A Working Faith

The Letter of James was one of the biblical books the early church fathers really struggled with.  As they argued and prayed about the canon of the New Testament, they wondered if they should include it in the Bible at all.  Why?  Well, mainly because James does not emphasize God’s grace nearly as much as it emphasizes our need to respond to that grace with our works.  Martin Luther was so frustrated with this emphasis that he even said, “I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove.”  ( Frances Taylor Gench, Hebrew and James in The Westminster Bible Companion Series, 104) But, thank God, James is in the Bible, because rightly understood, James not only challenges us but teaches us about the richness of our faith. 

          In chapter two, James plays a shocking video for the church.  Here’s the scene playing on the movie screen.  We watch folks all gathered together in the pews for worship.  The organist is waking everybody up as he dashes through the prelude.  A few people are praying.  Others are chatting.  And then through the back door strolls zillionaire socialite Paris Hilton, dress flashing, gold rings shining, little dog Tinkerbell peeking out of her purse.  Paris glances at a stained glass window. “That’s hot,” she says.  And the ushers rush over to her.  “Oh, Miss Hilton, it’s so wonderful to have you here.  Please sit down front.  Oh, it’s just a thrill to have you here.”  And Paris says, “That’s hot.” 

          Meanwhile, a poor person in dirty clothes comes in the back too.  Folks look over and whisper.  “What’s he doing here?  Couldn’t we send him to the church down the street?”  At first, the ushers ignore him.  But finally they say, “Well, you can sit in the back, or maybe it’d be better if you just stood.” 

          That’s the video James is playing.  But nothing like this could happen in real life, right?  A few years ago, you may have read about a church in Memphis, Tennessee, The Pondside Baptist Church.  They were building luxury boxes in their 9000 seat worship center.  As the pastor said at the time, “Of course we won’t serve unlimited beer in these boxes.  But we will be offering seat-side service on crackers and grape juice, up through the seventh round of praise songs.” 

          Anybody wanna buy a luxury box?  What’s going on in James’ church?  The church of that time is made up primarily of poor folks.  It’s different from our congregation which is comprised mainly of middle income people with a few high income families in the mix.  In James’ time, people have started to make a big fuss over having wealthy people come into the church.  They’ve started playing favorites with the wealthy (a temptation for the church in every age).  But James says this favoritism is evil in three ways. 

          First, if we show favoritism then we’ve forgotten who is to be honored–not folks in fancy clothes but “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.”  As one scholar points out, “For those who show partiality, ‘gold weighs more than faith and love.’  It is not possible for them to have it both ways–to claim the faith of Jesus and discriminate against the poor.”  (Aaron L. Uitti in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 4, 41.) Do we believe in money or do we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? 

          There’s a second problem in favoritism and it’s connected to our baptism.  As you may know, whenever somebody wants to be baptized or to have a child baptized, the Presbyterian Book of Order requires a pre-baptismal conference, usually with the pastor.  The conference is short, but we take that time seriously.  And one of the sections of the Book of Order we always review says this.  “. . .Baptism unites the people of God with each other and with the church of every time and place.  Barriers of race, gender, status, and age are to be transcended.  Barriers of nationality, history, and practice are to be overcome.”  Baptism breaks down all those barriers.  But when we make “distinctions” and show favoritism, we forget the fabulous meaning of our baptism. 

          There’s a third problem about the favoritism that James mentions.  He says, “Hasn’t God chosen the poor to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he’s promised to those who love him?  But you’ve dishonored the poor.  Isn’t it the rich who oppress you?  Aren’t they the ones who drag you into court?  Don’t they blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?” 

          Apparently James is dealing with a particular group of wealthy folks who’re oppressing the poor.  James is not talking about every wealthy person who’s ever lived, thank God.  But he is challenging everybody in this room, because compared to most of the world all of us here are wealthy.

          The challenge for us is to live in ways that lift up the poor, instead of making their lives harder.  For example, according to research, “In 1970, CEO salary and bonus packages were typically about $700,000--25 times the average production worker salary; by 2000, CEO salaries had jumped to almost $2.2 million on average, 90 times the average salary of a worker, according to a 2004 study on CEO pay . . .  [with] . . . stock options and other benefits, . . . the salary of a CEO is [now] nearly 500 times the average worker salary . . .” http://blogs.payscale.com/content/2008/07/ceo-salaries--1.html See also (http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/hbr/how-to-fix-executive-pay/2009/06/why-high-ceo-pay-is-bad-business.html) Many Christian business leaders refuse to accept outrageous salaries for themselves, and they make sure they pay their workers wages they can actually live on.  How else do Christians reach out to the poor? When we go out to eat, we tip the server generously.  When we stay in a hotel, we tip the cleaning crew fairly too.  Some of us sponsor a child in a developing country.  We live our lives simply enough to give away significant amounts of money to help the needy.  And we support governmental policies, such as living wage, Head Start, and universal health care that help the poor to rise out of poverty, not keep them there. 

          James says abuse of the poor is blasphemy.  Why?  Because we’ve been baptized into Christ and taken on the name of Christ.  So abuse of the poor is abuse of Christ.

          Instead, James calls us to a working faith.  He says there’s no use in saying we have faith if we don’t have works to go along with our faith.  There’s no use seeing a naked and hungry person and saying, “Peace.  Keep warm.  Be full.”  That’s ridiculous.  Faith without works is dead.  God offers us a working faith. 

          Is James saying we earn our way into heaven with good works?  No.  He’s not saying that.  He’s saying we get to heaven by God’s grace in Jesus Christ.  Grace is absolutely a gift from God.  We just receive it.

          However, we will still be judged on the content of our lives.  Every single one of us will stand before God and be judged.  God will judge the quality of our lives.  How did we use or fail to use our lives for God’s glory?  How did we respond or fail to respond to God’s grace?  God’s simultaneous grace and judgment is the consistent witness of the New Testament and of the Christian faith. 

          James says Christian faith is trust in Christ, commitment to Christ.  And real trust in Christ will always mean we respond in gratitude with good works.  Real faith is a working faith. 

          But you good people of First Presbyterian Church know that already, don’t you?  Recall just a few of the social justice and peacemaking ministries we’re doing.  Bridges of Hope teaches and mentors ways for folks to get out of the cycle of poverty.  People to People ministries provides direct assistance for persons in need.  Wee Care, our day care program with a sliding fee scale, educates children in those most critical years of life.  The Vi Startzman Free Clinic was named in honor of and in large degree started by one of our members, and many of you volunteer there.  Many of you also volunteer at Habitat for Humanity, and one of you has given an anonymous $5000 gift to Habitat with the challenge that First Presbyterian should match that gift.  Think we can do it?  I do.  Even now plans are in the making to restart an improved daytime elder care program in our church; it would be the only such program in the county.  And MOCA, the Manse On College Avenue project, would offer desperately needed care and resources for mentally ill persons, persons whose illness too often causes them to fall into poverty.  First Presbyterian Church is a hub for social justice for the glory of God.

          Real faith is a working faith, a faith working for justice and mercy, especially for the poor.  Labor on, friends. 

Now that’s hot, really hot.  Amen.