James 2: 1-17
I admit it: We all have bad habits.
A man said to his friend, "I can't break my wife of the habit of staying up until five in the morning." "What is she doing?" asked the friend. "Waiting for me to get home."
Bad habits!
A woman walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look," she said. "What's your secret?" "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," he said. "I drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise."
"That's amazing," said the woman. "How old are you?" "Twenty-six."
Bad habits!
I. Showing Preferential Treatment
You heard the text that I read just a moment ago from James 2. Faith in Jesus Christ cannot be made compatible with certain behaviors and attitudes, with certain bad habits. We all have bad habits, as individuals and as a church.
One of the bad habits of the first-century church was giving preferential treatment to the rich and wealthy. The writer is absolutely appalled at the favoritism being given to certain people and not others as they gathered to worship.[1] A person with gold rings and fine clothes would come into the congregation, followed by a poor person in dirty clothes. Church members tended to honor the one wearing fine clothes and say, “Get up, get out of your seat, let Mr. & Mrs. Sit here”, while they would look down on the poor one, saying, “What are you doing, who let you in here? Sit over there, in the corner.”[2] The writer of James can’t believe this type of preferential treatment is happening in the house of God. The church the writer of James is writing to views people, their neighbors, as the world sees people, not as God does.
We do the very same today. A young husband and wife with well-behaved children, showing up at worship for the very first time, are almost always going to be received more warmly than a homeless man off the street, or someone with bad habits, a mental illness or a problem that tends to be disruptive. We make distinctions, and sometimes even act as judges with less than pure thoughts.
One of our bad habits is judging people based on their outer appearance, and not taking the time to find out what is in their hearts, with what’s on the inside.
Faith cannot be made compatible with favoritism. And faith cannot be made compatible with apathy and indifference toward the true needs of others. It’s of the world not of God to give the rich precedence over the poor. It’s of the world, not of God to pay women less than men, 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same work and responsibility. It’s of the world, not of God to judge someone based on the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. It’s of the world, not of God to allow the rich to get richer at the expense of the rest of us. Any practice of favoring one group of people over another is detestable. It is not right.
The people know, the readers of the letter know, the people addressed by this letter know it’s not right because it’s against the law of God. Leviticus 19 clearly states, “You shall show no preferential treatment, you shall make no distinctions between the rich and the poor.” This is also a teaching of Jesus. You are not generous to one because the one was generous to you. You are not kind to someone because that someone is kind to you. You do not mimic the behavior of another person, you mimic the life of the Living God, the one who sends sun and rain to fall on the just and the unjust. We are to make no distinctions.
II. Better Habits
What do we need to do to turn this ship around we call the world? It’s not with a better theology. It’s not with an alternative interpretation of Scripture. We need to develop better habits.
The New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg has written a book called The Power of Habit (Random House, 2012). In it, he tells the story of companies that found success simply by replacing established routines with smarter habits.
Back in the 1990s, Starbucks employees were regularly cracking under the pressure of so many custom-made coffees. Then Starbucks created the LATTE method for their baristas: LATTE stands for Listen, Acknowledge, Take action, Thank the customer and Explain why the problem occurred. With this new habit, customer and employee satisfaction radically improved.
At the sluggish Alcoa aluminum company in the late 1980s, Paul O'Neill was hired as chief executive officer. Investors hoped he would increase revenue, but he focused instead on decreasing employee accidents from unsafe work habits. He instituted new processes that required cautiousness, and over the next decade the company's income skyrocketed.
Over at Febreeze, the focus shifted to the habits of consumers, not employees. When Febreeze was launched as an odor-cleaning product in 1993, it flopped. Why? Because people with stinky houses didn't know they needed it. But when the company discovered that people are proud to finish their chores, they suggested a new habit -- rewarding yourself with a blast of Febreze. The product now makes $1 billion annually.
In all of these cases, success came from getting in the habit of doing things differently.
III. The Royal Law
Our scripture reading today has some strong suggestions for a church in search of better habits. James begins by urging us to obey the law of love, which he calls "the royal law" of Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (v. 8). This means treating others as we would want to be treated, and showing the same mercy to others that we would want to receive from them. This is "the royal law" because it is the rule that stands at the very center of the kingdom of God.
When we show partiality in the church, we break this law of love. By favoring one person over another, we're treating one person as more valuable than the other -- a habit that makes no sense in a kingdom of equally precious children of God. But when we love our neighbors as ourselves, we are acting in a way that puts equal value on every person -- whether rich or poor, strong or weak, neighbor or self. It is time for us, as individuals and a congregation, to get in the habit of loving our neighbors as ourselves. Mercy will be shown to us only if we are willing to show mercy to others.
IV Faith and Indifference
We need to love our neighbor as ourselves. To not do so is to demonstrate indifference and apathy toward others. Faith and indifference do not mix. The neglect of acting arises because of indifference to human need. “Faith without works is dead.” Faith and works cannot be separated. Faith in and of itself does not secure the well-being of those who are in need, whatever the need may be.
We can talk about sharing the gospel with others but unless we do it, it’s really nothing but talk. Words alone are not enough. We can talk about how we want to attract new members to our church family, but unless we take action and invite our friends, our neighbors and even our family it’s nothing but wishful thinking. Faith cannot stand alone without proof, without concrete actions that show that at least we are trying to live out our faith.
James urges us to get in the habit of keeping faith and works together. Seeing words and deeds as two sides of the same Christian coin is the key to living a life of integrity and avoiding the charge of hypocrisy. Since our neighbors are always watching us, we need to replace the bad habit of favoritism with the good habit of respect for all people. Since our credibility is always going to be based on whether we practice what we preach, we need to find concrete ways to love our neighbors as ourselves ... instead of simply talking about it.
Saying we have faith is never enough. We have to make a habit of putting our faith into action.
[1] Craddock, Fred B. The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011) p.258.
[2] Ibid.
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