Proper 18

James 2.1-17

The New International Version (Chapter 2)

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 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 dishonored 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 neighbor as yourself,” d you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, 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,” i also said, “You shall not murder.” j If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

12 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.

Sermon

Once again we find James addressing Christians, mostly Jewish Christians who are scattered throughout the known world. And word has come back to James, or perhaps, as he has traveled James has seen in the gatherings of these to whom he is writing some behaviors that concern him. Some actions that are less than pleasing to Christ. Some practices that are okay in the world but not in the church.

The first problem James deals with in this passage is that of “favoritism” in the church, in the gathering of people. James illustrates it this way, a man comes in looking well dressed, wealthy and you quickly accept him. Another man comes in with rags and looks poor and you make him sit in the corner.

And while this happens in the world and may be okay by those standards, it is absolutely unacceptable in the church. And here’s why. Because the value of a person in the life of Christ is not based on their financial status. In fact, Christ does not care about how much a person makes or how little a person makes. And that can change in a moment. A person of great wealth can lose it all with one bad investment and a person of poverty can make one discovery and become a person of great wealth.

It also suggests that if you have wealth, we want you, not because of who you are but because we want what you have. We are envious of your material possessions. Do you remember the story of the treasurer I told you last week that would talk about people and then smack her mouth? When I would visit with her sometimes and we would talk about the church’s finances, you know what she would say. “We really need some wealthy people to come to the church.”

Of course, on the other hand, those who are poor are a drain on the resources. Those who have nothing are needy. They don’t give to the church, they take from it. That’s why we don’t want them to be in the church. Does that really sound like the mindset a Christ follower should have?

Another thought I had as I was studying this passage. We might assume that a person of wealth doesn’t need anything. I mean what would they need that they can’t buy. While a person of poverty needs more than we might know how to address. One time, when my family was in Indianapolis attending some meetings for the church, we were walking from the restaurant where we had lunch back to the place our meetings were being held. As we walked, there was a row of people with cups and cans in their hands asking for money. My daughter Chelsey who was somewhere around 9 to 11 looked at me and said, “Dad, you should do something for them. You are a pastor.”

Now, I admit there were probably some needs there. But a person can love Jesus and serve Him with a smile and have nothing while another can have everything this world offers but not know Christ.

Using this outward appearance of a person also creates in our mind a system by which we judge ourselves as compared to others. We place ourselves on a value system based on what we have as opposed to what others have. Yet Christ who had everything, left what He had and came to earth. He gave up all He had to redeem us.

And Christ demonstrates the truth of the second statement James makes to his readers. Genuine faith is active faith. Faith that is true is the kind that does more than simply affirm it’s arguments. True faith does more than simply should, “Jesus loves you”. It sacrifices to demonstrate the reality of that. True faith gets the church out of the seats and onto the streets. True faith means the church finds ways to tangibly share the love of Christ.