” was a verb – not an abstract
noun – that required sufficient faith in Jesus lordship that they were required
to be obedient to his way. To have
“faith” was defined by faithful actions, a life consistent with all of his
teachings and commands.
The thing that makes James so difficult is that he gets
pretty specific about what it means to be faithful. In today’s reading James is talking about
“favoritism.” Favoritism is simply
discrimination. It’s prejudice. He uses the example of favoring the rich over
the poor but the lesson is about all forms of discrimination whether it’s
economic or racial or cultural. He
reminds his readers that:
“You do well if you
really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are
convicted by the law as transgressors.”
The reading concludes:
So faith by itself, if
it has no works, is dead.
James isn’t saying that we are saved by works,
as many Protestants have said trying to dismiss his writings. James is saying that it’s stupid to say that
you can have faith without living faithfully to the commands of Christ, your
king. Without follow through, the word
“faith” is meaningless, hollow, dead.
James tries to teach us about what he called
“pure worship.” Following Christ is
“pure worship.” Worshipping Christ isn’t
about coming to church on Sunday morning.
It’s about the way we live our daily lives. It’s about how we seek out and follow God’s
will.
Throughout the book of James, he writes about
what pure worship is and is not. He
tells his readers that the first step in practicing pure worship is abolishing
favoritism. He makes it clear that
favoritism (or discrimination) is so un-Christ-like that he wonders if anyone
who practices it can actually be a Christian at all. He goes so far as to say that favoritism can
and will destroy the Christian community.
James writes:
“You do well if you really fulfill the
royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by
the law as transgressors.”
If we show favoritism to some and reject others
for whatever reasons, James asks then how can we say that we believe in the
wonderful, grace-filled sacrifice and triumph of Jesus? Do you think his gift was just for you, not
to all human kind? Although some people
try to pit James against Paul – which is a false argument based on a very
incomplete reading of Paul – there is no question about their agreement on this
point, Paul makes it very clear as well:
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there
is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you
are one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3:28]”
Sisters and brothers, through the grace of God and the
willingness of Jesus to love us even to a painful death, we have been saved,
set free to choose whom we shall follow.
We have been called by God to enter his kingdom as his children. We have been given the Holy Spirit to hear
out pleas for God’s wisdom and to lead us on the paths of righteousness. We have been given a substitute for the rules
and commandments of old, a substitute that encompasses all of life:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all
your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. [Luke 10.27]”
It’s what James called the “royal law.” It’s the law that paves the way to
Christ. It’s a law based on
non-judgmental acceptance of everyone by God’s children. It’s a law based on love and mercy. It’s a law that requires us to choose, and
that’s why James calls is the “law of liberty.”
We are free to choose.
We are free to pursue God’s will for us though prayer and patience. We are free to share in God’s own eternal
joy. We are free to choose to faithfully
follow the will of God for our lives and turn away from the values and
prejudices, the favoritism, that the world would want us to accept as the only
meaningful reality. We are free to love
one another as Christ loves us.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment