(This is an abridged version of part 4 of the summer sermon series on the Book of James preached on 8/26 at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore)
James 2:1-26
"For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead." (James 2:26)
I have a certain affinity for house-plants. I love to see beautiful green and vibrant plants. But I admit to not being very good at caring for plants. I have never been one who could be described as having a “green thumb” when it comes to house plants. I never seem to be able to remember to water the plants when they need to be watered, and many of the leaves end up eventually turning brown, before I realize that I failed to water the plants.
A cursory, surface look at house-plants will not usually reveal how living and vital the plant really is. Usually, one has to take a closer look to see if it has been properly watered, and then it can be determined whether or not the plant is in jeopardy of losing its life.
As we look at the church, we see that many people are like house-plants that are vital and full of the life of Christ. And then there are others like the plant that has leaves that are browning, and need some watering. While some of us have faith that is genuine and alive, others of us only give the appearance of life. We look the part, and dress the part… we talk the part and smile the part of a Christian, but there is not really present, the living faith of Christ in our life.
How can we know whether or not we have a living faith? In James chapter 2, James writes of a living faith. The Christians in the early church needed to somehow translate what they had heard about Jesus into a faith that was real and authentic. They needed a living faith, and a way to appropriate their new-found belief in Jesus into their everyday lives. And James offers these cautionary, challenging words to the church regarding our faith, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead." (v. 26)
A further examination of the text indicates that those to whom James wrote in Jerusalem were dealing with some degree of “snobbishness” in their midst. James declares there was evidence of some acts of favoritism and partiality in the church, whereby those with greater means were being treated with greater grace, dignity and respect.
According to James, they were making “distinctions among themselves” (v. 4), whereby the unconditional grace, the unmerited favor and love that God had sent into the world in the person of Jesus, was being undermined.
How was this the case? Those in the church were dishonoring the poor, forgetting that many of them had also been among the poor, forgetting that they too had been subjected to the oppression and mean-spiritedness of the rich in their midst. Forgetting from whence they had come.
You see, once we are blessed by God, many people have a tendency to forget from whence we have come. Once we have been blessed by God, it is often the human propensity and proclivity to forget that there were those who reached down – and reached back - to help us along the way. It is apparent that many of the Christians that James wrote to in Jerusalem had forgotten from whence they had come.
And so James wrote to remind the church what it would take for their faith to become a living faith – what it would take for their religion to become real and relevant in the world. Here are three of the things that James lifts up about a living faith.
First, a living faith changes our perceptions towards others. As it regards the concern raised by James about partiality in verse 4, we stop making “distinctions” among our sisters and brothers. We realize that the God we serve is no respecter of persons. Living faith changes our perceptions. We realize that it is God’s amazing grace that has changed our lives, and that if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, we know not where we’d be. When we become aware of God’s grace in our lives, our perceptions change, and we begin to look differently at those who are different from us.
A living faith changes our perceptions by helping us to look beyond the differences among us – gender, race, class, political affiliation, denomination - and realize that we have all been created by God, and that we are all children of the same living God. God created everybody and loves everybody.
Second, a living faith helps us to love our neighbors as ourselves. In verse 8 of chapter two, James writes, “You do well if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””
As difficult as it might sometimes appear, God’s divine desire and command for us is that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. When we realize that it was God’s love that raised us and saved us – when God didn’t really have to do it – it becomes easier for us to practice loving our neighbors as ourselves.
A living faith helps us to practice loving our neighbors as ourselves, whereby love becomes more than a word; it becomes a way of life for us, whereby love is translated into real acts of kindness toward others.
Third, a living faith produces good works. James writes in 2:13, “for judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy.” He goes on to write in verse 17, “so faith by itself if it has no works, is dead.” And as though they didn't get it the first time, James repeats himself in verse 26, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead."
A living faith produces good works. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, spoke of the general works that all Christians should engage in. These four general works are (1) works of personal piety, (2) works of corporate worship, (3) works of justice, and (4) works of mercy (care and compassion for each other).
Living faith produces good works. It lives and moves in the world. We are reminded by James that faith without works is dead. The good news is that Christ, through his living and working for the salvation of the world, has give you and me the example of how to live our faith, as we heed the words of the prophet Micah, and “love kindness, and do justice, and walk humbly with God.” (6:8)
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