Devoted: Words
Don’t Be Satisfied with Words
James 2:1-17
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. September 5th, 2021
I visited Manhattan once, and very much felt like a fish out of water. I wasn’t used to there being so many people, and I wasn’t used to none of the people acknowledging me. I also quickly realized, coming off the train, that my plaid shirt and blue jeans were not the sort of wear common in Manhattan. But I did spend the day there, wandering about, checking out Soho and Chinatown and Little Italy. By the end of the day my friends and I found our way to Wall Street. I remember the stock exchange being much smaller than I thought it would be.
On Wall Street is an old church, and one of the richest churches in the world. It had been deeded, I think, a fifth of Manhattan before any of it was developed. It doesn’t own a fifth of Manhattan anymore, but it does have many investments in real estate and in stocks. It’s a big deal. I was excited to have a chance to get inside and take a look. But I suppose they didn’t have the volunteers to open up at 8pm on a weeknight. So instead I was treated to the incongruous image of a sign that told me I was welcomed, behind a wrought iron gate with a comically large padlock locking me out.
I’ve never forgotten that image. I always think of it when a Church’s rhetoric doesn’t meet their action. When their acts contradict what they claim to believe.
James, this morning, wants to remind us that our acts and our beliefs are one in the same. We act out what we truly believe, we believe what we do. We cannot separate the two. He uses the example of favoritism. How can we say we truly believe in the gospel if we show favoritism? A rich man arrives with gold rings and fine clothes, and a poor person with dirty clothes arrives at the same time. But if you take notice of the rich man, serving him, and disrespect the poor man, how is that in line with the gospel? Aren’t we showing that we don’t believe Jesus died for both the rich and the poor man? Can we truly say we are following Jesus’ command to love our neighbor as ourselves?
It is easy to fall into the trap of saying but not doing. Especially when the ideal enshrined in the gospel is so high. I knew one person who would tell me the importance of forgiveness, and that they felt God had made forgiveness easy and joyful for them. But then would also tell me about all the people they were, as yet, unwilling to forgive for whatever reason. It’s fine to struggle with forgiveness. In fact, I’m going to be very surprised if it isn’t a struggle to forgive some people. There are people I have difficulty forgiving, I’d much rather be angry. But we show with our acts, not our words, what we truly believe deep down.
It is easy to fall into that trap of saying but not doing. Which is why we need to continually repent, and continually encourage one another to do what we say. We say we believe in the love of God, and the love of neighbor, but we so continually fall short. But we show, further, that we believe in the forgiveness of God and the power of his grace by returning to him and confessing our sins.
This, in the end, is why James is not in contradiction with Paul. When I was in college this text was used to read James against Paul. Paul tells us that faith saves, James says it does not. Paul contrasts faith and works, but Paul says it is faith alone that saves and not works. But I think Paul and James are really one in the same on this point.
“What good is it,” James asks, “if you say you have faith but do not have works?” What good is it if you say one thing but never act on it? Jesus tells a parable about a man who sends his two sons out into the field. One says he won’t go, but goes. The other says he’ll go, but doesn’t. Who follows the father? It’s not the one who says yes, but doesn’t go. It’s the one who says no, but goes anyway. Our deeds, not our words, will say what we truly believe.
Faith is not simply a matter of assent, it’s a matter of action. It’s not just what we say, it’s what we do. I can tell you all about how I trust this boat to be seaworthy. But I won’t show you any faith in the matter until I step on the boat! I can tell you all day long about God’s love and forgiveness and how we are to love and forgive others. But until you see me try to put that in action, you won’t see the faith! Faith, if it is not put to work, is dead. Faith, if it is not practiced, isn’t worth the name.
The world isn’t satisfied with your words, the world has words enough. The world wants to be shown. We can’t be satisfied with words, whether they are our own words or the words of someone else. Don’t settle for words. Instead, seek to show. Put words to action. Display love, display forgiveness, display mercy, display the difference the gospel makes.