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“Doing the Word”
James 1:17-27
A sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
August
wanes in
I know how hard people work and I know what work is ahead of all of us. what I want to talk about this morning is not what you do, but why you do it.
Why do you do what you do?
Why do you go to work?
Why do you go to school?
Why do you come to church?
I think this is what James is trying to get at in his letter. The book of James is concerned with the why’s of life. He’s concerned with giving us concrete ways of addressing the world. He is not into platitudes that don’t seem to mean anything. We’ll spend the next four weeks looking at James’ little letter. That’s five Sundays for five chapters for those of you keeping score.
The crux of the argument of James is that the faith of a Christian must be obvious, otherwise it’s not worth it. And it is obvious by the way we live our lives, or as James would say it, the way we “do the word.” Commentators say that the book of James is a pure specimen of the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. I don’t know about that. What I do know is that this book challenges me to have my faith be more than simply idle talk. It challenges me to have evidence that I am a follower of Jesus.
There is an old saying that goes something like this: If you were brought into court with the charge of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? That might sound trite and simple nowadays, but in the early persecuted church, doing the word meant being numbered as a subversive.
James is saying that Christianity is more than reading the Bible.
It is more than coming to church.
It is more than brilliant listening and eloquent silence.
It is more than sitting back and shaking your head in disgust at how the world is such a mess.
We are called to be doers of the word.
If we only hear, then we deceive ourselves.
We forget what Jesus taught us in Matthew 25: “Come unto me, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me…truly I say unto you, just as you did it unto the least of these who are my brothers and sisters, you did it unto me.”
“Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves,” says James.
James ends the first chapter by saying that good religion is this: visit widows and orphans and don’t get stained by the world. How’s that for a prescription for doing the word?
Now doing the word for James is not about accepting some kind of doctrine.
It’s not trying to convert people to your way of thinking or believing.
It’s not growing the church or even having just the right kind of worship experience or the right mix of small groups, old and new music to make everyone happy.
No, doing the word is about taking care of the widow and the orphan and not being stained by the world.
Think of who a widow is. In ancient times, a widow was someone who had no power. When a woman’s worth was defined by who her husband was and how many male heirs she could bare, a widow was a sad and sorry figure. She had no hope and no power. And the world looked down on them with pity. But most ignored them, even when the Bible said that they were to receive the gleanings from the corners of the field, many simply forgot about them.
Then there
are the orphans. They have no heir, but
worse, they have no one to look up to.
They are easily forgotten. I
think of the many widows and orphans in
We know of widows these days. There are people even here in this room who have lost a spouse and we mourn with them. It’s hard to recover from that. But there are also others who have lost their hopes and dreams, who have lost work, whose relationships are struggling, who have struggled for meaning.
Some of you might especially this weekend feel like orphans. Parents have dropped you off and helped you to unload your stuff into your new dorm rooms and as they wave goodbye, you are left with a new chapter in your life. And amidst all of the excitement, you might also feel like and orphan from time to time.
But here’s the good news. The doers of the word are not going to let you feel like a disempowered widow or a forgotten orphan. The doers of the word are evidence that even the loneliest and the most forgotten are front and center in God’s mind’s eye.
Students, your main job in these next many years is to find your place in the world. It is to figure out who you are aside from where you came from. It is a time for you to learn of the world, but have a faith that is strong enough that you will not become stained by the world. That’s a tall order, because this world can be a filthy place, filled with all sorts of temptation and evil.
It wears the face of popularity.
It wears the face of conformity.
It wears the face of violence.
It tempts you with fun, but too often it is fun at the expense of another.
That kind of excitement is the staining of the world.
James says we are to remain unstained by the world.
Think of a stain in a piece of cloth. We try to make it come out with the right amount of chemicals and elbow grease. Sometimes it comes out easier than others. Sometimes that stain is something that remains always in the background, but noticeable to the one who is looking for it.
Think of how you might be stained by the world.
We might be stained by some simple passion.
We might be stained by conspicuous consumerism.
We might be stained by the religiously sanctioned dismissal of the outcast.
We might be stained by the mindless militarism that pervades our world.
We might be stained by our propensity to violence.
But mostly we might be stained by our complacency—our smug satisfaction that a life of faith is simply someone else’s job. Or worse yet, it is not my job. What might people think if I actually do the word?
When you do the word, you become like scotch-guard against those stains. Violence might touch you, indifference might touch you, complacency might touch you, racism, sexism, homophobia, even judgmentalism might touch you, but if you are a doer of the word who practices their faith, then we are protected from the too easy staining that comes from the world.
If you are only a hearer of the word, as James says, you are like someone who looks in a mirror and forgets what he or she looks like. But a doer experiences life in all of its challenge and all of its fullness. A doer of the word is a person who brings out hope in a people.
When I think of doers of the word, I think of the people who cooked and served 250+ meals on Friday.
I think of the people who deliver for meals on wheels this week.
I think of the way our church provides shelter to homeless families right here in this church building through Families Moving Forward.
I think of the donations that come in for hungry people.
But I also think of those who have the gifts of brilliant listening, who are there for others when there is tragedy in their lives.
I think of the people who stand with those who are oppressed.
I think of those who join picket lines to advocate for people who are treated unfairly.
I think of the activists who take to the streets or even into the political fray in order to act on the convictions of their hearts.
I think of those who meet and greet people here in church and go beyond the platitudes of hello and goodbye. People who really make the peace of God meaningful by listening to the stories of others and standing by one another in the good times and the bad, giving the strength of Christ to another by our presence.
When I think about doers of the word, I think that the world had better watch out.
There is an old saying that talk is cheap, and actions speak louder than words. We are to be doers of the word, not hearers only, lest we deceive ourselves.
James calls us to look in the mirror and remember who we are and what our calling is. We are to remember who Jesus is and what he called us to do and to be.
James says, beginning in verse 23:
“For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look in the mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they are like…but those who are not hearers who forget, but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.”
We need to look into that mirror, as James says, and remember who we are and who called us into being.
Remember that we see only briefly in a mirror, other people will see all the time. People watch what we do, how we react, and how we respond to a world and a people in need. People watched Jesus get involved and put his life on the line. That is what real faith is all about.
Be doers of the word, says James. It is contagious and it brings hope to this world. It will remind you of why you are here in the first place. And it will certainly help you to remember why you do what you do today, tomorrow and the next day.
May we be doers of the word and not hearers only. Together, we can make a difference in our world. And Jesus will smile down upon us and say, well done, good and faithful servant.