FAITH WITHOUT DEEDS IS DEAD

On December 2, 2000, William Wallace Brown Jr.. Was buried in the prestigious cemetery of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., across from the White House. This is the church of the presidents. Since 1808, the time of James Madison’s presidency, nearly every U.S. leader worshiped there. So how is it that a homeless man of the street, William Brown, is laid to rest in their prominent garden? It began one Sunday morning when the homeless Brown spotted George H. W. Bush entering the church. He asked the president to pray for him. Bush looked at him for a moment and said, "No, come inside with us and pray for yourself." And so he did. He became a permanent part of the services, and every week he placed a crumpled dollar bill in the silver collection plate. During his funeral in the church one speaker said that in the eyes of God "the homeless and the most important are one and the same." That’s clearly true when we see that Christ became poor and homeless in order that we might be welcomed into God’s eternal mansion.

The sermon text today comes from the epistle reading of James. James is writing to the believers of Jesus Christ. This whole text is basically Law in that it tells us what we are to do and shows the unbelievers their sinful nature and acts as a guide to show believers how they are suppose to act. We have much to learn from the writing of James and how we should live. James addresses the issue of Christians showing favoritism within the church and writes:

1 My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here’s a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?5 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?

This passage is an eye opener, because how many of us would rush to meet a well dressed couple, while passing by the homeless man with smelly clothes. I know I find myself willing to talk about Christ to some and not others. We look and make judgments about people and we fall to sin! If I do it, I bet you do it too! There are people in this congregation who do not want blacks in our congregation. This is showing favoritism and this is contrary to God’s Word. We need to be open to all people, of all races, of all income,... Jesus died for all. The Scripture says: DON’T SHOW FAVORITISM!! When we choose to greet one person over another, then Scripture states that we have "become judges with evil thoughts!"

We need to keep this in mind whenever we plan evangelism events that we are not picking and choosing one group of people over another. We need to send the message of Jesus Christ to all people. When we say blacks, Chinese, or Spanish people have different worship styles, we are making judgments. That is not our place! We are to scatter the seeds to all people and let the Holy Spirit work in their hearts. Let’s let God’s Truth be the standard, not worship style!

Scripture continues:

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

Love your neighbor as yourself! Think about that, do we love our neighbors as ourselves? Who are our neighbors? Our neighbors are those people that we can tell you all the bad stuff about! We can list their short-comings, but is that loving them as ourselves? We want to go to heaven, but we don’t bother to invite our neighbors to church! Remember last Sunday, the sermon talked about friends of the deaf and mute man brought him to Christ? Do we love our neighbors as ourselves? Scripture calls this the Royal Rule! If we show favoritism, we are sinners and have been found GUILTY of breaking one point of the Law is guilty of breaking the whole law.

Scripture continues talking about doing good deeds and states:

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

The answer is no, but it is important that we understand what is being said. Faith without works is dead! But works without faith also brings death. We are saved by faith alone. It is because of our faith, a saving faith that was given to us by God, that motivates us to do good works. You are saved by faith, but let’s listen to the Scriptures.

15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 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? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

James is speaking of the future, the day of judgment. He states that a faith without works will not stand the test on the Day of Judgment. The word "save" in the original language is in the future tense.

The question of works needs to be further addressed. What makes a work good or bad? After all, non-Christians as well as Christians help feed and clothe the poor. Are they both good works? Not in God’s eyes. What makes one work good and the other bad has to do with Faith in Jesus Christ and whether the work is of God’s will. Through the faith given to you, your works become "good works". They are "good" only through Faith!

The important question is why do we do good works. Is it because we want to go to heaven or is it because we are going to heaven. Many will put the focus on we do good works because we want to go to heaven. If that’s the case, then your Salvation is based solely on what you do, not what God has done for you. I don’t know if you have seen the man on the street corner on Youree Dr. with a dummy strapped to his chest. On the man’s back is a bill board or sometimes he has the billboard standing up so that people can read it. He is telling the people, that if churches don’t tell the people that they must repent of their sins and start living a godly and holy life before Jesus returns, they will end up in Hell with other lost members. Now I ask, if getting to heaven is dependent on my repentance and my godly and holy living, then why do I need God? Where is the need for Grace? This man’s teaching is wrong. Scripture tells us that we are saved by grace alone. Listen to what Scripture says in Eph 2:8-9: "By grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast." The man with the dummy has the message wrong! We do not do good works to be saved, but we do good works BECAUSE we are saved! You have been given the greatest gift, the gift of faith, which brings Salvation. Heaven is yours through your Baptism, through the hearing of God’s Word, through the Lord’s Supper, it is when God came to you! Heaven is yours right now! Because we have been given faith, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and Salvation, we want to go out and help others and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This is why we feed and clothe the poor. Faith without works is dead! Our works naturally flow from the saving faith that has already been given to you. Heaven is yours! Your sins have been forgiven through faith! Amen.