All Talk and No Action
(James 1: 17-27)
One of my most pious Facebook friends just posted a meme on Facebook that said: “We are living in the last days! You aren’t obligated to believe, but I’m obligated to tell you: Jesus is coming back, Amen if you believe.” Well, she got 27 comments and 4 shares. Twenty-six of the comments were “Amen” but the last comment was the best. It read: “He sure is. But not yet.” Now that’s a comment I could give an amen to. He is coming back but not until we’ve done all we can to restore His kingdom. This meme illustrates that too many people of faith think all they have to do is wait to be taken up into the sky. I’ve been saved and the rest of you are on your own, take it or leave it.
These are the people that James, the brother of Jesus, is writing about in his short letter that was broken down into five chapters. Not that I’ve extensively studied all of the books in the New Testament but to me I think James is my favorite as far as explaining in simple language the four gospels and Jesus’ ministry, a mission statement as it were. For John Wesley, the founder of our Methodist denomination, this small letter was central for Christian faith and life as he saw it. Wesley observed that when James wrote his letter, “that the grand pest of Christianity, a faith without works, was spread far and wide, filling the church with a wisdom from beneath, which was earthly, sensual, devilish, and which gave rise, not only to rash judging and evil speaking, but to envy, strife, confusion, and every evil work.” Wesley didn’t mince words, and it didn’t go unnoticed. With him you knew exactly where you stood, which included the church hierarchy. It was Wesley’s experience in the Church of England that led him to despair that so few who took the name Christian actually sought to live as God’s sanctified people in the world. The church didn’t take kindly to Wesley pointing out their indifference to the plight of the poor who lived in the shadows of the church. Wesley was just a little bit too “woke” for them and they banned him from preaching in any of their churches. Now imagine his despair if he was on Facebook and saw some of these memes from similar pious and self-righteous Christians who sang God’s praises on Sunday and on Monday it was business as usual. In less harsh terms, God expresses His love for us in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and we, in turn, express our response to God’s love through our good deeds, particularly toward those in need. For us, faith and works represent the core of the Christian life—a holistic understanding of life addressing both personal and social aspects.
James’ letter is addressed to the 12 tribes of Israel who are scattered outside the land of Israel, but its importance transcends time and its intended audience to speak of the importance and relevancy of being committed and faithful doers of the Word of Jesus Christ. He says: Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. I don’t know about you, but I have gotten some gifts for my birthday or Christmas that tested my ability to show joy, excitement, or even gratitude as I thought to myself: “What were you thinking when you picked this out for me?” But a good gift, a perfect gift from the Father is one that excites you to the point where you want to show it and share it with others, a gift that is truly appreciated for the thought that went into it. James tells us that the Father chose to give us birth by his true word, and here is the result: we are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created. From us we share the gift with others so they can share it too. The gift that keeps on giving.
James then issues an admonishment. He says: Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. Boy howdy, James nails it here. Think about it for a moment. Have you ever had one of those conversations when you’ve been trying to make a point and you can tell that the other person isn’t listening to you, that they’re already formulating their response, they get angry or impatient and interrupt you before you are finished making your point. Or maybe, you have been that person. I’ve had those conversations when someone finds out that I’m a pastor and they can’t wait to tell me that they either aren’t a believer or had a bad experience in church. It’s hard to listen to and I have to fight to stop formulating my response and listen to what they’re saying. I try and wait until they are done speaking and I slowly try to respond, only to be interrupted because they are not slow to listen. I try not to get frustrated or angry. I guess I can credit my experiences as being a police officer and an attorney for the patience I show until I’ve had enough and say: “Now, let me stop you right there.” And then it goes downhill from there. Being a Christian can be a true test of your patience and believe me, I know plenty of impatient Christians.
James continues by saying: Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you. I think what James is telling us is that our lifestyle speaks volumes. We may be saying one thing, but our actions say something totally different. We need to be humble and put behind us the ways of the world that cheapen the message of Jesus Christ we profess to love and follow, that we claim is the cornerstone of our life and existence. Our faith must account for the whole work of God; from the first dawning of grace in our soul, until it is consummated in glory. We’ve been saved and our new life is exemplified by how we lead that life even when we think nobody is watching or listening. Our faith that is obtained by hearing the Word of Jesus Christ will only be retained if we act upon what we hear. If we are not moved by what we heard, what good is it? People who are all talk, and no action are simply deceiving themselves. As Christians, we must put our faith into action by resisting the seductions of our surrounding culture and helping the vulnerable in our midst. This is why James tells us that we must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. He points out that those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. He tells us that we must be like those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it and not just post on Facebook about it. Those who understand the perfect law don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives and will be blessed in whatever they do.
James concludes by saying: If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us. If we truly practice what we preach, we won’t turn our backs on those who need us to be a blessing to the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters, rather than saying to ourselves: there but for the grace of God, go I. By caring for powerless people, the church can put God’s Word into practice. When we give with no hope of receiving in return, we show what it means to truly serve others. That we are not all talk and no action.
And that’s it. The measure of one’s hospitality to the gospel is found in doing God’s will daily. We live in a world that, by all appearances, does not love God and follow God’s ways which makes it easy to take on its character rather than the character of God. It makes it easy for us to rationalize that we are living in the end of times, so why do anything more? Just wait for it. No, until that day we need to listen to what others are trying to tell us and rather than tell them what they should do, we should ask them how we can help. Our actions born out of love should speak louder than our words. And when injustice and sin occur, we should become angry because others are being hurt, angry to the point where we stop talking and do something about it. It is important to listen to what God’s Word says, but it is much more important to obey it, to do what it says.
So, what I really wanted to post on my Facebook friend’s post was: “But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son. Only the Father knows.” So why are you wasting time talking about it? Get out there and do something to help restore the kingdom because Jesus won’t come until we’ve done all we can in his name.
Let us pray.
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Yes, blessed is the tie that binds us together as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It is that unity in faith that connects us as children of God, children created in his image to do his work and his will here on earth. May we share each other’s woes, our mutual burdens bear; and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear. And we pray that the suffering of others, the suffering of the Father’s creation, moves us to act and to be the somebodies who do something in Jesus’ name rather than to just sit and talk about it. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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