What good is a fruitless fruit tree?

Sermon given at Grace UMC 6/14/15

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^NRS James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶ 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? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Many years ago a great craftsman had a vision of the perfect violin. In his mind he could hear the beautiful sound and the incredible music that would come from this instrument. So he set about building the violin. He took the finest pieces of maple and shaped them into the ribs of the instrument. He spent months on gluing the joints together and often would start over when he was not satisfied with his work. It took him two years but he finished and he stood back and looked upon his creation. And he was satisfied that it was the best that he could do. Many musicians had learned of his work and though he himself could not play, he had built some of the best instruments for musicians throughout the world. The musicians all desired to play this work of art that he had built. But his fear that something would go wrong prevented him from allowing anyone to pick it up and play it. So throughout his life, the perfect violin stayed in its case and the only music from it came in the craftsman’s head. When he died, the violin could not be found. Musicians the world over commented on how the world would have been a better place if only he had allowed someone to play the perfect instrument. You see, the craftsman might have created the perfect violin. But without it ever having been played, the world cannot be sure whether it was as good as the craftsman said it was. We are left wondering what kind of beautiful music the violin would have made and left with never knowing.

James is considered by many as the misunderstood apostle. Did he get it wrong or do we read into his scripture on works from the wrong point of view? Is he in fact saying that faith is not the answer in direct contradiction to Paul? Is he saying that it is truly what we do that creates salvation? There are many in the world that believe that and preach and teach it as the road to heaven. Day in and day out, they do good works and believe that as long as they are good people that God will look down with favor upon them. Now I for one believe that God is bigger than anything that I can understand. But I also know that the God of the Bible, Old and New Testament is a God who works hard to make us understand not what we want, but what God wants from us. God utilized the prophets and the apostles to help us to understand the most basic of concepts of life in accordance with God’s point of view. And of course when all else failed, God came down to earth as Jesus the Son, to assure that those who would listen would finally understand. Jesus himself spoke on this many times in his teaching. ^NRS Matthew 19:16 “Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’” And Jesus tells the rich young man that he must obey the commandments. And then if he desires to be perfect, that he must give up all that he has to the poor and follow Jesus. We know the story. And for many of us, this story has become the mantra of our lives, the words we live by as we follow a risen Christ. But for many, it is the story that stands as a barrier between them and becoming the Christian in their hearts they desire to be.

So what is James saying in this scripture? Let us explore the scripture this morning and see if we can figure out what James is saying and what we need to do as a result of it. James begins with a question. He asks us what good is faith if we do not have works. If someone lacks food and you have the ability to feed them and do not, what good have you done? That is a question that we need to ask ourselves every day of our lives. If we have the money or the hands or the food that can provide someone who is hungry from starving, then it seems the only answer is we must feed them. Makes sense doesn’t it? If we have the ability to provide clothing for the poor, or housing for those who are homeless or education for those who need re-training then this scripture sounds like we have an obligation to do something. If we truly believe that being a Christian means being more than simply that we are baptized and have confessed our belief, then we believe that we have an obligation to do good works in the world around us. But is it works that gets us ultimately in good grace with God or faith? Is James saying something contradictory to what we profess or embracing it?

Let me see if I can explain it in a different way. The early Methodist were focused on living their lives in the perfect imitation of Christ. I say early Methodist, because it was a requirement of those early Methodist to make their fruits of their spirit public to one another. And when you are making something public to one another then you had better be doing the things you say you are doing or someone would surely call you on it. And fruitless living could be grounds to be expelled from the group. Each time they met they would ask each other, “How have the fruits of your spirit made themselves known this week?” I wonder what our world might be like if we began our worship service each week with that question to each other. You claim to be a Christian. Well I am from Missouri and I want you to prove it! What is the proof of your Christianity? And what are the fruits of the spirit if not the things that make us different from the world around us. Patience, kindness, grace, and love to name a few. And if in fact we abide by the commandments that Jesus has given us to love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves, then how can we not reach out to each other in kindness and with love? How can we not clothe the cold, feed the hungry and house the homeless? And if we are not doing these things, then isn’t it possible that our Christianity might be suspect to those watching. John Wesley believed that. Our early brothers and sisters in Christ believed that. And this scripture tells us that James believed that. In other words, we who claim to be Christians must in fact be in the world doing the things of Christ, helping, healing and teaching, or our own salvation may very well be questioned by those around us. Maybe more importantly, James is suggesting that God may question our belief.

We focus on Discipleship in the church as the answer to this question of faith. Truth is we spend more time talking about works issues, feeding, clothing, etc. But true Discipleship means that we spend out lives in imitation of Jesus as we follow His example and His teaching. The things that James is taking about and the things we tend to focus our efforts on are fruits of the spirit that comes through true Discipleship. Our faith life is built around the concept that we believe what God has told us through the story of the Bible, through the prophets, and through Jesus and the Apostles. And if throughout the story, we constantly hear God calling us to reach out to the poor, to overcome social injustice wherever we see it, to teach those who need to be taught, and to provide housing for the homeless, then how is it that the church of today fails in many of these things? Is it possible that like the rich young man, we can do the things that cause us little compromise or pain, but digging into our pockets or taking our time is more than we can bear? Or maybe our concept of church is, “as long as nothing else is happening today then we can go.”

What James is saying to us,

What Jesus is saying to us,

What our ancestors in faith are saying to us, is that without the viewable works that a true faith life brings, how is it that anyone, including God, can know that you truly believe.

Now that may seem harsh or unfair. But just like the perfect violin that is never played, how can we know how good something is if it is never played, never acted out and never worked with? And what James is trying to tell us is that if we truly believe and have faith, then we must see transformation. And when we are transformed, we must act. Once transformed it is impossible to walk by a starving child or a homeless person or watch someone abused without acting. And when we act, the world will see our fruit through those actions as we allow the works of the spirit within us to interact with the world around us.

If there are no works, then there must be no spirit.

If there is no spirit, then there is no faith.

If there is no faith, then what exactly is it that you believe?

Get the picture?

So if we call ourselves Disciples, then our actions, words and deeds will set us apart from the world around us for all to see.  

I planted an apple tree once. I prepared the ground for it by putting in the best soil, fertilizer and dug a hole just the right size. I planted the tree and watered it, pruned it and gave it all that I had to offer it. As it grew I nurtured it, loved it and cared for it. It grew into a great tree. But it never bore any fruit. I checked with those that knew a lot about apple trees and they said that I have done all the right things. But the fact is the tree never grew the first apple. Well let me ask you a question. What good is an apple tree that grows no apples? What good is a fruitless fruit tree? Is the tree of your faith life bearing fruit?