“Faith That Works”

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.  Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.  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,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

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?  But you have insulted the poor.  Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?  Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?

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

-- James 2:1-10

The rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is Make of them all.

-- Proverbs 22:1

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

I have felt frustration with the pepper plants this summer.  We created a beautiful hot spot between the garage and fence specifically for them.  We spaded up the soil and amended it with compost, creating a rich bed.  We bought strong, healthy plants from the nursery.  We tucked them in, watered, fertilized, and, I must admit, stroked and spoke encouraging words to them as they settled in to grow.

And grow they did!  Stretching for the sunlight, they grew to be the tallest pepper plants I’ve ever cared for.  I staked them to keep them upright -- the first time ever I have tended pepper plants needing extra support.  Their leaves are many, and deep, rich green.

But for most of the summer, great big beautiful plants has been about all I’ve had to show for all this effort.  Yes, the biggest most beautiful pepper bushes ever.  But hardly a pepper to be had.  Buds?  Yes.  Peppers? No.

So, if you understand that I am a pepperhead, you understand my disappointment.

Pastor James continues today with some very practical ways to apply the faith we claim to have.  For him, as always, it is not enough to have a faith that resides in our heads, or even in our hearts.  Certainly faith must be both rational and passionate.  But faith that does not work -- faith that buds and flowers and bears no fruit -- is no real faith.

Last time James kindly but firmly taught his flock about the need to discipline the tongue, that untamed spark that can set a church and world aflame.  Very practical advice.  This week we read another simple and powerful description of a faith that works: that there will be inclusiveness in the church where it comes to how much wealth anyone has.

James believed with great conviction the words in Proverbs 22:2:  The rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is Maker of them all.

One of my moments of greatest shame in a Christian congregation came when, one day, a poor and poorly dressed man came to worship.  He shyly sat in the back pew during worship.  When the service ended he was one of the first to greet me.  He asked to speak with me.  I bid him wait a few moments while I greeted the rest of the congregation.  So he stood to one side, near me, as the good people of that United Methodist congregation filed past, shaking my hand, averting their eyes and walking right past the poor stranger in their midst.

There is more to the story, but suffice it to say that was the last time we behaved that way as the people of Christ.

Perhaps James saw similar incongruous behavior in the church in Jerusalem, and elsewhere.

I can say -- good for us, that it really matters not what anyone wears when they come to worship at St. Paul’s.  Interestingly, “How should I dress?” when I come to worship is one of the first things strangers ask me when I invite them here.  I assure them it doesn’t matter how they look on the outside.  I also have occasion to assure people that I do not, and choose to never know, how much money anyone has or how much they give.  I will do my best to show no favorites based on riches, or lack thereof.  I know I can always do better.

James reminds us that the place to start practicing inclusiveness is on Sunday morning.  Those who appear rich, and those who appear poor, must be welcomed with the same open hearts, minds, and actions.  Jesus himself shows us the way today.  Our communion table is open to everyone -- to anyone who sincerely repents of their sins, and seeks to live a new life through Him.

Thank God we are all welcomed to this table!  There is nothing we have done to deserve a seat here.  It is all by grace, symbolized in the bread which is Christ’s body broken for everyone, and his blood shed for all.

Back to the pepper plants.  Finally, talking through the situation with another gardener, I wondered if the buds kept withering because no bees had found the plants.  The peppers are, in fact, isolated and surrounded by walls.  No other flowering plants grew close by.

So I got it in my head to clip some shasta daisies and set bouquets of bright, strong smelling blossoms in the midst of the peppers, to attract bees.  It worked!  Now the plants are bearing beautiful curved anaheim and deep green jalapeno peppers.

So, if I’m having trouble bearing fruit, what do I do?  I’m not a plant, stuck in the ground, waiting for help.  I will choose to get up and go where the blooms are.  I will become part of a community of faith where faith is in blossom through good works.  I will get involved closely with people who not only think and feel, but do.  Active faith wears off.  Working faith is fertile, and affects others.  Alone, I may look good, but may fail to act well.  Together, this garden will thrive.  Faith will continue to work.