Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : October 5, 2003

Faith Responds to God's Wake-Up Call

Pentecost 17

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

If you're like me, you love sleep. On some mornings, especially now that the weather is getting a little colder, it's very tempting to stay in bed dozing, just hitting that snooze button a few times. But unfortunately most of us can't do that -- we have to get to work or get the kids off to school. But we long for the days when we can sleep in because we like our comfy, cozy, warm beds. Sometimes even when we have to get up, we try fighting to get up, but sometimes the bed wins. Does the bed win when it comes to our faith? Are you eager to do the Lord's will, or are you still dozing in your comfy, cozy bed? If someone were asked to show evidence in your life that you were a Christian, would they be able to come up with anything? Whether we are dozing or not, James gives us a wake-up call as Christians -- to live the way God would have us live. And we see today that Faith Responds to God's Wake-Up Call, by getting rid of favoritism and by showing evidence of faith.

James, the writer of this letter, was a leader in the first century New Testament church. But he was seeing some things displayed by his fellow Christians that he needed to address. One specific thing is mentioned in verse one: "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism." Favoritism can take many forms, but James gives one specific example of how the early Christians were showing favoritism -- giving preferential treatment to the rich, but treating the poor as if they were of no consequence.

Do we show favoritism? We don't have to give preferential treatment to the rich to show favoritism. It can take many forms. Maybe the two men in church aren't rich and poor, but one whose life seems to be in order, and another person whose life is full of problems. Maybe the troubled man has five kids that he and his wife are trying to take care of, and with obvious difficulty. But instead of helping them out, we just think, "They ought to take their problem kids out of church." Or maybe they're a little older and can't get around very well. It's easy to be friends with the person who doesn't need anything from us, but we might shy away from the one who might ask us for help from time to time, like driving them to the store every once in a while for groceries. We show favoritism by not being willing to lend a helping hand.

God says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." James calls the law royal because it is a good summary of the second table of God's Ten Commandments. Do we always love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves? Look at it if your places were reversed. If you had your hands full with five kids in church, would you appreciate someone else's help? If you were elderly, would you like a fellow member to shovel you sidewalk in winter or drive you to the store because you can't anymore or just talk to you because you're lonely after your spouse died? Showing no concern for others is a form of favoritism -- we favor ourselves. If we don't get to know someone too well, they won't ask us to help them out. And if they don't ask us to help them, I can stay in my comfy, cozy bed, and not be bothered by other people's problems. That's favoritism.

Favoritism might not seem like such a terrible sin, but James says: "If you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." We can use this passage to show others their sins, but do we always use it to convict ourselves of sin? Suppose you have just fallen over the edge of a very high cliff and are clinging to a chain for dear life. How many links of that chain must break before you would plummet to your death? Just one seemingly insignificant link. Favoritism, as insignificant as it might seem, is one link in the chain of God's holy law. We have taken a sledgehammer to that link many times and shattered that link. For that, we deserve death.

So how can we get over our sins of favoritism and put them behind us? James says, "Listen, my dear brothers: 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?" We were poor, unlovable, filled with all kinds of sins like favoritism and every other sin that show we were God's enemies and lacking perfection which God demands. Because of that, God should have avoided us like the plague. God could have pulled the covers over his head and said, "It's much too comfy and cozy up here in heaven to be concerned with those self-centered sinners on earth." But he didn't. Instead, he chose us. Paul tells us: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). God didn't show favoritism with us, even though he had every right to. Instead, he chose to save every single sinner by sending his own Son to live without favoritism or any other sin, just as God wanted from us, but which we were unable to give him. In that way, Jesus earned perfection for us. And then he took that perfection and traded it in for our sins, not avoiding us like the plague, but taking our plague of damnation in hell on himself. By doing so, he took our sins away forever. Now, with God's own perfection, we can stand before God and say, "Even though I have been selfish and shown favoritism, your Son has taken my sins away, and I stand before you in his righteousness."

God has given us a wake-up call. He woke us up from our spiritual sleep of death and gave us eternal life with his gospel. Now, our Faith Responds to God's wake-Up Call, not only by getting rid of our sins of favoritism, but also by showing other evidence of our faith.

James talks about the Christian life even more as he goes on: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" Then he gives another example: "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 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? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." Such a person says that he has faith, but really shows that he doesn't have faith because it doesn't show itself in his life.

Look at your own life. Do you have a family member who needs you to provide for them? 1 Timothy 5:8 says, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Even unbelievers care for their own family members physically, so if a "believer" won't do even that, how can he call himself a believer? How do we provide for our brothers and sisters in the faith? The early Christians shared everything they had, so that no one was in need. Has the god of materialism taken hold of our hearts to the extent that we don't help our fellow Christians when they need physical help? What about those not in the family of faith? Are we like the priest and Levite who pass by on the other side when someone needs our help, or are we like the Good Samaritan, who helped someone in need even though by nationality he was the man's enemy? Again, are we too comfy in our cozy beds, or do we let our faith show itself by helping others in need?

As often as we fail to show our faith by helping those with physical needs, I think we are even more prone to neglect showing our faith by helping those who have spiritual needs. In our own families we have brothers or sisters or sons or daughters or spouses who are despising God's word. Jesus says in John 15:4, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine." Are we content to let our family members drift further and further from God and his Word, the only place where their faith can be strengthened? Are we dozing in our comfy beds? Do we need a wake-up call? What about those who don't know who Jesus is and thus will perish without him if they aren't told what Jesus has done for them and believe? Is it easier to stay comfy than going knocking on doors and opening yourself up to ridicule? Yes. Will it take time and effort to reach out to others with the gospel or to encourage those who seem to have lost a love for the gospel? Yes. But what work is more rewarding? After all, God took time and effort to save you. Can you take time and effort to simply tell others what Christ has already done for them?

In closing this section, James says, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." James says that there is no such thing as true faith that has no works. That isn't faith at all, but just words. But if you are truly a disciple of Jesus, your life will reflect it. A bad tree will bear bad fruit or no fruit at all. But a good tree will bear good fruit. We are still saved through faith alone, but, as Luther said, faith is never alone. So every time we see our failures, we don't look at our own lives of good works for comfort, because our lives will always show our sins as well as our good works. Instead, we go back to the cross where Jesus took every one of our sins away. Then, as we rely solely on our Savior's work for us, we won't want to stay in our comfy, cozy beds; in fact, we won't be able to as Christians. God's gospel has given us a wake-up call.

Once again you have heard the word of Christ -- it is a wake-up call to get you out of your spiritual slumber. Get out of your cozy beds knowing what Christ has done for you. Get rid of your favoritism; show the evidence of your faith by doing God's will. In the joy of the gospel, live for your Lord. Amen.