Return to Sunday School Lessons_Jason Willis
A Study
In James – Part VII
3/29/09
Faith In
Action
James
2:14-26
Introduction
I would
like to begin this morning with a story that is perhaps somewhat familiar to
you. It is often used in
evangelism, but I think that it has appropriate application for what we are
studying today. There was a
tightrope walker who did incredible aerial feats.
All over
(pray)
I.
The
first thing we find out from James is that faith without works is dead (v.
14-17, 26). If we say we believe in
God but don’t do anything with it, it is not worth the oxygen we used to speak
the words. It is similar to me
telling my wife that I love her but never doing anything to show her that it is
true. It would be about the same as
wearing glasses without corrective lenses in them.
I’ve seen glasses in Wal-mart that are intended for fashion purposes only
– they have lenses in them but they have no correctional value at all.
I guess some people think they look better or more intelligent wearing
glasses, even though they have perfectly good eyesight.
This is what a lot of people do with their faith – they put it on to make
them look a little more moral, but it does nothing to actually change them.
The lives that they lead are really no different than the lives led by
most people in the world. They
think that they are pretty good people, but need that little extra measure to
improve on the “pretty good”. It’s
almost like a status symbol to say that they believe in God and go to a certain
church. James again uses an example
of someone in need coming to ask for help to explain what he means by faith
without works. I’m actually
starting to sense a theme here.
Anyway, he tells us that if we simply wish them well and send them on their way,
it is meaningless. Have you ever
gone to someone with a problem and gotten the pat Christian response of “I’ll be
praying for you”? Now, I want to
make it perfectly clear that I am not trying to down-play the power of or need
for prayer. But, if what you are asking
is for help in satisfying some physical need, the simple act of someone praying
for you is not necessarily satisfying that need.
As we talked about at the end of chapter 1, we have to be ready to
satisfy the physical needs of people; we have to care for them in a tangible way
for our faith to be authentic to them.
This is what James is talking about here – the real evidence that our
faith is actual saving faith and we believe what we say we believe.
He is talking to the issue of if we are living by our faith.
I recently experienced the acting out of the faith of believers in this
church when Andrea had her gall bladder surgery, and I didn’t even ask for help!
Several women in the church got together and provided very good meals for
my family for a few days so that I wouldn’t have to concern myself with it while
having to deal with everything else it takes to keep a household running.
These acts of kindness were hard evidence to me that the faith of these
women is real. James is not saying
here that it is the works themselves that save us, although there are many who
argue that perhaps James is contradicting the teachings of Paul on justification
by faith. But, rather, he is saying that
if our faith is true saving faith, then it will be revealed in our actions.
Once we have come to saving faith, we will begin doing what are called
“good works” out of love for and gratitude to our Savior.
God makes the change in us that is able to produce the works of which
James and the other writers talk about in the Word.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:19 that “every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
It seems that those that say they have faith but do not follow it up with
action are in for a surprise. These
are ones that have not experienced the regeneration the Holy Spirit gives
through faith in Christ. Because they
don’t have authentic faith, they are not producing any fruit to show evidence
that they have been changed.
Revelation 3:15-16 is a stern warning to the
II.
Secondly, although James doesn’t directly address it but the subject is implied,
works without faith are dead. A
person can say all the right things, do a lot of “good” things, treat others
with respect, and even go to church, but if they do not have faith, all of their
working has been in vain. A key
scripture for this truth is Ephesians 2:8-9.
Although I think pretty much all of us can quote it, I would like us to
turn there and examine it together (read).
Martin Luther sums it up very nicely in the following statement: “The
apostle [Paul] distinguishes between the law and faith, the letter and grace.
The ‘works of the law’ are works done without faith and grace, by the
law, which forces them to be done through fear or the enticing promise of
temporal advantages. But ‘works of
faith’ are those done in the spirit of liberty, purely out of love to God.
And they can be done only by those who are justified by faith.
An ape can cleverly imitate the actions of humans.
But he is not therefore a human.
If he became a human, it would undoubtedly be not by virtue of the works
by which he imitated man but by virtue of something else; namely, by an act of
God. Then, having been made a
human, he would perform the works of humans in proper fashion.
Paul does not say that faith is without its characteristic works, but
that it justifies without the works of the law.
Therefore justification does not require the works of the law; but it
does require a living faith, which performs its works.”
Whether or not people want to admit it, it is only by the grace of God
that any of us ever get an opportunity to serve Him and eventually be in His
presence for eternity. As we saw
last week, it only takes one sin to fall short of God’s perfect standard and
disqualify us from heaven. After
that, all of our working and striving to please God will not make up for that
offence because God’s holiness does not allow anything less than perfection to
be in His presence. That’s part of
why James told us that if we are guilty of one sin, it is as though we are
guilty of breaking the whole law.
By God’s grace, we are given the gift of faith.
Without this faith, it is impossible to please God, according to the book
of Hebrews. So, logically, any
works that we do outside this gift of faith accomplish nothing in regard to
saving us from the penalty of our sins or gaining favor with God.
We cannot earn our way to eternal life.
As we know, our salvation comes by God’s grace through the gift of faith
in the work accomplished by Christ.
Everyone wants to have significance in this life, but the only significance is
found by what we do as followers of Christ.
As was pointed out in our discussion last week, everything in creation
was made to glorify God and this cannot be done outside of faith in Him.
Let’s review a couple of other scriptures.
First, let’s turn to Matthew 7:21-23 (read).
In this passage, Jesus gives a picture of what judgment day will be like
for those who perform works without faith.
Clearly, the ones spoken of here thought they were doing their deeds in
the name of Christ, but they obviously had not been given a true saving faith in
Him. Their motivation seems to be
something other than love for the Savior.
They taught the scriptures, drove out demons, and performed miracles, but
for what purpose? It did them no
good because they were not given the gift of faith.
In the end, those that do seemingly “good” deeds but do not personally
know the Savior will be cast into the lake of fire.
Second, let’s turn to Revelation 3:1-2 (read).
This passage is addressing one of the seven churches, specifically the
church in
III.
The
third point that James makes is that faith in action is alive (v. 18).
The evidence that we have received the true saving faith in Christ from
God is that we are living out His Word.
We are helping those less fortunate in a God-honoring way.
We are studying His Word for the Truth and not seeking to justify
ourselves before Him through what we do.
We are sharing our faith in Christ with others on a regular basis.
We are doing everything He asks us to do without questioning it.
James gives us a couple of Old Testament examples in Abraham and Rahab.
Abraham put his faith in action by being willing to sacrifice the very
promised son that God gave to him late in his life.
James tells us that his faith and his actions were working hand-in-hand
to please God; that his faith was proven complete by his actions.
And then this faith was counted to him as righteousness.
Rahab put her faith in action by hiding the Jewish spies and sending them
on their way in a direction away from their pursuers so that they would not be
caught, even though her life would be in danger if she were found out.
God does not want us to come to saving faith in Christ and be done with
it; that is not His design. This
gift of faith is proven complete by what we do in His name and for His glory.
Faith and good works cannot be separated.
Let me demonstrate this with a parable.
An old boatman painted the word “faith” on one oar of his boat and
“works” on the other. He was asked
his reason for this. In answering,
he slipped the oar with “faith” into the water and rowed.
The boat, of course, made a very tight circle.
Returning to the dock, the boatman then said, “Now, let’s try ‘works’
without ‘faith’ and see what happens.”
The oar marked “works” was put in place and the boatman began rowing with
just the “works” oar. Again the
boat went into a tight circle, but in the opposite direction.
When the boatman again returned to the wharf, he interpreted his
experiment in these strong and convincing words.
“You see, to make a passage across the lake, one needs both oars working
simultaneously in order to keep the boat in a straight and narrow way.
If one does not have the use of both oars, he makes no progress either
across the lake or as a Christian.”
Faith and works complete each other.
We come to Christ through faith and then He gives us the ability and
desire to do His work through the Holy Spirit.
There are several passages of scripture that speak to this.
Ephesians 2:10, which follows the scripture showing us the fact that
salvation is by grace through faith, tells us, “For we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do.” Once we have come to faith
in Christ, we are told that our whole purpose becomes to do good works in the
Name of Christ, which God has already prepared for us to do.
If we are not doing them, something is terribly wrong.
Either we are living in staunch disobedience to God or we have not come
to saving faith – those are the only 2 things that can be true.
The Bible clearly says that Christians are to be actively performing good
works. This is backed up in several
other places (Titus 3:8, I Thessalonians 1:3, II Peter 1:5-11, I John 2:3-6
(already read previously)). The
Bible makes no bones about the Christian life being lived out in actions and
that we are to imitate the life of Christ.
But, how can we accomplish this?
Let’s turn to John 15:1-6.
This is a very familiar passage for those of us that have been in the church for
awhile (read). If we are in Christ,
we will bear fruit – we will do good works.
And Christ seems to be saying that we have to make a conscious effort to
remain connected to Him in order to continue bearing that fruit.
Without Him, we can do nothing.
As we grow, Christ “prunes” away the things in our lives that hinder our
growth so that we will produce even more fruit.
If we are not connected to Him through faith, we cannot and will not
produce any fruit. Faith and works
go together to produce a life that is pleasing to God – you cannot have one
without the other. True faith
produces the works and the works are the evidence of true faith.
They are interdependent in the life of the believer.
Conclusion
In
closing, let’s turn to I Samuel 2:3b (read).
God knows every person’s heart, He knows every action, and He knows every
motive behind every action. He
weighs our deeds and knows if they are derived from faith in Him or not.
James has challenged us to live out our faith because faith without
action is dead. Faith in action is
alive. What are some practical
things that we can do, even this week, to show that our faith is alive in us?
(pray)