Confessional Lutheran Ministerium

Psalm 136:1-15 NKJV

136 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
² Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!
For His mercy endures forever.
³ Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!
For His mercy endures forever:

⁴ To Him who alone does great wonders,
For His mercy endures forever;
⁵ To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,
For His mercy endures forever;
⁶ To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,
For His mercy endures forever;
⁷ To Him who made great lights,
For His mercy endures forever—
⁸ The sun to rule by day,
For His mercy endures forever;
⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night,
For His mercy endures forever.

¹⁰ To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn,
For His mercy endures forever;
¹¹ And brought out Israel from among them,
For His mercy endures forever;
¹² With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm,
For His mercy endures forever;
¹³ To Him who divided the Red Sea in two,
For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁴ And made Israel pass through the midst of it,
For His mercy endures forever;
¹⁵ But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,
For His mercy endures forever;

Psalm 136 is a song of thanksgiving for the LORD’s mercy that “endures forever.” The opening verse is repeated in several Psalms and is found in many post-Communion liturgies. It’s one of the verses Martin Luther included in the mealtime prayers in his Small Catechism, and many Christians continue to say it before or after a meal. Psalm 136 fleshes out the Lord’s “goodness” for us and reminds us of His “mercy” (also translated “goodness, “love,” and “steadfast love”) toward mankind in general and toward the people of Israel in particular.

Today’s reading highlights the LORD’s goodness and mercy shown in the creation of the universe and in the redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

First, the Psalmist identifies the One to whom we are to give thanks: He is the LORD, Yahweh, the only true God, the one who “is.” He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. No mighty man, no powerful angel, no wicked demon, and no false god or idol can stand against our good and gracious God.

Then, the Psalmist recounts the wonders of God in creation: how, on Day 2 of the creation week, He stretched out the heavens in wisdom—wisdom that we, perhaps, can appreciate even more than previous generations could, having a greater understanding of the vastness and complexity of space. He calls on us to give thanks for how, on Day 3, the Lord made the dry land on which we live, and how, on Day 4, He placed the sun, moon, and stars in their place to give us light, to govern our seasons, and to make things grow.

Finally, the Psalmist recounts the wonders of God in overthrowing Pharaoh and the Egyptians, with signs and great miracles, proving again His goodness and His steadfast love toward the people whom He had chosen, in His mercy, to know and to serve Him and to be the carriers of the promise of the coming Christ. Let us pray: Lord God, heavenly Father, we give thanks to You, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, for You are good and merciful, gracious and kind, and Your mercy endures forever. Amen.

Psalms 133 & 134 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

133 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

² It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
³ It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

The 133rd and 134th psalms are both psalms of instruction — yet each aimed in their own way. The 133rd psalm is aimed at instructing in the spiritual and worldly realms; while the 134th psalm is aimed at teaching and admonishing men who are carrying out the Office of the Holy Ministry.

A Song of Ascents.

134 Behold, bless the Lord,
All you servants of the Lord,
Who by night stand in the house of the Lord!
² Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
And bless the Lord.

³ The Lord who made heaven and earth
Bless you from Zion!

The 133rd psalm celebrates the unity that the people of Israel had with one another as they gathered to worship the one God and to receive His blessings. Living in unity is, obviously, as soothing as being anointed with oil — and as refreshing as dew from the mountains on a parched desert. Descriptions of the goodness and pleasure of unity and brotherhood remind us that the opposite, then, must take place — namely, discord, strife and disunity. This can happen within our families, our communities, our congregations and even entire church bodies (just look at how fractured the Missouri Synod is when it comes to believing and practicing the same thing). Christ’s prayer rings true: “that they may be one, even as We are one” (Jn. 17:11)

The 134th psalm is the last and shortest of the Psalms of Ascents. The priests on duty at the temple during the night are urged to bless the Lord, and yet it’s the Lord who blesses us. The night is an emblem of darkness and sorrow and yet, by God’s grace, Christ is present in the darkness. He gives His blessing from the sacrificial mountain in Jerusalem by the continual ministry of the Church through Word and Sacrament.

Rejoice, dear Saints! Our unity is in Christ, and more specifically in that unchangeable priesthood by which He ministers in heaven on our behalf — as well as on earth through the Office He instituted — the one mediator between God and man. Through Him the Lord decrees blessings, indeed! Let us pray: We praise You, Lord, for the unity we have by Your bringing it about through steadfast faith and true doctrine. Keep us focused on Christ through Your beloved means. Amen.

James 5:1-11 NKJV

5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. ⁸ You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! ¹⁰ My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. ¹¹ Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

The focus of the Church is the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ crucified. Because of a believer’s on-going struggle with his old nature, however, Christians can forget this sometimes. They can be duped into focusing on personalities, entertainment, activities, institutions, works, fights, spectacles, etc. But, by abiding in His Word, our Lord teaches us that we are to focus on His Word, His commands, and His Gospel. All the other things must serve the focus of the Gospel properly — and certainly not replace it.

The work of helping and comforting those who have various needs is an important part of our vocation as Christ’s people, but when we do it we should remember the words of St. James. Our prayers and our works should be guided by the Lord’s will, and His will is to save souls from the death of their sins. Sometimes the sick will get better, other times they will not. Sometimes suffering will pass, sometimes it will get worse. In all things our words and deeds should be focused on the “yes” and “no” of God’s teachings.

However, we all know this is easier said than done — and the only reason that it’s hard is because of that old nature mentioned above. It wants to determine its own “yes” and “no” — a ‘my-will-be-done’ sinful flesh attitude. Thanks be to God for His Spirit, which gives us faith and strength to do things according to His will. Even more than that, we also give Him thanks for the forgiveness that He shows toward us when we fail to stay focused on His Word and will. Let us pray: O Lord, since You never fail to help and govern those whom You nurture in Your steadfast fear and love, work in us a perpetual fear and love of Your holy name: through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

James 4:1-17 NKJV

4 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? ² You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

¹¹ Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹² There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

¹⁷ Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”

It can be an epidemic throughout much of Christendom. Who doesn’t want to be accepted? Who doesn’t want to be liked? It’s always a desire of man’s sinful flesh — to want the world to admire our commitment — if even to our faith. In short, the flesh wants the praises of men. And so visible Christendom often embraces the world and its ways, from the more mundane aspects of music and dress styles (even in church!) to the much more obviously sinful matters of divorce, sexual deviance, and disregard for the sanctity of the womb.

Yet we are admonished by St. James, and also by St. Paul, not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We need to be circumspect and discerning. Not every new fashion trend or youthful craze is evil. But we should evaluate all of these things always and only by the Word of God. Ask yourself, “Is this new thing (or idea) something that would lure me away from Christ?” If it is, there’s your clear exhortations — have nothing to do with it. “You are not your own, you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

God grant us to be unconcerned with the approval of the world, but, rather, to be courageous in confessing God’s truth by way of our distinctiveness faith in Jesus who bought us at the greatest price — His own body and blood, through which He continues to feed us unto eternity!

Let us pray: O Lord, since You never fail to help and govern those whom You nurture in Your steadfast fear and love, work in us a perpetual fear and love of Your holy name: through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

James 3:7-18 NKJV

⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. ¹⁷ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸ Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

“Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

We learn in the explanation to the first article of the Creed that “God has made me, along with all created things; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them;” Not just everything we have, but everything we are, is all a gift of God. It should all be used to His glory.

We are specifically warned against the misuse of our tongues in the explanation to the Second Commandment: “We should fear and love God, that we do not curse, swear, practice witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name;” Cursing is actually more specific than just using bad language. It involves calling down the wrath of God upon a situation, or people or person. It is, clearly, the opposite of a blessing, wherein one calls down the favor of God on someone or something.

St. James admonishes us: our mouths ought not to speak both blessing and cursing. Our Lord even tells us “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you” (Matthew 5:44). While we were God’s enemies, Christ died for us. God grant us to repent of the careless use of our mouths, faithfully to receive forgiveness through faith in Christ, and to confess that faith by speaking thoughtful and righteous words.

As the explanation to the Eighth Commandment exhorts the new man to do: “We should fear and love God, that we do not falsely deceive, betray, or slander our neighbor, or give him a bad reputation; but defend him, speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.”

Let us pray: O Lord, since You never fail to help and govern those whom You nurture in Your steadfast fear and love, work in us a perpetual fear and love of Your holy name: through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

James 3:1-6 NKJV

3 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. ² For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. ³ Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. ⁴ Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. ⁵ Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

St. James is inspired, yet again, to speak about the importance of taming the tongue. He did this back in his very first chapter “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.” (1:26)

The early Lutheran father, Johann Spangenberg writes this about man’s unbridled tongue: “Worthless talk is all that does not agree with the facts. Not only St. James forbids such blasphemy, but so does St. Paul when he says, “Let no unwholesome talk proceed from your mouth” (Eph. 4[:29]. Indeed, Christ says, “I say to you that men must give an account on the Last Day for every worthless word that they spoke” (Matt.12[:36]).

He means, “Among all sinful works, none so thoroughly corrupts the true service of God, along with all government, as an untamed tongue the is not kept bridled but expresses whatever comes to mind, whether good or bad, falsehood or truth, useful or harmful.” (Christian Year of Grace, Matthew Carver, Pg. 196, CPH)

How so, you might be wondering? Well, what is more harmful in common gatherings of men than a chattering tongue that does nothing but hurts people both secretly or openly; doing harm to their good reputation? What is more harmful in the Church and the communion of Saints than a wicked, poisonous tongue of a false preacher, who leads simple hearts astray and poisons them with his false doctrine.

Rejoice, dear Saints! You are blessed to have proper proclamation of God’s Word pronounced into your ears and right administered of God’s Sacraments to create and sustain your God-given faith. Give thanks for faithful pastors.

Let us pray: O Lord, since You never fail to help and govern those whom You nurture in Your steadfast fear and love, work in us a perpetual fear and love of Your holy name: through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

James 2:18-26 NKJV

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

²⁶ For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

As confessional Lutherans we are well aware that it is by grace we “have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). In James 2:26 we read, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” These two Bible verses seem like a paradox to us. They almost seem to contradict one another.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther deals with the concern in this way:

Insist on it, then, that inwardly, in the spirit, before God, man is justified through faith alone, without all works, but outwardly and publicly, before the people and himself, he is justified through works, that is, he thereby becomes known and certain himself that he honestly believes and is pious. Therefore, you may call the one a public justification, the other an inward justification, but in this sense that the public justification is only a fruit, a result, and a proof of the justification in the heart. Accordingly, man is not justified by it before God but must previously be justified before Him. Just so you may call the fruits of the tree the obvious goodness of the tree, which follows and proves its inner, natural goodness.

“This is what St. James means in his Epistle when he says: ‘Faith without works is dead,’ that is, the fact that works do not follow is a certain sign that there is no faith, but a dead thought and dream, which people falsely call faith” (What Luther Says, CPH, p.1231-32).

As per usual, Luther puts to rest this seeming contradiction and brings about a proper focus on the understanding of Justification.

Let us pray: O Lord, since You never fail to help and govern those whom You nurture in Your steadfast fear and love, work in us a perpetual fear and love of Your holy name: through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Psalm 132:1-18 NKJV

A Song of Ascents.

132 Lord, remember David
And all his afflictions;
² How he swore to the Lord,
And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³ “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,
Or go up to the comfort of my bed;
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes
Or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ Until I find a place for the Lord,
A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
We found it in the fields of the woods.
⁷ Let us go into His tabernacle;
Let us worship at His footstool.
⁸ Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
⁹ Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
And let Your saints shout for joy.

¹⁰ For Your servant David’s sake,
Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

¹¹ The Lord has sworn in truth to David;
He will not turn from it:
“I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.
¹² If your sons will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I shall teach them,
Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.”

¹³ For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
¹⁴ “This is My resting place forever;
Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
¹⁵ I will abundantly bless her provision;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
¹⁶ I will also clothe her priests with salvation,
And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
¹⁷ There I will make the horn of David grow;
I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
¹⁸ His enemies I will clothe with shame,
But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

As the Israelite pilgrims remembered King David in the context of the temple, they prayed that the Lord would do so too: “Lord, remember David And all his afflictions; How he swore to the Lord, And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob.”  (vs 1) What were those terms of David’s oath?  The psalm reveals “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, Or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, Until I find a place for the Lord, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (vss. 3-5)

We are well advised not to interpret literally every detail the psalm’s description of David’s oath — otherwise we might conclude that David never again went to bed. See 1 Kings 1:1-4 to have that notion put to sleep (so to speak). The Lord pledges His truth to David, which He will never nullify: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.” (vs. 11)

In this perspective, the proper place for the temple is Jerusalem precisely because it is David’s city. That is to say, the place of God’s covenant is the House of David, so the temple is designated as God’s house because of His covenant with David. After saying that David’s “sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore” the psalm goes on immediately to speak of the the temple: “For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”

The Church reads all such texts as prophesies, of course, finding their fulfillment solely in Christ our Lord. He is at once the new Temple and that very son of David who gives defining substance to God’s covenant sworn to the son of Jesse. When we pray this psalm, it is entirely with reference to its fulfillment in Jesus, the Anointed One, the Temple! And He is ever abundantly blessing her (the Church’s) provision and feeding her poor with bread!

Let us pray: Keep us ever mindful of Your covenant with us, clothing us with the righteousness and fully merited salvation of Your Anointed One. Amen.

Psalm 131:1-3 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

131 Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

² Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

³ O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.

Leave it to Luther to write more words about this psalm than the psalm itself contains. But they are good words, for here is what he says:

“The 131^st psalm is a psalm of instruction. It speaks against the proud, stiff-necked saints who comfort themselves by placing confidence in their great services of worship and their great holiness, and not in the forgiveness of which the previous psalm speaks. In contrast to the proud saints, the psalmist declares, ‘I cannot travel so high and boast of my holiness as these people do, who rely on themselves. For whenever I have wanted to do so, not grounding and stilling my heart on God’s grace, I become like a weaned child. Without the milk of the promise and grace, I cry day and night and have no peace in my conscience.’” (Reading the Psalms with Luther, p. 316)

It would seem as if David were boasting in himself by saying, “My heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me.” He is clearly reminding himself that only by God’s grace his soul is quieted, as he rounds out the psalm in verse 3: “O Israel, hope in Yahweh.” Or as Luther also says about the ending, “Therefore, this is the psalmist’s conclusion: Let Israel and everyone trust and hope in God and depend only on His grace, Let no one take this sustenance from you, for the promised and coming Christ is on it.”

By God-given faith in Christ, you are part of the true Israel, and you can certainly have your soul quieted with the certainty that you are God’s child by virtue of your baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. Your hope is indeed in the Lord Who made you and Who sustains you through every time in your life.

      Let us pray: O God, the Strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without You, grant us the help of Your grace that in keeping Your commandments we may please You in both body and soul; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

James 2:9-17 NKJV

⁹ but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴ What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

In the first part of today’s reading, James continues his thoughts from the previous verses by teaching that if anyone even thinks he can keep 99% of the law yet stumbles in one part, he is guilty of the entire law. The cold and hard fact is that no one can keep the law perfectly; and those who consider themselves good deed doers and think that by their good works they can get into heaven are grossly mistaken. The only One who has kept the law is Christ, and He did it perfectly for all so that those who by faith believe in Him are seen by God the Father as pure in His sight. Christ’s perfection is credited to us by faith, even though we are still sinful. That’s a great comfort!

In the second part of the reading, we have James’ infamous teaching that faith without works is a dead faith; in other words, it is no faith at all. To be sure, works do not save, for as Paul said in Rom 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight…” Works do not save; only faith in Christ does.

But as Jesus says in Mt 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Our “light” is our good works that we do precisely because we are saved by grace. We serve and love God by serving and loving our neighbor. We do good works for others as a thank offering to God for His great mercy and love. It’s like if someone saved you from drowning, you would be eternally grateful and would want to do anything you can for that person. Good works just happen because we have been saved and delivered from our sins and the eternal damnation that we deserve.

So, when James, “I will show you my faith by my works,” he is simply pointing out that faith produces good works – naturally, or rather, supernaturally.

By God-given faith in Christ’s suffering and death for our sins, we are saved from eternal damnation. Until He calls us home, we GET to thank and serve God by serving others.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, thank You for calling me to faith in You, and help me to help my neighbor in all things. Amen.