Service
LENT 04
James 2:14-26 – Year B
“Frogs for the Pond – Key 3: Service”
James 2:14-26 (NIV)
Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is uselessa? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”b and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Is your faith a ‘private thing’? Is it just between you and God? Or does your faith have implications beyond yourself?
We know that we cannot ‘work’ our way into heaven. We know that there is nothing that we can do that would serve to make us ‘deserve’ eternity in God’s presence. Sure, we can do all the good works in the world – yet not one of these ‘good works’, or works of service will count towards our salvation. Salvation is by God’s grace alone[1]. So some may wonder, what’s the point of good works if they mean absolutely nothing in terms of your salvation. That’s a very good question. So, what is the point of offering ‘service’ of some type or another to people if in the long run it counts for zero in terms of your salvation? The reality is this. Your service to others is simply an outworking of the confidence of God’s presence in your life here and now and the belief you hold of eternity in His presence.
We offer the gift of service to others, not because of what we can ‘get out of it’, but rather out of thankfulness for what God in Christ Jesus has already done for us. Interestingly, God then takes our selfless acts of service in His name and blesses them and uses them to impact on those we are directly helping.
It works something like this. Your salvation is something to be worked out between you and God. However, your faith cannot be a ‘private issue’ – something secret just between you and God.
James, one of those books in the Bible which is very clear, direct and without ambiguity has something rather interesting to say about the implications of your faith. James says:
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.[2]
Your faith has implications that are far beyond yourself. Because your faith is so important to you and you understand how fortunate you are to have this gift of faith, you know that you cannot simply keep it to yourself. Your God given faith simply compels you to action and this is in keeping with verse seventeen from James.
Today we continue on with our sermon series looking at the four keys to nurturing faith in the family.
You will recall from Sunday 1 March when we begun this series that research has demonstrated that there are four important keys to nurturing the faith in your family. They are:
· Caring Conversations – Sunday 8th March
· Devotional life – Sunday 15th March
· Service – the theme for today
· Rituals and traditions – next week, Sunday 29th March
Let’s deal with one of the biggest issues there is in the world today – and that is this concept of ‘service’. People may feel that they don’t have the time, someone else is/should be doing it, and that they are not equipped for it.
But let us first recall that the overarching theme to this sermon series is “Nurturing Faith in the Family”. What are you prepared to do to nurture faith in your family? What are the extremes that you will go to so that you can ensure that the faith is passed on to your children, grandchildren so that they, like you will live a life cognisant of God’s abiding presence, protection and providence as they journey through life and that when it is time to step from this life into the next, it will be into the arms of a loving Saviour who did not let His personal plans[3], timetable or desires get in the way of our certainty of eternity in His presence.
If I could provide a sure fire way of ensuring that the faith was passed on to your children and grandchildren; although there is a personal cost to you; would there be any cost that was too great? Is there any cost that you would not be prepared to pay just so that your God given faith could be passed on to the next generation or indeed the generation after that? Think of your answer carefully. For this is what is being spoken of in this sermon series.
Unfortunately I can’t give you a ‘sure fire’ way of ensuring that the faith is passed on to your children or grandchildren for each of us are unique creations of God as are our children and grandchildren. So there is no ‘one size’ fits all approach to matters of faith. You may have been faithful in all matters of the faith concerning your family. You may have held family devotions, taken the children to Sunday School while you attended Church. You may have been involved in all the Christmas and Easter activities of your Church and yet the children have/are neglecting their God given faith.
This will no doubt be a source of worry to you and indeed a burden that you carry. Each person needs to make their own faith commitment to God. We cannot have faith for another – no matter how much we wish we could. So even if your child has walked away from their faith, you can still pray for them and encourage as only a parent can. You can offer to bring your grandchildren to Church and so endeavour to water and grow the seed of faith in another life.
As we have heard, faith is caught more than taught. We’ve heard the example three weeks ago of a girl who knew her father went to Church, but really came to a whole new understanding of his faith when she saw him reading his Bible at home early one morning. It was this faith example that she had not previously been exposed to that brought into congruence his professed faith and the actions that resulted from it.
It may be that should your acts of service ‘come into the light’, then others may find their own faith strengthened through your selfless actions. You see it works like this: When a parent and child perform service activities together, the child sees the parent’s capability, faith and values in action[4]. Studies show us that children of all ages learn the faith by watching parents live out their professed faith life in the normality of day to day living. Again this comes back to the fact that your faith is not a private affair.
When was the last time that your child (regardless of age) heard you speak of your faith – apart from a prayer of thanks for a meal? When was the last time you discussed your faith with your child?
Let me share a true story of how serving others made a deep impact on one little girl.
This particular family occasionally served a meal at the local rescue mission. They nearly always showed up to help on Christmas or New Year’s Day. The parents not only understood their work as helping others, but also as a way for their two kids (Daniel, age 12, and Rozenia, age 9) to see the whole of life. The family of four would cook all the food at home and bring it to the mission where they would join others to serve 50-75 poor and homeless people. The very first time they helped at the mission, a man walked in looking rough and unkempt. He sat down at the table and Rozenia walked over to him and asked, “Which would you like, mashed potatoes or stuffing?” The man did not look at her, but simply mumbled, “Food!” The little girl was taken aback, but nevertheless, went to the counter and got the man some food. She then left the group for a time, but others were too busy to notice.
Two years later Rozenia wrote a paper for a school class in which she was to tell of the first time in her life she learned of the reality of desperate hunger and poverty. After she had served this one individual, she had gone to the restroom to cry. She learned that some people live in the world that cannot pick between M&M’s and Skittles. Food, any food, was sufficient. She also learned that she could have an impact on that reality and serve in Jesus’ name.
After reading her paper, the rest of the family came to understand the power of service in shaping her. At least for awhile, designer clothes and pop fads did not seem as important to her.[5]
If you are a parent of children at home you will understand that it can at times be difficult to get your child to help with jobs around the house. One way to overcome this resistance to house-hold ‘chores’ is to simply dispense with the concept of ‘chores’. While the work is still there to be done, if we are serious about being a follower of Jesus, who washed the disciples’ feet[6], then we should see that doing acts of service in the home is never a ‘chore’, rather it is living the very essence of Jesus Himself. The example that parents set in the way that they serve one another and how they speak to each other says volumes about ‘service’.
If there are no longer children at home a husband and wife can look at the various ways that they serve one another as a response to Jesus’ love for them. Similarly grandchildren can be encouraged by the grandparents to see that ‘God smiles’ when they willingly serve one another – even their siblings.
Some may claim that this is all idealistic ‘wishful thinking’. But we have to begin somewhere – because the faith of another person with God – the future happiness of your child, grandchild or great-grandchild in this life and the next is too important to simply be left to chance.
When our relationship with Jesus is where it should be – that’s the vertical relationship; then we are able to reflect that to our neighbour, that’s the horizontal relationship.
Our selfless acts of service have the power to deeply affect the faith life of another and draw them closer to God.
Amen.
X The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. X
Information, illustrations, literature and themes, for this sermon are gleaned from a variety of sources. If I have violated copyright held by an individual, then please contact the writer of the sermon and your source will be acknowledged, or removed at your request.
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a Some early manuscripts dead.
b Gen. 15:6.
[1] Ephesians 2:8,9 (NIV).
[2] James 2:17-18 (NIV).
[3] Luke 22:42 (NIV).
[4] Adapted by JOK from Anderson, David W & Hill, Paul Frogs without Legs cant’ hear AugsburgFortress 2003 pg 151.
[5] Adapted by JOK from Anderson, David W & Hill, Paul Frogs without Legs cant’ hear AugsburgFortress 2003 pg 154/5.
[6] John 13.