James 2:14-26 "Dead, Useless Faith"
By Pastor Mark Hiehle
At the end of every year, businesses pause to evaluate themselves. How did they fair over the last year? Did they make a profit, stay the same or did they lose money? What successes did they achieve and what mistakes did they make? Based on their past performance during the year, what changes are needed and where are they headed in the new year? Just as businesses take time out to evaluate where they have been and where they are headed, so it is wise that we look at our spiritual lives as well. In evaluating my own life, I can see growth but I also see areas where growth is needed and changes must be made. How would you evaluate your spiritual life? As I watch people live their lives, I see so many struggle with powerlessness and spiritual luke-warmness that leaves them frustrated and disappointed. If you would look at your life and say that you are not satisfied with your level of spiritual growth or the amount of power you experience, then this message will give you the help you need.
Just as a car needs gas to get you where you want to go and a light bulb needs electricity to be useful, so God tells us through James that there is something that needs to be added to our faith for it to be energized and made powerful and effective. If you want to experience a dynamic faith that is growing and one that is powerful, it must be accompanied by works. As James will tell us, if your faith is not accompanied by works, then your faith is dead and utterly useless. Do you often feel as though your faith is void of power, empty and meaningless? Does your faith get you out of trouble? Does your faith sustain you and does it make a difference that people can see? When people look at your life, can they humanly explain away how and why you do what you do? Does your faith make any real difference in your life? If there is no power or growth in your life, the reason is because you have not joined faith and works together.
But I thought faith was all I needed you say? What about what Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9? There he said, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Is there a contradiction here? Does the Bible say two different things? No, not at all. When James says in 2:14, "if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save him?", James is not talking to the same group of people as Paul was addressing. We can see this in the beginning of verse 14 as James first says, "What good is it, my brothers..." Paul was speaking to sinners who needed to be saved from their sin and James is speaking to saints who need to be sanctified. So, there is not a contradiction here but a second step beyond salvation for the believer.
Billy Graham had this to say about faith and works and their relationship to each other: "There really is no conflict between faith and works. In the Christian life they go together like inhaling and exhaling. Faith is taking the Gospel in; works is taking the Gospel out." Actually, what James is saying is: you can’t have one without the other.
The book of James balances off this matter of faith and works, and reminds us that the Christian must have both. True, we are not saved by works, but James reminds us also that we are not saved if good works do not follow. Some people argue this point so vehemently that it almost becomes like the old argument of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. The word "believe" comes from two words, "be" and "live". Faith helps us to "be," spiritually. But after we receive life, it is to find expression in Christian works and deeds. To show that there is no conflict in the Scriptures between the two, Paul, the advocate of faith speaks of "being rich in works," and James, the exponent of works, says, "rich in faith." Why be content with either when God has provided for, and says we must have both?
To prove his thesis, James gives an example. Suppose someone comes to you and asks you for something to eat because they are hungry. Instead of feeding the person, you tell them about God’s riches and His supply. You give them example after example of how God met people’s needs throughout scripture from Genesis to Revelation. You tell them about how God fed the Israelites manna from heaven while they traveled in the desert. You tell them how He fed Elijah by ravens at the brook. You tell them how He fed the widow at Zeraphath. You tell them how Jesus fed 5,000 men not counting women and children with five loaves and two small fish. You say that God can meet your every need and then you pray for them and close the door. James asks the question, What good was all that right information to the person who came to your door because they are still hungry?! The person didn’t need a sermon but a sandwich. Verse 15, "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
In other words, even if you know all the right theology, if you don’t do something with it, it is useless and your faith does you no earthly good at all. If you want to experience power in your Christian life, you must put the truths of scripture into practice.
James gives us another example, Abraham. In verse 21 we are told that it was because of what Abraham did that he was considered righteous. God instructed Abraham that he was to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar. In Genesis 22, we read the account of how Abraham got up early in the morning to fulfill God’s command. Abraham gathered the servants and then loaded the donkeys. Together with Isaac, they went to the mountain. At the base of the mountain, Abraham said to the servants to wait for their return. On the way to the place of sacrifice, Isaac asks his father where the sacrifice was since they had the wood and the fire but not an animal? Abraham simply responds, "God himself will provide the sacrifice." Indeed, God had provided the sacrifice. Isaac was the miracle child born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, well beyond child-bearing age. Isaac was the son of promise. At the top of the mountain, Abraham binds Isaac and prepares to kill his son on the altar. During this whole experience, Abraham could have said that he believed God. However, he needed to obey God for his faith to be real. It was only when the knife was coming down did God respond to Abraham’s faith and stop the sacrifice of his son. God is looking for our obedience and not our correct words. Abraham told the servants that "we" will worship and then "we" will return. He told Isaac that God would supply the offering, but it wasn’t until the knife started to descend was his faith made real. God then said, "Now I know that you are serious." How serious are you about your faith? Is your faith real or half-hearted? Are you fully obeying the Father or is your obedience conditional and half-way? God is looking for complete obedience, and when you decide to get serious and obey God all the way, then your faith will take off with power! Paul Harvey has rightly said, "If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it."
Verse 22, "You see, that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." I love the next verse! In verse 23 we read, "And the scripture was fulfilled..." That means that when we put God’s Word into practice, we can experience the fulfillment of scripture coming to pass in our lives, too. When trials, difficulties and problems come into your life, if you use your faith and put it into action, then you will grow and experience a new level of understanding of God and personal maturity and power.
God is longing for you to trust him. Not simply saying you trust him but stepping out and radically putting your faith into action. What has God told you to do? If you want to really grow and experience God in a new and powerful way, then do it, not half-way but all the way! Don’t settle for a dead useless faith that doesn’t really help you. Stand on the truth of the Bible and live it. If you do, then you too can be called along with Abraham, a "Friend of God."
