We had a packed service with two baptisms, recognition of teachers as we begin our fun Sunday School schedule, and a wedding taking place immediately following worship (a member and his significant other, with many members staying for the wedding). I mention that because part of what I tried to do in my sermon preparation was sharpening the focus of the sermon so it could be direct and a bit shorter than most weeks. As I worked on the sermon, I decided during the Time with Young Disciples to ask them "What one thing would you want to teach child being baptized?" That question also helped me sharpen the focus for the sermon.
The Proverbs passage (both the James and Proverbs passages were from the lectionary) fit really well with James passage and the sermon, but I did not expand the sermon to reference it. In retrospect, I probably could have done so easily since the Proverbs text complemented the James passage very well.
“Love without Limits” September 9, 2018, SAPC, Denton; James 2: 1-8; Proverbs 22: 1-9 Richard B. Culp
James 2: 1-8: My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?[b] 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,”[c] 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.[d] Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Introduction: This morning we have a baptism;
not just a baptism, but a double baptism;
not just a double-baptism, but cousins (Chase will make St. Andrew his home church, and Matthias will grow up in another community of faith)
As part of the baptismal liturgy, the congregation will be asked, “Who stands with these children?” and you will give your answer by standing, a visible sign of your support, for each child and the parents who present their children for baptism. You also stand on behalf of the church universal, pledging the support of any community of faith in which these two cousins and their families will fin themselves. will live,
We do not commit to help them grow into nice boys or nice people, although we hope they do.
We commit to raising them in the faith so that one day they might profess Jesus Christ as their lord and Savior.
If you had to teach them one thing - what would it be?
Move 1: That’s what James is doing in his letter we read today.
a. He begins with the question: do you really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
1. then he wants to give everyone a concrete example on which to base their answer.
2. he picks how they treat those who come into their midst at worship.
3. i’m probably not a fair judge on how people are treated since I seldom attend worship when I’m not identified by robe and stole as a minister, but maybe 10 years or so ago, I had occasion to be a visitor in a congregation.
4. A group of six guys including my brother and I, along with some men from the congregation I served in OH took off for the week-end to go to Milwaukee (a Christmas gift from my wife).
It was a March week-end, so you can probably guess what we were doing - traveling to watch march Madness in person and on TV.
We stayed in downtown Milwaukee. Our games to see in person were on Friday and Sunday afternoon, so we have Sunday morning off.
We all walked over to the nearest Presbyterian church (of course) in downtown Milwaukee. it was a huge, beautiful sanctuary. Clearly a church that had seen its better days. the huge sanctuary had been divided into smaller spaces, one of which was the worship space for a much smaller group. As I looked around, I knew it was a church that was trying to redefine itself.
they had a moment like we do where people were invited to greet their neighbors.
they saw us, 6 guys in our early 40s and rushed us. they seemed to pair up on each of us, excited conversation taking place. all i could figure was they thought we were the advance management team for some company and soon our wives and 2.5 kids would follow, join the church, and redevelop the congregation in a fell swoop.
I watched as each pair discovered we were just here for one hour this week, never to return. With slumped shoulders they slowly returned to their seats, their disappointment palpable.
I don’t know how other visitors are typically greeted in that church, but we got their best because they could see potential in us, they thought we had a lot to offer. We were the rich visitors in Jame’s illustration.
do you really believe in our glorious Lord jesus Christ?
if you do, then all people are treated equally.
No special status for the rich. No special treatment for those with potential.
a. Do not play favorites.
1. Fair.
2. But, it is more than just a doctrine of fairness.
3. About who we all of us are.
4. All of us are children of God and loved by God.
5. God, whose love knows no limits.
c. hard to imagine that kind of love.
1. think about a first-time parent - discovers limitless love for the child.
2. then the second child arrives - the parent does take the amount of love for the first child and split it between the two children. No, the parent discover the inexhaustible supply of love.
3. and the third child, the same.
4. fi there is the fourth, it continues.
5. Love that has no limits.
6. God has limitless love for each of us.
d. The point James makes is that all of us are children of God, loved completely and fully by God, so we who live out God’s love should show no partiality in who we love or not love.
1. Regardless of our ethnicity, our socio-economic status, our sexuality, or any other category our world has, God loves us.
2. And God calls us to love all others with the same limitless love.
do you really believe in our glorious Lord jesus Christ?
If so, show it by how you love everyone.
Move 2: to be clear, James also wants us to know that how we treat the poor is an important part of how we love everyone.
a. not because the poor are any more important to God than anyone else.
1. But because they need help.
2. they are struggling and God desires to see their needs.
b. As the people of God who care called to be the body of Christ, to share God’s love in the world, we are called to care for the poor.
1. I know at some levels that is a complicated task.
2. You can read books like Toxic Charity that challenge our assumptions about caring for those in need.
3. We can debate which entity should be responsible for the needy in our midst.
4. or, the best way to break the cycle of poverty.
5. I am not trying to ignore the complexity of dealing with poverty issues.
6. But, I am pointing out our call to engage those issues.
7. James is pretty clear in connecting how we treat the poor with our answer to the question “Do you believe in our glorious Jesus Christ?”
Conclusion: As we live out our baptismal vows and help raise children in the faith, we invite them to “believe in our glorious Jesus Christ.”
And we show them what it looks like by loving all people with God’s limitless love and caring for the poor among us. Amen.
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