Hearing and Doing Jan. 29, 2012

James 1:19-27

Introduction

A long time ago there was a man who was very active in church. He had a great desire to live a life pleasing to God. There was only one problem. He was all too aware that he was sinful and that he was unworthy of God’s love. He tried everything, from performing religious rituals to punishing his body. No matter what he did, he was all too aware of the tremendous gulf between himself and God. Then one day he was reading Romans 1:17, where Paul quotes the Old Testament: “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17 ESV) That’s it! People are not justified by their own good works, they are justified only by faith. That realization changed not only the young man, but the entire world. That young man was Martin Luther, and what Luther discovered about faith was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, a movement in which we also are included. Why do I bring this up? Luther had mixed emotions about the letter of James that we have been looking at. Luther quoted from James and did praise the epistle. But he also said that compared to the Gospel of John and Paul’s letters, James was an “epistle of straw.” When opponents began to rely on James to teach that salvation required works, Luther said “I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove.” I can understand how a person who is sensitive to legalism and a religion heavy with rules would struggle with James. If you are looking for a text that will encourage you to sit back and just enjoy your ticket to heaven, James is not the book to read. James is action oriented, describing the things we are expected to do and the ways we are expected to act. James is not trying to teach a salvation that is based on how much we do or how hard we work. But he is teaching that following Jesus means following Jesus and that must manifest itself in outward ways. This section of the letter will give some practical on how a Christian should be.

Be Quiet

I spend a lot of time talking with skeptics and people of other religions or philosophies. I also spend a lot of time with other Christians who also like to interact with skeptics. I will tell you that it can very easily get quite nasty. It starts with Christians making assumptions about what others believe and their reasons for being skeptical. Being passionate about the Christian faith, they share their beliefs vigorously. They then get frustrated when the person has not embraced in a few minutes what we have been taking in over years of attending church. It is not just about the sharing of faith. Look at any conversation about controversial subjects such as abortion or homosexuality. How does that conversation take place? Is it about sitting down and looking at the issues, working through logic and reason? From my experience, such conversations produce much more heat than light. James has something to say on this subject. His advice is not to attack people who are different, nor is it to automatically agree with everyone we encounter. James instead teaches “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19 NIV) Yes we may strongly disagree with a person, their views may even seem offensive to us, but that does not give us the permission to shoot off. The first step is to actually listen. When you talk to people who are angry toward Muslims, homosexuals or atheists, it is common to discover that they have never sat down with one and heard their story. There is a reason for this. It is easier for to hate what we do not know. We can set up our own caricature that is easy to dislike but might find that our response is different when we listen and discover that they are real human beings, not so different from us. James tells us that we should be slow to speak. Our temptation is to take over the conversation and keep things on our terms. Perhaps the church would be doing better if we learned to just be quiet. I often hear Christian leaders making harmful statements and I just wish that they would shut their mouth. My preaching professor said that he had a prayer when he heard a pastor say something stupid from the pulpit: “Take him down Lord!” Do not speak just because a thought came to mind or you see an opportunity to make the other person look foolish. Before you open your mouth, ask the question: “What will the result be if I say what I am thinking?” Is it a statement that will build a bridge, strengthen the relationship, open their eyes to a new perspective and pass on helpful information? Or will it be an expression of your anger and frustration? If it is the latter, then there are more productive ways for us to vent our feelings. When we say something, we can never take it back. So we better choose carefully.

Be Active

Christianity has always been a faith that has emphasized learning. We are a people of the book, and wherever Christianity has spread, literacy has increased, often as people begin by reading the Bible. Some cultures did not even develop an alphabet until missionaries had to create one to translate the Bible. The church is in a constant mode of teaching, through sermons, Bible reading, communion services, hymns and even stained glass windows. As a result, Christians value learning. We read Christian books, attend Bible studies and go to inspirational conferences. All of these things are good, but there can be a danger. While most of the things that we take for granted were in their infancy in James’ day, the New Testament had not even been compiled, he saw the potential problem. It is very easy for us to immerse ourselves in Christian teaching and then somehow neglect to put it into practice. You could do a Ph.D. on the role of love in the New Testament church, with detailed research of the cultural, religious, theological and social contexts, and yet never show love toward another person. You could study music, master every instrument, go through vocal training and learn the history of hymn-writing and yet never truly worship God. At some point, we have to take what we have heard and learned and put it into practice. Jesus spoke to this. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24–27 NIV) The problem here is not ignorance of God’s Word but refusal to put it into practice. Our challenge is not how to gain more knowledge but rather to figure out how to start doing the things we have already learned.

Be Merciful

If someone asked you if you were religious, what would you say? You would have to have a clear definition of what you mean by religion and have some idea what they mean by religion for that question to mean anything. What is religion? For some people religion is a collection of rituals such as singing, prayer, meditation, sacred meals, candle lighting, reading of holy scriptures etc. For others, religion is about the organization that takes part in these activities. If rituals are seen as being boring by some people, the organizing of such rituals is seen as dangerous. Think about how often people criticize organized religion. It is okay to have an individual spirituality but it is bad to organize beliefs as a religion. There is so much I could say about that, but instead I want to redefine religion according to James. There are two parts to to religion. One is about being unstained by the world. This is not about keeping away from movie theaters, playing cards and rock music. It means Christian religion should not be shaped by the moral values of society. There is a thought that the church should stay with the times, adapting to what society thinks is right. Many churches have done that. Society says that what matters is our own comfort and material gain. It is all about us. So some Christians baptize that morality and teach a selfish Christianity. If Christianity is not about adapting to society, what is the foundation of our morality? James makes it clear that it is about visiting widows and orphans, in other words care for the poor and marginalized. That has been the message of the Bible from Old to New Testaments. The early church was very much focused on caring for the poor. Think about religion as being about care of the poor. The next time someone tells you that they do not believe in organized religion, ask them “Do you really want us less effective at helping the poor?” Being a Christian also means being merciful.

Conclusion

Many people struggle with Christianity as an abstract and mystical concept. That’s fine as James presents a Christianity that is concrete and practical. There are certain things that belong with the Christian life. First we need to learn to listen to people and hold back our words, especially when those words are fueled by anger. We then need to take that which we have learned and put them into practice. Christianity is no theory, it is meant to be action-oriented. Finally, Christianity is meant to be merciful. Instead of adapting to changing moral values, our permanent orders are to take care of the needy and poor. This is an important description of Christianity that helps us to keep a proper perspective.