James 1:19-25 & 2:8-25

Thank you, Alistair. My name is Bruce, if we haven't met before.

But some of you may remember some weeks back in a filler sermon between sermon series in the morning.

I preached on the opening of James' letter, the glorious vision of the future.

Absolutely stunning, stunningly encouraging passage.

And I mentioned at that time that I thought James kind of lends itself to these sermon fillers

for these kind of slides, because he can delve in and out of James fairly easily.

James' letter is in some ways a bit like a grab bag of reflections on the Christian life.

So as we grab back into James this evening for a filler sermon between two series,

it's probably worth remembering that, at least to me,

he seems like one of the most provocative preachers in the New Testament.

I think you wouldn't have ever felt comfortable if you were among the congregation in Jerusalem

with Bishop James about to preach.

And I think you often find yourself wondering whether you've just heard what he said,

sort of clearing your ears out, and I think there's no exception for tonight.

In fact, it's probably the most shocking of these examples.

In the passage we just read, and we read that little snippet out of chapter 1

and then the longest snippet from chapter 2, because James kind of,

he comes in and out and weaves back to certain themes.

And so really he's talking about the same thing in both of these sections.

He just gets distracted and off he goes on a tangent, as it were.

But here James is asking us, is your Christianity any better than Satan's?

Somewhat astonishingly, that is in fact what he's just asked us.

Are you more of a Christian than Satan is?

You've got to admit, that's pretty good rhetoric, isn't it?

But it isn't just there for show.

James is serious and he's addressing a problem which beleaguers Christian churches

of any time and any place.

And we don't need to take it on faith that it's a problem for churches in the present day,

because I'm sure some of us would recognize it.

It's this problem of a Christianity that says it's a duck,

but it doesn't actually quack or waddle.

It's a Christianity that claims to be real, but in fact it isn't.

More seriously though, and this is where it really is more than just,

oh, isn't he such an intriguing speaker, this brother James?

It's a problem of a Christianity that cannot save you.

And it's this bit which actually I think gives us a good reason

as to why he would speak so provocatively,

why he really wants to get our attention.

It's a problem because if your Christianity is like that,

then it cannot save you.

Have a look in verse 19 again in chapter 2.

James writes,

You believe that God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe, then shudder.

I don't know if you've ever given much thought to the faith of demons.

They've got one.

They believe that God exists.

They believe that Jesus died, that he rose again.

They even believe that he's coming back to judge the living and the dead.

The demons would freely acknowledge all of this to be true.

They believe this stuff.

But given their allegiance to Satan,

their faith isn't actually going to save them, is it?

Now, if it were only demons who had this problem of a faith that cannot save,

it wouldn't be so bad, would it?

I think we could close our Bibles at this point and go home feeling fairly assured.

The problem is it's not.

Many people have this problem.

Many people would believe that God exists,

that Jesus died and rose again.

They might even believe that he's coming again to judge the world.

But their faith cannot save them.

I wanted to say here, watch out.

It's easy to think of this problem as the problem you might recognise in other places.

Perhaps the cultural Christianity that pervades some of the larger denominations in this country.

The problem of a faith that maybe extends only as far as weddings, baptisms and funerals.

It's easy to think that this is this kind of problem of Protestant nominalism.

Church schools, perhaps, the private schools that are sponsored by churches.

It's the problem that's kind of in every other place except possibly in our church.

But if we start to think like that, we're going to fall into the very trap

that James is so seriously concerned that we should avoid.

There are, in fact, many people across Edinburgh who believe that God exists.

They believe that Jesus died and rose again.

Yet they do not possess a faith that can save them.

And so that's why James wants us to ask ourselves this evening, am I one of them?

Is my Christianity, in fact, any better than Satan's?

Now, the good news is that there's a basic litmus test that James goes on to tell us about

to see whether we can actually answer this question in the positive or the negative.

It's kind of a relief, really, a very simple litmus test, a binary.

I don't know if you remember back to school science.

I don't even know whether they would use litmus paper anymore in school science.

But at least back in the medieval era when I went to school,

you'd have these solutions and these small coloured pieces of paper that you'd dip in them.

And if the paper turns blue, it's an alkaline.

If it turns red, it's an acid.

It's a litmus test.

And James says that there is a test a bit like this for faith,

and it's every bit as visible as a coloured piece of paper.

James is saying that if your faith is better than Satan's, it can be seen.

The visibility, though, of a faith in Jesus that is a saving faith

is a bit different to the visibility, though, of, say, other world religions.

And this is a point worth thinking about.

For example, it doesn't become visible according to what you wear.

You can tell, for example, if a woman is a Muslim because she may be wearing a hijab.

You can tell a person is a Hindu if they have the red mark on their forehead.

But faith in Jesus becomes visible in a very different way.

Faith in Jesus becomes visible, according to the Scriptures,

in what we do and say.

This is why James says in verse 18 of chapter 2,

Now, there's another moment where we have this incredible echo of James' half-brother.

When we looked at the first passage in James,

there's these wonderful echoes of Jesus' teaching in James' letter.

And we have one here.

Can anyone remember where Jesus once said this?

He said,

What Jesus is saying in Luke chapter 6 is exactly what James is saying here.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

I mean, the difference is, of course, that Jesus is using a word picture.

The person whose life yields briars or thorns doesn't really believe in Jesus,

even if they claim to.

The person who yields figs and grapes, however, they really do.

And you can tell by what you see.

So both Jesus and James are simply saying that

even though you can't peer into someone's heart

and see whether their faith is genuine or not,

their faith is, in fact, always visible.

It becomes visible in what we do and say.

So, it's a very simple point he's making.

He says, absolutely nothing to see.

No good words, no good actions on the outside

that can point to only one thing.

That faith is dead on the inside.

That's James' point.

Very simple, isn't it?

He's a good preacher.

It's very simple.

If faith is dead,

well, of course, that's why it's unable to save you.

And it's no better, then, than the faith of demons.

And that's worth thinking a little bit, too.

It's because faith in Jesus is not just this list of things

that you hold to be true.

It's something that is alive.

It's an active power.

It's a bit like the batteries, I think, inside children's toys.

I think that's a good way to think about it.

When our eldest was a very young boy,

it's hard to imagine now, he's almost as tall as I am.

He was, in fact, inside a cot.

You could keep him in there at that stage.

And he had this terrific toy,

but I can't remember whether we bought it for him

or whether it was a gift.

It was absolutely fabulous.

But for that thing, for all the fishes to move around inside,

it needed these massive D-sized batteries.

And what those batteries were to the mobile,

which gave it such life, such a terrific toy,

that's what faith is to the Christian.

Faith is the animating power of the Christian life.

It animates a Christian.

It makes them alive.

So if someone says that they believe in Jesus,

but there's no actions,

then quite simply the batteries are dead.

And so this is why James says those words in verse 26,

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,

so also faith apart from works is dead.

Now, have you seen someone who was dead?

Not a question you'd actually have to ask 50 years ago,

but nowadays that's actually an interesting question.

I remember seeing my maternal grandfather shortly after he died,

and I remember as a boy just being utterly struck

by how different he looked.

I actually only ever remember him having Parkinson's disease,

quite severe, because he was quite old

and he had had it for a long time.

So he's already very, very weak, very weak and very thin.

But my mum remembers him as actually being quite fit

and quite strong physically.

But even though I'd never seen him like that,

there's this enormous difference between my wise and old,

weak Parkinson's grandfather and a dead grandfather.

Very, very strong memory when I saw him dead.

And that's actually what James is saying about faith too.

There's quite a difference between faith being dead

and it actually being very weak.

A huge difference.

A very visible difference.

So if someone says they believe in Jesus

and there's absolutely no movement whatsoever,

it's quite simply the active power of faith is gone.

Like the demons, that person might acknowledge certain things to be true,

but the active power that comes from the Spirit of God

that makes them alive is simply not there.

Because if it were, it'd be something to see.

Very simple.

So the James' point is that a faith that is better than the demons

is a visible faith and it's alive

and it's visible because it is alive

and it's alive because it's animated by the Spirit of God.

This is the litmus test

as to whether saving faith is present.

So would your faith turn the litmus paper blue?

That's James' question.

Are there actions on the outside that reveal what's there on the inside?

Before you answer, I want you to think again

and look again at the example James chooses to illustrate his point

because it's possible, even if you know this passage well,

that you might have missed it.

James illustrates this point with a very specific example.

James goes on to say,

if a brother or sister is poorly clothed

and lacking in daily food

and one of you says to them,

go in peace, be warmed and filled

without giving them the things needed for the body,

what good is that?

Now the specific example that James comes to land on

is something you may or may not have anticipated.

It's love, but it's actually not just love generally.

It's love for the poor,

but it's not just love for the poor generally.

It's specifically love for poor Christians.

James says,

suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food.

Now you can miss this kind of specificity

because in our culture,

speaking of somebody who's not your biological brother

as your bro suggests that you might perhaps be into hip-hop.

As you can tell that I'm clearly not.

In the Bible, however, it refers,

it's the language of being a Christian,

a fellow Christian.

The Bible calls fellow Christians brothers and sisters

because when you become a Christian,

you get a family,

whether you like it or not.

God becomes your father

and because of that,

then you have a lot of little bros

because the Lord Jesus Christ is now your big bro.

That's the humbling and extraordinary truth of the gospel.

So when James is speaking here of a brother or sister,

he's actually talking about a fellow believer.

But look again,

James is not just speaking of a brother or sister

who's short of a pound.

He's talking about a brother or sister

who doesn't have adequate clothing,

a destitute fellow brother or sister.

Now how many shirts do you own?

I've got about six of these coloured shirts.

I remember particularly when I was in full-time employment,

I think I had eight or nine

because then you might skip the ironing or something for one week.

You could still be wearing the proper clothes.

But that's five more than James is talking about.

James is talking about a fellow Christian who is cold

because he doesn't own enough clothing to wear.

That's destitute.

That's poverty on a scale

that you don't really even see in Edinburgh.

So how many Christians' friends

do you have that are that poor?

Now some of us involved in Basics Bank,

a terrific thing that this church does,

they might actually be able to give a specific answer

to a question like that.

Whether or not, though,

we ever do actually come across Christians

that are in this category here in Edinburgh

is actually irrelevant.

I want to suggest that it's ultimately irrelevant

because we know that even in James' day,

this care for destitute brothers and sisters

extended much further than local congregations.

One of the amazing things in Paul's letter

to the Galatian churches,

it relates this interesting story

of when he met James in Jerusalem.

He was getting this spiritual check-up

to see whether his gospel was in fact the real deal or not.

And he relates this incident

when James gives him parting words.

James is completely convinced, by the way,

of Paul's orthodoxy.

And as they shake hands and part,

James gives him one word to remember.

He says, remember the poor.

And then Paul tells the Galatians

that he actually didn't need this reminder.

And the proof of that, actually,

is one of the things that comes out

all through the New Testament,

a hallmark of Paul's apostolic ministry.

It was, in fact, a collection for the poor,

the destitute Christians

who are persecuted in Jerusalem.

And interestingly,

he seemed to have quite a bit of accounting skill.

He'd managed all these checks and balances

to give confidence to the churches

around the Mediterranean Sea

who are contributing to this collection,

protect himself, I guess,

from accusations of fraud.

And we read about this, actually,

all through the New Testament,

that this care for the poorest of Christians

had almost had an international scale,

a transcultural scale,

from the very beginnings.

It was amazing.

And so the question we need to ask, then,

thinking about what James was saying,

is, is that actually a feature of ours?

A feature of our Christianity?

The point is, whether or not there may or may not

be destitute Christians here in B.C.

or even more broadly in Edinburgh,

there are many brothers and sisters

beyond these walls who are destitute

in the way that James is describing.

And, you know, the amazing thing

that I think about at this point

is actually, at this point in time,

more than ever in the history of the Christian church,

we are closer to them.

With the click of a mouse,

you can send a bag of rice

and a copy of the scriptures

for a poverty-stricken Christian

in the highlands of Vietnam.

Or with the click of a mouse,

you can send money to rebuild a church

that the jihadists have burnt down in Nigeria.

Our reach extends incredibly now

than it ever has in the history

of the Christian church.

I was reflecting on this

and I was reminded of the old TV show,

again, perhaps demonstrating my age,

if that's a completely foreign image to you.

Just put that down to the litmus test example.

But when I was a child,

there was a British animation

called Inspector Gadget

and he had these go-go gadget arms.

And it makes me think

that globalization has actually given Christians

these go-go gadget arms

that extend far longer

than even long arms will reach.

We can reach Christians around the world

in a way that James and Paul

could only have dreamed of.

Yet I fear that many Christians,

even in this situation,

have turned a deaf ear,

not just to their teaching,

but especially to James' half-brother.

Here again, we have another echo

from Jesus' own teaching.

James tells us

the poorest of the Christian poor

is what makes our faith visible,

caring for them.

That sounds a lot like what Jesus said

at the end of Matthew's Gospel.

Jesus said,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory

and all the angels with Him,

He will sit on His throne

in heavenly glory.

All the nations will be gathered before Him

and He will separate the people

one from another

as a shepherd separates the sheep

from the goats.

He'll put the sheep on His right

and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say

to those on His right,

Come, you who are blessed by My Father,

take what is your inheritance,

the kingdom prepared for you

since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry

and you gave me something to eat.

I was thirsty

and you gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger

and you invited me in.

I needed clothes

and you clothed me.

I was sick

and you looked after me.

I was in prison

and you came to visit me.

Then the righteous will answer Him,

Lord, when did we see you hungry

and feed you

or thirsty

and give you something to drink?

When did we see you a stranger

and invite you in

or needing clothes

and clothe you?

When did we see you sick

or in prison

and go to visit you?

The King will reply,

I tell you the truth,

whatever you did for one,

one of the least

of these brothers of Mine,

you did for Me.

Then He will say

to those on His left,

Depart from Me,

you who are cursed

into the eternal fire,

prepared for the devil

and His angels.

For I was hungry

and you gave Me

nothing to eat.

I was thirsty,

you gave Me

nothing to drink.

I was a stranger

and you did not invite Me in.

I needed clothes

and you did not clothe Me.

I was sick

and in prison

and you did not

look after Me.

They also will answer,

Lord, when did we see you

hungry or thirsty

or a stranger

or needing clothes

or sick

or in prison

and did not help you?

He will reply,

I tell you the truth,

whatever you did not do

for one of the least

of these,

you did not do for Me.

Then they will go away

to eternal punishment

but the righteous

to eternal life.

Again, we have this

amazing echo

in James' letter

of Jesus' own teaching.

You can imagine

He would have remembered this

from what He had heard

of His brother.

Jesus also says

that saving faith

shows itself

in love

for the poorest

of one's brothers

and sisters.

A faith that shows

no concern

for the poorest

of our brothers

and sisters

is in fact

no better than Satan's

and that's why

Jesus says

that those

on His left

are to depart

for where?

For the eternal fire

prepared for whom?

For the devil.

See, there's a direct

connection to James' teaching.

For the devil

and his angels.

A faith that is not

better than Satan's

brings people

to the same destiny

as Satan

and his angels.

Now, I know

that there are

many here in B.E.C.

who do show concern

for our brothers

and sisters

and they do it

in many meaningful ways

and indeed

in the most meaningful

of ways in prayer.

It's a terrific thing

to uphold our brothers

and sisters

in prayer

because they are

so desperately reliant

on our prayers.

The interesting thing

though is James

is kind of a step

ahead of us

and his teaching

anticipates this

and he goes

directly to prayer.

Do our prayers

resemble the prayers

that James describes

in chapter 2

verse 15?

Do we pray,

Lord, I wish them well,

keep them warm

and well fed,

but then don't

actually do anything

about their physical needs

because that's

James' illustration

of a faith

that is not visible.

In verse 15,

James says,

If a brother or sister

is poorly clothed

and lacking in daily food

and one of you

says to him,

Go in peace,

be warmed and filled,

without giving them

the things needed

for the body,

what good is that?

So also faith by itself

if it does not have works

is dead.

He gets quite a pointed

comment that if we only

pray for our brothers

and sisters

when it's in our power

to actually help them,

James says that that

is suggestive of a faith

that is in fact dead.

So if we really want to

know the answer

to this question,

and I've been drawing it

out to make the point

that James is making

as sharp as possible,

we need to ask questions

like,

What do I give

to the poorest

of Christians?

Just as Paul arranged

this collection

for the Christians

in Jerusalem,

there are many people

who give us those

go-go gadget arms

to reach the people

that are beyond our reach.

I think one of the things

that really helped me

when I realised

that this truly

was the emphasis

of the scriptures,

the organisation

Voice of the Martyrs

became such an appealing

group of Christians.

It was an organisation

formed some time ago

by a Romanian pastor

who spent many years

in prison.

And they have the most

wonderful way

of actually supporting

churches in a spiritual way,

encouraging their faith

and very practically

providing food and clothing,

especially to some

of the hidden victims.

So when a pastor

is put in prison,

usually that's a dreadful

burden for the wife

and the children.

They have this wonderful

ministry.

And an organisation

like that is something

that has actually

encouraged me

over many,

many years.

So if you have never

heard of Voice of the Martyrs,

let me encourage you

that these are one

of the absolute premier

groups that are operative

in the world

who allow us

to actually act

on what James is saying.

When I personally

started to see

that this is such

a huge emphasis

in the New Testament,

I began to include

not just the needs

of my local church

or missionaries

in financial giving,

but also the poorest

of brothers and sisters

around the world.

And Voice of the Martyrs

actually enables us

to direct money

specifically to that.

So as some of you know,

I'm a full-time student

at the moment,

but I'm very blessed

with some very fat

scholarships.

But there have been times

when I've had very,

very little income

or none at all.

And so giving

will often go up

and down.

Sometimes there's been

money for my own

food and clothing,

especially as a musician

before I was a pastor.

You can imagine

that probably well.

Alberto has probably

got the same problem

at the moment.

But the thing is

that one of the things

that we can think about

is modulating our giving

according to our needs.

And that's exactly

what Paul encourages.

So one of the things

that I did was keeping

one of the last things

off the list,

one of the first things

back on,

was the Christian poor,

precisely because of

what James and Paul

and Jesus teach

about what a high priority

it is in the Christian life.

Now naturally,

I don't have any idea

about your finances

and whether you contribute

to BEC

with the obligations

that we have here

to support our pastors

and the work here

or to the work

of foreign missions.

They're two stories

that are kind of

separate sermons

entirely on their own.

I have no idea

whether you're very

limited financially

or whether in fact

you're very wealthy.

although all of that

really affects

in very fine detail

what specifically

God is telling us

tonight

through James' message,

I can make a few suggestions

to help you

let what James is saying

move from this kind

of abstract principle,

the very concrete application

in your life.

And so the very first place

I need you to think about

is the money that you have

at your disposal

and your financial obligations.

that you might already have

and that includes BEC

and Christian missions.

And I simply want you

to ask a very simple question

is your faith visible

in the way that James describes

in the very specificity

of what he says?

Ask yourself

whether your faith

can be seen

and then perhaps consider

whether you can investigate

some of the ways

that it can become visible

if it's not visible.

I'd really encourage you

to look at the website

of Voice of the Martyrs

or some of the other organisations

that do this amazing work

of giving us

these go-go gadget arms

to reach poor brothers

and sisters.

I take it that our Christianity

is quite a bit better

than Satan's.

I take it that you've gathered

here tonight

in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ

that you don't just believe

that he exists

but that you love him

and that you worship him.

I take it that you believe

that he didn't just

die and rise again

but that he died

and rose again

for the forgiveness

of your sins.

I take it that we do share

in a faith

that is able to save

in other words.

That we've embraced

Jesus for ourselves

that we've been born again

by the Spirit

who gives us this life

this animating power

of faith.

So if that's the case

let me urge you

to make the faith visible

in the way that

James, Paul and Jesus

is saying.

Let our faith be visible

among our brothers

and sisters here in B.C.

Yes, keep doing that

through words of kindness

deeds of service

even through the harder words

that have to be spoken

from time to time

but let's not forget

what James is saying.

Let me encourage you

to put time aside tonight

to actually reflect

what James is saying

time before you go to bed

on whether your faith

is visible

in care for the poorest

of your brothers

and sisters

because there will come

a time

when we shall meet them

at the resurrection

of the righteous

and can you imagine

what it would be like

to have some Vietnamese woman

thanking you

perhaps even crying

thank you so much.

It was so difficult

for that 20 years

we were so poor

but those people

gave us rice

we would have died

can you imagine

what that would be like?

It's certainly no hardship

to share in that kind of joy

and if this is absent

in your life

so too will that joy

in the last day

when we are gathered

with a host of brothers

and sisters

who have paid

such a heavy price

for their confession

of Christ.

It's a joy

that is absent

in your life

and it is a joy

that James

seeks to share

with us

not a naked obligation

an interferer

like Graham

said so helpfully

this morning

is a joy

that James

is seeking

to add to our lives.

So let me encourage you

to pray for wisdom

to discern

how you can be fruitful

in the type

of international concern

that has always

characterized

the Christian church

from its very beginnings

for the very poorest

of our brothers

and sisters.

That really just takes you

to I can't tell you

what to do

because I don't know

what you are doing.

But let me say

that if you are actually

already involved

in this kind of love

please be encouraged

to keep being visible.

Visible perhaps

not to the person

sitting next to you

but it's certainly visible

in the eyes

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me encourage you

to keep going

because that is often

the hardest thing

in the Christian life

when your house

is in order

to keep going.

Take courage.

God will always

provide for you

in the same way

as that he calls us

to provide for others.

So let me encourage you

to keep going.

If God's word

has illumined

something new

for you tonight

don't let it go.

Think further on it

and allow your faith

to become visible

in action.

Will you join with me

now to pray

that the Spirit of God

will let our church

abound

in the kind of

visible faith

that James

enjoins on us

in his letter.

Loving and merciful

Father

we thank you

that you sent

the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord Jesus

we worship you

as you are seated

at the right hand

of the Father

restored to the glory

that you had

with the Father

from before

the creation

of the world.

We worship you

that you became poor

so that we could

become rich.

We ask Lord Jesus

for grace

grace to see

what it is

for faith

to become visible

and we ask

that you would

stir in our hearts

the love

for our brothers

and sisters

who are hard pressed

and we ask Lord

that you would

meet their needs

according to the riches

of your glory

and that you would

give us the privilege

and the joy Lord

to be a part of them.

Let our faith

be visible

here in BC

here in Edinburgh

and indeed

to the ends of the US.

We ask this

in Jesus name.

Amen.