James 2:1-17.              Faith and deeds???                             9/9/12

 2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favouritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Faith and Deeds
¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

 Here today James raises an issue that is important for us to consider carefully; particularly, for us as Lutherans. Too often we are tempted to think that as long as we have faith in Jesus Christ that is all that matters. So what if we don’t always live according to God’s Word. The important thing is that we believe: that we have our faith; whatever that might mean.

 For many of us we justify this thinking because we do not want to fall into that other great danger in Christianity: thinking and believing that our salvation is dependent on our good works. This too is not a good thing; for if we trust that it is our obedience and good deeds that will enable us to earn our acceptance by God, there too we are in big trouble.

 Both of these views make our Christianity worthless: dead. Obedience and good deeds will not save us. On their own they are good for nothing; other than simply a good thing to do. But at the same time James here makes the point that faith without good deeds is equally good for nothing: a waste of time.

 Here in this reading he is addressing the situation where people were claiming to be Christians, but who gave little thought to how God would have them live and act. In fact it would seem that they were quite comfortable in discriminating against the poor and needy; and ignoring other clear commands of God. But at the same time considered themselves to be fine, upstanding Christians. They had their faith in Jesus and that surely ensured that they were saved and it didn’t really matter how they lived their lives. So he clearly tells them that their faith is worthless: it is dead.

 Now that should stop us all in our tracks, and challenge us to think carefully as to where we are at in our own lives. Would we want the accusation that our faith is dead to hang over us on Judgement Day? Particularly, since we are living at a time when it is so easy for us to ‘do what everyone else is doing.’ It is so easy for us to ignore what God has to say about regular Sunday worship; looking down on others who are not like us; being selfish in so many different ways; and more.

 We think it is no big deal that we do these things. Does it really matter if we do those things? After all, we have our faith. We believe that we are forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. So does it really matter?

 Well, God’s Word here clearly says that it does matter. It says: faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. A little earlier it said: If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. That surely is all very clear.

 So with that in mind we then need to understand the next point that is made here. It says: Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

 This gets to the heart of the matter. We are called to live, speak and act as people who are going to be judged: Judged by the living out of our faith: the law that gives freedom. What this means is, that because we know that God is merciful and thereby forgives us for Jesus sake, we will thankfully seek to do all that God would have us do each and every day of our life.

 Because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for us and for our salvation we are set free from that slavery of sin that has beset each and every one of us. We are no longer living under the absolute compulsion to have to do everything that God says, with the threat of punishment hanging over our heads. The Law that God has given to us to live under is now no longer a burden and a drudgery that must be endured at all costs if we are to be acceptable to God. Jesus took our place and suffered the punishment that we deserve, so that we no longer have that threat hanging over us.

 So now we can, and surely will want to, freely and willingly do what our Lord says. We will do it because he has saved and redeemed us. We will do it; because by virtue of our baptism we are washed clean and now have God himself live within us. We have been given his Spirit so that we can and will desire to live this life that is so good for us. We will have his strength and help to go against our sinful desires, and instead now do what is good and right. He and what he would have for us is what will be important for us.

 This is what it is to be Christian. Our faith and our deeds will go hand in hand. They are very much a part of each other. There is no such thing as faith without the desire to live the life that God has for us. And our deeds are nothing unless they arise from a faith and trust that is grounded in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for our salvation.

 So the judgement that we face at the end will be determined by our faith that is evident by the deeds that we have done. So what a mistake then it is, to neglect and forget that faith and the love toward those around us are both very important. What a tragedy it is to then try to convince ourselves that as long as we have faith, then it doesn’t matter how we live. We can willingly ignore what God has told is good for us, because after all God will forgive us and accept us into heaven.

 Here we are reminded quite clearly that judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. If we willingly live without deeds we are clearly showing that we do not believe that our Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. We have made ourselves to be lord and judge of our life. Even though we claim to have faith we have set our views and judgements over what God himself has to say: and so can expect no mercy from him.

 So, with all of this in mind, let us look to and hold Jesus and his cross up firmly before our eyes all the time so that we can be ever so sure that he is our Lord and Saviour who has been merciful to us. Knowing that, we then will also be ever mindful that he is our Almighty and loving God who has ways and commands that are good for us. So we will be ever so vigilant in seeking to do what he would have us do. We will be merciful as he has been merciful to us.

 However, we will willingly and joyfully do this knowing that he has not only been merciful to us, but that he is ever wanting to help us and give us the strength and ability to do this.  He has forgiven us so that we can freely and joyfully do this with the life and strength that he has given us and continues to give us, week in week out. With his Word that he speaks to us here each Sunday and with his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, he is assuring of his mercy and his presence and power to help us each and every day of our life.

 So yes, let us be ever so careful that we are not found to have a dead faith. But instead to live out our faith every day so that all glory and honour may go to him whom it belongs; our great God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is surely Lord and Saviour of us all. Amen.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish