Like many of you, I grew up listening to Bible stories. As a child, I listened and believed because I believed the adult telling the stories. As I matured, I began to ask questions about the miracles; how could something like that happen? I wondered.  And still later, another kind of story began to bother me.  In some ways, these stories were harder to believe than the miracle stories that seemed to contradict natural science.

For example, there was a man named Levi who was a tax collector. He was working one day when Jesus walked by and said, “Follow me.” And Levi left everything to follow Jesus.

Now this is the question that I still pray about. Why would Levi get up from a perfectly good job and leave everything and follow Jesus?  And the second part of the question is harder still to answer. Would I be willing to get up and leave the source of my financial and professional security, my job, and follow Jesus? What in the world would cause me to do something like that?

Now let me make it really hard.  If you were sitting in Levi’s chair, and Jesus walked up and said “Follow me”, would you? Would you get up and walk out and follow Jesus? Is there anything in the world that could cause you to do such a thing?

This “Got Style” series of sermons is focusing on evangelism. The premise is that every person has a way of sharing the gospel that is unique to him or to her. Each of us has a personal style.

So let’s ask the question in still another way. Let’s imagine a person who has not decided to follow Jesus. Can you see him or her? What has to happen in order for that person to decide to become a Christian? What does it take to persuade a person to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus?

I think that the answer begins with genuine spiritual authenticity!  It begins with spiritual integrity – the integration of belief and behavior in Christ.  When Bob looks at John who goes to church and Bob says, “He’s for real!”  That is the beginning of Bob’s conversion.

During this series, we are reading portions of the book of “James.”  James spends a lot of time writing about being real, about integrity. So for now, let’s put “evangelism” aside for a moment and listen to James talk about spiritual authenticity, about integrity.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (1:22) James understands that listening to the scripture, listening to the Word of God, listening to the instruction of Jesus involves only a part of oneself. Genuine religion always involves every part of the self.

In the modern world, we are more inclined to separate the intellectual from the emotional. There are some among us who want to feel the power of God. We are looking for those powerful emotional experiences that feed the soul.  On the other hand, there are some of us who fear emotion in all things religious, perhaps simply in all things. For us, religion must pass the rigorous tests of the intellect. If we can not pass it through our mind, it won’t pass at all.

James would say, spiritual authenticity involves every part of our life, intellectual and the emotional and the behavioral.

Listen again: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (1:27)

Combine that verse with this: “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.” (2:8) Love your neighbor as yourself – look after orphans and widows, do you see the fit. The widow and the orphan are your neighbors, whether you share the same neighborhood or the same city or simply the same world, they are your neighbors. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” It is the “royal law of scripture. Therefore it is the religion that God accepts as pure and faultless.

His context for this is his discussion of favoritism in the church. Why he included this in his letter, we can only guess and the best guess is obvious. People would come to worship or come for the fellowship meal and those who were well off were treated with more courtesy and respect and love than those who had no money. 

So listen to James. It could have been written about any time in the history of the world.

2Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," 4have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (2:2-4)

When we love our neighbor as we love ourselves, when we love the vulnerable as well as the strong, or when we love the powerful as much as we love the weak, we discover this love is indivisible. Rooted in the love of God, our love simply refuses to give respect to some and then hold back on respect for others. This kind of love and respect is grounded in God’s love for all, not in our own natural inclinations.

(Can you see some principles of evangelism here?)

Or listen to this:

15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (2:14-17)

About now, you are ready to say, “OK, I’ve got it.”  But James will not let it go. And here he says something that could be addressed to Americans in the twenty first century.

19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.

When did we begin to call Christians “Believers”?  When did belief ever become the sole test of faith?  When did we ever develop the notion that saying “I believe in God” is the ultimate test of our faith?

James writes, you say that you believe that God exists? That’s nice. You and the demons share the same faith! The Devil believes in God. Does that make the devil a Christian?  Never!  Believing in God when it is only a matter of belief is useless. It fails the test of authenticity and integrity.

Listen again to James.

Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

Last week, I mentioned Gandhi. Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” was a primary source in the development of his philosophy. In many ways, he was a learner, a disciple of Jesus. But when he was asked about becoming a Christian, he said that Christians were his biggest problem. The behavior of Christians did not integrate with what they said they believed.

This last week, I came across a statement by Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America. He was addressing a conference about reaching people in an age of relativism.  “He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, Wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble.”  Then he asked them to use singled words to describe Christians, they said, “critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive.”

“There is a difference between knowing the good news and being good news,” Zander said. “We are the evidence!”

We began by asking, why would anybody ever accept an invitation to follow Jesus?   I am convinced that James would agree, they followed Jesus because they saw in him a kind of authenticity that they had never seen before. His behavior, his emotion, his belief, his intellect were all engaged in his life with God. Every part of his life was in harmony with every other part and when people saw it, they called him “the Son of God.”

I believe in evangelism. I believe that it is the last best hope of this planet.  And at the very center of evangelism is nothing other than the spiritual integrity and authenticity of we who have already decided to follow Jesus.

I must confess that the kind of perfect authenticity that I see in Jesus has eluded me. I cannot say that all parts of my life are always in perfect harmony. But I pray that God will continue God’s work in me.  And I pray that for you – for us all.

And until perfection is granted, I think that we must cling to these words from James.

Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (2:13)

What good news that is! Mercy triumphs over judgment. It is the way of God. May it be our way too, the way of mercy, mercy for all even as we pray for God’s mercy for ourselves.

Amen