What Does it Profit? – June 9, 2024

Psalm 8, James 2:14-26
June 2, 2024

We read from the book of James last week.  We read a short passage where James said, “We are a mist that appears for some time and then vanishes.”  And then I paraphrased the next part, saying, “But, our lives are in God’s hands.”  Does that sound familiar?  As always, you can go back and read it on the website.

As I said then, James is always the “practical guy.”  And some people didn’t like that.  Martin Luther called James “an epistle of straw.”  He was saying it contained no value.  In particular, he didn’t like this part I read today, where James said, “Faith, without works is dead.”  Luther thought that sounded too much like what we call “Works righteousness.”  That’s the belief that it is by the works we do that we are saved.  That’s as opposed to what Paul said, that “It is by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.  It is a gift of God.  It is not because of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  Many a Sunday School child has memorized those words!

Well, I don’t think James would want us to believe that we are saved by the good works that we do.  But perhaps, taken out of context, his words may have sounded like that.  And maybe Luther thought it sounded enough like that that it would give people the wrong idea.  But as I’ve said in the past, I believe James would hold to Paul’s words to the Ephesians, that “It is by Grace we are saved through faith.”

So I guess this is starting to sound like a sermon on Ephesians.  But it’s not!  Bear with me, I do want to focus on James, because I think his words are very important!  I’d like to take a few moments this morning and clarify his position a little.  And I’d like to do so by focusing on this question that he asked, “What does it profit?”  He wrote, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but has not works?”

Some people – not just Luther – have taken that as sounding like “works righteousness.”  James even asks of such a man, “Can his faith save him?”  And I believe he was asking an obvious question.  The answer would have been, “Of course.”  But some have taken that too literally, and said that James was downplaying faith and saying that it is our works that save us.  But again, I don’t think so.  I think James was making a point.  Because next he said, “Show me your faith apart from works.”  In other words, how am I going to know of your faith if I don’t see it in your works?  “But I,” he continued, “by my works, will show you my faith.”

Do you see that?  What he was saying was, “If you really believe, if you really have faith, it will show in what you do.”  And that’s how people will know.  Remember what the old song says.  “They’ll know we are Christians by… what we tell them?”  No, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love!”

Someone said to me something about this long ago, and it’s something I’ve never forgotten.  And you may have heard me say this before.  He said, “Good works are a response to Grace, not a means of obtaining it.”  Did you get that?  Our good works are a response to Grace, not a means of obtaining it.  We do good works because of what God has done for us.  And James would add, “And if we really have faith, it will show in how we live.”

I think that’s so important!  And I want to make this clear.  Because James wasn’t talking about righteousness here.  He wasn’t talking about salvation.  This is not about good works being our means to salvation.  Yes, he says, “Faith without works is dead.”  But he doesn’t say, “Faith without works and you’re dead!”  He’s not saying, “Without good works, you’re not saved.”  He’s not saying that.  I want to go back to my original statement here.  I want to focus in on what he is saying.  Remember his question.  “What does it profit?”  That’s the key here!  In other words, “If you don’t have good works, what good does it do anybody – including yourself?”

That’s such an important question!  Some people are Christian in name only.  Some are Christian in status only.  That is, they’re saved, and that’s all they care about.  They separate faith and works.  They say, as James suggested people say, “You have works, but I have faith.”  But James is telling us that the two go hand in hand.  And he’s asking the even more important question, “What does it profit?”  He’s asking, “Is your being a Christian profiting the church?  And he’s not talking about money profit.  He’s talking about upbuilding the Church and advancing the kingdom of God.

Think about that.  If you don’t have good works, what does it profit the church?  What does it help?  If your faith is not reflected in what you do and say, what positive impact do you have on the mission and on the enthusiasm of the church?  And remember, that word “enthusiasm” is a Christian word!  It has within it the Greek word “Theus,” which means “God.”  So the word “enthusiasm” literally means “having God inside.”  And I think you’ll agree that the church needs people with enthusiasm!

Some Say, “Yes, I’m saved.  But I don’t get involved.  I don’t help.”  Or they say, “My faith is a personal matter to me, and I don’t really like to show it like some people do.”  I’ve heard a lot of people say that over the years.  And what I wish they would do is to ask themselves James’ question, “What does it profit?

The job of every person in the church is to upbuild the church.  And I’m blessed to be in a church where many people understand that.  And I hope you realize how valuable that is to the kingdom of God.  The way you live your faith adds to the “enthusiasm” of the Church.  It adds to the spirit of the church.  It adds to the joy we have in being God’s people!

James also asks us to think – again, very practically – about how our faith profits others.  He asks, “If a brother or sister is ill-clad, or in lack of daily food, and someone says, ‘Go in peace, and be warmed and filled,’ without helping, what does it profit?”  And I would add, “What does it profit the kingdom of God?”  “What does it profit the image of God’s people in the world?”  These days we have a lot of negative images in people’s minds to overcome!  And what we do and say are the only things that help dispel those negative images – or contribute to them!  “What does it profit?” is a good phrase, a good question, to keep in mind in that.

And the last thing I want to say about this, which I’m sure James is asking, is “What does it profit ourselves – if we have faith alone and not good works?”  We are called, as God’s people, to grow in our faith.  We are called to grow in our understanding of God and of his kingdom.  We are called to grow in our love for God, and in our obedience to him.  And some people get the impression that the only way to do that is by studying him.  Or by praying more.  And don’t get me wrong, those are good things.

But let me suggest to you that one of the biggest ways we grow in our faith is by living it out.  And if we’ve not living out what we believe, by our words and our actions – by our works – we will find it hard to grow in our faith.  Think about it, if all we have, like many people have, is one day – one morning – a week, where we think about our faith, and do not live it every day, it will be highly unlikely that we will experience any growth in our faith.  It’s only by living our faith – living out our faith – every day, that we grow in our knowledge and love of God.

So, if we take the word “works” to mean the physical ways we live out our faith, then James’ question is so important!  “What does it profit?”  “What does it profit our Church, each other, and even ourselves, if we say we have faith but not works?”

Prayer

Eternal God, help us to have the strength we need, not just to believe, but to follow.  Help us to be the people you have called us to be, people who live out our faith every day of our lives.  And help us to know that our lives are in your hands every day, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.