I want to start today’s service with a joke. There was this very rich man who lived in the United States, who had heard of a man that lived in France that was very famous for walking the tightrope. According to what he had heard, the Frenchman had the reputation of walking the tightrope at high altitudes, while blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow; however, this was something that the American couldn’t believe. The American then wrote to the Frenchman and said; I don’t believe that what I’ve heard about you is true; I don’t believe that there is a person who can do what you're credited with. However, I offer you a million dollars to come to the United States, and perform your act over Niagara Falls and walk the tightrope from Canada to New York. The Frenchman immediately replied and said that he would do it.
The day of performance finally came, and many gathered to see this dangerous act. The Frenchman climbed up to the tightrope, someone blindfolded him, and then he started to walk across it pushing the wheelbarrow, while the American looked on and waited for him at the other end of the rope. Everyone was fascinated to see the agility that this man demonstrated while walking, and he soon crossed from one side to another without any problems. Upon reaching the other side, the Frenchman approached the American and said: do you believe that I can do this? To which the American responded; I just finished seeing you with my own eyes, this was something impressive. And the Frenchman answered; no, no, do you believe that I can do this? To which the American answered; we all saw what you did, it was something genuinely worthy of appreciation. And the Frenchman replied; but do you believe that I can do this? And the American answered; I just finished witnessing it with my eyes, of course I believe. To which the Frenchman answered; then get in the wheelbarrow, we are going back. Funny, isn’t it? This joke serves to illustrate the subject that we will be exploring today. Today we are going to explore our faith. Let’s now turn to the Word of God.
James 2:14-26 - What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
One of the more serious problems that has confronted Christ’s church from the very beginning is that through history, and at present time, there are many that profess the Christian faith, but that do nothing or very little to prove their faith. In other words, that don’t behave and act in the ways that a Christian should. How must Christians act and behave? The main way that Christians should act and behave is clearly defined in 1 Peter 1:16 when we read: “…Be holy, for I am holy...” In other words, we have to persevere in leading a holy life. But this is something that we are not always willing to do.
I would say that one of the greatest temptations that we confront is to profess our faith, and not having works to back it up. But the truth is that faith without works is a contradiction in terms. Now, I want to make a brief pause here to clarify something. I want to do this because some may think that there is a contradiction between what Paul teaches about salvation, as found in Ephesians 2:8-9 when we read: “…For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast…” And what James teaches us in these verses; however, there is no contradiction at all.
I say this because when Paul first visited the church in Ephesus, he found that there were only twelve believers in the entire city. And these twelve believers had been won over for the Lord by the immature and pompous Apolos. As a result, they had been misinformed about the presence of the Holy Spirit. They appeared to have a lack of consciousness about the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, and that He was already present in the world[1]. All of this is something that is clearly illustrated in Acts 19:1-7 when we read: “…And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7Now the men were about twelve in all…” As we can appreciate with this here, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul was focusing his message to all of those who had not yet received salvation, and James epistle is more focused for those who already had received salvation. Therefore, we can confidently say that James’ teaching are not a contradiction, but rather that it teaches us that once we have received salvation, and that we establish a genuine relationship with God, then works that reflect our relationship with God must flow from within us[2]. Keeping this clarification in mind, let’s now continue with our study for today.
In order for you to have a better understanding of what I’m trying to relay to you today, let’s look at all of this from a modern perspective. Now I ask: can an automobile work without gasoline? The answer to this question is NO. Just like an automobile can’t work without gasoline, our faith will not be able to properly function without works. In other words, for our faith to be effective, it has to be accompanied and nourished by works. And this is why here we find that we are told: “…What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?..” This here is a crucial point. I say this because saying that we have faith is something very easily done; saying that we have faith is something that easily flow from our lips, but just because we are able to utter these words doesn’t mean that we possess a genuine faith.
The truth of the matter is that we are capable of saying many things, but words are cheap and what really counts are our actions. This is the main point that James is making in these verses, and it’s the main point that I want to make very clear today. It’s extremely important to understand that our faith must be accompanied by works. What works am I referring to? Works in the sense that when we genuinely accept Christ in our heart, then a drastic change must occur in our life. This is something that is better expressed by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when we read: “…Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new…”
The truth of the matter is that if we say that we have genuinely accepted Christ, then we can’t continue to lead a life in the same fashion that we once did. We can’t continue to lead a sinful life, but rather we must strive towards holiness. This is why in Ephesians 4:22 we find that we are told: “…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts…” We can’t say that we possess a genuine faith if a radical change has not taken place in our life. By professing that we are Christians and not to changing we only lie to ourselves.
Professing that we are Christians and not changing is just a bunch of empty words, because if we don’t change our heart will never be in the appropriate place, as we in fact are not living for Christ.
This concept is something that is well reflected in the words of our Lord as found in Matthew 15:8 when we read: “…These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me…” Allow me to explain the main point that I’m trying to make in a different way. Let’s say that an adulterer, or fornicator, or homicidal, or homosexual person arrives to church. Let’s say that this person at that time repents of their sins, and declares that he/she has accepted Christ as the Lord and Savior; up to here everything is well and good. But let’s also say that once this person leaves the church he/she continues in the same sins. Can we honestly say that this person truly received Christ as the Lord and Savior? The answer is NO. The truth of the matter is that this person acted out of emotion and not conviction.
We must always bear in mind what James teaches about faith, and we must constantly reflect on our life. I say this because if we think that we are saved, but continue to lead a sinful life, in other words, we continue to disobey God’s Word, then we must know that we’re lying to ourselves. The reality is that continuing to lead our life without persevering in holiness only produces a feigned faith, and a feigned faith will never allow us to enter God’s kingdom. This is something that is very well stated by the Lord in Revelation 22:14-15 when we read: “…Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie…” And this is exactly why if we say that we are Christians, then our faith must be accompanied by works.
I also want us to note something here that is of the utmost importance. The Word of God tells us: “…If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?..” Now I’m going to say something that perhaps may upset some. These verses here directly deal with a material need; they directly deal with a physical need. Now I ask, do we at times behave in the way that is described in these verses upon seeing the needs of others? Needless to say that not everyone here will act or behave in this fashion, but the sad truth is that most do. However, if we behave and act in this fashion, then we must recognize that if being able to help others, and the key words here are “being able”, we don’t do it, then our faith is in fact dead. In other words, our faith is not producing the desired results that God wants it to produce.
In the verses that we are exploring today we see that James makes reference to Abraham and Rahab, and this is something of extreme importance. I say this because Abraham’s faith was not the only thing that justified him in God’s eyes. Abraham’s faith was accompanied by works. I say this because Abraham obeyed God, and he was willing to give God the very best that he could give Him. Abraham was willing to offer unto God his only begotten son as a sacrifice. This is something that is clearly stated in Genesis 22:9-10 when we read: “…Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son…”
Rahab’s faith was not the only thing that saved her; Rahabs faith was accompanied by works. What type of faith did Rahab have? The answer to this question is well reflected when Rahab, after having received orders from the King of Jericho to throw out the spies from her home, approached the men and said: “…I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you…” (Joshua 2:9). Tell the person sitting next to you: Rahab had an undoubting faith.
By faith and through faith Rahab knew that God had given Jericho to the Israelites, and it was this faith that led her to hide the spies in her home, and to show them the safe path that they must take to avoid being captured. This is something that is clearly reflected in Joshua 2:15-16 when we read: “…Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. 16And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way…”
With these two examples we clearly see that faith has to be accompanied by works. Let’s never forget that faith without works does not speak of God’s love, power, mercy and sovereignty. Let’s never forget that faith without works will not serve to edify the church, but rather to discredit God.
In conclusion; in Matthew 5:16 we find that the Lord tells us: “…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven…” What is the Lord telling us with this? With this the Lord clearly tells us that our faith must be accompanied by works. Why are works so important? The reason is because our works is our behavior; our Works is what reveals to the non believer the identity of our God. Our works and our behavior is what tells the world that we serve the King of King and the Lord of Lords. Our faith accompanied by works is what separates us from this sinful and wicked world.
Let’s never forget that: “…For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also…” I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I’ve told you today. I’ve not said that we can be saved by works, anyone who says this is very, but very wrong.
Salvation is only through faith and the redeeming work and grace of God. However, I do say that if our faith is not accompanied by works, then we can’t say that we have a genuine faith. Just like the rich man in the joke that I told you at the beginning of the service, it’s quite easy to say that we can believe, and that we do believe; however, the question is: will you get in the wheelbarrow?
[1] The Preachers Outline and Sermon Bible. Chapter 13: Revelations
[2] Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Theology of James.
