In this third week of our series Practicing Faith we’re exploring our call to “Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed.” Here are the first and second weeks of this series.
Today’s Scripture readings are Joshua 4:19-24; Psalm 34:1-8; James 1:22-27, 2:14-17; and Matthew 5:13-16. A segment of this sermon is adapted from my sermon Active Faith on September 5, 2021. Later in the sermon, I quote from John Herman’s book, Called to Follow (Amazon affiliate link), which was helpful for this entire series.
Here’s this week’s worship livestream from Living Hope and the sermon audio from Christ the King.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
As we talk about Practicing Faith and move through five promises in the baptismal covenant, one of the things I’m realizing is that each commitment is harder than the one before it.
We started two weeks ago with “Live among God’s faithful people.” It’s not that hard to be part of a church community. I’m sorry, but our membership requirements are really low—and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. Part of the point is that anyone can join the church!
Obviously there are challenges to living in community, and sometimes “God’s faithful people” can be challenging to live among and get along with, but the principle is not difficult.
Last week’s promise was “Hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper” so basically do the things we do as church when we gather. Sometimes we need the reminder to actually pull the Bible off the shelf and open it, but again, it’s pretty straightforward. The Bible and the sacraments point to God’s living Word, Jesus, who is God with us.
But then we get to today’s promise, and today’s promise calls us to respond. Living among God’s faithful people and hearing God’s word and sharing in the Lord’s supper ought to make us do something. “Proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed” describes a way of life, an authentic way of living where everything we do and everything we say testifies to what God has done for us, the good news of Jesus’ gift for us.
This morning, I want to break this phrase down in reverse order. We’ll start with the idea of deeds, the things we do, and we’re going to look at this tough passage from James.
Last week, we talked about hearing the word of God, right? And I think we were all good with that. Read the Bible, listen to the story of God’s love for you. Receive God’s grace though communion.
But then along comes James, and James has this radical idea that we should do more than just listen. We should do more than just say we believe in Jesus. We should do more than just show up to church and Sunday School, more than just sing a few songs and maybe listen to some prayers and a lecture about Jesus.
James dares to say being a Christian means we have to change the way we live. And what’s really annoying about James is that he doesn’t just say something vague about how Jesus loved nice people. He’s much more specific. He says Jesus loves you, and that means you need to care for your neighbors.
James says we need to have more than a nice Christian attitude where we say, “Go in peace, feel better. Stay warm. Eat your fill.” Telling someone who is hungry to go eat doesn’t do any good. Instead, James tells us, we need to give the hungry people food. When someone needs clothes, we need to give them some.
You and I are supposed to actually do something about the needs of our neighbors. Imagine that!
Now, the challenge comes when we try to figure out the best way to feed the hungry, or fight poverty. That’s where we get into political debates. Liberals want the government to take care of everybody and not leave anyone out. Conservatives want the government to get out of the way so people can take care of themselves.
James doesn’t really care if you’re liberal or conservative or libertarian or socialist. James wants you to feed your neighbor.
James wants you to not just talk about how much faith you have and how much you care, but to actually do something about it. He insists on our actions matching what we say we believe.
And you know? Most of the time we’re not too bad at that. We do a lot of good as a church, everything from sending money to help wildfire victims, to knitting gloves for children in need, making meals for the homeless shelter, being part of a church that advocates for just public policies, all those school kits the other week. We do charity walks – more on that in a few minutes. We give to the food pantry. Lots of good things.
And all of that is important. It’s not what saves us; it doesn’t make God love us more, but it’s how we respond to the love God has already given us. The more we grasp God’s love, the more generous and caring we become.
If we want our neighbors to know Jesus—and I hope we do—then the way we live, the way we serve, the things we do as a church and as individual disciples need to match what we say we believe.
People look to see if we practice what we preach, if we do the things. Our deeds are our witness.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Preach the gospel always, and if necessary, use words”? It’s often wrongly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, who probably never said it. It’s a great sentiment if it’s used to mean our actions need to support our words.
But sometimes, that idea of preaching the gospel through actions becomes an excuse to avoid using words, avoid the risk of offending someone by having a religious conversation.
Here’s the thing: Sometimes, we need to use words. Proclaiming the good news requires talking about Jesus.
This occasionally comes as a shock to those of us who try to put faith at the center of our lives, but you don’t need to be a follower of Jesus to love your neighbor. You don’t need to go to church to live a good life and help people.
So if we want our service to testify to God’s love, words can be pretty important. No matter how many good social service programs we might have as a church, if we ever stop talking about Jesus, we’ve failed as a church.
I don’t mean, of course, that you need to start constantly preaching at people. I don’t mean go out and stand on the corner with a bullhorn, or something like that. We can all come up with lots of ineffective, even counterproductive ways to use words. But we do need to talk about Jesus. And it doesn’t need to be complicated or polished.
Pastor John Herman writes:
“Proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ in our words means being willing to share our faith story. It means being open to the possibility of a spiritual conversation.
It means taking your faith with you wherever you go and being open to the possibilities to speak a word of hope or comfort to another person. (Often the best ‘witnessing’ or sharing one’s faith comes out of caring listening and attending to the needs of others.) When you talk to another person about Jesus, you are helping that person take the next step toward Jesus. That’s what the tax collector Matthew did. He invited his friends to dinner to meet Jesus for themselves.”
I don’t think most of us are called to get up on stage at a revival or something like that; I think we’re called to share our story of what God has done for us. We’re called to invite neighbors to meet Jesus, to share our testimony—who is Jesus for you?
How has your faith made a difference in your life? How has following Jesus influenced how you spend your time, what you do?
That’s what David does in today’s Psalm. He talks about a time when he was in trouble, he sought the Lord, and he experienced God helping him. “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble.”
Then he takes that story, and invites others to have a similar experience, to get to know the Lord who has helped him.
Verse 8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”
Or in the first reading from Joshua. The people have seen God at work, witnessed God parting the Jordan river and leading them into the promised land. Once they enter the land, they stop and Joshua sets up a monument, a pile of 12 stones, so that when their descendants ask, “What do these stones mean?” they can tell the story of how God saved them.
Your testimony is simply the story of how God has been at work in your life. It’s worth taking some time to consider what your story is, as 1 Peter 3:15 puts it, to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” and pay attention, because God will give you opportunities to share your story.
And remember: What we’re proclaiming is good news! We have the best story in history to tell. We get to share the good news of Jesus and his love! We are not alone, life is not hopeless, this world is not suffering and then you die. No, the tomb is empty and death is defeated!
In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have been given new life, new living hope, meaning and purpose! No matter anyone else might due to you, no matter how much this world might beat you down, you are loved. Even in those times when your deeds don’t match your words, when we hypocritically fail to live up to who are called to be, God still comes to us, offering forgiveness and grace.
That’s the message Jesus calls us to share. You are loved! You matter to God. We can’t hide news that good under a bushel basket; we have to let it shine and give light to those lost in the shadows. If we stop proclaiming this good news, this gospel message revealed in Jesus Christ, then we’re like salt that’s lost its saltiness. What good is that?
Faith is meant to be shared, not kept to ourselves! Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Please pray with me.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the good news you have trusted to us, your love revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to put our faith into action.
Guide us to act in your name, to do good and bless our neighbors, and give us words to share your love. Use us here today, use this congregation to proclaim your Gospel, in Jesus’ name. Amen