Our passage today from James talks about this often controversial passage from James of faith and action.
I would like to read it from Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase (The Message) this morning and then we will look at 3 sections individually from the NLT version.
James 2:14-26The Message (MSG)
Faith in Action
14-17 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
21-24 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
These are strong words from the apostle James. He does not have really kind words to say to the church members who were reading this letter that circulated to the churches. Among James’ readers were those who saw no correlation between what they believed and how they behaved. They gave lip service to the faith and then went home and did as they pleased. I would argue that many who call themselves Christians today do the same.
Jeanne Orjala Serrao, author of the New Beacon Bible Commentary writes:
“Too often professing Christians fool themselves into believing all they need to do is confess their sins and accept certain articles of faith. They see no need to become involved in the lives of the poor and oppressed. They surround themselves with like-minded people and forget about the rest of the world. – These are the type of people James is trying to awaken in this passage.”
Let’s take a look and break down this passage into smaller points and see what James was saying to his readers, and what it means for us today.
I. Walk the walk (James 2:14-17)
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
James is not the first biblical writer to condemn ritual piety. Both Amos (2:4-16) and Micah 6:6-8 condemned those who were outwardly pious but did not accompany that piety with justice for the poor.
What do we typically set as the standards by which we judge whether a person is saved or not? (smoking, drinking, church attendance, giving to a church…). These ritualistic things are not the things that Jesus talked about as being the measures of who would inherit eternal life or not. In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus said that those who were his disciples were the ones who would feed, clothe, and visit those who were poor and oppressed. These actions were actually the things that determined eternal life or punishment – not the things we typically think of within the church.
Don’t get me wrong – James is not refuting Paul’s doctrine of salvation by faith alone – he is only refuting those who abuse that. The two things that are opposed to one another in this passage are not faith and actions, but rather a living faith and a dead faith.
Brennan Manning, author of the Ragamuffin gospel writes “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”
This may seem outrageous to hear – but I can attest to seeing this with my own eyes time and time again. Many of you know I work at an inner-city Mission and I often talk with people who have been so wounded by some who call themselves Christians that they want nothing to do with the one called Christ – assuming Christ is like his followers.
Often times people are giving a verbal blessing - and encouraged to better themselves but shown no action of blessing to go along with those words. Abraham Maslow, a psychologist who studied many different aspects of human needs pointed out that expecting someone to move beyond their poverty when their basic needs are not met is ridiculous. Every human being on the planet has the same basic needs – beginning with physiological needs such as shelter, food, air and clothing. Then needs for safety, and then love and belonging. Only then can they begin to develop some esteem and actually internalize statements of blessing or well wishes. Simply put, if a human does not know where their next meal is coming from, or where they will be able to sleep tonight, they cannot focus on anything else. A simple example of this is demonstrated in my department at the Mission – Transition Services. Among the things we do is we plan a field trip about once every other month to do something fun usually outside of the city and give opportunity to experience new things and learn from different environments within Manitoba. Although we invite many of our clients to join us, there is often a much smaller number who come from the shelter than those who come from our supportive housing. Those who are still staying in an emergency shelter cannot get past basic survival to be able to go and enjoy even one day of fun. They are too consumed with making sure their most basic of needs are met – and the assurance that we will care for their needs for the outing isn’t adequate enough – because when they return then will be back to survival again.
II. Faith and Action – Hand in Glove
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.[a] Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
In this passage it seems James is trying to distinguish between 2 kinds of faith:
- Mental assent, an intellectual faith or decision of faith AND
- A Faith of such deep conviction that it affects the very core of a person’s being to the point it is obvious in one’s conduct in everyday life.
For example – I can say I believe in caring for the creation – taking care of the environment. And maybe I do believe it is a good thing – but does that lead me into making choices based on that opinion - for example – not buying certain products because of their packaging, or what they have been grown with– or is it more a philosophical idea, but not something ever put into practice?
You probably know the old proverbial saying: “Actions speak louder than words.” – But how true it is. If I say I care about the creation – but I make no efforts in my daily life to reduce my impact on it – then people are unlikely to believe I really do care about the environment.
If I confess faith in Christ but live my life the same as every other person in my neighbourhood – then they are unlikely to believe that I really do have faith in Christ.
Our faith should be evident in our lives – it should transform us. Faith is not only an intellectual belief in God – James says in verse 19 – even the demons believe that – and shudder. But they are not transformed by the power of that belief.
If someone were to watch your life – would they know of your faith by watching you – even if you didn’t say a thing about Christ?
Now many of you have been through this already – but we are in the stage of parenting a young child – there is no greater opportunity to examine whether your words line up with your actions when you have a built in copy-cat. One of the most endearing things is to hear your child give prayers that are reflective of your own, and one of the most horrifying things is to hear the attitude and tone come through in another moment that is a reflection of your own. Talk about a reminder of putting faith into action – not only talking the talk but walking the walk.
III. Our OT examples
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”[b] He was even called the friend of God.[c] 24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 26 Just as the body is dead without breath,[d] so also faith is dead without good works.
Here James gives us two OT examples of people who had a living faith – demonstrated by their actions.
The story of Abraham he refers to is the one that we read earlier in the service. What an extreme example of faith! He believed God would provide a way. I cannot imagine being tested to that point. God had promised Abraham that he would be the Father of many nations – and this was the son of the promise – and now God was asking him to sacrifice him – and he obeyed and did as God asked. Some commentators say that Abraham trusted that God would provide a lamb – perhaps that God would raise Isaac back from the dead – but we do not know for sure. The passage never tells us what either Abraham or Isaac were feeling as this was carrying itself through. As they were on their way to the place of sacrifice Isaac asks where the lamb is – and Abraham says that God will provide it – and obeys as God has commanded him. I can’t imagine what would be going through Isaac’s head either in that moment as his father has his hand raised over him ready to slay him with the knife. I imagine he would have been crying or screaming – but the text doesn’t tell us that. It simply says that Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. And then, just before he brought his knife down to kill his son – the angel of the Lord intervenes and provides a ram. It’s amazing to me that Abraham and Isaac have a relationship after this point. But obviously this was a grand example of Abraham’s faith and Isaac saw the extent to which his father was willing to act on faith.
And an example from the other end of the spectrum – Rahab – a gentile prostitute who is also one who is remembered for her faith- she believed and put her faith into action – hiding those who were coming to destroy her people and helping them escape – trusting in God to care for her and her family. It certainly was not her piety that showed she was righteous – she was an obvious sinner and from a non-believing people – but her hiding the spies demonstrated her faith in God. In many ways she showed more faith that many of the Jews who called themselves followers – but doubted and questioned and disobeyed God over and over again.
Conclusion:
So if you are I believe – what are we doing about it? In practical everyday terms – how does someone know of your faith from watching your life?
- Do you show love to a neighbour whom you know cannot repay you? – giving without expecting anything in return?
- Do you step out in generosity – trusting God to provide – giving him your offering off the top of your pay check – or only once you feel secure that the other needs have been met?
- Do you share with those in need & administer justice – caring for the poor, and oppressed, for orphans and widows?
“Just as we conclude that there is wind when we see the leaves on the trees moving, James concludes that there is faith only if a person exhibits that faith through actions. When the wind “dies down” we know it because the leaves no longer move. When Christians no longer act out their faith James concludes that their faith is dead.” (Serrao)
Even those outside of the faith understand this concept. Carl Jung, another psychologist is quoted as saying: “You are what you do. Not what you say you will do.”
Creating wind is not just for radicals. Social Justice is not just for extremists – but for all Christians. What are you doing to meet the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical needs of your neighbours?
When you walk by, do the leaves on the trees move? Or do they not even notice?
Benediction:
What is Faith?
“When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen: There will be something solid for you to stand on or you will be taught to fly.”
