FAITH’S LIFESTYLE
James 2:14-18 KJV
One sunny Sunday morning, Henry Jones awoke to find his wife standing over him, shaking him by the shoulder.
"You have to get up," she urged. "We have to get ready for church."
"I don’t want to go to church," he replied. "I want to stay in bed."
Crossing her arms over her chest, his wife demanded, "Give me three good reasons why you should stay in bed and not go to church."
"OK," he answered. "First, I don’t get anything out of the service. Second, I don’t like the people there. And third, no one there likes me. Now can you give me three good reasons why I should go to church?"
His wife responded, "First, it will do you some good. Second, there are people who really do like you, and they’ll miss you if you aren’t there. And third, you’re the minister!"
Christian influence is no small matter.
According to Rick Warren, there are two basic reasons people don’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior:
(1) they have never met a Christian; and
(2) They have met a Christian.
The Word must get out
Discoverers
The Portuguese, Spanish, and English kept secret their first discoveries on the West African, and South and North American coasts. An essentially economic decision, each country wanted to preserve a monopoly on whatever resources it found there. To protect their findings, maps and charts of the voyages were often kept in a lockbox aboard ship with two locks and two keys. When the mariners returned home, their documents went into state archives to shield them from prying eyes. The records from Francis Drake’s epochal world cruise were hidden from the public for ten years. They were so well hidden, in fact, that they have never been found.
Christians have been like the explorers: we have kept secret the knowledge of our discoveries in Christ. Truth must be shared, not hoarded. It reaches its greatest victory in sharing, not in acquiring. Christians cannot withhold Scripture from the unsaved hoping everyone will somehow get to where we are in faith. That might work in geography, but not in spiritual life. God must reveal himself before we can understand him. Thus Christians must communicate what God has revealed in Christ. Very few people will ever find out about God on their own. How will they ever find their way to heaven unless they have Christ’s map?
James 2:14-18 KJV
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
James’ theme is "faith." But here faith is not saving faith, or justifying faith. James’ theme is practical: he looked at the lifestyle, which is to be produced by faith in Jesus. James knew, with Paul, that true faith generates obedience, and so he gently encouraged the early Jewish church to live a life that was worthy of their profession of Jesus as the Christ
1. Theological beliefs--are yours active or dead?
A USA Today/CNN Gallup Poll was disclosed in December of 1994 with some interesting research on what Americans say they believe.
Of those polled, 90% believe in heaven. Only 73% think there is an opposite of heaven, even though the word for that fiery place is probably part of their daily vocabulary. Believers in angels number 72%. But less than 65% are convinced that the devil cannot make you do anything. While there is an increase in the past decade, of those who believe in theological absolutes, more folks also believe in reincarnation and psychic contact with the dead.
Today there is more openness about what people believe. Yet those beliefs will not necessarily secure for them a place in heaven. The Bible says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder" (James 2:19 NIV) There must be some evidence that your beliefs have transformed your life to the point that righteous actions are visible. God inspired this warning: " Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." (James 2:17 KJV).
Faith and works
Two gentlemen were crossing the river in a little boat. They began to argue about faith and works. The man who was rowing them across the river was a fine, enlightened Christian and on hearing their discussion he turned to them and said, "I believe I can solve your difficulty. I hold in my hands two oars. The one I call faith and the other works. Now watch it. I pull the oar of faith alone. You see, we can only go around and around; we cannot go forward. Now I pull the oar of works; again we move around and around. Now, see, I pull both of them together and on we go." Then the Christian ferryman added his conclusion, "In my opinion, a faith without works is dead, or works without faith will not suffice" (James 2:26).
2. The Difference the Church Makes
In the vanishing morality, compassion, and of the world, the church continues to be the only institution that can offer a better life for the lost and downtrodden through salvation in Jesus Christ.
The need to speak
A man who had been led to see his sinfulness and his fearful doom, being surprised that he was allowed to go on quietly in his obstinate lifestyle, exclaimed, "No one ever spoke to me of my salvation." There were in the place many Christians who professed to long for the conversion of souls. If he had been sick, someone would have sent for a physician. If he had been starving, someone would have given him bread. If he had been naked, someone would have clothed him. But his soul was wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, yet no one pitied him. He was banned, he was shunned, but he was not treated as a fellow-creature whose soul was exposed to eternal wrath ought to be treated.
Is there any one living near you that can say, "No one ever spoke to me of my salvation"? You talk about the weather and the crops, and births, accidents, and deaths: do you ever speak to anyone about Jesus? Do you ever affectionately tell any to flee from the wrath to come? If not, is it kind? Is it faithful? Is it honest to your Christian profession? Does it accord with your prayers? Can you consistently pray for a revival of religion? Can you have any compassion for souls or any love for Christ? Never let anyone die in your neighborhood, or even live there long, and be able to say, "No one ever spoke to me of my salvation." A tear, a sigh, a kind word, a pressure of the hand of Christian sympathy, a verse of the Bible, a page of religious reading, with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, may save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins. "It is the fact
Temporary Faith
What does that mean, give Him our life? Can we give our life to someone only one day a week, or only a few hours a week? Is that really giving someone your life? Picture This: I am going to give you a car. It’s a nice car, it runs well. I like Chevy’s so lets say I am giving you a 2002 Chevy whatever (Suburban if you like SUV’s, Camaro, if you like sports cars, whatever your preference). I am going to give you this car. You’d be excited wouldn’t you? A nice new car to drive around. There’s just one catch- you can only have the car one morning a week. The rest of the time it stays at my house and you can not use it. Oh yeah- by the way, that one morning a week I will come to your house and pick you up. You can ride in the passenger seat. We will only go where I want to go, and after a few hours, I will drop you off again until the next week. Not quite the same is it. But we do this, we let God ride around in our passenger seat once or twice a week. We take Him where we want to go, or we take Him to church, and then we call it good.
3. Our acceptance of responsibility
James 1:12-15. Faith brings the believer a new sense of personal responsibility.
Called to be faithful as God us
God is faithful, and He expects His people to be faithful. God’s Word speaks of faithful servants, faithful in a few things, faithful in the least, faithful in the Lord, faithful ministers. And all points up that day when He will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
What terrible times we have in our churches trying to keep people faithful in attendance and loyalty! How we reward and picnic and coax and tantalize church members into doing things they don’t want to do but which they would do if they loved God! The only service that counts is faithful service.
True faith shows up in faithfulness. Not everyone one can sing or preach, but all can be faithful.
4. Old Faithful
Old Faithful is not the largest geyser in Yellowstone National Park, nor does it reach the greatest height. But it is by far the most popular one. Why? It is regular and dependable, hence its name, “Old Faithful.”
God never goes to the lazy or idle when He needs men for His service--
Moses was busy with his flocks at Horeb.
Gideon was busy threshing wheat.
Saul was busy searching for his father’s lost sheep.
Elisha was busy plowing with twelve yoke of oxen.
Amos was busy following the flock.
Nehemiah was busy bearing the king’s cup.
Peter and Andrew were busy casting a net into the sea.
James and John were busy mending their nets.
Matthew was busy collecting customs.
Let’s all get busy at this great work and the Lord will use and bless us.
Faithful in much
When Eric Liddell, Olympic hero turned missionary, sensed the need for a pastor in the rural Chinese area of Siaochang, he volunteered, knowing it meant prolonged separation from his wife and children. He began his work there in 1937, just as Japan invaded China.
Though Eric’s district covered 10,000 square miles, he faithfully covered it by foot or bicycle, visiting churches, preaching, and evangelizing in all conditions. But the encroaching war made his work difficult, and bullet-dodging became routine. Weddings, baptisms, and sermons occurred against the cacophony of gunfire.
On one of his forays, he heard of a man wounded by the Japanese and left to die in a temple 20 miles away. No one would help him for fear of reprisals, so Eric detoured to the spot, found the man, and loaded him in a borrowed cart, determined to get him to a hospital. But that night, Eric slept little. He worried about the danger to which he had exposed himself. If the Japanese caught him, he would surely be killed on the spot. Finally Eric rose from bed, wrapped his old sheepskin coat around him, and reached for his Chinese Bible. As he opened it, his eyes fell on Luke 16:10: “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”
The words seemed straight from the Lord, and Eric returned to bed and slept soundly.
The next morning Japanese troops were everywhere, but for some reason they didn’t search Eric’s cart, and he made his way out of the territory. Along the way, he rescued another victim whose neck had been slashed execution-style by the Japanese. They arrived at the hospital at last. The first man died, but the second one recovered to eventually become an outstanding Chinese Christian artist.
She Hath Done What She Could
Inscription on the tombstone of the blind hymnist Fanny J. Crosby of responsibility that makes existence so solemn a thing."
H. W. Beecher says that "some churches are like lighthouses, built of stone, so strong that the thunder of the sea cannot move them . . ." The light that shines from these churches is the light of Christ shining through his believers. Sinners are not reached solely through the church’s ceremony, pomp, beautiful music or largeness--they are reached through the Christlikeness of its individual members.
