Dear Friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Last Sunday, as I finished my summer sermon series on the Apostle Paul in Greece, I was asked by a parishioner what exciting theme I would have for this week.  I thought he was genuinely interested, but before I could respond, he added, “Well, I imagine it doesn’t make any difference for you anyway.”  I wasn’t sure whether it was a critique or a backhanded compliment. I was suddenly reminded of the preacher’s young daughter who noticed that her father always bowed his head and closed his eyes for a few seconds before he went to the pulpit to preach. When she asked him why he did that, he explained, “I’m asking God to help me preach a good sermon.” His daughter thought about it for a minute and said, “Well daddy, why doesn’t he?  Over the years, I have had to remind myself often, that people do not come to church to hear my words. They come to meet God. Even when I don’t think I have anything to say, God does. In those moments, I need to just get out of the way.

Poor Peter learned that lesson the hard way.  When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  Peter answered boldly, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”  It was a great moment for Peter, and so he took his rightful seat at the head of the class.  Unfortunately, the moment of victory didn’t last long. As Jesus began to teach his disciples that Son of Man must undergo suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, Peter couldn’t take it. He decided to challenge his master.  The once proud Peter, however, was quickly pulled down from mountain top to the valley. No longer was his faith a might rock on which Jesus would build his church, but he was the stumbling block preventing others from following the master.  “Get behind me, Satan,” rebuked Jesus. “For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.”

So Jesus called the crowd together with his disciples, and outlined the steps of Christian discipleship, saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  And ever since then faithful followers have wondered what they must do. Does God truly desire from them anymore  than a declaration of faith and a good confession?

Surprisingly, one of the earliest and most informative guides to Christian discipleship was not written in the gospels, but it was recorded in the epistle of James which according to tradition was written by the brother of Jesus, St. James the Just. It is a sort of compendium of wisdom of how Christians are to live together in order to be a faithful witness to the world.  That is what I would like to share in a short fall sermon series I would like to call Ordinary Discipleship-The Wisdom of James.

Let me begin by introducing St. James the Just.  There are two James among Jesus’ original  disciples,  James the Son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus, but James the Just, was a late comer to be counted among the 70 chosen and sent out by Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote in the Letter to the Corinthians, that Jesus’ brother became a believer, only after Jesus appeared to him personally, after the Resurrection. For whatever reason, familial or spiritual, James was the one who became Jesus’ direct successor in the early church and the first bishop in Jerusalem.

Although, James was barely mentioned in the early chapters of the Book of Acts, he slowly took on a more important role while never leaving Jerusalem where he lead the church for 30 years. The Apostle Paul considered James, together with Peter and James the son of Zebedee, to be the three pillars of the church.  James the Just presided over the Council in Jerusalem when it was decided that Gentile Christians were not obligated to follow all the laws of Judaism. He was also there to give personal counsel to Paul at the time of his attempted assassination and imprisonment.  During James the Just’s 30 years of pastoral ministry, he saw the church change. In Jerusalem, the church remained predominantly Jewish, but across the Mediterranean Sea, the churches established by the apostle were increasingly mixed. Jewish and God-fearing Gentiles.  These were the churches for whom he was writing his letter on ordinary discipleship. For as much as these new churches stated that they were open to outsiders coming in, they were not fully welcoming of Gentiles in their homes, at their dinner table and in worship. Like poor Peter rebuking Jesus, their eyes were focused on worldly things and not on the divine.

The reformer Martin Luther, however, didn’t like the Epistle of James, writing in his introduction to his Bible translation, “…St James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it.”  And ever since the Reformer set those words to print, good Lutheran pastors have been afraid to preach on James, much less read the epistle aloud in worship. After nearly 40 years of preaching, I figure I can take a chance.

The passage for today which introduces the epistle of James explores two questions. The first is, “Who is God?”  and the second, is “Who are you in relationship to the God.” The response that James offers to the first question is pure gospel. God is made known by what he does and he is manifest by what he gives. “Every perfect gift comes from above, the gifts come down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no shadow or variation due to change.” God is who God chooses to be, and “In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.”

The second question James considers is, “Who are you in relationship to this God?”  You and I are the first fruits of his creatures. It is an exalted answer.  We are to enjoy Christ as brothers and sisters walking with him. Therefore, we should live our lives focusing on divine things Unfortunately, we Christians are often so caught up in earthly things, that we become the stumbling blocks for others.  Far too often, the people of God just do not live as God intended for us to live. There is a dissonance between what people hear and do, and between who one is and what one does.  So James the Just rightly says to us, “Be doers of the word.”

And that was precisely Luther’s objection to the Epistle of James. Luther stated that we are saved by grace through faith apart from “good works.”  I am reminded of the young confirmand who announced to that the pastor that he was definitely going to heaven.  The pastor asked the confirmand how he could be so certain. The boy answered simply, “Because I have never done a good deed in all my life.”

Luther was right. We are saved by grace through faith apart from our works, but I believe that James was writing to Christian believers who were already certain of their salvation.  Instead, they were in need of good, wise counsel on how to get along.  Good works are not meant to please and appease God. Good works flow from faith and so does good behavior, respect, honesty, kind words, hospitality and generosity. Good works are what Christians who have been saved by grace through faith do naturally. Good works are done not to earn heaven but to thank God for his gift of heaven.

My friends, what happens when you forget who you are like Peter did when he rebuked Jesus? And we all do it so often.  Your words and thoughts become mean spirited and judgmental.  Surprisingly, you become obsessed with the nuance of every word and gesture expressed by others. Life typically takes torturous, angry courses through life. If you allow yourself to forget how much you have been given and forgiven by God why would you forgive and give anything to others?  What will it profit you to gain the whole world and forfeit your own life? What can you receive for the loss of their life?  So be doers of the word for others, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.  That is the beginning of ordinary discipleship.

Over the course of 40 years of ministry, I have been blessed by unassuming practitioners, Christian, do-gooders if you will, who have embraced this life and lifestyle.  I remember fondly a devout old woman in her 90’s in my first congregation who kept coming to church even though her deafness prevented her from hearing a note of music or a word of the sermon? Finally, I wrote on a pad of paper: “Why do you keep coming to church; you get nothing out of it?” She replied, “Pastor, I want my neighbors to know whose side I am on.”

There was 60ish man in my second parish who suffered from glaucoma and the removal of his lower leg as the result of diabetes. I was startled to see him roll himself into church one Sunday a week after his surgery. When I greeted him, with, “What are you doing here” He replied simply, “Pastor, where else would I be.”

The stories of ordinary men and women who have chosen be doers of the word and not merely hearers go on and on.  And what a difference they have made in my life and the lives of others. When I am wondering if I have anything to say in a sermon, I simply need to move out of the way so they can do God’s work.

Although, I have seen many powerful witnesses of faith in the lives of these do-gooders, I can assure you, not one can compare to our Savior Jesus Christ who offered life in love for you. That is the good news of hope that James the Just wants us celebrate with the world.  So my friends, do not let Satan get behind you so that you become a stumbling block for others, but instead be doers of God’s word in love.  Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.