F + 0 = 0 Series

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK SERIES

F + 0 = 0

JAMES 2:14-26

#JAMESatCCC

INTRODUCTION… Math Woes (p)

How many of you here like math… enjoy math… maybe have dreams about being a math teacher? You people are strange. I dislike math and it is all math’s fault.

My dislike for math started when I was in the 3rd grade when my teacher decided to skip teaching our class fractions and I never learned them. She was ultimately fired for not teaching and not grading any papers… but for me the damage was already done and to this day I do not do fractions well.

My dislike for math continued the next year in the 4th grade, now in a new school because the other school had teachers who didn’t teach, when I was put in the gifted program and selected for the math team. The very first meeting of the math team was also my last meeting. We arrived and sat at large tables. They gave us a bright red floppy book full of math problems. We were to do the first page. Everyone else did them and got them mostly right. My page was mostly blank because I had no idea what was going on. Math made me feel stupid.

My dislike for math continued in the 6th grade when I was introduced to this thing called “integers.” Negative numbers made absolutely sense to me. I went after school to tutoring, doing flash cards with my parents, struggling through homework and ended up with a mantra… “integers are my life.” One day it did finally click and we were all so thankful.

Fast forward to my senior year… after football I was on the basketball team playing left bench, in Trigonometry, and in the running to be Valedictorian. My Trig grade dropped to a D- which would push me out of the running for Valedictorian as I was one hundredth of a point over my competitor who to this day is probably smarter than me. I quit basketball to get my math grade up. Math made me a quitter.

I don’t like math. Math is not my friend.

I don’t like math so I hope you understand how much it pains me to bring you a math equation today that is an expression of James 2:14-26. As I was reading and praying over James 2:14-26, a math equation came into my mind. It’s very troubling, but the math equation is an expression of what James teaches us.

READ James 2:14-26

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If 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? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But 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. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder. 20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

The math equation is a two-parter that leads us to the truth that James is talking about…

F + 0 = 0

F = D

I want to take a look at each of these, but first I want to define ‘faith’ since it is the ‘F’ in both equations.

FAITH

ILLUSTRATION... Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1995, pages 438-439

ILLUSTRATION… Vines Complete Expository Dictionary, 1996, page 222

“Faith is the belief in or confident attitude toward God involving commitment to His will for one’s life.” That is a dictionary definition of faith... literally… I got it from a Bible dictionary. Faith can also be described as “firm conviction based on personal surrender.” I want you to notice that in that definition of faith there is a mental or will aspect of belief and confidence in God, but there is also an action part in that there is commitment and surrender to His will. Commitment is action. Surrender is action. Faith is not a belief only. Faith is not a thought only. Faith is not intent only. It starts there, but actual faith ends up in commitment and action and personal surrender to God.