Skip to main content

Growth in self-knowledge: The Letter of James, New Testament



Sermon 2nd September 2012

This month of September in church we will be looking closely at the Letter of James. This letter takes us into the heart of the faith versus works debate. It was a hotly contested letter, especially in the Reformation period; Luther wanted it removed from the Canon as he thought it undermined his belief in justification by faith alone.

How can the Letter be of use to us today?
The Letter of James helps us to see clearly the importance of that inter-relationship between faith and action. For the writer, no-one can be religious; can be a person of faith, unless they show that by what they do. It goes right to the heart of how we understand ethics as Christians. What sort of people should we be if we declare faith in the Bible, in the Son of God; what sort of things should we do? Well, for the writer it is clear, we should be humble, generous, kind and gentle, compassionate, carers for those who are vulnerable. We should not be proud, lovers of money or wealth, quick to anger or jealousy and so on.

James uses a metaphor to describe people who only say they believe but do not change how they act. Using the image of a person looking in the mirror, he says that such a person forgets quickly what they have seen. It is a vivid and memorable image that can help us grow in self-knowledge. If you imagine yourself looking in a mirror, what do you see? Do you see the image of someone who matches up with what they say they believe? Christian discipleship is about growth in self-knowledge, about seeing ourselves as God sees us. This is challenging, as whilst God loves us and cares for us more than we can know, he also sees us as we really are. And so, it is our challenge as Christian disciples to keep looking at ourselves, to keep examining ourselves and being truthful about what we see.

In a gentle and loving way God always calls us to truth, to the truth about ourselves more than anything. So, this week, have a read through the Letter of James and reflect upon the relationship in your life between faith and works; or on what you believe about the world and how you act. Do your actions reveal the person that you think you are, or not? If not, pray to God to help you see how you might change to be ‘a doer or the word’, and not merely a hearer.

Celebrate what you do! This month as we reflect upon the Letter of James it is important to celebrate the things that we do do that reflect our faith in God. Think about all the things that you do because of your faith. Perhaps they have become so second nature you don’t realise that you do them because of your faith. Celebrate the impact God has on your life and share it with others. 













Comments

Post a Comment

Please be respectful when posting comments

Popular posts from this blog

Radical Story-telling?

Public Domain   The Flight into Egypt  File: Adam Elsheimer - Die Flucht nach Ägypten (Alte Pinakothek) 2.jpg Created: 31 December 1608 Which of the Gospel writers include an account of the birth of Jesus? When were they writing, for what audience? Mark’s Gospel is almost universally considered to be the earliest Gospel and it’s understood that both Matthew and Luke used it as a source text. But Mark has no account of the birth of Jesus, he begins with John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism. Only Matthew and Luke have birth narratives and they are different whilst sharing some common features: Mary and Joseph are to be married and there’s a miraculous virgin birth in Bethlehem. But that’s about it. Jesus is born in a house in Matthew’s account whilst he is placed in a manger in Luke’s because there’s ‘no room at the inn’. Mary’s thoughts and feelings are not mentioned in Matthew at all, whilst from Luke we get the story of the Visitation, Annunciation and the wonderfu...
2 comments
Read more

Rest in Christ

Girl in Hammock, Winslow Homer, 1873, from Wikipedia  This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional,  public domain  work of art. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. I am not normally someone who finds it easy to rest or relax; I have a sense that that is true for many people! However, my son received a hammock for his 6 th birthday and it’s been enjoyed by the whole family. We are blessed by having some of the most fantastically beautiful trees in our garden, huge glorious trees, which at the moment, in their varying versions of green and burnt amber are an absolute delight to view from the hammock. Looking upwards from a horizontal position really enables you to breathe in their grandeur and awesomeness in an overwhelming way. Together with the gentle rocking, it really is an experience ...
Post a Comment
Read more

War and Religion

St Paul is a man who experienced a seismic shift in his understanding of how God relates to His people and to him as an individual.  That shift in thinking is dramatised in the road to Damascus episode, which as a story has become synonymous with the experience of dramatic conversion. Paul provides us with a paradigmatic example of the effects of conversion on an individual. His passion for and evangelical zeal for his new found understanding is second to none. Yet with the advantage of hindsight we know that the division between Judaism and Christianity has led to some pretty awful consequences. Paul’s continuing comparison between what he used to believe and what he now believes necessarily casts the Jewish comprehension in an unfavourable light. So much of Christian history has been about casting the Jewish faith as one that has been superseded by the superior Christian one. What can we do about this? We can’t read Paul’s words innocently after the holocaust and we can’t speak...
Post a Comment
Read more