MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT
James 2:8-10; 12-18 - September 11, 2005 - Pentecost 17
Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Today we are going to talk about the deeds and actions of Christian faith. But before we do that, it is important to remind ourselves that the faith we have, which is our possession, is purely and simply God’s gift to us. There is not one of us here who has gone out of one’s way and earned faith. There is not one of us here good enough to buy faith, but by grace God has planted the seed of his word in our hearts and today you and I are believers. We gather together by God’s grace. Because of that, we know about God’s love, God’s mercy. Today we are told that mercy triumphs over judgment. The Lord reminds us that our faith, which is given to us by God’s grace, moves us to live our lives for Him.
Micah says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"(Micah 6:8). In humility, today we come before God’s throne of grace, again, realizing that we do not deserve any mercy. God still shows his mercy to us. Our text tells us, mercy triumphs over judgment. This is our theme:
God’s mercy triumphs over judgment:
I. Mercy is the law of God’s love
II. Mercy acts with deeds of love
I. MERCY IS THE LAW OF GOD’S LOVE
Please take the opportunity today (or this week) to read chapter 2 of James. James begins chapter 2 by talking about favoritism. There was a problem in the early church. The problem was that when people came in and were dressed nicely, the believers thought they were people of position and honor. They would put them at the front of the synagogue, considered to be the places of honor. James writes that is not really true. In the eyes of God everybody is the same, there are no favorites. God He doesn’t show favoritism and neither should believers.
Then we come to our text. James teaches about favoritism: "If you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers." James reminded them of the law which showed them their sin. He reminded them that when they showed favoritism, that was not a good thing. It sounds strange to us that they would do such a thing, but it was a practice in the early Christian church. The Jews would put those with honor and position in the front. They would make sure everybody saw that the important people were there in church. James reminds them to forget about that practice. It is a bad practice, bad tradition, or we might even call it bad liturgy. James reminds these believers, do not show favoritism. It is a sin.
James reminds them that they are all the same. What does he say in verse 10? "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. He says one sin is what condemns the person. Everyone is guilty of at least one sin. Since God doesn’t see favorites and neither should they. Instead they should look at people as their neighbor and love them. As our text began in verse 8: "If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ’Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right." So now we begin to see that James is trying to move God’s law beyond just the Ten Commandments, isn’t he? All too often the people of the New Testament times, because it was so closely connected to the Old Testament, could remember the Ten Commandments. The believers remembered that the Ten Commandments repeatedly said: "Don’t do this and do this."
In the New Testament the Lord God wanted them to expand their thinking. The Lord Jesus Christ wanted believers to remind themselves that the law was not just "Don’t do and do." The law also was summed up in that word "love—love God above all things and love your neighbor as yourself." James continues: "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom." They always thought the laws condemned and they were right. God’s law clearly condemns sin, but it also was going to give them freedom. A freedom to know the correct direction to take in their life, to knowing what was right and wrong, freedom then to live their lives in following God. James writes: "Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment." God’s mercy was going to triumph over judgment. Those who would follow in God’s footsteps would discover God’s mercy. They would see that mercy is God’s law of Christian love.
We don’t want to confuse ourselves today. We realize the law, very simply, is connected with sin. It shows us our sin. The gospel shows us our Savior. How can the law give us freedom? Well just like it did here. The law for us today is a guideline. We like it when there are guidelines. We have speed limits. We have ordinances in different states and cities and towns to follow. And we follow them. It gives guidance, and it gives freedom to know that for the most part the rest of society also follows those guidelines. In following the laws of the land there is a certain sense of safety and security. We also realize the law can not save us on its own. But the law reminds us we are guilty of breaking it with one sin. Galatians describes this power of the law: "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:23,24). We know what the law does, don’t we? It reminds us we are sinners in thought, word and deed. It reminds us that no one can stand before God because our sins condemn us. It reminds us that if we look at ourselves, we find that we fall short of the glory of God. Then what is left? We are left to turn to God for help. By grace God gives us faith to believe in our Savior who has died for all of our sins. Mercy is God’s law of love.
We remember the times that Jesus walked on the earth doing miracles and teaching. The people came to the Savior and always were asking him questions. They asked which were the most important commandments. Ten could seem like a long list to keep. Jesus reminded them it was not just the letter of the law to be kept. There was also the spirit, the law of love. When one of the teachers of the law came and asked which were the most important, Jesus told them (in Mark): "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30,31). This is God’s law of love.
This law of God’s love is in Romans as we have been reading throughout in our lessons during Pentecost. Last week Romans said that love is the fulfillment of the law. How true that is. Christ came from heaven, lived on earth, suffered and died on the cross out of love. Christ was put into the tomb and came back to life on the third day out of love. Christ fulfilled the law out of love, so that we can love one another because of God’s mercy which triumphs over judgment. Mercy is the law of God’s love. In 1 Peter: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart" (1 Peter 1:22).
Mercy triumphs over judgment. God says to love our fellowman. We are going to look at how love goes into to actions. A good lesson to read today is our gospel lesson that talks about forgiveness. This reading (from Matthew 18, listed below) gives us a beautiful example of what our text is trying to tell us. The disciples came and asked, "How often should we forgive, seven times?" That is what the scribes and Pharisees had established as obedience to the law. They would forgive someone seven times and thus would have done their duty in keeping the law. But Jesus said, "Seventy-seven times (or seventy times seven)". Don’t keep track. The law of love is a law of forgiveness. This is a good example for our text, mercy triumphs over judgment. God’s mercy is the law of God’s love. Then mercy acts with deeds of love.
II. MERCY ACTS WITH DEEDS OF LOVE
Again, we put ourselves back into the congregation during the time of James. They were always excited to help those who were in a position of honor, those who wore fancy clothes, those who they thought were important in society. That was the whole thing--favoritism. James says to forget about that. He says, "Look at your own hearts. Look at your faith, and what ought your faith do?" "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" He says if you can’t see faith, is it real? Is it really there? James asked these questions with an answer that is obvious. If they didn’t know the answer, he gives them an example that is fitting for us today: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ’Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? If someone in need comes, and we say, "Go, I wish you well." (In the original it says, "Go in peace.") It is not a bad thing to send someone away with a blessing. The people in need still needed clothing and their stomachs were still growling with hunger. James wonders, "Have you really helped them?" Have they really seen faith? Is Christian faith really there? That is what James wants to know and he wants these Christians to think about it.
Is there more to faith than just wishing people well? Of course, there is. It is helping them. James says, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead." James is talking about the fruits of faith. First of all, before there will be any action, there will have to be faith. Without faith, there is no love. Without love there is no action to help one another. There is no kindness or mercy. James knows what they are going to say. "But someone will say, ’You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds (or apart from deeds), and I will show you my faith by what I do. James is challenging them. He says, "If you can show me your faith without doing anything, go ahead. Show me your faith. If you can, that is fine. I can also show my faith by what I do, what Christ’s love compelled me to do." Christ’s love (and inspiration) compelled James to write to them. Christ’s love compelled the apostle Paul to preach the gospel.
Christ’s love compels us to be here this morning. Our sinful nature does not want to come to church, but Christ’s love does. That is where mercy which triumphs over judgment. That is faith and mercy, which acts with deeds of love. It all is because Christ the Lord is the vine, our vine. We are the branches. In John 15: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Sometimes we might feel cut off from God. We might feel like branches that are discarded. The Lord says our responsibility is to remain in him, to get close to God in his word. In God’s word we are reminded that, yes, Christ is the vine, the source of our nourishment, the source of our life, the source of our living and the source of our fruitfulness in this sin-darkened world.
We know in our day and age the opportunities that abound to help those who are less fortunate, to be generous with our actions and with our possessions, with our talents and our time. The Lord has so blessed us abundantly. 1 John tells us: "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:17,18). What a blessing to be called the children of God. Of course, we know about the disasters that happened lately with the hurricanes, the tsunami, and people with medical bills. There is someone in need all of the time. All of the time there is someone worse off than us. Why is that? Some people ask, "Why do bad things happen?" They happen so that we as believers can show them the will of God to others in this world. Bad things happen in this world so that we as believers who aren’t so affected by the disasters of this world, can help those who are. With love in our hearts because of faith that is ours by grace, we can show those deeds of love to others who truly need them and are suffering. Mercy acts with deeds of love.
We, as believers, there is a big difference from the rest of the world. The rest of the world from time to time is looking to give gifts from which they would get recognition. They are looking to give gifts or do things only for those they might like or of the same faith. One example: The Muslims don’t give much aid and support for those in need because it might get into the hands of the infidels, those who are not Muslims. There is a difference between their religion and Christianity. We give to those who have need. The difference is that as Christians we do deeds of mercy to those we might not even know or not even like. Listen to this from Luke: "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Luke 6:35). Through us and our kindness and generosity, God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Those are acts and deeds of love.
We, as believers, don’t sit down and keep track in our notebook what we have done as an act of kindness, the deeds of love. We just do it without even thinking by faith, because mercy triumphs over judgment. We know the opportunities that abound for each of us. God shows us his mercy. That is the only reason you and I do anything at all, because of God’s great mercy for us. Today’s text reminds us that in the end God’s mercy is going to triumph over judgment, because mercy is the law of God’s love for us. Mercy is also action with deeds of love. Faith and action go hand in hand. Action follows faith. Action takes faith first and we must remember that. The only reason we do deeds of love for others is because of God’s great love for us. Lamentations tells us: "Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22,23). We would agree. Each day of our life God’s mercy triumphs over judgment. God shows us his love, his great mercy that we might show it to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment. We react with deeds of love to and for others. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer.
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Readings, Pentecost 17(ILCW-A): GENESIS 50:15-21; ROMANS 14:5-9; MATTHEW 18:21-35
