But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. (James 1:22)

Apparently it was the author Kurt Vonnegut who first came up with the following. “To be is to do - Socrates. To do is to be - Sartre. Do-be-do-be-do - Sinatra”. I’m not a diligent enough student of philosophy to know if these are actual quotes from Socrates and Sartre but I do know Sinatra’s do-be-do-be-do. And I also know that there is a connection between being and doing. We are human beings and we live in the world, we are active in the world. In this world we interact with other human beings through the things we say and the things we do. That’s an essential part of being alive.

Which is why I have a soft spot for James. John Knox didn’t like the Letter of James. He described it as a ‘richt strawy epistle’, largely because some people have thought that James and Paul were at loggerheads - that while Paul believed that we are put right with God through faith, James believed that you had to follow the Jewish Law to be saved. I think that’s to mistake what James is getting at. It’s taking an issue that was at the heart of the Reformation and projecting it back onto the early Church.

What James is saying is, “You say that you have faith. You say that you are put right with God through that faith. That’s great. But if that faith doesn’t influence the things you say and the things you do, if it doesn’t touch who you are - to do is to be, remember? - just how real is that faith? What’s the point of that faith? If you have a barrier in your mind and in your heart that means that your religious faith doesn’t influence your political beliefs, the choices you make in how you spend your money, in the way you treat other people, just how real is that faith? What’s the point of that faith?

One of the biggest temptations there is in religion is to confuse faith and belief. If you look at the history of the Church after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, you’ve got Councils of the Church that spent hours, days, weeks, years getting the words of creeds right - statements of what Christians are supposed to believe. Down the centuries the Church has divided itself again and again over disagreements about what Christians are supposed to believe. There are churches all over the world where, every Sunday - or Saturday if you’re a Seventh-Day Adventist - they recite the Apostles Creed, or the Nicene Creed. 

Nothing wrong with that. I’m quite happy to recite the Creed, even if after some lines I’m thinking, “Of course, when I say that what I understand by it is….”. Let’s not confuse that with faith, though. Belief is about ideas. It’s about things you think, about things you judge to be true. Faith is a deeper thing. It’s something that goes to the heart of who we are as human beings. It asks the questions, “Who do you trust?”, “Who will you let influence you?”. “Who are you going to follow?”

Along with the James this morning, we had that passage from Mark where the Pharisees are worried because the followers of Jesus are eating with defiled hands and not following the traditions of Judaism. Do they believe something that is contrary to the Torah the other writings of scripture? Jesus takes them to another level. He’s talking about faith. He’s saying that what really matters, if you genuinely have faith in God, is that you let him touch your heart. That’s where, Jesus says, what you say and what you do come from. If your heart is unclean then, chances are, you’ll say stuff and do stuff that are wrong.

That’s the idea that binds James and Paul together. It’s why James can say, “Be doers of the word and not merely hearers.” and also speak, echoing Paul, of the “law of liberty”. We can be beguiled by belief. We can, like the Pharisees, think that if we recite the right creed, carry out the right rituals, believe the right things then that’s what there is to the Christian faith. No. It’s way better than that.

“Be doers of the word,” says James, “and not merely hearers.” If James is the brother of Jesus then he won’t have read the Gospel of John when he wrote this letter but maybe his words here prefigure John’s great opening words. “In the beginning was The Word.” What if we are meant not merely to be hearers of Jesus -  believing in him, believing in what the Bible says about him, believing that he is our saviour - but doers of Jesus. Maybe that’s why God chose to to come into the world as a human being. It’s his way of saying, “Like this! Live like this!”

Faith isn’t something that is merely a set of beliefs - it’s something that’s meant to be lived. It’s meant to be lived in the things we say and the things we do. It’s meant to be lived in the choices we make when we stand in a ballot booth or in a supermarket. It’s meant to be lived in the way we speak of those who are different from us, be it by race or creed or sexuality. It’s meant to be lived in the things we do when times are hard and when temptation is strongest to do things we know are wrong. 

Faith is doing our best to look like, to sound like Jesus; to do the kind of stuff Jesus did. That’s a big ask and we’re not always going to get it right. Faith, too, is trust - trusting that, through the Cross of Calvary, those times we don’t get it right are written off and we get a chance to try again.

A chance to do what? To show the world what faith in Christ is all about and to make them, at least, to think about it. I was listening to Richard Coles - the guy from the 80’s pop band Erasure who became a vicar. He said this, “I was a chorister when I was I kid so I grew up in the Anglican choral tradition. Adored the music, loved dressing up, scratched and clawed my way to be head chorister but was certain that it was a fairy tale, that nobody with their wits about them could believe this stuff, although I think I was impressed by people who really did believe that stuff and did so with some integrity and some honesty.”

One night I came to faith. One night I met God. Looking back, though, I’d been prepared for that moment; prepared by people I’d met and come to know and who believed what they did with some integrity and some honesty. People who didn’t just believe, but who lived by those beliefs. That is what integrity is. That is what faith is.

You don’t know what a difference you will make in this world. You don’t know what difference a word of kindness will make when someone expects a word of scorn. You don’t know what difference forgiveness will make when someone expects hatred and revenge. You don’t know what difference it will make if you pass up the cheap coffee in favour of FairTrade. You don’t know what difference it will make when you do what is right, even if it means you don’t get promotion or success.

But be doers of the word anyway. That’s faith. Trusting God and letting what you say and what you do make a difference. Following Christ, speaking as you think he’d speaking, making the choices you think he’d make. Following him all the way home.

Lord may we live our faith in the things we say, the things we do and the choices we make. May we follow all our days in the way of your son.

Preached at Gretna Old parish church