Sidney UMC - Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost - 09/09/18 - Sermon - “Faith and Works?"

Sunday 09/09/18 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Faith and Works?”                         

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 125

                                            

New Testament Scripture: James 2:1-17

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Mark 7:24-37

          My dear friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome again on this our Sixteenth-Sunday after Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost nearly two-thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit moved, and the Christian Church was born. On that day, faith increased, as did the good works of those first Christians. On that day there was both great faith and great works.

          This morning I am preaching from our Book of James reading, about “Faith and Works”. Specifically, I want to ask you this question, how do we get to heaven? How do we gain salvation? Or to put it another way, is faith in Christ enough to save us? Or do we need to do a certain amount of works as well, to get into heaven? How do we get into heaven, to eternity?

          I remember the very first night that I was in seminary in the fall of 2010. I sat in a classroom at the Northeastern Seminary on the Roberts Wesleyan College Campus, with twenty-four other students. The head of the seminary, Dr. Douglas Cullum, a Free Methodist Pastor, asked us all to introduce ourselves to the group, to state why we were attending the seminary, and to state the Christian denomination that we came from.

          As we went around the room, we had an Episcopalian, a handful of Methodists, a couple of Baptists, a Roman Catholic woman, a non-denominational student, a Presbyterian, and etc. After we introduced ourselves, explained what we were hoping to do with our seminary education, and after we said the Christian tradition that we came from, the seminary head Dr. Cullum asked us all something that I will never forget.

          With a twinkle in his eyes, Dr. Cullum then asked our diverse group of Christians, “So how do we get to heaven?” Well the classroom was so quite you could hear a pin drop. The Methodists looked at the Baptists, the Pentecostal looked at the Roman Catholic, and the non-denominational student looked at the Presbyterian. After about 5-10 seconds of silence, we all laughed.

          Dr. Cullum asked us this question in part to have a little fun with us, to ease any tension in the room, but also he wanted us to think about this question. So I will ask you to think about this question as I am speaking this morning, “How do you get to heaven?” How you obtain salvation, which is entry into heaven?” Do we have to work really hard at the church to gain salvation? Do we have to do a certain amount of charitable works? Do have to do a certain amount of nice things? Or do we just need to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is faith enough to save us?

          I personally, believe in the doctrine that the great reformer Martin Luther asserted. This doctrine in Latin is called “Sola Fide,” or “faith alone”. I believe therefore, that through the faith that I have in Jesus Christ, and Christ alone, and through his blood and his cross, that he has made me acceptable in the eyes of our Heavenly Father. I believe as it says in Romans 5:1:

          “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Rom. 5:1, NRSV).

          The great reformer Martin Luther called this the doctrine of Justification. This is the idea that there is nothing that we can do, or no amount of works that we can do to “earn heaven,” or to “earn salvation”. Essentially, we cannot earn or buy heaven, but rather it is about faith and being justified by faith.

          In fact, in our Methodist Articles of Religion, going all the way back to 1808, given to us originally by our founder Rev. John Wesley, our ninth article of religion says:

“Article IX — Of the Justification of Man”

“We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort” (http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/the-articles-of-religion-of-the-methodist-church).

          How many of you believe that repenting of your sins and by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior that is enough to save you? How many of you feel that you must do a certain amount of things in order to get to heaven, to gain salvation? How many of you feel that you must work off or pay off your sins?

          There’s a song that I have heard many times by Alan Jackson called, “Where I come from”. Anyone ever head this song? I like this song, but there has always been something about it that has rubbed me the wrong way. The chorus of this song says:

“I said where I come from
It's cornbread and chicken
Where I come from a lot of front porch sitting
Where I come from trying to make a living
And working hard to get to heaven
Where I come from”

 (https://genius.com/Alan-jackson-where-i-come-from-lyrics).

          Now did Alan Jackson mean to say “And working hard to get heaven” literally? Probably not, I would guess that Alan Jackson believes in doctrine of Justification, that through faith alone we are saved. This probably was just meant to mean work hard and honor God. Do we need to work “hard to get to heaven”?

In our Book of James reading for this morning, it says once again in 2:14-17:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (Jas. 2:14-17, NRSV).

          Some people have read this scripture throughout the centuries and have come to the conclusion that James is saying that faith alone cannot save us, and that we also need good works. That works are required to get us into heaven.

I would argue that we should be doing good works, but that our good works should be an expression of our faith. This is instead of partaking in a certain amount of heavenly community service hours to be found acceptable to gain entry into heaven. Our works are the evidence of our faith, not things that secure our eternity.

          In this way, I think what James is saying here, is don’t just have faith, but live it also. Your faith can and does save you I believe, but I believe that James is challenging us here to live our faith out. I believe also that James is saying if we have this great faith in Jesus Christ, what good is it if we do nothing with it? You know the scripture about keeping your light under a bushel basket?

          So does faith alone save us? Are we justified by faith in Christ alone, or do we need good works to get to heaven?

          I have joked with many of you that I thought that you are going to heaven, but then I always say, “but I’m in sales not management”. Some of you have even responded to me saying that you “hope” you will get to heaven. How many of us honestly don’t know for sure what will happen to us when we die on this earth? How many of you don’t know your eternal fate?

          Yet it says in John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (Jn 3:16, NRSV).

          Many years ago, the Rev. Billy Graham came to England and had a series of Crusades for Christ. He also had the honor of preaching in a church to Queen Elizabeth II and her husband. In this service, Rev Graham asked the question, what is a Christian? He then quoted Colossians 1:27 that says:

“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27, NRSV).

Through Christ, we are offered “the hope of glory”. Through Christ, we are offered the free gift of eternal life, of salvation, of heaven. All we have do is have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So what about works then?

          I really like what great reformer Martin Luther has to say about good works. He said:

“God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does” (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/794373-god-does-not-need-your-good-works-but-your-neighbor)

          Friends, we cannot buy heaven, we cannot buy salvation, it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved. In the rest of our reading from the Book of James for this morning, James is telling us to have authentic faith in our hearts, and not just in our actions or our behaviors (Jas. 2:1-17, NRSV). James is saying, have faith in Christ, be like Christ, and serve others. Have faith, and live faith.

          In our gospel of Mark reading for this morning, Jesus tests a woman regarding her sick daughter (Mk. 7:24-25, NRSV). She passes the test, and since Jesus is pleased with her faith, her daughter is healed (Mk. 7:26-30, NRSV). Jesus then healed a deaf man (Mk. 7:31-37, NRSV).

          So often when someone in the gospels was sick or was suffering, Jesus generally wanted to know if they faith, not just how many works the person had done. Jesus would often say, “go and sin no more, your faith has made you well”.

          So, my brothers and sisters, how do we get to heaven? Faith? Works? Both?

          In the fall of 2015 until the spring of 2016 I did a Clinical Pastoral Experience (CPE) internship at SUNY Upstate University Hospital. I was there about 20-hours a week for seven-months, learning, ministering, and growing. When I signed up for this program, I asked specifically, if I could serve on the oncology and the hematology wards, or to cancer patients. It was not so much that I wanted a challenge, but more to understand. Where was God in all of this?

          I remember sitting with patients on many occasions, who sometimes had an aggressive form of stage-4 cancer. Some of them asked me why God had allowed this to happen to them. I often had no good answer, but I would assure them that God is with us, and that our faith is alive and real.

          I also remember sitting with people that were dying, and some of them were scared about dying. Sure they were worried about the potential pain of their death, but some of them were also worried if they would make it to heaven. Now the patients that I am talking about in these examples were all Christians, and some of them were scared that they wouldn’t go to heaven.

          Sometimes I would sit with Evangelical Christians who believed that they were saved by faith in Christ alone, yet as I sat with some of them they were worried that some of their past sins would exclude them from heaven.

Once some of these patients shared their faith, I would ask them, “well how do you get to heaven”? Some of the patients said, “through faith in Christ”. I would then often say, “then what are you afraid of?” They would sometimes say, “but what if my faith isn’t enough?” They usually by the end of our visit would break out that mode of thinking and realize that we are saved not by works, not just by being a good person, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

          Friends, please here me right now, if you remember none of my sermons, none of the other things that I speak during my time here, please remember what I am about to tell you. If you repent of your sins, and if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and serve Him, by serving others, then you are justified before the Heavenly Father. You will see the gates of glory, because we are justified by faith in Christ, and Christ alone. Amen.