The funny thing about arguments is that two people can use all the same information and can come out on exactly the opposite ends of the argument. Two different people, just because they are different personalities, can read the same data, hear all the same pros and cons, examine all the same facts, and then conclude exact opposites from one another.
That may mean that neither of them is right or wrong. It just means that they are different, that they are both seeking the same truth. You really need to hear both of them to get the complete picture.
Two people can use all the same information and can come out at exactly the opposite ends of a debate, just because of their own personal styles. Neither is simply right or wrong; both of them, usually, have the truth, expressed in their own ways. But you need to hear from both of them to get it all.
A friend of mine and I were both shopping for cars at about the same time a number of years ago. Now shopping for a car is one of the tasks I absolutely hate. I know that there are plenty of folks who love doing that and like to think they are getting a steal on wheels. Frankly, I hate it. But that does mean I’ll do as thorough a job as I can do. I will research the consumer reports, I will read all the mechanical magazines, I will calculate probable miles per gallon, I will check with the insurance agents … I’ll do it all. Because what I want in the end is the most car for the least amount of money possible. If you want the name for that, I think they call it "cheap".
Well, so did my friend. He read all the consumer reports. He studied the mechanical magazines. He did his calculations, he even got bids from insurance companies. He was looking for economy too.
When it was all over, I bought a little blue Plymouth Horizon - - an econobox. Some of you remember it; in fact one of our members took one look at it and said, "We’ll have to get you out of that!" But my friend bought a Mercedes-Benz. We used exactly the same information, we had the same goals in mind, but we came out at exactly opposite poles.
I wanted economy, but I wanted it right here, right now. And I got it. But when the car didn’t last but about seven years, I could barely get anybody to give me a dime for it. He wanted economy too, but in the long haul. And his car ran for years and when he sold it was worth more money than when he bought it! We argued from two different personalities, and you really needed to hear both of us to get the full truth.
I suspect that the famous New Testament argument, if that’s what it is, between the apostles Paul and James is much like that. They are approaching an issue from two different angles, and they sound very different. They even use the same information in order to build their divergent arguments. But if you put them together you will have the truth.
To put it succinctly, Paul and James are like a coin toss. One is heads and the other is tails, but they are just the two sides of the same coin.
Paul wants to convince us that the only way we can be brought into relationship with God is through faith. He wants to destroy the notion that we can work our way into heaven and try to be so good that God just has to give us salvation. So he says it like this, using the story of Abraham:
Romans 4: 1 -5, 16
But it wasn’t long after Paul’s pointed words got into circulation that along came James, and it surely does sound like a vigorous debate. You can almost see James wagging his finger at Paul, as if to say, "Paul, you’ve gone off the deep end. Let’s get real".
James 2:14-24
Take that, Paul!
I have observed that some of us tend to be Paul Christians and others of us are inclined to be James Christians. Actually we are just heads or tails, just two sides of the same coin. And we need each other to get to the real truth.
Some of us feel very committed to spiritual growth, and to prayer. Some of us feel as though the real work of the church is worship and Bible study, prayer and preaching, sharing our faith and helping people get committed to Christ. Some of us think the church is at its best when men and women, boys and girls, enter the waters of baptism and begin spiritual journeys. Paul Christians are inclined to believe that the resources of Christian missions need to be poured into things which are spiritual and which lead to an experience of forgiveness and of grace.
Well, I agree with the Paul Christians. I agree that our energies should be spent in sharing our faith. I agree that nothing can replace coming to know Christ personally as savior. I’m right there with the Paul Christians. It says so right here in the Bible, in the Book of Romans, "Faith is reckoned as righteousness ... the just shall live by faith ... it all depends on faith.”
What about the James Christians? Well, James Christians believe that the energies of the church need to be spent on healing: on the hungry, the homeless, the helpless, the hurting. James Christians argue that real missions is clothing the poor and helping someone find a job, authentic missions is caring for the sick and binding up the broken-hearted.
Well, guess what?! I also agree with the James Christians. I also agree that the church, if it is to follow Christ, has to deal with the issues of poverty and racism and injustice. I also agree that we have to put our energy and our time into salving the raw sores that plague humanity. That also is said right here in the Bible. "Can faith save you? You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." I agree with those folks too!
But can you see that these are both actually two angles on the same truth? These are just heads and tails of the same coin. Like brothers Paul and James, we in our church have looked at the needs of humanity and we have argued it both ways. The sad fact is that we have let our differences, our apparent disagreements, keep us from doing much of anything to reach others. We have canceled each other out.
The Paul Christians among us have argued that we ought to get busy with evangelism and more Bible study and more prayer and more personal work and more visitation. The Paul Christians, who emphasize how much faith in Christ is critical, have tried to push us to a deeper spirituality, only to be stopped in their tracks by James Christians who have said, “Oh, yes, but we have to heal the hurts first. We have to do something about our own pain and about the pain of others before we can share our faith. Wait, Paul people. Don’t you think we ought to do some good works in order to build our credibility? Don’t you think we ought to serve some human needs first?"
And then the James Christians, who have wanted to serve human needs and do good works first, because their champion, James, says that faith without works is dead … those James Christians have pushed us to feed the poor and reclaim the mentally ill and teach the unlettered. And they too have been stopped in their tracks by others who have asked, "Well, now, are you going to get that hungry man into Sunday School? Did you invite that homeless family to worship? Did you pray with that illiterate child?"
The folks who want spirituality and the folks who want service: you are both here in our church.
We are canceling each other out and discouraging each other, when in reality we ought to be seeing each other as nothing more than heads or tails, two sides of the same coin. We have, like Paul and James, argued from the same information and come out in two different places. But we must learn today that we need each other. We are just two sides of the same coin.
Our worship today celebrates missions. Already you have heard that in Uganda the task of missions was to share Christ ... the Paul thing ... and to comfort AIDS patients ... the James thing. Two sides of the same coin.
I am asking us to celebrate what missions can be here in our church. I am asking you to consider, whatever your preference and whatever your personality, what you will be willing to do, on either side of the coin, or on both sides.
If you are a Paul person, then sign up for something that will get you involved in specifically spiritual witness to others. That’s a critical thing to do. That’s vitally important. And your church will bless you for it. But do it!
And if you are a James person, then sign up to serve somebody’s needs. Sign up to heal humanity’s hurts. That too is critical. That too is vitally important. And your church will bless you for that. But let’s do it!
The thing to remember is that both are needed, both are true, in their own ways. They are just heads or tails, two sides of the same coin. And without both of them, there isn’t any coin. It’s worthless. Church is worthless. James said it best, "I by my works will show you my faith." Without both, your church and your church membership is worthless.
This afternoon at about one o’clock the team captains will gather on the field to toss a coin and see which team gets to kick and which to receive. The referee, or whoever tosses the coin, will ask the team captains, "Heads or Tails"? If you called “Heads" and the coin turns face up, you win. If you called “Tails” you lose. Tossing the coin is a good way to make an arbitrary decision.
Now there is a variation on the old coin toss that I’ve had pulled on me, and I expect you have too. You have to listen closely, or else somebody is going to give you this choice: "Heads I win, Tails you lose."
Would you agree to a choice like that? Heads I win, Tails you lose? If they let Jack Kent Cooke out there, that’s probably what he would propose!
Well, of course you wouldn’t agree to that! No percentage in that, is there?
Ah, but if heads and tails are just two sides of the same coin, in God’s economy it will never be, "Heads I win, Tails you lose.” In God’s economy it will be, "Heads you win, Tails you win again." Paul, James, the lost, the hurting, you and I, the church -- everybody wins. Because heads or tails, we are but two sides of the same coin.
