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Faith and Good Works

Oct 25
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

James 2:14–18

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 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? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.  18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

This was not a favorite text for Martin Luther, but it is a favorite text of mine.  James 2:17 was the guiding verse for the work of my former employer, The James Company.  We used to say to the congregations with which we worked that we hoped to be a catalyst to help people’s faith show forth in good works.  Faith and good works belong together. (more…)

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Who Shapes Our Faith?

Sep 26
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Philippians 1:3–5

3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.

St. Paul says more positive things about the Philippians and to the Philippians than to any of the other churches he encountered in his missionary journeys.  It is as if they were his favorite congregation.  What struck me this morning was that he thanked God every time he remembered them.  Then, I started thinking.  Who are the people who shared the gospel with me?  Whom do I remember?  What amazes me is that there are people I remember who were significant, but I don’t even remember their names. (more…)

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Faith and Trust

Sep 12
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Hebrews 11:23–25

23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

This letter to the Hebrews is intended to enable first century Jews to believe in God’s action in Jesus.  The author connects the Old Testament with what happened in the life and death and ministry of Jesus.  In this section the author speaks about the faith of people in the Old Testament. (more…)

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Faith and Acts of Love

Jun 23
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Galatians 5:2–6

2 Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. 4 You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

I am glad that this is not the subject for my Vacation Bible School lesson today with Kindergarteners, 1st graders, 2nd graders, and 4th graders.  In fact, this is not something I would choose for a topic of a Sunday morning sermon.  But, it is there as the lesson for today in the daily lectionary.  What I can quite simply say is that St. Paul is teaching us that faith is more important than anything we do to our bodies to show that we belong. (more…)

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The Gift of Faith

Jun 20
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

1 Corinthians 12:1–3

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever made a list of the gifts that God has given you, what can be called gifts of the Spirit?  These are not spiritual gifts because they are different from our other skills and abilities.  In fact, they are not different from any of the abilities we were born with.  They are spiritual gifts, because we sense that God deserves the credit for our having them. (more…)

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Faith of Moses

Mar 04
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Hebrews 11:23–28

23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

This is from the section of the letter to the Hebrews in which the author is speaking of the faith of Old Testament heroes such as Moses, Noah, Abraham, Rahab, Samson, and King David.  They had faith in God.  They trusted in God. (more…)

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Life Now and for Eternity

Feb 01
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

James 5:1–6

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2 Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth- eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. 4 Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

I know Martin Luther did not like the book of James.  It did not reflect Luther’s understanding that we are saved by God’s grace through faith.  The book of James still is part of the Bible and is part of God’s Word.  What are we to do with this text, which is not very pleasant to read? (more…)

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St. Peter and Christian Unity

Jan 18
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Matthew 16:13–18

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

In the church calendar of my Lutheran Church this is a minor festival day.  It is called the Confession of St. Peter and marks the beginning of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.”  One of my confirmation students was asked by a friend, “Why doesn’t the Lutheran Church have saints?  Why don’t you have days to honor Mary?”  The student passed the question on to me.  (more…)

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Hannah’s Faithfulness

Dec 21
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

1 Samuel 1:23–28

23 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only — may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh; and the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. 27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD.” She left him there for the LORD.

Many of the lessons in the daily lectionary for this week are dealing with “childless women.”  How ironic since Mary was pregnant at a very young age and in a very unexpected way.  The above text from 1 Samuel is about Hannah, who gave birth to Samuel.  She is fulfilling her promise to the LORD, the promise she made when she was barren and prayed for a son.  She is going to leave Samuel with Eli, the priest. (more…)

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Worry

Nov 19
Posted by Pastor Howard White in Devotionals

Matthew 6:25–34

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

As I was preparing adult Bible studies on Matthew recently, I noticed something that struck me.  There are ten verses in the Sermon on the Mount dealing with worry.  But, there are only ten verses that make up the Beatitudes.  The Beatitudes cover a whole range of human situations.  The ten verses on worry cover only one human situation.  Jesus seems to have known that worry would be a problem for many of us. (more…)

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