There has been a long theological debate – lasting millennia – about the relative importance of faith and works. As Protestants, we may recall that this was one of the key turning points of the Reformation with Luther and others arguing that we are saved by faith alone.

I think it would have been fun – and informative – to host a debate between the apostle Paul and the writers of the Gospel of Matthew and the letters of James and John. Paul and John insist that we are saved by faith alone yet encourage their communities to act with compassion towards the poor and needy. Matthew and James insist that it is our works of mercy and compassion that demonstrate our faith and that without them our faith is useless. Yet each of these writers assumes we have faith in God.

In this week’s parable about the sheep and the goats it is interesting that faith is never mentioned as a criterion for obtaining eternal life – whether faith in God or faith in Jesus. Instead it is whether people have shown practical love to the hungry, the homeless and the stranger. This is consistent with the teaching and ministry of Jesus presented throughout Matthew’s Gospel. What is at stake is how our faith is lived out in practice.

Our challenge is finding the right balance between our beliefs and how we live, which are like two sides of a coin. One way forward is by taking to heart verses like Micah 6:8:

God has shown you, O human, what is good:
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice
and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God.

We will be holding a Zoom worship meeting this Sunday morning from 9.45 am. I will host the meeting from my home but it will be an opportunity to hold a larger (virtual) gathering and to see each others’ faces. We will be basing our worship on the attached worship@home resource for this week, so it would be handy to have a copy present. We can send you a link to the meeting or a phone number and meeting details if you sign up by emailing the Croydon UC church office on office@croydon.unitingchurch.org.au or using the form in the sidebar.

Click here for worship@home resources