Louder than Words
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Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does.If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 2:
But if you fulfill the royal law as expressed in this scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators.For the one who obeys the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law. Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom.For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over judgment.
Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge—the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?
James
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him?If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one; well and good. Even the demons believe that—and tremble with fear.
But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see that his faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Now Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James 2:
Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge—the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?
James
There’s this vicious cycle that I, and many others, have to be a part of on an almost weekly basis.
It’s a cycle, so it could start at any of these points, but let’s say it starts with politics. A group of lawmakers goes on television and defends their latest cut to some support program as good business sense, or benefiting the American taxpayer. These lawmakers almost always claim to be Christians, and when asked how they reconcile this action with their Christian faith, they say something like “I believe helping the poor is the job of the Church, not the government.”
A person on TV - usually a lawmaker - talks about how it’s important to them as a Christian that we help the poor, but they think the government should leave that to the churches.
A church
Then Sunday comes, and because the program that was helping them is unable to do so any longer, low income households find themselves having to give less. Meanwhile, upper income households who benefited from the recent tax break, and agreed with those lawmakers who said helping the poor was the church’s job, don’t increase their giving accordingly.
During the week, church boards meet and treasurers everywhere break the news: giving is down. Bills are up. They can’t *not* pay the bills or the payroll, so it looks like they’ll have to cut their ministry budget, again.
The next morning, pastors answer the phone. It’s those people who were impacted by the budget cut, wanting to know if the church can help them. Sorry, the pastors say, but we just don’t have the funds. Have you tried calling 211? [Explain 211]
So they call 211, and they keep going until they either find help - usually from a federally funded program - or their situation gets worse and they qualify for the original program’s new, stricter standards.
The cost of those programs increases and lawmakers restructure them again. After all, it’s the church’s job to help the poor.
I don’t tell you this story to convince you of an economic theory, or of the respective roles of church and state in providing for society’s vulnerable. That’s a worthwhile conversation to have, but it’s not my point, and neither is it the point of James, the author of this morning’s reading.
Rather, the point is that passing the buck and refusing responsibility have become second nature to us, so much so that it’s made liars of us all.
As we read James this month, you’ll discover quickly that he’s not the type of guy to mince words or sugar coat things, and this series of passages is no exception. He offers his readers a hypothetical situation: Imagine someone who you love like family is destitute. They don’t have food. They don’t have shelter. They don’t even have enough clothing to protect them from the elements. And then imagine that you or someone else goes to them and says “Hey buddy; I’m praying for you. Sure hope you get a bite to eat and a place to sleep tonight. Okay, see you later.” You may as well have done nothing at all. Your kind words are not nourishment, and your words, however warm they may be, will not protect from the elements. All you did in that moment was make yourself feel good about yourself. If you’d really hoped your loved one would receive food, you’d have provided some of your own. If you really hoped they would find a place to stay, you would have offered them a couch - either yours, or that of someone you know. If there was some reason you couldn’t do that - like, maybe you know this person you love is dangerous to themself or to others - you would have found some other way to make sure they get the help they need. But by your inaction, you proved you did not care.
Now, there’s this pernicious story that tends to travel among Christian circles. It’s this idea that if we will just say the right words in the right order, or pray this special prayer, or acknowledge the truth of some basic principles, then when we die, Jesus will give us a get out of Hell free card, because going to Heaven is what Christianity is about. I intentionally described that in such a way as to sound ridiculous, but seriously, this is one of the biggest fights that’s been going on among Christians for centuries. It’s one of the big reasons Protestants exist, because many believed the Catholic Church was teaching something called “Works-based righteousness,” when “salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone.” And they’re not entirely wrong. But what James knew - and what I think we all know, if we’re honest - is that our actions reveal what we truly believe. If we proclaim Jesus’s words are true, but live like they aren’t, then we show ourselves to be liars, and our faith to be false. But if we have true faith in the teachings of Jesus, then our actions will follow our faith, and our works will show that our faith is alive. Is your faith alive?