Faith Without Works? (James 2:1-18, September 4-10, Year B.)

Straight AheadThis will be my sermon title and text for this Sunday. You will notice that I placed a question mark at the end of the phrase "faith without works" because it was unthinkable to James or to any of the apostles that a true Christian could have genuine faith without accompanying works which demonstrated that faith! How could such a thing be? Today, we have the legalists on one extreme who think that if a person doesn't exhibit certain works or abstain from certain things, that person can't possibly be saved and go to heaven. On the other hand, we have those people who use the grace of Christianity as license for all kinds of immorality, bad habits, and excuses for indifference to right living. You may remember that Martin Luther had great disdain for the epistle of James, wishing it had never been included in the Bible! But Martin Luther misunderstood the epistle. James was not undermining the theological truth of justification by faith. He was simply saying that if a person has genuine Christian faith, that faith will manifest itself in good works. This is basically the same thing Jesus was teaching in Matthew 7 when he said that "by their fruits, you will know them," and what the apostle Paul was pointing out in Galatians 5 when he spoke of the "fruits of the Spirit." Many have used this chapter in the epistle of James to justify all kinds of political programs, social gospel, and even the abandonment of doctrine altogether. Again though, we must be reminded that the Bible is a book of balance. Even in this epistle, James does not dismiss sound doctrine. He does not restrict himself simply to the virtue of meeting material needs. He uses several examples to illustrate what it means to show our faith by our works. In James 2:1-7 and thereafter, he talks about showing impartiality in the church. We sometimes talk about treating everybody the same, not paying more attention to anybody just because that person may be wealthy or powerful in the community. That is essentially the correct emphasis, but I like to say it in a more positive way. I say in one of my sermon titles, "Treat everybody special!" There are no common people, and there are no common Christians! Let's make sure that everyone is glad they came to our church. The church should be a place of acceptance, even when we cannot approve or condone certain lifestyles or agree with certain expressions of the human condition! James goes on to remind us that it is all well and good to be careful about obeying particular points of God's law; but he says that if we are guilty of breaking even one point of God's law, we are guilty of breaking the whole of the law. He then talks about the hypocrisy of telling someone to go and be filled with food and be warmed and satisfied, yet not giving them the means to meet their needs. This does not mean that we foster an attitude of dependence or irresponsible behavior. It means that we genuinely endeavor to feed the whole person--giving them short-term means to meet a particular need, and then giving them the Bread of Life and providing the means for them to be all that God intends them to be. It's not so much a matter of how we carry out our own understanding of the Christian faith, but whether or not we are truly trying to be actively living out that faith. We may have differing theological and political perspectives which will influence our interpretation of the Christian life. Hopefully, these perspectives will be informed by the Word of God, prayer and meditation. James uses other examples which illustrate courage, moderation of speech, caring for other unfortunate types of people, and developing spiritual discipline. All of these are examples of showing our faith by our works. Faith without works? That is an unthinkable paradox to the New Testament followers of Christ! One of the results of genuine Christian faith and discipleship is a life brimming with works--not to gain salvation, but to show the love of Christ.