James 2: 14-18; 26 

            I've always like the story about the oil fire in the little Texas town - perhaps some of you have heard this one. One of the oil rigs was on fire, and it was spreading. It was a complicated situation, and the oil company called in all their regional experts to figure out the best way to put this fire out. They studied their charts, and contemplated. A reporter was interviewing one of them on camera about what the next step should be, when suddenly there was a loud honking of a horn. A bunch of people scurried out of the way, because there was the fire truck of the little local volunteer fire department, zooming down the road past them. The truck broke through the barricades, zoomed down to the burning rig, and before anybody could hardly say anything - put out the fire. And after a stunned silence, everybody cheered the heroes.

            And the chief said, "Well, the first thing I'm going to do is get the brakes fixed on that fire truck."

            There is a time for deep thought. There is a time to consider the problems of this world, and to theorize about how to tackle them, and what all the complexities of those problems might be, and what the next steps should be, and so on. There is a time and a place for all of that.

            But sooner or later, it's time to act. It's time to do something. It's time to crash through the barriers and put the fire out.

            I think that's what the writer of the letter of James in the New Testament was trying to say. Apparently, there were a lot of Christian people who were going around talking about faith, but that faith didn't translate into doing something. And these Christian people were enjoying their worship and their fellowship, and claiming the promises of God, but weren't stepping forward to put their faith into action. And so James wrote these words, "What good is it...if you say you have faith but do not have works? ...If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? Faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead."

            Step up, says James. Stop talking about it, and put it into action. Put it in flesh and bone. Or, as Rick Warren has said, It's time to take off the bib, and put on the apron. Stop sitting around asking God to feed you; put on the apron and get to work. Doing good works, of course, does not save you - you can't earn your way into heaven. It takes faith. But there is no faith without good works - it simply is not real.

            We have, in this church, so many people who bear witness in their lives to the power of faith in action. Among them are eight people who undertook a mission trip to Redbird Mission in Kentucky this past April. Their presentation to us continues at this time. May it be an example for all of us to step forward for our faith.

Sharing by Redbird Mission Crew

            Getting back to that story about the oil fire, the local firefighters put the fire out because they didn't have the brakes on. What stops you and me from putting our faith in action? Can't find the time. Don't have any skills. Anything I can do is a drop in the bucket. And Jesus - the one who healed the sick, fed the multitudes, challenged the storm, gave his life on the cross - says Follow me. Forget those things that hold you back. Step up and do something. It may be go on a mission trip. It may be visit a nursing home. Send a gift. Make a meal for a hurting person. Write a letter to your Congressperson. Put up a tent... .twice. Whatever it is that you can do to put your faith in action. Because faith isn't faith as long as it stays some mystical idea. Faith is faith when it takes flesh and blood.

            Thank you to our mission team for sharing with us today how that works. And thank God for blessing those times when people of faith step forward and make a tangible difference in this world.