FAITH IN ACTION - WORDS TO THE WISE

(This sermon was preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 9/30/12 and is the 7th part of a series on the Book of James)

Ps. 53:12; James 3:13-18

As we have looked at the epistle (letter) of James to the Christians in Jerusalem, we have seen that James has addressed numerous practical matters that would help the people live more fully into being Christians – to move them more fully toward maturity in the faith, and become more perfect in their walk with the Lord.

Here at the conclusion of chapter 3, James addresses the matter of wisdom and what true wisdom looks like and acts like. As he had begun this 3rd chapter by addressing the use of the tongue, James is now directing his thoughts especially toward those who desire to be and aspire toward being teachers and leaders in the body of Christ.

It is interesting how Eugene Peterson begins his translation of this passage in the Message version of the Bible: “Do you want to be counted as wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourself sound wise isn’t wisdom…”

James essentially points to two kinds of wisdom – that which is from heaven and that which is not from heaven – wisdom that builds up and wisdom that tears down. The words of James should be viewed against the backdrop of what was beginning to occur among Christians in his day, what is occurring in our world today, and how distorted notions of truth and wisdom in the church and society actually serve to lead people to move farther away from God.

It is apparent that in the times that James wrote, there were distorted and disturbing understandings of what wisdom was, who really was wise among them, and how wisdom was to be used for the up-building of the kingdom of God, and not for the tearing down and demeaning of others.

We can imagine that in the days of James, there were all manner of persons who claimed to be wise – and wanted people to know that they were wise – and who used their self-professed wisdom as a tool or weapon to control, and manipulate others in the church – and get their way.

This is the sort of knowledge – or so-called wisdom – that can be dangerous and can serve more to tear people down than to build them up.

If you know like I know – the admonition of James against the misuse of wisdom, and falsely defining it – is as dangerous today, as it was 2000 years ago. There are people – even today who will let you know how smart and wise they are – where they went to school – what academic degrees they have on the wall – and with whom they have studied.

And not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with any of this – but the attainment of knowledge and wisdom – within the scheme of God’s divine intent for our lives - is to be used for the up-building of the kingdom of God – for the up-building of the body of Christ, the glorification of God, and not simply to further our own selfish ambitions and build ourselves up. James has some word to the wise today.

There’s the story of a minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert who were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, “I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children.” So he took one and jumped.

The computer whiz said, “I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me.” So he took one and jumped.

The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said, “You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plane.”

The Boy Scout said, “Relax, Reverend, the smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out!"

Intelligence is not the same as wisdom.

It appears that James was dealing with some people in Jerusalem who had been living in a state of misguided understanding of wisdom, and as a result, many in the church were beginning to turn their lives away from God, and had begun to place their trust in other people and other things.

And if we look around us, we realize that the world today really hasn’t changed very much from the days of James. Today, we find that too many people have placed their trust in too many people and things other than God, and have turned away from the Lord.

And so the questions for us is in what do we place our trust and belief today? How do we keep trusting and believing in God amidst all the misguided wisdom around us? Where might we find wisdom and truth for the living of these days?

I believe Psalms 53:1-2 can help us, where, we find more words to the wise. Here psalmist declares that only a “fool does not trust and believe God. But the wise trust in the Lord.”

The psalmist says – “the wise trust in the Lord.” Those of us who would be truly wise today – those of us who would be filled with wisdom – would learn to place our trust and faith in God, first and foremost.

To trust and believe in God is to know that beyond the realm of our humanity, God is the God of all wisdom, and it is at the point where our minds meet with the mind of Christ that we really become wise. It is at the point where our minds connect with the one – Jesus – who had the mind to humble himself – even unto death on the cross, that we become truly wise in this world.

That is why it is written that “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10) The writer of Proverbs goes even further by saying that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)

Now we can see why those of generations past seemed to have a wisdom that so many people today don’t possess - because they trusted in the Lord. In days past, there was no Internet, no information age, but they trusted in the Lord. The world was not at their finger-tips - there were no cell phones, no cable television, no PDA’s and laptop computers, no I-pads or I-phones, but they trusted in the Lord.

Often their ministers were not well educated, many did not have the benefit of college or even a high school education, but they were wise and they trusted in the Lord.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. O that we would learn- in the living of these days - to put our trust in the Lord.

Jesus, the Invisible and the 47%

In his seminal book "Jesus and the Disinherited" (1949), theologian Howard Thurman addressed the profound matter of "what the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth have to say to those who stand, at a moment in human history, with their backs against the wall" - the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed. Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free." (Luke 4:18) It's clear that Jesus, in his words and actions, was concerned for and about the very poor among us, and all of the "47%", many of whom have been bruised, victimized, disinherited, and dispossessed - the poor, the 'invisible', the elderly, persons of all races, creeds and persuasions.

FAITH IN ACTION - TAMING THE TONGUE

This sermon is part six of a series, and was preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 9/23/12.

James 3:1-12

The apostle James takes the opportunity in the first two chapters of his epistle to address very practical matters of faith and life with believers. We recall that James deals with matters like how to attain to real joy in life, how to confront and overcome testing and trials, how to live out faith in an active way, how faith without works is really no faith at all – it’s dead, and the power of prayer among believers.

In the third chapter of his letter to Christian believers in Jerusalem, James turns to yet another very important matter among Christians of his day - and certainly among us today. That regards the use of the tongue, and how Christians are to speak to and about each other, and how we are to use words and language in our daily lives.

Clearly, this is a very important matter for us today - as it was for James. There seems to be a societal epidemic of the vitriolic, poisonous use of language as a tool to destroy and hurt people in today’s society. We can measure this by the way people tend to talk to one another and about each other – and the way that some people tell lies on others, spread rumors and engage in gossip. We witness it in the use of words on the Internet, on Twitter, on Facebook, in text messaging and even in the way that many persons use emails today. The lack of civility in the way we communicate with each other seems to be pervasive.

This lack of civility – this lack of kindness and respect – as exemplified in our speech - has certainly slipped into political discourse, where today there appears to be nothing that political opponents can say about each other that is nice, or redeeming. We see it in the prevalence of so-called “attack ads” that permeate the airwaves. It matters little what level the political race is on – whether it is national or local – and it does not really matter the political affiliation of the candidate – Republican, Democratic or Independent - there just seems to be nothing that any one candidate can say that is nice or kind about her or his opponent.

We hear it in the proclivity of politicians today toward telling half-truths and little lies, as though as long as one is not telling an outright and big, bold-faced untruth, it is somehow permissible. And thus the need for what seems to be an ongoing cycle of “fact-checking” in the political realm.

I’m reminded of the story of a man who got sick and had to go to the hospital one day. He was there with his wife. And the wife was just going off on her husband, about everything he had done to deserve to be in the situation he was in, and that he had not done anything right for years. She didn’t realize it, but she was going on and on. Finally, the husband garnered the energy to stop his wife, and he said, “Honey, I certainly haven’t been perfect during our many years of marriage, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

Maybe, that’s the mindset of politicians today – that as long as they are right and truthful some of the time - and a portion of what they are saying is factual - then they pass muster and deserve the public’s trust.

I am one who believes that the destructive use of words is directly related to the proliferation of bullying, and the violence that we see among our youth in schools and on college campuses today. We hear it in much of contemporary music, with misogynistic words used to demean and diminish women, and in the “beefing” and “posturing” displayed by many hip-hop artists today.

Maybe this vitriolic, mean-spirited use of words and language today is not too much unlike what existed during the times of the apostle James. Maybe people in the days of James, those in Jerusalem, instead of using the cell phone or email to tell somebody off, they simply used a scroll to write a nasty, mean note to somebody they did not like, or somebody who had done them wrong.

In any event, James takes time here to address the matter of the use of the tongue, and how people in his day needed to develop the capacity to tame their tongue, and control what they were saying to each other, and how they were saying it.

James admonishes the people of his day to tame their tongues. James points out that the tongue is one of the smallest organs in the body, but there is more power in the tongue than perhaps anywhere else in our being. He compares the tongue to a little fire placed among a great deal of combustible matter, which soon raises a flame and consumes all before it. It stains the whole body. He teaches how difficult it is to tame and control the tongue: “For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, can be tamed, and has been tamed, of mankind. But no can tame the tongue.” And finally, the tongue, James points out, has great potential for both blessings and curse (good and evil).

And so what are a few of the lessons that we glean from the teachings of James?

First, the use of words has the potential to be sinful. If sin is defined as those acts that separate us from God (and by extension one another), then our inappropriate use of words and language has the potential to be sinful. That is why God took time to speak to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and to share with Moses in one of the Ten Commandments that we should not bear false witness (we should not lie and tell untruths). It not only shows a lack of integrity, but is an act of sinfulness to lie on someone, or about something.

That’s why it’s helpful to pause and think about what we are about to say before we say it. It is like the wise man who once said, that “the fish would not have gotten caught if he hadn’t opened his mouth.”

Second, our words can do real harm to our neighbor. The reality is that our words can really hurt others. That is why it is important to be careful what we say to each other and how we say it. Harmful words can indeed scar the soul, and have an impact on those we hurt long after we utter harmful words. That’s why I like the words of the song by Hezekiah Walker – “I need you to survive.” One of the verses says, “I won’t harm you with words from my mouth… I love you... I need you to survive...”

Third, the Good News is that there’s healing, redemptive power, and blessing in speaking well of one another. As people of God, we need to know that it is God’s intent for us is to speak well of each other – to speak life and possibility into existence. The biblical record indicates to us in the book of Genesis that God in God’s love for creation, spoke all of creation into existence.

In other words, God used God’s divine words – God spoke – to create all that is good. God spoke to create the birds in the air… God spoke to create the fish in the sea… God spoke to create the sun and the moon… God spoke to create animals... God spoke light into existence. God spoke to create you and me. And every time God spoke, and created something, God stopped and declare that it was good.

This lets us know that it is God’s divine intent – based on who God is - that we speak well of those around us, speak possibility and hope to our children, speak possibility and hope to our neighbors, and even if we can’t say anything positive to and about our enemy, we are called then to say nothing at all.

And in this day and age as Christians, it causes us to pause and wonder what Jesus would say to us today. Maybe Jesus would say that “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” “I came that you might learn to love your neighbors (and talk to your neighbors) as yourself.” Thanks be to God for the possibilities we have to speak hope and possibility and blessing into one another.

Invisible Man

In light of Mr. Clint Eastwood's sad, sorry, foolish conversation with an "invisible" President Barack Obama and a chair last week, and that fact that many at the RNC found this to be funny, I am reminded that for many persons in America who have historically found thmselves on the margins of society (slaves, women, immigrants, the disabled, gays/lesbians, the poor...), invisibility is no laughing matter. So serious is the matter of invisibility that Ralph Ellison wrote these words in his 1952 novel "Invisible Man" - "I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."

Faith in Action: The Power of Prayer

(This is an abridged version of part-5 of my summer sermon series on the Book of James, preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 9/2/12.)

James 5:12-18

"The fervent, effectual prayers of the righteous person availeth much." (v. 16)

In moving through the Book of James, we have seen that James seeks to address his congregation – the church in Jerusalem – on any number of very practical life- matters that the people there are facing. As their pastor, James has taken time here to write to the people about specific ways that they are to live out their Christian faith. This a proverbial “How-to” manual for Christian living.

We recall that James begins his letter with words of encouragement - that the people were to “count it all joy” – with whatever trials they may encounter. He continues by writing to them more specifically about trials and temptations – the testing - that confront even Christians, and again he encourages them to continue to stand fast and firm in the faith even when they confront such trials. James goes on to write about how the people of faith are to live their faith in ways where they are not only hearers of the word of God, but in ways that they become doers of the word, as well. James encourages believers to not only talk about God, but to live in ways where they put their faith to work. He reminds the church at Jerusalem, and reminds you and me today, that faith without works is really not faith at all – he says, “Faith without works is indeed dead.”

In the meantime, James at various points in his letter to the church takes time to write and instruct them about how to deal with anger, how to treat the poor, how to deal with division and partiality in the body of Christ, and how to control (bridle/tame) the tongue. He warns against judging others, and talks about how to have patience in suffering.

And perhaps it is not ironic that James concludes his letter to his congregation in Jerusalem by talking about prayer, and what happens when believers pray. Here in chapter 5, James essentially lifts up for us a call to prayer, and talks to you and me about the power of prayer.

What I want to suggest today, is that for the church to really be the church, all that we do must be undergirded by prayer. And to place prayer into its proper context, we must see prayer both as an individual discipline and a corporate discipline. This is to say that we should develop the habit of being in conversation with God - praying individually for ourselves, and we must also see some value in praying in the church, and coming together to pray for one another - for the church, for the community, for the nation, for the world, for those who are suffering and hurting wherever they are, and whoever they are.

It is the church’s job – it’s a part of our vocation, our mission - to engage in what the apostle Paul said is praying without ceasing.

Indeed, we are to pray unceasingly. We are to pray for ourselves, pray for our families, and pray for our homes. And we are to pray not only at church on Sundays, but pray during the week. We are to pray not only publicly, but pray privately. Paul said pray without ceasing.

But the matter before you and me today is not only that we should pray without ceasing, but what we need to know is what happens when we pray, what is the real power that can be found in our prayers?

James particularizes Paul’s concern about prayer, and makes plain for you and me what such prayer looks and what really happens when we pray. In James 5:16, James says that “the fervent, effectual prayers of the righteous person availeth much.” (KJV) The NRSV translates this text by saying, “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” And Eugene Peterson in The Message translates this text in this way, “The prayer of the person living right with God is something powerful and to be reckoned with.”

And so what is it that James is trying to tell us about prayer? There are three dimensions of prayer that James lifts up for us in James 5:16 when he writes that "The fervent, effectual prayers of the righteous person availeth much.”

First, James talks the righteous person having the ability to pray. In other word, James is pointing out to us, the subject the prayer. The subject of prayer is the righteous person – the person who is right relationship with God - the one who is walking upright with the Lord. What we need to know is that when we are in right relationship with God – we are righteous – and therefore we have direct access to God. The righteous person has the ability to pray to God for herself/himself, believing by faith that God will hear our prayers and see about our needs. James said that the prayers of the righteous person avail much.

Second, James takes time to describe the type of prayer that the righteous is to engage in. James describes such prayer by using words such as fervent and effectual. We are not simply to pray, but to pray fervently. Again, as Paul said, we are to pray without ceasing. When it seems that we are not getting an answer to prayer, we are to keep praying. We are to pray fervently, expecting an answer and anticipating a breakthrough.

Thirdly, James says that such fervent prayers of the righteous person availeth much. In other words great things happen when we pray (and keep praying). Well, I know that there were those in the days of James who are like some people today. I know someone is sitting and saying, I hear what you’re saying, but you don’t know like I know. I’ve been through some things, and I’ve tried to pray my way through, and God doesn’t seem intent on answering my prayers. I’ve waited and waited, and God hasn’t shown up as I expect that the Lord would. I’ve even had other people praying for me, but I still haven’t gotten a breakthrough.

I’ve prayed and prayed, and nothing has happened. Sickness continues, death has come, disappointment is still on my doorstep. What would James have to say to this? “Keep praying.” “The fervent, effectual prayers of the righteous availeth much.” Keep praying.

Who have you prayed for lately? What have you prayed for lately? Where have you experienced answered prayer in your life lately? We are encouraged today that “the fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much.”

A number of years ago, Rev. Jessie Jackson led an organization that was called Operation PUSH. Based in Chicago – Operation PUSH – which stood for People United to Save Humanity - had as its mission to serve and advocate for the disinherited and oppressed across our nation and our world; to seek justice across our nation and the world.

I simply want to suggest to us this morning that we as Christians are to be engaged in another form of “Operation PUSH.” What I’ve come to share is that we should Pray Until Something Happens. PUSH.

Pray Until Something Happens! PUSH until there’s a change in your life. PUSH until there is a change in your family. PUSH until there is a change on your job. PUSH until there is a change in your community. PUSH until there is a change in the world. PUSH until there’s healing. PUSH until there’s a breakthrough. PUSH until God shows up (and shows out). There’s power in prayer.

And prayer is ultimately trusting God who is able to answer all our prayers, and do exceedingly abundantly above that which we can ask or think. So I’ve come to encourage you to heed the wise words of the writer of Proverbs. When you pray -”trust in the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul… lean not on your own understanding… in all your ways acknowledge God, and God will direct your path.” PUSH – because something good is bound to happen in your life!

Faith in Action: Living Faith

(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)

Let Justice Roll Down

This is a picture of the Civil Rights Museum Wall at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Mongomery, Alabama. I had a chance to journey in early August to Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham with 30 amazing scholars from Wesley Theological Seminary. As we "retraced the steps of freedom" and engaged in an in-depth study ot the Civil Rights movement, we experienced "Beloved Community."