James - and a Three-Legged Race

Welcome to the house. My name is Greg. I'm one

of the pastors here. If we have never met before,

I would love the chance to meet you, maybe buy

a coffee or a soda or something like that, hear

your story, and I get to know you just a little

bit. We're in the fourth week of our series through

the book of James, and I wanted to draw attention

just really quickly to the graphics. Sometimes,

like you learned in the last series, that sometimes

there's things in the graphics that maybe you

don't notice. at first glance. And so if you

look at this graphic, this is actually a form

of art. It's called hitomiashi. Hitomiashi. Hitomiashi.

Hitomiashi. And this last year, Cindy was teaching

arts every day at the local Christian high school.

And this is something that she started doing

even on her own time. And what's that? You did

it in one of your classes? I did it. Yeah, you

did it on your own time. And so it's actually

based on the number of letters there are in something.

So the top row is based off of the phrase, the

letter of James, and the side row is based off

the brother of Jesus. And every letter gets a

certain number of spaces, and then you connect

them all, and it creates this cool pattern. And

so I hadn't mentioned that before, so I just

wanted to draw attention. Cindy made that. And

I just wanted to thank her for all of her creativity.

And the hard work that she puts into that stuff.

All right, so I'm going to say the first thing,

and you guys say the combination, okay? So we'll

start with the easy one. Peanut butter and? Jello.

Salt and? Pepper. Peaches and? Green. Yeah, bacon

in it. Yes. Green eggs and? Ham. Macaroni and?

Cheese. Biscuits and? Gravy. Yeah, all right,

how about names? Tom and? Terry. Yeah, Bert and?

Ernie. Paul and? Goose. Yeah, Bonnie and? Five.

Little Diddy. About Jack and Diane. How about

pen and? Oh, I was going to say paper. Pen and

paper. Yin and? Lock and? See, they start to

change. There's a lot of ones that I think exactly

what should be said, but then it starts to change.

What about thunder and? Yeah, okay. Any that

I missed? What did you guys come up with that

I missed? Fish and chips. Mario and Luigi. Chips

and salsa. What about faith and works? Faith

and works. A few weeks ago, I started this series

saying that James is a book of practical theology.

He's action -oriented. He's not trying to pontificate.

He's trying to communicate clearly without the

pomp and circumstances. And today, he gets straight

to the point. He wants to make it clear that

faith and works aren't just a great combination.

They are primary partners. They run together.

They're like best friends. I thought I'd sing

my buddy. Sometimes that friendship forms quickly,

easily, seamlessly. But sometimes, maybe some

of us have experienced it, sometimes forming

that relationship between faith and works is

a little bumpy. But here's the thing. James wants

to make it clear that they belong together. So

with that, let's open up our Bibles to the book

of James. We're going to be in chapter 2. James

is closer to the back of the Bible. It goes Hebrews.

James, and then you'll see 1 and 2 Peter, 1 and

2 John. So if you see any of those, you know

that you're in the right neighborhood. If you

don't have your own Bible, feel free to take

one of the blue Bibles that are on the table

at home, or there's Bibles on the bookshelf out

in the lobby, or you can download a Bible from

any of the digital app stores. We like to give

the scriptures our full attention when they are

read in the context of the sermon. One of the

ways that you can do that is by standing with

me if you are able or so desired. Otherwise,

let's just give the scriptures our full attention.

I'm going to be reading James 2, starting in

verse 14. It says this. What good is it, my brothers

and sisters, if someone claims to have faith

but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot

save, can it? If a brother or sister is naked

and lacks daily food, 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? So faith by itself.

If it has no works, it's dead. But someone will

say, you have faith and I have works. Show me

your faith apart from works and I, by my works,

will show you faith. You believe that God is

one. You do well. Even the demons believe and

shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless

person, that faith apart from works is worthless?

Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works

when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You

see that faith was active along with his works.

And by works, faith was brought to completion.

Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham

believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,

and he was called the friend of God. You see

that a person is justified by works and not by

faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute

also justified by works when she welcomed the

messengers and sent them out by another road?

For just as the body without the spirit is dead,

so faith without works is also. Let us pray.

God of every tribe, every tongue, every color,

and every nation, we thank you for the scriptures

that we have them to read, to consider, to learn

from. I pray that whatever you have to teach

us today, I pray that it would stick, that it

would become a part of the framework of our faith,

that our faith would become stronger as we become

more like your son, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thanks,

y 'all. I can't see. All right, so the first

thing that he says in this passage is, what good

is it? What good is it? You've heard that phrase.

I imagine some of us have used that phrase before.

What good is that? You just did that for me after

I already needed this other thing. What good

is it now? One commentary wanted to make it perfectly

clear that James is being purposefully confrontational

with this passage. He's being intentionally argumentative,

almost short, because James wants us to feel

like it is ridiculous to say that we have faith,

but we don't have any works that go along with

it. Now, James is not looking for perfection,

but he is saying, if you have the one, the other

should follow. He's saying, what good is it to

have... a car without gas, or a phone with no

battery. What good is it to have faith with no

actions? Think about it like this. I was actually

really tempted to go buy like 50 bandanas because

anyone ever been in a three -legged race? The

dreaded three -legged race where you have to

tie your ankle to someone else? And I thought,

oh, wouldn't it be fun to just like see who is

actually willing to try and race across the front?

But we know that what often happens is that people

fall down in three -legged races because you

tie your ankle to someone else and then you try,

even though you have never done this before in

your life, suddenly you're supposed to know how

to run together. Now, when you have faith in

Jesus, you tie your ankle of faith to an ankle

of need. And then you try to run the race as

best as you can together. And at least... In

this passage, James is saying, if you have faith

in Jesus, you're meant to be tied to the needs

of the people around you. It doesn't make sense

to James, because it didn't make sense to Jesus

that someone would follow him but not move. Say

it again. It does not make sense to James because

it would not have made sense to Jesus for someone

to say, I'm following you, but not move. Sometimes

faith and works, they get framed as a contradiction.

But I don't think that they're actually a contradiction.

I coined a word. You guys can use it, popularize

it if you want. I call it a nontradiction. You

know, oohs and ahs. Oh, what a great word you

came up with, Greg. I know, it's silly. But it's

not a contradiction. I call it a nontradiction.

Because, yes, Paul says that we are saved by

grace, through faith, not by works that no one

can boast. And then James... It is true that

James and Paul are both using the same word to

talk about faith. So you would say, well, now

James is suddenly saying, you have to have works.

And he says, you don't have to have works. You

just need faith. But when Paul talks about faith

and he uses that word, he's talking about a faith

that opens our eyes so that we can see that Jesus

is the one that saves us. Faith is what causes

us to know that we can be in relationship with

God. Faith is what flips the switch in our hearts

so that we can say yes to following Jesus and

no to leading ourselves. James. James knows all

that. James knows that definition. But he also

knows that many of the people that will read

his book do not think of faith that way. James

is talking about how we are consistently inclined

to substitute. That kind of faith that Paul is

talking about with a set of beliefs that we call

our faith. We do it to this day. If you go to

the website of almost any Christian organization,

you will find a page that is the statement of

what? Faith. And most of that statement will

not be a statement of faith as Paul is describing

it. It will be a statement of beliefs. There's

nothing wrong with having a statement of beliefs.

And I know that for some of us it would be like,

well, this is just semantics. But James knows

that a set of beliefs is not what actually leads

us to provide for the needs of our neighbors.

Faith in Jesus. The kind of faith that is, oh,

it's the switch that's flipped that makes me

see that I can be in right relationship. That

is the kind of faith that causes there to be

following and causes us to have movement. And

James is confronting what we turn faith into.

Because faith in Jesus motivates movement. Jesus

said, let your light so shine before others that

they may see your good works and give glory to

your Father who is in heaven. Jesus said, truly,

truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will

also do the works that I do, and greater works

than those will he do, because I am going to

the Father. Jesus said, I was naked, and you

clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I

was in prison, and you came to me. Jesus had

plenty to say about how if you follow him, movement

will follow. There will be good works. And that

is why this much seems clear to James. Someone

among us is naked or hungry. They cannot wear

our set of beliefs. They cannot eat our set of

beliefs. They need us to set the table. to give

them a set of clothes. James wants us to intentionally

tie our ankle of faith to the ankle of need that

is near to us. Now, I get it. For some of us,

the resistance to the concept of works isn't

Really even about thinking that we don't need

works. We all think that doing good things is

a great idea. For some of us, the resistance

isn't that we don't think we need them or even

that we don't want to do good things. For some

of us, it's more about the past experiences and

how those attempts at doing good things worked

out. Some of us have attempted to serve. to help

to live in active faith and we have face planted.

And maybe not even because of what we did. Sometimes

we feel like we tied our ankle of faith to the

ankle of need and we got pushed down. And it

hurts. The reality is that when we tie our ankle

to someone else's needs, we risk getting hurt.

I've experienced that firsthand. I'm sure you

have too. But this is where we need to be reminded,

and this is important. How someone receives our

good work almost never has anything to do with

us. They have their own wounds. They have their

own hurts. They have their own past. They have

their own set of experiences. They have their

own reasons for not responding, not running,

ankle tied, arms around right waist in the same

direction with you. Maybe it's important to hear

this part as well, that God is not worried about

the results of your work. As much as God cares

that you are willing to do the work. I've said

it for years that God isn't looking for your

abilities. He's looking for your willingness.

Because God knows that you can't make someone

accept your help. God knows that you can't make

someone... respond a specific way. God knows

that you aren't in control of what someone else

does or whether they run with you in lockstep.

You are not responsible for the outcome. Now,

I do not mean that that gives us permission to

be jerks in the way that we work because the

outcome isn't up to us. It does matter how we

treat people. What I am saying is that God knows

that the only thing you are really in control

of is whether you will get up and try. Whether

you will follow Jesus into the movement, into

the motion of serving. So whoever it is in the

room that needs to hear it, you have permission

to let go. To let go of the outcome. I don't

think that the point is that we're supposed to

win the race. I think it's that we need to be

in it. So what do we do with any of this? How

do we participate with it? How do we practice

this? I just got a few quick things, okay? I

think the first thing, I got three different

questions. First thing is this, that we can ask

ourselves, who needs something? That I have.

This is a great way to start thinking about what

is the need, what is the ankle of need that I

need to tie my ankle of faith to? Who needs something

that I have? Now, this might be something small.

Who needs a meal? Who needs a phone call? Who

needs a second chance? Danny and Liz, raise your

hand. Who needs a ride to a traveling table tonight?

Right? A really simple way to get active in your

faith is just to meet the need of someone that's

close to you by saying, who needs something I

have? I have a car that works. Oh, can I? Oh,

they live in East Moline. Oh, is it okay if I

go out of my way? 10 minutes to go pick someone

up so they can experience more of what the community

is being and doing because they're part of the

community. So I'm wondering if someone in this

room, before you leave here, needs to go tell

Danny and Liz, yeah, I'll come pick you up tonight

for traveling table. We can all ask ourselves,

who needs something that I have? The second thing

is this. Ask yourself, is my faith in motion?

Newton's first law of motion says that an object

in motion will remain in motion. What is it that

slows things down? It's friction. Friction is

what actually causes things to slow down and

stop. And all of our lives have some level of

friction directly related to our faith. Doing

something small today. It can be something that

can move your faith a little, get it moving just

a little bit. But here's the thing. There's still

going to be friction in your life that's going

to try and slow your faith down and stop it again.

To overcome friction, we need to keep moving.

I'm not talking about working and never resting.

That's not what I mean. But I am talking about

being intentional. about staying in motion. Let's

be proactive about our faith. Start making a

plan for how you are going to keep your faith

in motion. Things like coming to church, traveling

tables, friendship, all of these things are great,

but few things keep our faith in motion, like

finding a way to serve someone else. Because

we see Jesus constantly and consistently serving

others. And then last, And I don't know if this

is for everybody, but I felt like it was important

to say here, some of us need to ask ourselves,

what's my marathon? For some of us, God has been

nudging our hearts about the future. Maybe the

Holy Spirit's been reminding you that you used

to love to run. God might be saying, listen,

you didn't burn out from running. You burned

out because you didn't know that there was a

finish line. This time, like I said, I don't

know who this is for, but I think that God wants

you to start running again. I'm not talking about

physically. Talking about spiritually. Think

that God wants you to run with an end in mind.

He has a specific race, a specific marathon that

he's calling you back into. And this time it

will be healthy because you know that there's

a finish line. But you have to ask what it is.

I think that doing any of these things, that

there can be some fear involved, that it can

feel scary to step out, it can feel scary to

volunteer, it can be scary to ask someone if

you can be the person to help meet their need,

it can be scary to dream about the future and

wonder if there is a race that you're meant to

be in and where it might finish. James, really

Jesus, asking us to move forward not just with

beliefs about him but faith in him because our

faith does not come from the results our faith

does not come from the people that we serve our

faith is in Jesus So today I hope that you leave

with this idea that faith and works is not a

scary concept. It's as simple as a three -legged

race. Just look around for someone's ankle and

then tie yours to it. Amen? Let's pray. Father,

we thank you for silliness. We thank you for

three -legged raises. We thank you for the little

things that we did as children that are so full

of imagery that teach us what you're like. We

confess that it is very difficult to feel like

we are in lockstep with you sometimes, like we

are. running the race very well. But I ask that

your Holy Spirit would come and be a comforter

and then an encourager. That the race is still

there. There's still so much that you have for

us to be, to do, to run alongside you with. I

pray that our hearts would be open to what that

work is, that it would be healthy. Help us to

care about each other, because what good is it

to say that we have faith, but then not love

our neighbor as ourselves, and to serve them

as you would serve? We love you. We love you.

Amen.