Sermon Tone Analysis

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our song – Amen

 

James writes…

/Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

(1:22)/

and … /If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

(1:26)/

/ /

How many of you come out to church on Sunday morning for worthless religion?

How many of you are want to be part of something, want to commit your precious weekend time, your hard earned leisure time, to something that is of no value at all?

Well, according to James, the brother of Jesus – that is exactly what it is, if you are not a /“doer”/ of the word

 

Coke often has advertisements that use the phrase, “the real thing.”

You get the message that “you want the real thing.

The real Coke”

So it is with our spirituality, our faith-walk, our Christianity: we want to find the real thing

 

James takes a hard line position on the message of being a “doer” of the word

Is James right?

… does James matter at all?

Is the letter of James of any value to the church – the people of God?

            Does it matter what we ‘do’ with our faith?

Many evangelicals, which are the foundation of this church, make claims that our faith is what matters – and more to point – you may hear some ask the question something like /“when where you saved?/”  OR /“When did you accept Jesus in your heart?”/

That sounds a lot like salvation is connected to what we believe – to our faith - Where does that fit with James and the ‘epistle of doing’

 

Well, let’s work through some contextual stuff

 

We are now at the beginning of a series of NT readings on the Book of James.

There will be five weeks which focus on the Book of James, and so some understand of James is important.

Our contextual material will start with James himself

 

This week, in my preparations I came across some material that said succinctly, precisely what I wanted to say – so I have borrowed from that material

It comes from Pastor Edward F. Markquart, who has been the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, since l973.

This congregation is one of the largest worshipping congregations on the West coast.

The congregation is known for its many and varied ministries.

Pastor Markquart’s primary gift is his preaching, and he has made his material available to share it with as many people as possible.

James, the brother of Jesus, is REALLY important in the New Testament.

Why?

James, the brother of Jesus, saw the RISEN Christ.

The Apostle Paul tells us that the Risen Christ appeared to Peter, the 500, to James and all the apostles.

(I Corinthians 15:5-8).

The name of James is at the top of the list.

James, the brother of Jesus, was one of the first three pillars of the early church.

In Galatians 2, Paul writes of - James, Peter, and John.

(Galatians 2:9)

James was listed first, BEFORE the names of Peter and John.

You have to be MIGHTY important when your name is listed before Peter and John.

Not only was James the first pillar of the earliest church in Jerusalem, we hear other stories in the New Testament about James.

Some examples:

- We recall that when Peter miraculously escaped from prison, he specifically wanted James informed as to what happened (Acts 12:17).

- We recall that when the first Christians in Jerusalem were having a big conference about whether or not Gentile people needed to be circumcised, it was James who guided the answer (Acts 15:13ff).

- We recall when Paul arrived in Jerusalem with a fistful of money to give to the poor in Jerusalem, it is Paul who met him at the door and advised Paul to first go and cleanse himself at the temple (Acts 21:18ff.)

- We recall when Paul showed up in Jerusalem after his conversion, he visited Simon Peter for fifteen days and saw none of the apostles other than James, the Lord’s brother.

(Galatians 1:18-19)

In other words, James, the brother of Jesus, was THE primary leader of the earliest church in Jerusalem.

I am simply telling you that James, the brother of Jesus, was a VIP, a very important person, in the Early Church,

Yet we almost never heard sermons about him.

Why not, why are there so few sermons about him?

One reason might be because James is mentioned only once in the four gospels

Albeit, James is important in the Book of Acts and letters of the Apostle Paul

 

Another reason is that there is a perception that Protestant theology clashes with James

In particular, it clashes with one of the key founding figures of the Protestant Reformation – Martin Luther

Martin Luther did not like the book of James.

Martin Luther said that the epistle of James was an epistle of straw.

He writes

“/It was easily consumed by fire, and when the straw was burned away, you did not have the pure gold nugget, the gospel, remaining./”

In other words, the Book of James did not have the gold nugget, the pure gospel and therefore it was not worth much.

Why was James nothing but straw to Luther?

The first reason that Luther did not like the book of James is that Christ is not emphasized

The words, /Jesus Christ/, is mentioned only twice in the whole book.

- There is not one mention of the cross.

- There is not one mention of Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins.

- There is not one mention of baptism, that he who believes and is baptized shall be saved.

- There is not one mention of the word grace and what grace means.

In James, there is no Christ, no grace, no atonement, no death on the cross, no baptism.

Why else did Luther have such immense disregard for the book of James?

Second, because of its emphasis on works.

Luther, like the Apostle Paul, emphasized that we are put right with God and justified by God through God’s grace, through faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law.

James, on the other hand, seems to say that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James emphasized works.

You need to do works in order to be a Christian.

Now, if you combine the two problems; that is, there is no mention of Jesus Christ and instead there is only talk about works, people could draw the false conclusion that a person is saved by works.

I can understand that.

Even so, I have to admit to all my Lutheran-leaning friends, that I like the Book of James.

And I have believe that many of you probably also appreciate the Book of James because of its basic practicality - down to earth, real life, practical implications of being a Christian.

Now, I realize that James does not have the spiritual depth of Paul.

There is no Christ, no atonement - no Christ has died for our sins, no forgiveness and no grace.

Yet, I still see relevance in the Book of James for our personal lives and the life of this congregation.

I like the Book of James for a couple of reasons.

First, because it is a book of action - Be doers of the word… Be doers who act…

And not just a listener who listens.

Not just a thinker who thinks.

Not just a talker who talks.

Not just a believer who believes.

Not just prayer who prays.

But be a believer in Christ who gets things done for the kingdom of God.

I like that.

You see, I am an activist person.

I like doing things.

I like to get things done.

I can’t stand to be part of a group that *just* talks, Plans, Process, or Organizes, and never does anything but talk, plan, process and organize.

I have been part of those types of groups and it *can* drives me crazy

I like to get things done.

So James is an activist book, and so I like the Book of James because of that.

So when James says in the epistle for today,

/“Do not be hearers who look into a mirror and forget;… but be doers who act.

They will be blessed by their doing.”/

I like that in James because I think of myself as being a doing person.

But I also like the book of James because I believe that it is a corrective to our Protestant theology and heritage.