Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Epistle, which was read earlier.
For as long as we have been a people, we have shown partiality to others. Often times, partiality is shown to men over women in the workplace. Our own nation showed great partiality with regards to Caucasians over African Americans in the 1950s and ‘60s. As we look at our text today, the words of James indicate that we should not look down upon people of any group as being inferior or inherently bad. This includes preference based on gender, age, or in the example James refers to, preference based on how rich a person is.
As sinful people, we look up to others, almost at times making them gods, while we look down upon others because of their sex, color, vocation, or any number of things. That’s where man and God have a problem. In God’s eyes, no one is inherently inferior. All were created in His image. All have equally fallen from that image into sin and guilt. All who are redeemed are justified by the same holy blood of Jesus, and are equally forgiven. Even those whom we find disgusting may be the saints of God.
God’s Word shows that He is no respecter of persons, that He shows no favoritism, no partiality, no bias, and no preferences. His loving Gospel proclamation embraces all nations, tribes, races, languages, social classes, economic classes and both genders alike, and so should Christianity.
As we see in our text, James zeroes in on the issue of money and favoritism, how a congregation might shower wealthy members with attention, flattery, and other perks while treating the poor with contempt and making them less than second class citizens of the congregation.
In our modern society, the way of the world is to rub shoulders with those who can do things for you, to be nice to those who are nice and to brush off those who need your help or cannot contribute anything to you and your well-being.
James, in writing his letter to the twelve tribes, reminds them that we should not promote the wealthy to a better position over the one who is poor. Rather, we see how God Himself has shown special honor to those of lower estates. Jesus says in Luke 6: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God…. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.” St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” The point is that our salvation is based not on any human achievement, human wealth, or human power but on God’s grace and mercy in the blood of Jesus.
If that were the only problem that James was having, then this would be a very simple thing to resolve: everyone has equal status in the eyes of God as His baptized and redeemed children. However, there was more going on that James addresses, something that is even more at stake than showing favoritism in the church. The bigger issue here is works.
James writes, “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” We see here an ongoing debate that has plagued the Church throughout her history: is a person saved by their works?
Many a denomination today says just that, that a person is saved by Christ AND their works. That debate is one that fueled the Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church taught that a person is saved by the work of Christ and the works that they do. Luther, in his studies of the Scriptures, could not find anything that justified the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching. Rather, what Luther did find was this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
For us Lutherans, ours is a tradition based on faith alone, grace alone, and Scripture alone. Works do not count for our salvation. We are saved only through the righteousness of Christ, a righteousness that is carried out in His suffering, death, and resurrection and given to us by the grace of God in our Baptisms.
Sometimes when people hear the Gospel for the first time, the good news that Jesus Christ gives comfort, forgiveness, and everlasting life to all who repent and believe in Him sound too easy. They think that all they have to do is come to church or call themselves a baptized Christian gives them the right to live anyway they want. It is this false notion that James speaks of.
Our own attempts at good works are nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God and do nothing to earn our salvation. However, the good works we do are intended not for God but for our neighbor. We do our good works as our “thank you” for what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.
Our faith and our works cannot have a separate existence. They are bound together. Faith always produces good works; works that are good in God’s eyes always come from faith. James is writing to those who are self-secure and lazy, those who say they have faith yet feel no need to do good works. They say that salvation is free, so good works do not matter at all. In reality, good works are necessary for the Christian life, even though they do not earn you salvation. The life we live is the life God has worked for us in Christ. He is the content of our works.
So, we do good works. Not because we have to, but because Jesus has set us free to.
Once again, we are to beware of favoritism. Out there, God gives people different gifts and stations, and some people need more help than others. We’ll always want to help those who are friendly, nice, clean and able to return the favor. We’ll want to help those who can help us. Our Lord would have us help those in need, even as He has helped us undesirable sinners in our greatest need.
For this is true: God shows no favoritism, but has given His Son to die for all; you can be certain, then, that you are not excluded from that redemption. When you were baptized as one among all nations, Jesus said, “I baptize you.” When you heard the Absolution today, Jesus said, “I forgive you all of your sins.” And still today, He gives His body and blood for you, for the forgiveness of sins. And so your Savior shows no partiality or partial forgiveness. For His sake, you are His child. For His sake, you are forgiven for all of your sins. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.