See-Thru Faith

Rev. Debbie Cato

Proverbs 22:2; 9; 22-23, Ezekiel 33:30-32 and James 2:14-26

Peace Presbyterian Church                                                                                                                                                August 24, 2014

See-Thru Faith

Like most parents, my parents used catchy phrases to instill wisdom and life lessons in us kids. You might be familiar with them. “Honesty is the best policy.” “The early bird gets the worm.” Or “Work before play.”

Today’s readings from Proverbs are a collection of wisdom and life lessons for all the ages that offer ways to live a life of honesty and integrity where honor, justice, and good reputation are prized. They are rules for ethical living. They are a call to act generously, reputably, honestly, and justly; as persons of a God who cares deeply for the poor.

This collection of wisdom about how we are to treat one another fits well with James' thesis of holy living. If you remember from last week, James insists that we be not only hearers of the word but also doers. James says that if we are only hearers, we deceive ourselves and have no faith at all.

In today’s reading, James expands on this idea of hearing and doing. He insists that “faith alone” is not adequate without the “deeds of faith”. He says that faith is more than just believing. Faith is a response to God out of obedience and love. Faith ought to be visible by its fruit – the way that we live, the things that we do and say, our attitudes and our behaviors. James says that our faith ought to be who we are; not just something that we believe.

We talked last week that James is focused on this question of “So, what?You say you have faith, you believe in Christ but so what? What does that mean for your life? What does a Christian life look like? What is this holy living?”

So I was thinking, what do us Christians look like to the world – to people who aren’t sitting here with us this morning? What do we look like to all those people that don’t know we go to church? Can people outside the church tell that we are Christians? Do we stand out in the world or do we look the same as everybody else? What ought our Christian faith look like?

I don’t know if you have ever eaten or even heard of Entenmann bakery products. They are in the same grocery aisle as Hostess donuts and the other “health food”!

Well, Entenmann’s started out as a small family bakery on Long Island in the late 1800’s. The Entenmann family baked fresh breads, rolls and cakes and delivered them door to door by horse and carriage. The baked goods arrived in white paper boxes tied up with red strings. The packages looked so nice and inviting, that when the pastries arrived in their homes, families were excited to eat the goodies. But there was one problem! The customers couldn’t see inside the white paper box so they had to poke a hole in the package to see the goodies.

When Martha Entenmann realized that customers couldn’t see the goodies, this was unacceptable to her and before long, she invented the see-through cake box. Soon all the baked goods from the Entenmann Bakery arrived in see-through boxes so that everyone could see the goodies inside without poking a hole in the white paper box. After this, sales went crazy and this small bakery in Long Island began selling their baked goods in stores from New York to Miami and beyond. Even here on the West coast. I actually noticed that there is an Entenmann Bakery Outlet store on River Avenue.

Sometimes I think that’s what the church is like. Most of us would like to live our faith inside our church with our Christian brothers and sisters where we are comfortable. Where we think alike – or mostly alike! But, when the world “looks inside us” – remember you and I are the church – do they see the goodness of our faith? Do they see Christ? Or is our faith hidden in a white paper box tied up with ribbon?

What should a Christian look like to the world? That’s the question that James asks us – individually and as a church. James is telling us there is more to it – this Christian thing – than staying in our churches and worshiping God, reading our Bible at home, or praying every morning and night. Don’t misunderstand me. These are all good things to do! Don’t stop! These disciplines help us continue to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. But what ought our faith, look like?

James insists that we be not only hearers of the word but also doers. He insists that “faith alone” is not adequate without the “deeds of faith”. He says that faith is more than just believing. Faith is a response to God out of obedience and love. Faith is a response out of gratefulness for all God has done for us; for the ways He has transformed our lives. James says that faith ought to be visible by its fruits’ – the way that we live, the things that we do and say, our attitudes and behaviors. James says that our faith ought to be who we are; not just something that we believe.

This isn’t a new idea James just came up with – something he made up. Much of the Old Testament law teaches how God’s people are to treat others – particularly the poor and needy. The Ten Commandments is about how to love God and how to love and respect and treat one another. This morning we read how the prophet Ezekiel admonished the people who sat around and listened to the Word of God but then did not obey it; they did not do what the Scripture taught them. When the religious leaders ask Jesus what the greatest commandment is, Jesus says, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself”. We see this same theme again in 1 John 3: 18: “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

The very character of God is love. So I ask you, how can we love without doing?

Paul says that saving faith brought us into union not only with the Jesus who died, but also with the Jesus who rose from the dead; if we truly died with him, then we must just as truly live with him. The very nature of faith in the living Christ can only define faith as a living faith; with good works which ‘necessarily spring out of a true and lively faith’. To say we are Christians means that we are followers of Christ – literally “little Christs.” We are to live as Christ lived and the gospels are full of example after example of how Jesus lived what he taught. We are to do the same.

James’ has clear teaching that faith is the primary thing - the hallmark of the Christian, the irreplaceable priority. Faith is God’s foundational gift. It is the common mark of all Christians – faith in Christ. It is the continuing reality, running like a story-line through all the experiences of Christian life. And, it is the root from which the fruit of our faith grows. When we mirror God’s word with our deeds then we are living out our faith.

We receive faith through the grace of God so is it not reasonable that we ought to be fruitful with this amazing gift? Is it so hard to venture that our gratefulness show itself through love to others? Is it possible to love as God wants us to love without doing? We must not just hear the Word. We must also be doers of the Word.

James shows how our faith is false if we refuse to help those in need. Professing that we

believe; professing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, without living out our faith Monday through Saturday is self-deception. You see, there is a delusion that we can hear the Word of God without doing. Authentic faith is faith acted upon.

James’s passionate insistence that faith must be translated into practice seems obvious. Yet the evidence is overwhelming that this reminder needs to be made repeatedly and urgently – over and over again. There is something deep inside us that lead us to presume that knowing the right truth or holding the right position is enough to make us righteous. The tendency to find refuge in religion – refuge in our faith – and a resting place within our community of faith remains constant. The mark of a “good” Christian easily becomes affirming the right confessions, the use of religious language, and the memorization of scripture. These are certainly pious actions. But to sit in worship “in the name of Jesus” and then walk out the door and leave it all behind confuses religion with authentic faith.

One of my favorite quotes is something that St. Francis of Assisi said over 800 years ago. He said, “Preach often. And when necessary, use words.” The way you live, the way you are, the very core of your being ought to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to all you meet – without saying a word. We ought to be a living testimony to the love and grace of God. We’ve all heard the saying that actions speak louder than words. “Preach often. And when necessary, use words.” Don’t just talk about it. Do it.

I was talking with a woman recently who is a survivor of domestic violence. She told me that when she was married she and her husband would go to church every Sunday. They were “good” members. Often, he would beat her in the morning before they left for church and then scream and yell at her while he drove. But when they arrived in the parking lot, he would put on his “church” face. Back in the car, after the service ended it would start all over again.

She told me how one day she got up the nerve – “got up the nerve, mind you” – to go talk to her pastor. She said that she sat in his office and cried and cried while she told him about all the abuse. She told me how she took off her sweater so he could see all the bruises on her arms. And then she told me how he prayed for her and sent her on her way – never doing a thing to help her. She said she never went back to church again, until last year – 11 years after she went to her pastor for help. It broke my heart.

This is what James is talking about. “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,” but yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

Talk is cheap. It’s easy and it’s safe. But we Christians – those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ must live like Christ lived. I think often it’s the simple things that reflect a living faith. It’s smiling at people you meet on the street and actually saying hi. It’s treating the clerk who’s checking you out at the grocery story like a real person and asking them how their day is going. Thanking them for helping you. It’s sending a note to a shut-in or better yet –visiting them. It’s helping someone who needs some help. The mom trying to get her kids and her groceries into the car. The elderly neighbor. The troubled kid.

But it's also going deeper. It's taking risks. It's asking the question: Are we being good stewards of our building and grounds? How is God calling us to use what He has given us? Where is He calling us to use our gifts and skills? What needs in the community could we step out and meet?

We took a risk with youth this summer. It was something very new to us. It fell in our laps and we took a chance. We weren't sure if it would work. We weren't sure that we even knew what we were doing. But it has been amazing – a gift to each of the leaders who has been involved. And we have touched the lives of young people in North Eugene. We have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit each and every Wednesday.

I think that every night before we go to bed, we need to ask ourselves this question: Did I exhibit the love of Christ in my interactions today? Did I exhibit the love of Christ in my interactions today – with my family, my friends, and the strangers I met along the way.

We must get out of our boxed faith and allow Christ to be seen in the world – in our community. We must untie the pretty little bow and let people look inside. We must be vulnerable. We cannot claim to live by the faith of Jesus Christ or the law of love if we are not doers of the Word. Maybe if the world could “see” the goodness of Christ in us through our actions, God’s kingdom on earth would expand and grow just like the little family bakery did. Maybe if we were doers of the Word, people would be drawn to the church eagerly wanting to hear the gospel. Maybe there would be a revival in our churches if we were out in the community being the church; being doers of the Word.

So I ask you, what do we look like to the outside world? Do we stand out in the world or do we look the same as everybody else? When the world looks into your box of faith, do they see Christ?

May His Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.