“Actions Speak Louder than Anything”
James 2:1-18
Comedian Louis C.K. once said, “I have a lot of beliefs…And I live by none of them.
That’s just the way I am.
They’re just my beliefs.
I just like believing them—I like that part.
They’re my little ‘believies.’
They make me feel good about who I am.
But if they get in the way of a thing I want, I just do what I want to do.”
James makes it clear that we can “claim” to believe in all kinds of wonderful “ideals,” but if we don’t put what we “supposedly believe” into action…
…if we don’t apply it to our daily lives…
…if we don’t allow it to transform us from the inside out…
That faith is as good as dead.
On an NPR radio show a prize-winning photojournalist confessed that many people in his field remain spectators as they observe and record the misfortunes of others.
And then he shared a disturbing story of his own.
He was sent out on an assignment to get pictures of a coastal storm.
He said, “I walked out on the beach, and there was this one figure by the ocean looking out.
A split second after I took a picture of her, a wave came in, hit the embankment below her feet, knocked the sand out, and she went sliding into the water.”
Then he said, “I was probably at least 50 feet away from her, shooting with a telephoto lens.
She was in the water in shock or whatever.
I thought, okay, am I going to make a rescue? I already got the shot I need.”
“Instead, I just kept taking more pictures.”
Soon a large wave prepared to crash on top of the helpless woman.
The photojournalist continued his story, “The wave looked to me like it was 20 feet high.
Within seconds after the picture was taken, she was covered by the wave.
I realized that she was gone.
The sequence of pictures received quite a bit of attention.”
Later in the interview the man admitted that he could have made a difference, but instead he chose to observe and take pictures.
James makes it clear that what saves us is the distinction between a dead faith—faith without works…
…or faith without putting it into action, and a living faith—a faith that is always put into action.
If we were to read further in our Scripture Lesson for this morning, just down through verses 19 and 20 we would see that James says, “It’s good that you believe that God is one.
Ha!
Even the demons believe this, and they tremble with fear.
Are you so slow?
…faith without actions has no value at all”.
And so James goes back to the most basic, and yet the most important point of ancient Judiasm which is the confession that “God is one.”
That was and still is, at the heart of Jewish daily prayer: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One; and you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and mind, and soul and strength.”
And it is at this point that Jesus added, what James calls, in verse 8, the royal law, “love your neighbor as yourself.”
And that is what putting faith into action is about, is it not?
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Simply saying that “God is one” doesn’t get us very far if it doesn’t make a difference in our lives.
After all, the demons know all this, and it doesn’t do them any good; it just scares them out of their wits!
So, the Christian meaning of faith is a “Jesus shaped faith.”
It needs to translate into action—into Jesus shaped action!!!
This is the same thing that Paul says in Galatians when he says that “what matters” is “faith working through love.”
And who are some of the most difficult people to love?
Well, I suppose it would be those who can’t pay us back…
…or those who repulse us…
…those who are most unlike us…
…those whom it is most easy to discriminate against.
Perhaps that is one reason why Jesus went out of His way to honor those on the margins: the sick, the mentally ill, the social outcastes, those deemed by society as “no good rotten sinners,” and especially the poor.
Think about it, Jesus celebrated the gift of the widow who only put two small copper coins into the Temple treasury as if they had been worth two million dollars!!!
And even Jesus’ enemies noticed (although it often frustrated them to no end) that Jesus didn’t judge people by the positions they held or the money they made.
And then, in verse 5 of our Scripture Lesson for this morning, James says, “My dear brothers and sisters, listen! Hasn’t God chosen those who are poor by worldly standards to be rich in terms of faith?
Hasn’t God chosen the poor as heirs of the kingdom he has promised to those who love him?”
In his first year in seminary, Jim Wallis and his friends did a thorough study to find every verse in the Bible that deals with the poor and social injustice.
They came up with thousands.
For example, in three Gospels one out of every ten verses deals with these issues.
And in Luke it’s one out of every 7.
And yet they couldn’t remember a single sermon on the poor in their home churches.
One of them found an old Bible and started to cut out every single biblical text about the poor.
Much of the Psalms and Prophets disappeared.
That old Bible would hardly hold together.
They had created a Bible full of holes.
But the real Bible, is not full of holes about loving our neighbor, caring for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the outcastes, the hungry, the homeless.
There are over 2,500 verses in the Bible that deal with these issues.
And it has been suggested that this is God’s plan A for Christians—that we are to address the issues of fairness, the issues of helping the poor, the sick, the hungry…
…and that we are to allow God to work through us to accomplish God’s good plans for this world and for how we are to live our lives.
And that there is no plan B.
Just a plan A.
Our Scripture passage for this morning makes it clear that showing favoritism toward certain wealthy people while dishonoring and humiliating a poor person in dirty clothes is a sin.
Our Scripture makes it clear that there is no place for class distinctions and other games that people play in the Church of Jesus Christ.
As a matter of fact, James goes on to demonstrate that to show partiality to one person over another is a sin and a transgression against the whole law of God, Who is, after-all, the Final Judge!!!
And that instead, we are to live by “the law of freedom” which allows us to love all persons unconditionally no matter who they are, what they do or where they come from.
And that “there will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn’t shown mercy.
Mercy overrules judgment.”
Praise God. Praise God!!!!
The polar opposite of favoritism is mercy.
Wouldn’t it be hell, if it were the other way around.
Well, in a sense, I suppose that could be a working definition of hell—a dimension where there is no mercy, only judgment!!!
It’s been said that this Scripture passage “speaks not only to the profound issue of acceptance but potentially to the inclusion of the ‘uncool.’”
And how many of us have felt “uncool” at some point in our lives?
Maybe we feel that way now.
Perhaps we feel that way most of the time.
If that is the way YOU feel, you are not alone.
As Hughie Lewis and the News used to sing: “It’s hip to be Square”!!!
And within the Kingdom of God, it is “hip” to be the person God created you to be…
…loving, impartial, filled with mercy, kind, patient, forgiving, accepting…
…and I could go on and on and on…
…for after-all, YOU and I and EVERYONE else were created to imitate the Divine Image of God Who is all these things and more—much, much more!!!!
Again, there is no plan B!!!
From an article in USA Today, I read this:
“In Portland, Oregon, the homeless gather under the Burnside Bridge.
For more than three years, carloads of Christians from Bridgetown Ministries have shown up on Friday nights and ministered to these needy men and women.
In addition to providing hot meals, shaves, and haircuts, some of the volunteers wash the homeless people’s feet.”
The writer of the article described this as “one of the most audacious acts of compassion and humility I have ever seen.”
The article states, “This group of society’s outcastes had their bare feet immersed in warm water, scrubbed, dried, powdered, and placed in clean socks.
One man reported with a smile, ‘I can’t find the words to describe how good that felt.’”
The writer of the article commented that “Washing someone’s feet is an act best performed while kneeling.
Given the washer’s position, and the unpleasant appearance and odor of a homeless person’s feet, it’s hard to imagine an act more humbling.”
Preparing for this outreach, the leader of the ministry offered these words: “When you go out there tonight, I want you to look for Jesus.
You might see Him in the eyes of a drunk person, a homeless person…we’re just out there to love on people.”
That is the kind of Christianity that converts people!!!
That is what it means to live out the “royal law of Christ—Love your neighbor as yourself.”
That is putting our faith into action; that is faith working through love, that is “Jesus shaped faith”!!!!
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Isn’t this impossible?
It is.
It is, unless we allow Jesus to love through us.
Mother Teresa has a prayer which goes like this: “O Jesus…grant that, even if you are hidden under the unattractive disguise of anger, of crime, or of madness, I may recognize you and say, ‘Jesus, you who suffer, how sweet it is to serve you.’”
For a month or so now the Servant Evangelism Team has been talking about having a Thanksgiving Dinner on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, specifically aimed at folks who live in poverty at the extended stay lodges down the street.
It is also aimed at us, in order to mingle with one another and with persons we have not yet come in contact with.
Persons who are hungry both physically and spiritually and may not have another chance to enjoy a Thanksgiving Day meal.
We don’t plan to spend money on this event, but rather are asking local businesses to contribute the food and other necessities.
This is a wonderful opportunity to live-into our Scripture passage for this morning.
James, who was the literal blood-brother of Jesus Himself wrote, “when you show favoritism you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory…
…You do well when you really fulfill the royal law found in Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself…
…Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone…
…Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat.
What if one of you said, ‘Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!’?
What good is it if you don’t actually give them what their body needs?
In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.”
Let’s not stand on the shore taking pictures of people as they drown.
Let’s put what we believe into action.
Let’s jump into the waves, the storms, the mud and the muck with other people…
…and in doing so, meet Jesus face to face.
Amen.
