Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost 9/09/12

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost 9/9/12 Text: James 2:18-19 Title: Christ In Us and Through Us. While the emphasis of the worship service and sermon each Sunday is on the grace of God, as it is shown through Jesus’ life giving act of salvation on the cross I have this summer been focusing on discipleship. Last week we finished studying Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus where we were given direction in what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. During that time, we learned that, as members of a Christian congregation that we are to live humble and gentle lives, as we bear with each other’s shortcomings. We also learned that we are to be of one spirit and not many spirits. In other words we are to be united as one in the body of Christ. We learned all those things. We know those things and believe them, yet many times we still struggle in being one in Christ and living our lives as God wants us to live them. You see the problem is that we don’t want to serve others, but to be served by others. We find ourselves being intolerant of others shortcomings. We think our way is the best way and get upset when others don’t do as we say. That is our nature, although it is not God’s plan for our lives, and quite often, using the analogy of playing marbles; I don’t know if children even play marbles anymore, if we don’t get our way we either pick up our marbles and go home or stand on the sideline griping about how the game is being played. We are in dire need of God’s help; not only in our congregational life, but in our lives outside of the congregation. That is our lives. We just don’t seem to be able to make the connection between God’s freely given forgiveness by God for Jesus sake and our daily lives. In other words our understanding of the Christian faith is quite often seriously lacking. And because of that we, even in the best of time cannot fully realize how blessed we are by God. I have come to realize, as I minister to people inside and outside the church that there are many who believe they have faith when in reality they only have knowledge of God’s Word and his saving act. It would seem like having knowledge of God and his saving work is faith. But while a person must have knowledge of God and his saving act on their behalf, faith is not just knowledge, for we are told in verse 19 of our Epistle reading for today, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-- and shudder!” You can believe in God and Christianity in a general way but not have faith. You can know a lot of the biblical stories and still not have faith. You can even be a great theologian who can dissect God’s Word in a scientific way and still not have faith. Saving faith is an action word. It is not just knowing God, but trusting in God to do what he has promised to do both in this life and the hereafter. Faith while being something that cannot be seen, is outwardly seen by good works. Faith cannot be hidden. It is a way of life. That is what God is telling us through the writings of Saint James this morning, especially verse 18 where he writes, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James is addressing a false teaching that was being taught then and still being taught today. Faith and good works are incompatible. In other words you can have faith and not do good works. These false teachers went on to say that James is teaching only good works. They were not correct then, just as they are not correct today, for while it is faith alone that saves, for faith alone receives the forgiveness given by God for what Jesus had done, faith and good works cannot be separated. James knew that and stood on it. He also though, just as he wrote it down for us knew that faith that does not do good is a dead faith and that is what he is teaching them and thus us today. Faith in a human being is a life of doing good, for when faith is given, the faith not only saves, but sanctifies the person. His or her life is now one of doing good even though their life is still tainted by sin, for we, until our death are sinners still deserving of God’s wrath even though we will not receive his wrath on account of not what we do, but what Jesus did on the cross when he cried out, “It is finished.” Those who believe and trust in those wonderful words of forgiveness are changed. We are no longer who we were before. We have been given God’s power to care for those who need our help, to love the unlovable, to tell others about God’s love. We can do all those things and much more not because we have the strength within ourselves, but because Christ now lives in us and through us. My dear fellow disciples, don’t lose hope because you find yourself not always caring, or loving, or telling others about God’s love. Don’t despair, but don’t use your failures as an excuse either. Turn back to Jesus and the forgiveness he won for you. Turn back and receive his never ending and overflowing forgiveness, renewed, and strengthened by his Word and Sacraments, for as we are told in Ephesians 2:10, “You are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we (You) should walk in them.” His grace is our salvation, and his grace is our strength to live, to live lives that look like what they are; Christ in us and Christ through us. Amen.