Text: James 2:14-26
DT: James is telling us that we need to not only talk HIS talk, but walk HIS walk.
When I was a kid I had a favorite duo. Two things that went together that one without the other just didn’t happen or it just didn't make sense that was Woody and Buzz lightyear. I love the toy story movies and ever since the first movie they have been together. You don't have a toy story movie without woody and Buzz going through some kind of conflict together and working through it as a team. Every end scene ends with them together after the conflict is resolved. Can you name a more dynamic duo?
We all have a duo from growing up that we loved. Maybe it was Scooby and shaggy, or maybe it was Andy Griffith and Barny, or Elsa and anna. We all have a duo that is hard to see without the other right? They just work well together and they are together all the time. Can we think of some duos from scripture? David and Jonathan, Elijah and Elisha, Adam and Eve. Ok can we think of some duos of concepts like Grace and truth, Death and resurrection, Grace and mercy. The bible is full of duos that we read about all the time. Duos that coincide with one another and we find them together a lot. One of the places that we find a duo that is very strong is in James. We see that James in 2 he talks about two things that are inseparable. Two idea or concepts that have to exist with the other. One should lead to the other and the other by itself isn't enough because it needs the other. What we find a lot of the time is that the duos we see together often can be separate from the other. Like Woody would sometimes go off on his own and vice versa. Sometimes Scooby would be separate from shaggy when solving a mystery, but James says that this duo he is going to talk about cannot be separate. They have to go together at all times because if you just have one without the other then, to use his terms, it is useless or dead.
We find this duo in James 2:14-26. Pause to let them find. Here what we are going to find is that James has to address something that is wildly important. So important that he repeats himself several times and comes up with a fake opponent just to make sure that he can hit all of the bases.
Read whole passage. Faith and works. This is the duo that is inseparable for James. James lays that out pretty plainly in this passage. Faith and works must go together. Belief and action, words and deeds. We are going to go back and take this a part but I wanted to read the whole thing just to give the emotion of this section. James is writing to these Jewish Christians who seem to just be living on their faith. They believe that Faith is all they need and works or deeds is something completely separate and its own thing. James is upset! James wants these Jewish Christians to understand the importance of Faith and works being together. I mean right there in verse one he uses a rhetorical question. He asks this beginning question and expects a certain answer. Re read 14. James is asking that age old questions. You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk. You can have all these words and faith and you can talk about God, but are you compelled to action are you living out your faith. James asks them if just talking, just faith by itself is any good and further asks them if it can bring them salvation. The way he asks his questions already gives you a clue as to what the answer is. It's a no and to illustrate that answer he gives an example. He goes on in verse 15-16 to give an example of what faith without works looks like. What talking the talk looks like without walking the walking with it. He goes into this scenario by saying “let's say a brother or sister in Christ, a fellow Christian is without the basic necessities. The Greek that is used here meant that They do not have the clothes they need to help them against the elements and the do not have the food they need to stay healthy and to survive. So this Christian sees another Christian who does have what they need to survive life. They do not have the basic necessities to live. This would warrant the other Christian to do something right. However, what this person does is nothing but offer words and no help. The say “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed.” Now without us even knowing the Greek behind this passage this does not seem helpful at all and almost like an insult. If we go and look at the original text we find something interesting about this phrase. The “Go in peace” was a common phrase to say Goodbye. The phrase “keep warm and well fed” could have two meanings depending on how one read the original passage but neither one are good. You could read this in what they call the middle voice which essentially was an insult to the face. In the middle voice it read “warm yourselves and feed yourselves” the person obviously could not do that yet this person was saying “hey go do that.” They might as well have just slapped them and said get your life together. The other way to read it is in the passive voice which read “be warmed and be filled.” They are acknowledging the need, yet doing nothing about it. Its like saying we hope you get warmed and filled but its not going to be from me. This person recognizes the need that the other requires and they even acknowledge it! They know that someone needs to help them and yet they do not help them. Even to people reading this would have found what this person did as unacceptable. The person was all talk and no walk. James tells us what that kind of faith brings and what it gains. He puts it very simply in verse 17. By itself that faith is dead. Without action. Without the works of Christian love that Jesus commands. It is dead. It is useless, devoid, unfruitful. James answers his question from the beginning. Can a workless faith do anything for anyone? Can it save them? Is it worth anything? The conclusion is no. Its lifeless and benefits no one from James example.
However this is not where James ends. He continues on and brings up this opponent that might say something or maybe even what someone might say from the people he is writing to. It begins in verse 18. Read 18. This is where James brings in his opponent going against what he is saying. There is some issues here because it's hard to know where James is talking and where his opponent is talking. However, it is suggested by some scholars that this might be someone saying it from the outside like this. You (someone in James congregation) have faith, You (James) have works. James and someone from his congregation are sitting together and James is saying “they might say that you have faith and I have works” splitting the two and saying you can have one without the other. They are saying that faith and works do not have to be together. You can walk the walk and not talk the talk and that's ok and you can talk the talk without walking the walk and that's ok, but we get James opinion on that in the following section. Read 19. There is this thing in Jewish culture called the Shama. This is something that was chanted and repeated that said essentially there is only God and He is our God. James is challenging the idea of this just by itself. He says listen you believe there is one God well good! He is being very sarcastic here. I kind of picture James clapping for them very sarcastically. He is essentially saying “well that's cool you know who else believes there is one God…. The demons! Even the demons believe that there is a God, and the actually do something, they shudder. They have a fear of the coming judgement they fear God. James is saying at least they do something! What you guys are doing is lifeless memorized theological truth. It's great that you know that but you are not doing anything with it. Correct doctrine by itself is insufficient. The demons knows there is one God and they shudder yet they are not saved so why would you think that just believing that there is a God would save you. Why would you think that just believing in good doctrine could save you. James is trying to further prove his point that Faith and works have to go together. Without the two together then are you really saved or are you just a lifeless form. James goes on to give some more proof that what Jesus requires of us is to talk the talk and walk the walk.
Read 20-26. James starts off with some really nice words. You foolish person! You empty, you hollow person! Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy? James is passionate and he says listen if that wasn't enough for you then I have some more evidence of what I am saying that Faith and works have to go together. He gives two examples of people found in the Old testament. Abraham and Rahab. James really like rhetorical questions as he states in verse 21. He expects the answer to be yes. He expects his audience to come to the same conclusion that Abraham was considered righteous, blameless for his works or deeds along with his faith. You see they would have known this story. They know that Abraham had faith and God and took ACTION and did what God asked. He went to sacrifice his son Isaac and still had faith. He didn't just believe in God and stay home nor did he go and have no faith in God that He had a plan. He had both and because He did what God asked and acted upon his faith he was considered righteous he was considered blameless. James is saying that Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac shows that he really did believe God and in the promise God had given him. He then gives them the conclusion they should come to from that story. Read verse 24. We are considered righteous or blameless by faith and work together and not by just faith.
He then goes into his second example of Rahab. Many believe as do I that James uses this example so that he can hit everyone. Abraham was a wealthy man, the father of Israel, a major figure. While Rahab was a woman, prostitute, and immoral. James may have used these two contrasting people to make sure he hit everyone to say that we all need to do this. Rahab took in the Israelites spies and protected them while they were on a mission of God because she had faith in Israel God and she acted upon that faith by protecting them. She could have had faith and said you God will protect you and shut the door, but she had faith and said God put you here and so I will protect you and show you my faith.
James then wraps up his entire argument in the final verse. The body without the spirit is like an empty shell. It houses nothing and benefits no one. It's like a walking corpse. He connects that to faith and works. He says faith without works is like that. An empty shell that does nothing. It's like a walking corpse and it benefits no one.
You know the sad thing is that you and I’s faith tends to be exactly that. A lifeless corpse that walks around. A shell of something that it is supposed to be. So often you and I talk the talk but we don't walk the walk. We can say all these amazing truths about God we can sing all these amazing songs about how we believe in God and how great he is and then we don't show it. You love saying the words but you hate having to act them out. What James is telling you and I is that faith and works (acts of kindness, love, compassion) have to go together or as James puts it are you really saved. Or are you just a lifeless corpse of a Christian walking around. You and I sure like to talk but hate to walk. That's not what Jesus calls us to. Jesus didn't just talk about things, he acted on them too. He didn't just talk about helping the needy and poor and the sick he went and did it himself to show that he was serious about what he meant. Jesus says you are to imitate him and so you and I need to act out what we say. You and I need to take action and show kindness, love and compassion. When you are talking with someone after church and they begin to tell you that they don't know how they are going to get groceries this month. The money isn't coming in and the bills are too much and they don't know if they can feed not only themselves but their kids. You standing there saying man I hope God puts someone in your path that can help you get food and say God will provide is not enough. If you think God will provide then be that person that provides it. Don't go home to your full cupboard and say man I hope that someone helps them. Don't talk the talk if you're not going to walk the walk. If you're talking to someone after church and they begin to say that they can't afford to get new clothes. They have to keep washing the same old clothes and they are beginning to wear out and their kids are being made fun of because they stink because they keep having to wear the same clothes don't tell just tell them man I hope God provides for you and leave them. If you think God will provide for them then do it. Don't talk the talk if you're not going to walk the walk.
We as the church I think are the ultimate failure at this. We see people in our church and we just pray that God provides for them and we do nothing about it. We say all these fancy words and we say all these theological points and take no action. James says that kind of faith is dead. There are people in our churches who lack the basic necessities of life and we just hope that someone helps them well you know what the church was designed for? To help them. Don't talk the talk if you aren't going to walk the walk. Stand up Christian and started walking the walk. We can talk all day long and that is good. We need to have good theology and we need to have good doctrine but that by itself benefits no one. Jesus is the perfect example of both faith and action. Doing exactly what he says he is going to do. And we need to be like that. Don't just talk His talk, walk his walk.
