Jonah 1; Jame 4: 11-17
When I began this “favorite scripture” theme, I did not expect someone to write, “The Book of James.” Now, I, too, am a great fan of this epistle, but I somehow think you all would not appreciate the morning reading being entire 5 chapters or 108 verses of the Book of James. Yet, there is this continuing theme in James’s letter of faith being active and doing within the living of the community. For James, faith is something that is alive, moving, and puts study into practical action within the world.
Years ago, I visited a long-term member of this church shortly before she died. Her name was Barbara Wright, and she had one of the wildest senses of humor I have ever experienced. She told me during the discussion, “I don’t believe in reincarnation. But if there is such a thing, I sure don’t want to come back as the third verse of a 4-verse hymn in a Baptist Church. You’ll never do anything.”
James describes his belief in an active and engaged faith in verses 15-17 here, “What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” James’s words here become very simple: don’t criticize and judge, and don’t make plans outside of the will of God. Now, a little context. James and Paul did not always see eye to eye. Paul believed that it was no longer necessary to follow the old Mosaic law for grace. James believed you should keep the law as an ongoing tradition, but follow Christ as part and parcel of this. So, Paul talks a lot about where the spirit leads you, but James focuses on following the commandments and directions God gives.
At the heart of this epistle is a battle back and forth. James talks about the world in terms of greed, hunger for power, and the lusts of humanity versus the simply following the will of God in your life. For him, faith had to active, moving, doing because that kept you seeking after where God is calling you next in your life and walk of faith. The church at Jerusalem, where James served, was the posterchild for the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” The members were a cluster of very judgy, very difficult devotees of religious law. The followers of Jesus there in Jerusalem do nothing to help Paul when he is set upon and taken into custody at the behest of the Temple religious leaders. The irony of their inaction is not lost on me.
James, perhaps unintentionally, exposes how easy it is to ignore the will of God when you are not actively seeking to do and go where God says. The other biggest difference is Paul focuses on personal behavior sins. James focuses on systems of sin. We are trapped in a world that prioritizes power and greed as the keys to success. Yet in the way of Jesus, humility and obedience are they marks of a strong and faithful follower. We are told about the tools of criticism, judgment, and manipulation of the rules as a means to success in society, but James says tells us absolutely not on these things.
James gives us a reminder that just because we live in a sinful world and cannot escape in-built sinful ways, we don’t have to accept them as part of daily life. You can purchase clothing and coffee not made with exploitive child or slave labor. You can live in kindness instead of judgment. You can work for the good of God and neighbor instead of running the rat race of power to success. You can share blessings, and know that God will give you what you need, instead of hoarding all that you receive in life. These signs of living in Christ are how we show faith has changed us and made a difference.
Let’s look at an example of when the call to follow God is a failure. Jonah was called by God to go and preach to Nineveh. Jonah, a prophet, heard what the Lord said, then, we are told, he did the opposite. He went the opposite way, and he fled from the calling of the Lord. Now it is not unheard of that prophets and leaders would resist God’s call.
Moses shrank away from Pharaoh and needed a whole burning bush. Elijah fled from denouncing King Ahab and took some convincing to go do his calling. Jeremiah recoiled from prophesying to the nations. All of these important and powerful leaders of faith at one time or another tried to escape God’s call. But Jonah is different. He didn’t talk to God like they did. He not only tried to escape, he rejected God’s call. Furthermore, not only did he ignore God, run from God, and reject God, he also spent a fortune trying to get away. Though most translations of the text make it sound like Jonah paid for a seat on the boat, scholars believe the best translation is that he paid the entire fare of the boat just to get away from God and what God had called him to do. There was nothing Jonah would not do to get away from what God had asked him to do.
The bigger problem is when we ignore God’s calling, it doesn’t affect just us. Jonah’s willful disobedience put the entire city of Nineveh at risk of utter destruction and desecration. God wanted to redeem those people and bring them back to God’s graces. But Jonah’s desire was for their destruction. He was willing for everyone in Nineveh to perish by withholding the news of God’s hope for their hearts to be turned to what was right. But the sailors and passengers were also innocent victims of Jonah’s disobedience. They were terrified. They lost the cargo. And they were fully prepared that the storm would cost them their lives. Every bit of that was Jonah’s fault. His disobedience caused it.
When we ignore God’s call and fail to follow God’s will either accidentally or willfully, we create innocent victims in the path of our wrongdoing. That’s why James is so concerned with having an active and doing faith. He knows the ripple effect of our inaction and disobedience. He understands that an inactive faith hurts others who need God in their lives as well as the love of Jesus every day.
My friends, to fall short in our life as Christ followers includes both the things we do which are wrong and harmful as well as what we fail to do or leave undone. Now circumstances, troubles, and the insanity of life may limit how much we can do. But to completely ignore God, when you feel that little tug on your heart, or in your mind, hurts our relationship with God, and it hurts those who need us to live for God in this world.
Elsewhere in James 2:17, he says more pointedly, “Faith without works is dead.” It is in our living that we show our believing. It is in our actions that we show God on earth. It is in our doing where we become the proof of what we proclaim. The question for us is not, “Can you say you’re a Christian?” but instead, do you live like one? Faith is not a theological talking point. It is alive, growing, changing, and moving as we mature and change in our relationship to God.
The two deadliest things to faith, according to James, are stagnation and inaction. If we never grow, then what’s the point of faith? If we never do anything with it, then why do we believe in the first place. Hebrews 11 tells us that faith is not just a wish or hope, but it is evidence and substance. The evidence, or proof, and the substance, or doing, are what show that we have faith. For James, faith requires doing. For Jonah, he went from disobedience to waiting, to proclamation, and finally he talks to God. God can work with reluctance, but God cannot do anything with disobedience.
I’ve learned a lot of things from my time pastoring this church. Barbara Wright’s comment that she wouldn’t want to come back as the third verse of a 4-verse hymn stuck with me because it was funny. But underneath the cuteness, there’s a bit of theological weight. If we simply exist with our belief and never do anything of substance with it, what good is it to us and to the rest of the world around us. Our faith calls us to live, to do, and to share God’s good news every single day, to every single person, in every single way we can.
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