Imagine that were two people who attended a church. Person A came every week and always attended special services. They knew the creeds and could refer you to a bible quotation for a given situation. They could recite the beatitudes and the ten commandments without error. They read about theology extensively and demonstrated a sound understanding of it. Person B attended church infrequently and had only a general sense of the overall “vibe” of the bible. They were unsure about the details of doctrine of their denomination and struggled with theology at times. These two then met someone who was hungry. Person A says with confidence “in the kingdom of God, no one is hungry, I pray that you will be fed”. Person B feels sorry for the person and buys them a meal. Which one do you think is displaying faith in Jesus?
This is the question being posed in our reading today from James. James is a divisive book and has come under a lot of criticism for concerns that it teaches that salvation comes from doing good works rather than from faith in Jesus. I think, however, that James wants to point out a problem in his church. He felt that if you had a genuine faith in Jesus, you would take seriously His commandment to follow Him and therefore do as He did. James considers acts of love to be the natural outcome of a deep and vibrant faith in Jesus. Deeds are not a substitute for faith but rather things that reveal what our faith is. As Jesus Himself says, “Why do you call me Lord but do not do as I say?”
I don’t think this is semantics, I think James is on to something. If we trust Jesus, believe in Jesus, have faith in Him, then we will live in a different way because we believe it is the right way to live. We will feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, not because these are “deeds” to done to earn points but because we believe it is what we are called to do. If we have a great theoretical knowledge of Jesus and His call, what difference does it make if we never change our attitudes or our way of life? God came into this world to make a difference to it. God called the church into existence to continue with God’s mission to show people the kingdom of God. It’s not enough that we know what life is like in the kingdom, we must live it. To do less is to accept what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace”. Grace cost Jesus His life, it should also cost us something. How we live therefore shows people what our faith actually is.