October 7, 2018

OUR COMMON WELFARE

Preacher:
Passage: James 5:12-20

 

The Apostle James was one of the sons of Mary and a brother to Jesus.  He was one of the pillars of the new faith in Jerusalem.  His concern – unlike Paul – was with the Jews who had accepted the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  His letter was sent to the twelve tribes where they were scattered throughout the world.

 

The letter of James is full of practical advice for the believers.  His purpose was to encourage a community life that would not only prove beneficial to the community gathered but also aid them in being a witness to the wider community around them.  One thing that James insisted on was that faith in God that did not lead to active deeds was no faith at all.  In fact, he declared faith without works to be dead faith.

 

Paul insisted that we are justified – put right with God – not through any action on our part but solely by the faith that God instilled within us.  He was careful not to have us believe that in any way we could secure our salvation from sin through any good deed.  Paul’s insistence on the work of God to save us from our sins and secure our life eternal was certainly a message that had to be heard but James also knew that many people could have faith in God and yet show no real evidence of that faith.

 

Paul did encourage good deeds and did counsel the believers to be conscious of how they thought and how they acted but he did not insist on the practice of faith in the same way as James.

Paul’s goal was to convince as many people as possible to come to faith in God and to realize that their salvation and justification was totally the work and gift of God.  Paul very much expected that the world as he knew it would come to an end in short time and wanted to waste no time in convincing people to put their lives into the hands of God.  Therefore, he was concerned with right living, right attitudes and staying focused on the ultimate goal of life – to be received into the kingdom of God.

 

James, on the other hand, was a person who was ever conscious of the fact that the internal needed to be reflected in the external.  Just as the body cannot exist without the spirit, he said, so faith cannot exist without works.  The unity of the human being was ever emphasized in the Jewish faith.   A soulless body is as dead and empty and unable to be human as a bodyless soul.  The bodily resurrection of Jesus was not only a miracle never witnessed before; it was an affirmation by God that the spirit placed within the human frame would never be complete without a body to match its eternal nature.

 

And so, for James, our bodies in this time and space exist because the spirit of God has enlivened us at our deepest places; further our spirits will find eternity with the gift of new bodies when the fulness of all things comes.  Similarly, the faith that we have in God is to be expressed not only in thought and inward reflection but outward in word and action.

Where faith in God was not accompanied by action – works as he likes to refer to it – it is not true faith.

 

Since people usually act and speak from what lies deepest within them – the ethic that guides their thoughts and actions – James sees the practice of our faith as critical to not only help us maintain our faith and trust in God but also to help others in the community and beyond maintain or come to faith in God.

 

The face of God in the world is our face. The hands of God in the world are our hands. The heart of God in the world in the world is our heart and the words we speak and the actions we take are a reflection to the world of the God in whom we have declared our faith.  That is quite a sobering thought and one that James does not want the people to lose sight of.

 

Over the centuries, though, the Church universal has taken different approaches to the faith/works debate.  The Roman church chose to encourage works without necessarily encouraging the accompanying faith while the Protestants encouraged faith without necessarily encouraging the accompanying works.  If you believe that it is your good works that save you, you could be quite challenged to imagine how the sacrifice of Christ on the cross could affect your eternal life in the kingdom of God.  If you believe that it is your faith alone that saves you, you could be quite challenged to imagine how following the pattern of Jesus with people could affect your eternal life in the kingdom of God.

 

James is concerned that we hold both elements together.  Our faith in God is our own personal decision to accept the gift of God’s salvation. Our works – our deeds, our words, our actions – are also our personal decision but this decision has a greater effect on those who share this community with us and the wider community outside these walls.

 

To be ever mindful of the effect our words and actions can have on the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical life of one another is critical to James.  And so, James encourages us to be honest in our dealings with one another; to pray for one another in sickness and suffering; to share our joy with others; to encourage one another and to help each other to live the life we are called to live through the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and so bring each other through this life with peace in our souls and rest for our bodies.

 

Jesus put it even more bluntly when he declared that if anyone puts a stumbling block before another believer, it would be better for you to have a millstone around your neck and thrown into the sea.  He goes even further in his descriptions. It is enough to scare anyone! But his point is not to see any of us suffer such things but rather to be conscious of how our words and actions can have an influence on the faith and life of another believer.

 

We who have gathered here in community have been drawn by a common faith and belief and a desire to worship God in spirit and in truth.  Such common faith and belief are important but equally important is our commitment to our common welfare – the support of one another spiritually, emotionally and physically so that none of us will become discouraged and lose faith.

Jesus concludes with a statement about salt.  Today we do not use salt to preserve meat as we have refrigeration and freezing but in a time when salt was the only means to preserve it was critical that salt not lose its ability to preserve.  Jesus was concerned that our lives ever maintain that ability to preserve one another in faith and hope; and so be at peace with one another.

 

AMEN

 

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