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Sermon Sept 6th 2009 – James 2
Last week David spoke to us from James chpt 1, relating that to his and Maria’s experiences in South East Asia. I thought I might as well carry on from where they left off, and so today I’m going further into the Book of James and preaching from chpt 2.
The Book of James gets its name from its author, who not surprisingly was called James. The Bible can be confusing though, it can seem like they didn’t have very many names to choose from and so lots of different characters have the same name. Mary is the worst, almost every second woman in the NT is called Mary; but there are a few Judas’s, Philips and James’ as well.
One James was James the disciple, brother of John, one of the “Sons of Thunder.” He was the first disciple to be martyred, killed by King Herod, so he didn’t have time to write any books. So, the Book of James was actually written by James the brother of Jesus. A brother “according to the flesh” as the early Christians described it.
During Jesus’ lifetime the NT tells us that his earthly family was worried about him going round with a bunch of hippies, hanging out with disreputable individuals, and preaching all the time. The Bible is quite open that for a lot of his ministry Mary and his brothers stood back from what he was doing. But, when the time came for his arrest and crucifixion, Mary was there, with him all the way, even standing at the foot of the cross keeping vigil as he died.
Then, after his death and resurrection, Paul tells us in 1 Cor 15 that as well as appearing to the disciples and other followers, Jesus specifically appeared to James his brother – though we don’t get any more detail about that. After his encounter with the risen Lord Jesus, James went on to commit himself to the way of Christ, and ended up becoming the leader of the church in Jerusalem once the disciples had scattered due to persecution. He stayed the leader there until Ananus the High Priest of the time had him stoned to death. However, James was held in such high repute by the people, despite being a Christian, that Ananus was deposed as High Priest for that murder.
So, it was from this position of leadership in the Church, before his martyrdom, that James wrote this book.
Now, being a leader of a church in a difficult time, a time where the surrounding culture was hostile to your faith and might try to kill you at any moment, meant that James’ focus is more practical and earthy than some other books of the Bible. The focus is much more on ethics and good behaviour, on how we should treat the people around us in this life, than it is on the next life. The emphasis on the Book of James is on demonstrating our faith in public through action, rather than through personal acts of piety in our bedrooms.
In his own life, history tells us that James’ love and compassion, and the way he kept his tongue under control didn’t save his life. He was still martyred. But, it did win him and our faith respect among his neighbours. The man who killed him was punished for that act, and it did lesson the persecution Christians were facing.
In the recent past the Church has been seen to be very James-oriented, very moralistic. It has been seen in fact to be a bit too preoccupied with what we do and how we behave. Western society has changed a lot since the 1950s. Sometimes it has changed in good ways, while sometimes it has changed in very bad ways. But, as well as criticising the bad changes, the Church has been seen to criticise some of the good changes as well.
I was at a conference with a few others from this congregation 2 weeks ago where a minister was speaking. He was himself the son of a minister and a member of a very strong youth group in the 60’s. He said they were in a small town but still had over 60 teenagers coming along each week. But, one day they were given permission to contribute a song in the morning service. Naturally, they wanted to do it in a way that connected with their youth culture, and so they brought along an electric guitar and lead the congregation in the very ragy song “Kumbaya.” The reaction they got to that from the elders was so negative, that within a few years there were only 3 teenagers left in that church.
I’m sure most of us know stories like that, and a lot of churches have tried to improve their attitudes and get some better PR going. But, some churches have reacted against this recent history so much that they’re scared to preach morals at all, that they have a real cringe about telling people how they should behave. Sometimes it can seem that the only thing you need to do to be a Christian is to be nice. I feel that cringe too. I was very serious about my faith as a teenager, always telling my friends in youth group what they should or should not do. I must have been a right pain to have around.
But, in its concern for action and its primary focus on this world, James reminds us strongly that there are “should’s” in the Christian faith; that there are ways of behaving that should mark followers of Jesus. There are two of these “should’s” for us as believers in chapter 2, and they are very much hands-on and this worldly.
1. The first “should” comes in the beginning of the chapter, and tells us that Christians should not show favouritism
1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
We live in a very egalitarian society here in NZ, unlike the culture in which James was written, and I really struggled to think of ways in which I show favouritism. I did remember one incident when the band was practicing here before a service. A drunk man who must have had a very long night was walking past and heard them, and so he came in to listen. He loved their playing so much he actually took his shirt off and was standing in the pews waving it around while his beer belly bounced away in time to the music.
That morning I was thinking, if he stays for the service I do hope he sits at the back… in the corner… or in the foyer would be good! Thankfully he didn’t stay, and he was causing a disruption so it is a bit different, but still, we do show favouritism at times. The principle here is that if Brad Pitt or the Queen were to come to one of our services, we should treat them with the same dignity and respect as we would a beggar who came in off the street.
I read about a Christian once, I can’t remember who it was but their idea stayed with me. They wanted to really engrain this attitude of treating all people with respect, and so they tried to imagine everyone they saw as being preceded by a great choir of angels playing trumpets and proclaiming – “here comes a child of God, here comes someone for whom Christ died on the cross.”
So, yes, the person at work who’s really socially awkward; the guy with the bad breath; the crazy lady on the bus who wants to talk to everyone – they are children of God, they are priceless individuals loved by God; they are worthy of our respect and should be treated by us with the same honour as we would show someone who was rich and beautiful and well-dressed. And this isn’t an optional extra for us as believers! James tells us that showing favouritism is incompatible with our faith, favouritism is a sin, this is something Christians should not do.
2. Our second “should” starts in verse 14 and goes to the end of the chapter, past what we read today. This ‘should’ is that Christians should not be indifferent.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
This is a bit odd in that one of the central Christian beliefs is that we are saved by faith not good works. Nothing we can do, however fantastic, can make us worthy of salvation; God has done all the work for us in Jesus, and all we can do is surrender our lives to God in faith and accept that. But yet, here James is saying “Can faith save you?” From the context I think James is talking about physical salvation not spiritual salvation.
Yes, prayer is good. But, if you see someone who is hungry and pray that they find food while having a full pantry and not sharing anything with them, what good is that? How is that going to save them? We are called to pray, but we are also called to be the answer to our prayers if we can. We can’t always help, indifference to their suffering shouldn’t stop us from supplying someone’s bodily needs when we are able – this, says James, is also incompatible with the Christian faith.
Yes, as we hear in church a lot, we are saved by faith and not by good works; but faith without actions is dead. A Christ-oriented faith necessarily results in good works. Christians should act in love, Christians should not be indifferent to human need. There are times when we can’t help people, but there are times when we can. There are times when God calls us to concrete acts of mercy, and not just empty pious prayers.
So, to conclude this morning’s sermon on these two “shoulds” from James chpt 2…
One of the main Christian truths is that our faith is primarily directed towards God. God has reached out to us through creation, through Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit; and our first step in faith is responding to this call of love and reaching back out to God in return. But, God isn’t only reaching out to us, God is reaching out to every human being on this planet. They too are loved; they too are precious; Jesus gave his life for them as well.
James reminds us of that, and tells us that should have implications for how we behave as believers. James shows us again that being reconciled with God should make us also want to reach out to the other children of God around us. And in chpt 2 James gives us two pointers on how we can do that.
1. Firstly, we are told that faith and favouritism are incompatible. We are all equally precious in God’s sight. We should treat both rich, beautiful movie stars and poor, unwashed beggars with the same level of dignity and respect.
2. And secondly, we are told that faith and indifference are incompatible. Yes we are called to pray, but sometimes we are also called to be the answer to our prayers. It is inappropriate to pray for needs we can meet; praying for someone to be fed when we have excess food and do not share it, is not the Christian way.
Sermon Sept 13 – James 3 (Confirmation Service)
I was going to carry on through the book of James and preach on chapter 3 today – this famous section of the Bible on the power of the tongue. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” Who used to say that as a child if you ever got taunted by other kids? I did! Who believes those words are true? Who actually believes that words can’t hurt them?
Good, because it isn’t true. James is telling us what most of us know already, that words are powerful. Words can wound us, words can even cripple us. Once spoken a word can never be retrieved.
5 A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. 6 A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
I was going to preach about how I’m sure we know this already. How we all will have used words both to build up and destroy; how we all will have said words at some point that caused someone pain and that we deeply regret now. How “with our tongues we bless God our Father; but with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image.”
I remember once being at a party with Amber before we married. Amber and I both speak German, and we met a guy there I vaguely knew. I remember being very tempted to say something mildly offensive about him in German to be cool and show off in front of Amber (as men do), but for some reason I resisted. As it turned out, talking to him later that evening we discovered that he spoke German too…
So, thankfully on that occasion I was able to tame my tongue. But, in the sermon I was going to preach today, I was going to point out how James doesn’t actually give us a cure for the problem of taming the human tongue. James tells us that this is the situation – the tongue is destructive, no-one can tame it, the end!
Can we relate to that assessment? Do we feel the power of our tongues overwhelming us? Have we got into ruts in the way we speak that we can’t get out of? Are there things we just automatically speak about in disparaging ways? Are there situations we face that just push our buttons, enrage us and make us say hurtful things? Are there people who we are just in the habit of putting down or calling offensive nick-names?
Do we feel shame at the way we use our tongues? If we do, at first sight James doesn’t seem to be much help. The problem is big, too big for any simple 3-point cure or 10-step solution. There is no easy way out of this predicament.
Verse 13 does give us some kind of hint though.
13 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.
It’s the way you live, not the way you talk that counts. From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks; the words you use are a manifestation of how you live. So, focus on your life rather than your tongue, and live well, live wisely, live humbly.
I was then going to conclude this sermon I was going to preach by looking at verse 18
18 You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honour.
I was going to comment on how this verse really sums up much of what we try to do as a church – we are trying to develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results.
Last week I preached on James 2, pointing out that in order to live right with God there are a few “should’s” to keep in mind – a few things that we should do or should not do. But also that these “should’s” God places in our life as believers are not onerous, but rather they are like the should’s in the instruction book for a new oven. Ultimately they tell us how to get the most out of our lives, and how to live in a blessed and rewarding way. Because, as this verse 18 says, if we do manage to develop a healthy and robust community that lives right with God, then there will be positive results which we can enjoy.
But, we can only achieve this if we learn to live well, live wisely, and live humbly. If we do the hard work (because it is hard work at times) of getting along with each other, and treating each other with dignity and honour. And, if we can manage to live together in community like this, then maybe our tongues will follow suit and lose their biting edge…
So, I was going to preach about all that, but I had a very full week. Everything in life seems to happen at once I find! And so, I got sick, I had the AGM and a few other things to prepare for, and a local gentleman Barry Chalmers who came here a bit in the 80’s sadly passed away and I was involved in the funeral.
I’m not planning to get into the habit of not writing sermons, but at the end of the day you can only do what you can do. So, instead of that sermon I thought I’d show you a very powerful DVD. It’s talking about anger, one of the main reasons we lose control of our tongues. It’s discussing the root of anger in our lives, and the positive role it can play in our calling as disciples.
Watch the Rob Bell Nooma DVD "Store"
Sermon Sept 27th 2009: James 5
If you weren’t here, last weekend we had a baptism service for Quentin and Kezia – my first adult baptisms as a minister! Very exciting. Before that however, we were going through the book of James, one of the more practical, earthy books of the Bible. We didn’t finish it though, and this week when I was trying to discern what I should preach about today, I read through what we’ve just heard – the closing comments of this book from chapter 5.
And I thought it was really nice! Definitely worth a sermon…
James is getting a bit more mystical on us here than he has in the rest of his book, but still these final words contain some good, solid and gracious advice.
13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
If you can remember the other sermons on James, a major theme that runs through this book is the problem of our mouths – what is appropriate speech for a Christian? How do we get control over the words that come out of our mouths, so that they are words of grace that build up, and not the all too familiar words of anger that tear down? So, the book of James as a whole has been about words, and now the conclusion is about words too.
Are you suffering? Are you in pain? Then James is exhorting you to lift up your eyes to God, to open your spirits to our Saviour, and to direct your words to God as well - words of prayer. Are you cheerful this morning? Do you have a lot to be thankful for? Great! Then James is exhorting you also to lift up your eyes to God, to open your spirits to our Saviour, and to direct your words to God in song – singing songs of praise.
As a minister I’m here to encourage people to pray, so naturally I think that’s great advice! BUT! The problem with prayer is that it gets easier the more you do it.
A life saturated in prayer is incredibly life-giving and transforming, bringing grace and peace and compassion into the life of a believer. If you have a prayerful heart, all you need do is turn your thoughts to God and you can discern God right there with you, bringing the tangible, cleansing, uplifting presence of the Holy Spirit into the depths of your being. However, we can’t see God, and this can be a barrier. If we’re just beginning (or beginning anew) the journey of developing our prayer life, then at first, trying to focus on and open ourselves to this Divine being we can’t see, can be really hard.
Also, prayer is a gift, not a skill or a tool to master; and our prayer lives for some reason seem to have their ups and downs as do the other parts of our lives – our prayer lives have their joyous mountaintop experiences, but they also have their times of trudging through the valley of darkness as well. Some Christian mystics have called those the desert times of our faith.
But, the next verse in James says to me that God knows prayer can be hard for us, and that God is merciful to us (as usual) and tries to help us out…
14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
So, as I understand this, God helps us if we’re wanting to delve more deeply into our prayer life, or if we are in a dark time in our faith journey… helps us by giving us physical things (people or objects) that we can focus on: that can mediate God’s presence to us, and speak to us of God’s love.
The waters of baptism is one physical sign that can speak to us about God; the cross is another, and the bread and wine of communion is another. Here though, James gives us 3 physical signs which are a bit less common.
1) First is the elders. This could be people who have been set aside and elected to a position within the church as elders or Parish Councillors; or it could be any Christians whom we regard as being wise and mature. Either way, are you sick? Ask someone to come round and pray for you. Because one very powerful way that God speaks into our lives is through the love and compassion of other believers.
2) The second sign is given in the words “and have them pray over them.”
This gives us an image of these elders standing round, praying over the sick person, and laying on hands as they pray. Throughout the New Testament prayer for people is accompanied by laying on hands, and at times that is something we still do today – even Jesus accompanied most of his prayers by physically touching the sick person.
In my Christian life I have been prayed for often with people laying hands on me, and I’ve done the same to others. It is quite weird though! God is in the person praying, but God is also in the person being prayed for. God doesn’t need us to lay on hands in order to answer prayer, God doesn’t need to be channeled by physical touch from one person into the other.
But yet, when people have laid hands on me I have felt some kind of warmth or energy or peace coming into my body, and when I have laid hands on others, at times I have felt like something has been imparted to them. Why is that? Maybe God just likes us getting close to each other and chooses to work through touch at times? Who knows?!?
Science tells us however, that physical touch and hugs are important in our lives and help promote health and well-being. So maybe God wants us to add our own healing touch as we pray? Maybe God wants us to demonstrate our willingness to reach out to the person in need, our willingness to really touch and connect with them…?
So, if you are in need, ask someone to pray over you! And if you have been asked to offer prayer, then I’d encourage to you lay your hand on their shoulder as you do - though of course, always ask permission first! For this act of physical and spiritual connection is another way in which God is made tangible to us in the dark times of our life.
3) The third and last sign is anointing people with oil, and typically that’s done by making the sign of the cross on someone’s forehead.
Again, why is this action listed as being part of the life of a Christian community? Who knows?!? Perhaps it reminds us of baptism and being sealed with Christ as were marked with the cross in water? This anointing would probably speak to each of us in different ways depending on the circumstances of our life at the time.
I must admit that this isn’t something I offer to do for people in this church very often, but I think I might change that. It just sounds like a cool thing – it sounds comforting… I couldn’t explain why but it sounds like a blessed thing. So, instead of an explanation, I’ll tell you a story!
I read a story recently about 9/11 and the attack on the Twin Towers in New York. Apparently the local Anglican bishop’s office was near ground zero, and he came out on the street as the fire engines were pulling up. It was a very scary and dramatic situation, and some of the firemen saw him, went over, and asked for a prayer and a blessing before they went in – so he did, lining them up and anointing their foreheads with oil one by one.
It seems like the soot in the air was able to stick to these oily crosses more easily than skin, so many of the survivors of that attack, while they were running out of the buildings, reported seeing all these firemen bearing the mark of the cross, running in.
And of course, many were running in to their deaths.
I could do multiple sermons on these 7 verses, but we’ll just look at one more section, and that is verses 15 & 16.
15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
If you have ever prayed for someone who is sick or in need then you will probably experienced that sometimes you get what you’re asking for, but sometimes you don’t. Sometimes the physical sickness is taken away, sometimes it isn’t.
I’ve told you before about a popular young man who went to the other Presbyterian Church in my home town, and who was diagnosed with cancer in his early 20’s. Everyone was praying for his healing, yet he still died. However, in those months when he was dying he really opened his life to God – he spent that time in prayer and reading, in having fun with friends and family, and in enjoying the beauty of God’s creation as he was able. He came to peace with his life and his death, and attained a level of spirituality that most of us who spend our lives rushing around and are then taken without warning never achieve.
He made a video before he died to be played to the mourners he knew would be at his funeral, trying to explain what he had learned and the place he had come to. But yet, some people left that funeral seeing only death and defeat and unanswered prayer; while others heard him and left that same funeral rejoicing at having caught a glimpse of hope and fullness and life everlasting.
James writes, “The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up” – was that sick young man saved and raised up or not?
Lastly, v. 16 says…
16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.
Again, modern science tells us that unconfessed sin can kill us. Shame or guilt that we hold within us and don’t share, don’t let out, eats away at us. It consumes our soul and twists our nature, but it can also consume our body, make us sick, and even in extreme cases take us to the grave.
I’m sure many of us know examples of people who have harmed themselves because they wouldn’t open up and let go of something that was burning away within them. So, find a Christian soul mate you can confide in, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. Because, yes, God does heal us physically some times. But, perhaps from God’s perspective a more important work of healing is our emotional and spiritual healing?
So, often God does answer our prayers for physical healing, (we have some examples of that in our congregation) and I firmly believe we should keep praying those prayers. But, any act of praying with another person, any act of laying hands on someone who is suffering, any prayer of repentance, and any attempt to confess your sins to another believer and asking them to pray for you will bring inner healing; will bring emotional and spiritual healing; will draw us closer to God and make us more like the people God made us to be – and this in turn does bring physical healing.
So, I’d encourage you all to ponder these closing words of James this week, and I’d also encourage you to act on them as well!
I feel it’s appropriate to offer a direct invitation to be prayed for today, and even to be anointed with oil. So, we will now have a time to be still and to meditate on these words, then we will sing our closing hymn and say a benediction; then, after Bill plays for us, if you would like, you are welcome to go to the side and take a seat and I will come, anoint you with oil, and pray a short blessing over you. If there is something big in your life and you would like more serious prayer, just hang around and get my or Liz’s attention after that and someone will sit and pray with you.