God-Talk without God-Acts is Nonsense

So, I wonder if James was writing for the front page of the New York Times?
"My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out your
faith."  I think James understands how politicians are pushed around by
public opinion these days.  You would think James been watching TV the last
two weeks, staggering through the mountain of negative ads from all
quarters.  Well, James nails human nature right from the very start in
today's passage, so we'd best pay attention to where he is going. 

Will you pray with me?  "Dear God, there is so much pressure on us from
public opinion today.  Believe this, think that, buy this, hate those bad
people.  Dear God, in the midst of this avalanche of public opinion
pressure, teach us how to live out a glorious Christ-originated faith
following the Royal Rule of Love."  Amen.

During the Civil War, the evangelist D. L. Moody, who founded Moody
Publishing, was crossing the Atlantic on a steamer.  A fire broke out in the
engine room, and the entire crew and all passengers turned out for a bucket
brigade to pass water buckets to fight the fire.  Moody's chief of staff
grabbed him and said, "Right Reverend Moody, let's retire to the back of the
ship, and there pray mightily for our safety."  To which the ever-practical
Moody replied, "We'd best stay here on the bucket brigade and pray hard
while working hard, or soon, we'll not have nothing to pray for."  An apt
metaphor for the Christian life, I think.  We are not called to the back of
the ship to pray while "everyone else" works hard for justice and mercy.  We
are called to pray hard and work hard in love for justice, mercy and
compassion in our world.  We are called to act into our faith.

In our passage, James relates a metaphor story about a well-dressed rich man
and a tattered poor man coming into church.  James says when you focus only
on the rich man while ignoring the poor man, you are rejecting the law of
love.  2000 years ago in the new Christ-following Jerusalem church, James
said, in verse 5, echoing Jesus, "Isn't it clear by now that God operates
quite differently than fawning to the rich?  God chose the world's
down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and
privileges."

In James' passionate discourse here, he insists that faith must be
translated into practice.  That makes obvious and perfect sense and I am
sure we all easily agree with this premise.  But, in fact, this is exactly
where faith communities struggle the most.  And James offers the next
vignette to show us why. 

James says the rich people in Jerusalem are robbing and exploiting the
people in the church through the courts, so why are the people in the church
then pandering to the rich?  When we ignore the poor among us, it is just
like when the rich people abuse us, James says.  Wow.

Recent studies in anthropology have demonstrated an amazing truth about
human beings.  When humans are abused, they become far more likely to abuse
others.  James knew this truth.  When the rich abuse you, don't abuse the
ones below you in the social order.  Instead, James says, we must break this
cycle with the Royal Rule of Love.  People who have been discriminated
against are far more likely to discriminate against others.  How we are
treated directly affects how we treat others.  But here James echoes Jesus'
Sermon on the Mount-break this cycle of hate and abuse of one another with
love, James and Jesus say.  Instead of treating others as you have been
treated, treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.  James calls this
the Royal Rule of the Scriptures.  Let us here, at Spring Glen Church, rally
'round this royal rule of love on this Rally Sunday!

James continues with a powerful argument concerning keeping the law.  James
says if you break even one of the laws of Torah that you have broken them
all.  This may be a difficult argument for us to see in our modern
worldview, so let's break this down a bit.  Here, James is quoting and
working with the laws and ideas from Leviticus chapter 19, where the Royal
Rule of Love is commanded in verse 18: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Please note this is a commandment, a Levitical Law, not just a lovely
suggestion for nice people.  James believed that if we sin, or break the
law, that we do not just violate the law itself, but instead, we violate
God.  The sin is rejection of God-not just the law.  Thus, if we break any
one of the laws, we have rejected not the individual law we broke, but the
source of the law, God.  Do you see the premise James is using here?  We
can't pick and choose which laws we want to obey and which laws we think it
is OK to ignore and violate.  Breaking any law is rejecting the lawgiver
God.  And since we are already in Leviticus chapter 19, let's look a little
bit into this chapter.  Violating any one of these laws is rejection of God.
Verse 19: don't mate two different kinds of animals, sow a field with two
different seeds, or wear clothes from two different materials.  Verse 23:
Don't eat fruit from a tree for the first 3 years.  Verse 27: Don't cut your
hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard.  Verse 33: When a
foreigner lives in the land, don't take advantage of them.  Verse 35: Don't
cheat.  James says violating any one of these laws rejects God as the
law-giver.  You might want to mention this principle and all of these laws
in Leviticus chapter 19 to someone who focuses only on well-known
prohibitions from Leviticus-James reminds us that if you say the law is the
final word, then violating any law rejects the entire law because it is
rejecting God.  James caps this section with a great thought:  Just because
you don't commit the one particular sin you think is bad, but then you do
commit another sin you think is just a "little sin," don't think the good
behavior avoiding the one sin cancels out the bad behavior of the committed
sin.

And then, James offers verse 12.  I will read it again because it is a verse
that our culture and society just completely ignore.  "Talk and act like a
person expecting to be judged by the rule of love that sets us free.  For if
you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly.  Kind
mercy wins over harsh judgment every time."  Brothers and sisters, what if
the political discourse of the last two weeks followed this simple rule?  In
the same way, James exhorts all of us here to follow this rule in our own
lives.  This is never just about "them."  It is always about all of "us."

James then closes this passage with an interesting little story contrasting
talking about faith to acting in faith.  You come across an old friend
dressed in rags and half-starved.  You say, "Morning, friend!  Be clothed in
Christ!  May your stomach be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and you walk on.
James concludes: "Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-Action is
outrageous nonsense?"

There is an old story from General Stonewall Jackson's famous valley
campaign. Jackson's army found itself on one side of a river when it needed
to be on the other side.

After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could
cross, Jackson called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the
wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master left, and
had his men furiously begin gathering logs, rocks and fence rails. Long
before daylight, the wagon master returned and told General Jackson that all
the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked, "But
where are the engineers, and what are they doing? The wagon master's simple
reply, "They are in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge."

Dear friends, don't just talk about it, but build a bridge of love in your
life.  Live in kindness, do everything in compassion and act in love.  Break
the cycle of anger and hate: treat others as you would wish to be treated.
James wants you to take that seriously.  Think about what you are doing in
your life that is hurting others, and stop it.  Violating even one of God's
Laws of love is rejecting God.  Reach out to the poor, the homeless, the
destitute and act on your faith.  Your reward will be a heart filled with
the Royal Rule of Love, and you will be a "friend of God," forever.  Amen.