James 1:17-27     NT p. 213 or 1507

1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1:18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

1:19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 1:20 for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.

1:21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

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

1:23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;

1:24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.

1:25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act - they will be blessed in their doing.

1:26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.

1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

NRSV (ComLec) (c) 1989 NCC

INTRODUCTION:

Last week Jeff and Diane Schwartz brought us a sack full of freshly picked pears. They're delicious. They're both tart and sweet. They're the kind that are perfect for pear pie and preserves.

And they got me to thinking about growing up. You see, we lived in a subdivision. Except for a few corner lots, all the houses had ˝ acre lots. Then there were the Wallaces. They lived across the street from us. And were great neighbors. It turned out that the Wallaces were one of the first families to buy a house in this particular subdivision and Mr. Wallace had actually purchased the largest lot available. It was a little over žs of an acre.

You know what he did with that property. He planted fruit trees. There were plums, peaches, pears, and apples a (both winesap and cooking). He also planted grapes, black berries, raspberries. What was so great about the Wallaces is that Mr. Wallace let us pick anything we wanted from most of the trees. His only stipulation was that we leave certain peach trees and the yellow cooking apples alone. He sold peaches to a couple of the grocery stores and Mrs. Wallace made pies and preserves from her apples.

I've got to tell you, there nothing quite as tasty as the first fruits of the summer. You see, in the spring, the trees would bloom and blossom. We would watch the blooms turn to buds. And we would watch the fruit begin grow.

Each day we would walk by and look to see how big the fruit was getting. We would look to see if any were close to being ripe. We'd pick a few green apples and pretend that we liked them. But what we were really looking was one with a little red on it. Or for the pears to get a little red or yellow on them. and for the plums to begin to shift from green to dark red or purple.

It always seemed like forever before they would ripen. And then one day, almost over night, almost miraculously, we would see one apple or one plum or one pear or one peach and it would be ripe. That piece of fruit was a week ahead of all the others but it was ripe enough to eat. So we picked it. We wiped it off and took that first bite.

The juices would squirt into your mouth and dribble down your chin. It was a little bit of heaven on earth. And from that moment on, throughout the whole summer, we would cut through the Wallace's yard on our way to play baseball or kickball or whatever we were doing, so we could get some of that fruit. But the best fruit of all, were the first fruits. The ones that ripened first. Partly because of our anticipation and expectation, they always seemed to be the juiciest and tastiest of the bunch. And, it was partly because they were. They were the first fruits.

In our passage of Scripture, James tells us to "become a kind of first fruits."

I. FIRST FRUITS:

What did he mean by that? How do we "become a kind of first fruits?"

Remember how I described those first few bites, as "a little bit of heaven on earth." Well that's what James wants us to be: "a little bit of heaven on earth."

James calls us to be the juiciest pieces of God's fruit. He calls us to be so juicy, so tasty and so inviting in our actions and character, that others will want to come back to sample what we have already received. They will want to wander through the orchard of God's grace and eat their fill.

That's why it is imperative that we be "doers of the Word and not just hears only."

We just can't go through the motions. We can't give lip service to Jesus. Either Jesus is who we say He is and He takes precedent in our lives or He's not and we're a bunch of frauds. There can't be any half way Christians.

To "be hearers of the Word only" is to be sort of like artificial fruit. It can be the best artificial fruit that money can buy. It may look real. It may smell real. It may even feel real. But the truth is it's only plastic, plaster, wood or wax. It's an imitation. It's for show only. It's for decoration. It has no nutritional value. It can't add to your life.

And that's the way it is with our spiritual lives. We can't go through the motions of worship or of being a Christian and expect to grow and make a difference. God has called us and set us aside for our nutritional value. God wants us to flavor the world. God wants us to "become a kind of first fruits" the juiciest and most inviting parts of the orchard of God's grace for others to see.

We are, in a very real sense, advertisements for the Kingdom of God.

II. ADS FOR THE KINGDOM:

A. That's partly what we're called to be through our lives, lifestyles, and relationships. We are advertisements for forgiveness. Advertisements for salvation. Advertisements for reconciliation. Advertisements for Grace. Advertisements for righteousness, honesty, integrity and all the other Christian virtues. We are walking advertisements for God.

Fourteen year old Stacey O'Rico has a new hit song in which she says:

"Don't look at me, if you're looking for perfection.
Don't look at me, I will only let you down.
Don't look at me, I'll try to point you in the right direction,
Don't look at me, look at Him."

We're not perfect, and we know it. We're not perfect but God doesn't want perfect Christians. God wants Christians who can be perfected. God wants Christians who will follow and do what is right. God wants Christians who can "become a kind of first fruits." God wants Christians who can be both hearers and doers of the Word by living out the teachings and promises of Christ.

B. Let me give you an example. One of my favorite places for fast food is Chick-fil-A. I'm one of those chicken eatin' Methodists and just can't seem to get enough chicken.

Do you know what the corporate motto of Chick-fil-A is? "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on other people who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

That motto is emblazoned on a brass plaque in the entrance of their corporate headquarters. That motto is the reason that Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, losing what some say is about 20% in sales. And that motto is the reason they won't make a public stock offering. If they did, they probably wouldn't be able to do some of the things they do.

Chick-fil-A mirrors the values and image of it's founder and CEO, S. Truett Cathy. Mr. Cathy is a deeply religious and committed Christian man who believes in putting people first. That may be why Chick-fil-A only has a 4 percent employee turnover rate, which is an unheard of low figure in the fast food business. (1)

I experienced their corporate vision of putting people first through a family in one of our churches. A young girl had worked at Chick-fil-A for two weeks. She had just finished her training and was ready to begin work "for real," as she said. Only she never got the opportunity. You see, she died in an automobile accident.

Both the owner and manager of the Chick-fil-A were at the funeral and sent cards and letters of condolence to the family. There were flowers from both the local store and from the corporate office.

But the topper was the fact that the corporate office sent considerable money to the family to help with funeral expenses. They didn't have to do that. They were under no obligation. This young lady was just a part time employee. She hadn't earned any benefits yet. But this company put their faith into practice and fulfilled their corporate motto. They were good stewards and they glorified God.

Now, I love their ad campaign. I love the cows who can't spell. I love the food. But I will continue to patronize Chick-fil-A because they live out their corporate motto. And they live out the message of James. They are "doers of the Word and not hearers only." And as a consequence, they have "become a kind of first fruits" of God's Kingdom. They invite others to be like them and they make the faith inviting and tasty .

CONCLUSION:

A man walked into the hardware store and asked where the self-help section was. The clerk apologized and said: "I'm sorry, but you'll have to figure that out for yourself." (2)

A lot of people are going through life having been given that advice. Their trying to figure out life all by themselves. They're looking for life. They're looking for direction. They're looking for the feast that will satisfy all their hungers and quench their thirsts.

You and I have found it. But we can't hoard it. We're called to "become a kind of first fruits." We're called to become juicy and tasty and inviting in our lives and lifestyles so that others may be led into the orchard of God's Redeeming Grace. And there they will be able feast upon the banquet that only Christ can offer. The banquet that is laid out for us today.

But the invitation comes from us; the ripe and juicy first fruits of God's Kingdom.

"Become a kind of first fruit." Be "doers of the Word and not hearers only." Don't let others have to figure it out for themselves. Be inviting.

________________________________

Bibliography

1. Based on an article in Focus On The Family, September 2000, Vol. 24, No. 9. (Focus On The Family, Colorado Springs, CO, 2000) pp. 2-4.

2. The Pastor's Story File (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), September 2000.

3.

4.

Homiletics, September/October 2000, Volume 12, Number 5. (Communications Resources, Inc., Canton, OH)

Dynamic Preaching, July/Aug/Sept 2000 Vol XV, No. 3. (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)

www.SermonWriter.com (Copyright, Richard Niell Donovan, 2000)

Emphasis, September-October 2000, Sermon Prep Version. (CSS Publishing, Lima, OH)