How to Activate Your Faith
He was born in Columbus, Ohio, 1890, the third of eight children. At eleven he quit school to help with the family expenses, and got his first full-time job at $3.50 per week. At fifteen he got interested in automobiles and went to work in a garage at $4.50 a week. He knew he would never get anywhere without more schooling, so he subscribed to a correspondence home study course on automobiles. Night after night, following long days at the garage, he worked at the kitchen table by the light of the kerosene lamp. His next step was already planned in his mind—a job with Frayer-Miller Automobile Company of Columbus.
One day when he felt ready, he walked into the plant. Lee Frayer was bent over the hood of a car. The boy waited. Finally Frayer noticed him. “Well,” he said, “what do you want?” I just thought I’d tell you I’m coning to work here tomorrow morning,” the boy replied. “Oh! Who hired you?” “Nobody yet, but I’ll be on the job in the morning. If I’m not worth anything, you can fire me.” Early the next morning the young man returned to the garage. Frayer was not yet there. Noticing that the floor was thick with metal shavings and accumulated dirt and grease, the boy got a broom and shovel and set to work cleaning the place.
The rest of the boy’s future was predictable. He went on to a national reputation as a racing car driver and automotive expert. In World War I he was America’s leading flying ace. Later he founded Eastern Airlines. His name—Eddie Rickenbacker.
Mr. Rickenbacker believed he could make something for himself. That believe motivated him to act.
(SOURCE: Bits & Pieces, December, 1989, p. 22ff. Citation: as quoted by Paul Fritz in Why Jesus Taught People If They Want To See God Work in New Ways They Must Be Willing to do New Things on SermonCentral.com)
This time of the year many people are deciding things that they believe. Some believe that they need to diet in order to lose weight. Some believe they need to stop smoking in order to be healthier. There are some that believe they would like to be in a marathon again.
But, one’s belief is only determined sincere by one’s actions. Three months into the year we will know who really believed. We’ll see the one’s who believed that they needed to diet lose weight. We’ll see those who believe they need to stop smoking actually stop. We’ll see if the individual that wants to run another marathon actually continues running.
What do you believe in the beginning of 2003? With regard to your relationship with God the Father, Jesus His Son, and His Holy Spirit what do you believe? How strong is your faith in 2003?
James 2:14–26th
We can say something about our beliefs or our Faith today, but will it match up with our actions three months from now?
Faith without deeds is dead
Every Christian must have activity that corresponds with their beliefs in order to have true faith.
If a Christian is not exercising their faith by being active then they will not be considered righteous.
How does a Christian activate His/Her faith?
How do Christians activate their faith?
We’re going to look at a couple of practical directives given to us in James 2:14–26 that instruct us how we are to activate our faith.
Keep in mind, we don’t adhere to a doing for the sake of doing, or a doing for the sake of repayment , we believe we are to be a people who do things in response to what has been done for us. We are motivated to do things because of the relationship we have with God… which is a two way relationship. He loves us and we respond to Him.
How does a Christian activate their faith?
The first thing that a Christian does to activate their faith is:
1. They get involved with others (14–17)
This is something we’ve talked about before. Our need for involvement with others.
We’ve talked about how we were commanded to Go and make disciples and that the only way of seeing this responsibility fulfilled would be to involve ourselves with people.
It’s a reoccurring theme that we will see through out God’s word because of the second greatest command.
“Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37–40.
In order to respond to God’s love for us in a way that God desires we need to involve ourselves with others. We need to love others as we love ourselves.
From our text this morning we see that a person with active faith goes beyond the well wishes and desires to help others and actively gets involved with others.
a. Explanation: Clarify it.
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? “
For instance, let’s break this down into four simple steps.
Let me just say something before we go further with regard to these steps.
First thing, we are going to see numerous needs throughout our lives that people we come in contact with directly or indirectly have. We’re going to have genuine desires for their needs to be met, but maybe we won’t have the resources to meet their physical needs… maybe we won’t be physically able to meet their needs. One thing we can always do is pray… we should always begin with prayer (turning to God for our dependence). And we should end with prayer—praising Him for all things.
What James is talking about here is the individual who claims to be a devoted follower of Christ, who Recognizes a need, who is in a position to help with that need (whether in prayer or physical assistance), who commits to helping, but who responds negatively.
These steps are not meant to put people on an unecessary guilt trip. They are meant as a tool to grow your faith, not to tear it down. Okay? With that said lets proceed.
1. We see a brother or sister is in need. (Recognition of God’s desires)
2. We state that we wish the need would be met (Commitment to God’s desires)
3. You do nothing to help them (Response to commitment)
4. It’s not good. (Reflection on response.)
Let’s Personalize this. This was the situation that I applied to my own circumstances:
1. I RECOGNIZE this communities’ need for Christ.
Something God has placed on my heart.
2. I make a COMMITMENT by communicating my desire to see the pre-Christians of this community come to know the Lord.
I know that it is within my ability to act upon this recognition of need and I commit myself to it.
3. I RESPOND by doing nothing (I don’t invite these people to my home, to church… I don’t practice practical ways to show the love of Christ to them)
If I react this way my response is not in line with my commitment.
4. I REFLECT, “Did I really mean what I said?”
If this was my response and I was honest with myself I would have to say that I didn’t really mean what I said.
My faith would be inactive.
When we say we believe something is important and we see it as our responsibility we should act upon that belief, or else chances are we probably don’t really believe it’s all that important.
b. Exemplification:
Let’s look at some examples in the Bible that prove my theory of steps to be true.
i. Pharaoh and the Exodus
1. Exodus chapter 7–12. Makes me think of Pharaoh in the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Pharaoh RECOGNIZED the need for the Israelites to leave Egypt.
2. He even admitted 6 or 7 times that the God of the Israelites was the power behind the plagues that they were experiencing. And He COMMITTED himself several times to the fact that the Israelites could go from Egypt.
3. But every time he would have a change of heart and do nothing. His RESPONSE was different from his commitment. In the end he pursued the Israelites to the destruction of the Egyptian army.
4. As we reflect on this situation we see Pharaoh said one thing but he never backed up what he said with what he believed with his actions. There was a penalty paid for his lack of faith.
ii. The Israelites and the Exodus
1. Think of the Israelites from the point of leaving Egypt to the point where they wandered for forty years. The people understood, they saw, there situation as being very vulnerable… out in the wilderness, roughing it without knowing what was going to happen to them. They RECOGNIZED their need for provision.
2. They COMMITTED themselves time and again to the fact that they trusted God and needed His provision.
3. However, they always seemed to grumble after a time because of their “hardships.” They even sided with the 10 spies that told them that the promised land was unattainable. They’re RESPONSE was quite different from their commitment.
4. As we REFLECT on their situation we see that they did not, as a people, truly believe where their help was coming from—they lacked faith. And there was an ultimate penalty for that lack of faith—40 years wandering in the desert without entering the promised land.
iii. Ananias and Saphira and the Early Church
1. All believers were one in heart in Acts chapter 4. They sold their property and no one claimed any of his possessions as his own. The people of this early church RECOGNIZED the finances that was needed for the early church’s ministry.
2. Many recognized the need and sold their possessions and brought them to the apostles for the church’s use. The people COMMITTED themselves to meeting the need of the body of Christ.
3. Ananias and Saphira were among the early church. They committed themselves to meeting the need of the church and were supposedly “one in heart” with the rest of the body. But their actions actually told a different story, they “kept back part of the money for” themselves. They RESPONDED differently from their commitment.
4. As we REFLECT we see that they did not have a faith that was complete. And because of it they faced the ultimate penalty of death.
c. Accentuation:
1. I had a friend who I saw a need to communicate the Gospel to. (I was unsure of his salvation when compared to his lifestyle)
2. I communicated this to people in my church… asked them to pray for the opportunity.
3. But, I never shared it with him clearly… I beat around the bush at times. Telling him that he needed to give Jesus a chance. But, I never shared a complete and understandable presentation of the gospel with him.
4. My friend died. My belief, my faith did him no good because it was not complete. I don’t know for sure where my friend is today. I believe that is my ultimate penalty. Living this lifetime knowing I did not share and because of my lack of faith living with the uncertainty of his eternity.
Christians activate their faith by Recognizing, Committing, and Responding according to their commitment so that when they Reflect it will be in line with their Commitment.
Christians also activate their faith by demanding both/and.
2. They demand both/and (18–24)
a. Explanation: Clarify it
Look at verses 21–22 of our text. “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
You see, faith is not either/or.
That is, its not something that you believe only.
Or its not something that you prove by being actively involved in only.
Faith is both believing and being active. It is both/and.
One extreme
It says in this passage that the demons believe that there is one God. The demons know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and they believe in Holy Spirit of God.
But that in itself does not redeem the demon.
There are people who can be of one extreme where they claim their faith—the determinant of their salvation—is founded upon the fact that they believe in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. But, as we see from this Scripture our faith must be more than just a statement. It is possible to say we believe and yet not have faith—that is one extreme.
The other extreme
Is found in Galatians 3:3–5 says, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?”
People can come to a point where they accept Christ as their Savior only to diminish His sacrifice as the payment of their sins by attempting to live up to a standard that they have accepted as being their salvation.
I was talking to someone this past week and they were relaying an experience that they had. Where an individual approached them and explained to them what they must do to be saved. And this individual’s understanding of salvation was wrapped up in what a person does. You must go to church, you must be good, you must read certain material, etc, etc.
When a person does this, Christ is not their Savior, He is just a story of a good man that we can use as an example of how to live our lives.
That’s another extreme.
It’s not either of these extremes that activate a Christian’s faith. It’s a combination of both. The fact that we believe we have a relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that has been made possible through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then we allow that relationship to impact our lives to the degree that we respond to Him with the law that is written on our hearts. We respond to God with His desires that He supernaturally replaces with our old desires. This both/and relationship is what activates our faith.
We BOTH outwardly act, “we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord.” We live a life that is reflective of our belief.
AND We inwardly believe, “we believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead for your salvation.”
It is both/and: Believing and Active response.
b. Exemplification: Prove it.
Hebrews 11 proves what I am saying here about faith. IT proves that it is both action and belief.
1. “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man.” (Hebrew 11:4).
In Genesis 4 Abel offered the best he had to give because he believed in and was responding to his provider. It’s both/and. Belief and active response.
2. “By faith Enoch was taken from this life… without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:5–6).
Enoch believed in God and He actively responded to Him by seeking Him. Belief and Response.
3. “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” (Hebrews 11:7).
Noah believed in God and He actively responded by being obedient to His directions to build an ark.
4. I encourage you to go through the over 20 examples given through out this chapter of faith in Hebrews 11 and see how everyone mentioned as being faithful were people who believed and were also active.
They had a belief that was made known as they responded to God in action pleasing to Him.
c. Accentuation: Clinch it: emphasize the truth.
If we desire to activate our faith as Christians we need to look closely at the things we dare say we believe.
Example 1:
I for one believe that God is going to grow this church. What’s the response?
I invite, I reach out, I share the gospel, I meet the needs of people, I relate to people, I share the excitement I have for what is happening here at NCofG.
But I do all of this, not because I’m doing for doing sake… not because I desire to attain some numeric or material goal. I do this because I believe that God desires to grow this church.
Example 2:
I believe that God calls me to love . What’s my response to that belief?
I talk to you, I look for ways in which I can comfort you, I tell you I love you, Maybe I give you a hug, I pray with and for you, I love people that are not loveable in my eyes, I treat them with respect and honor.
I do all this, not because I feel that this proves I’m a Christian or makes me a better Christian. I do this because I believe in God and seek to respond to Him in ways that I know please Him.
Example 3:
I believe that God desires me to love Him with all my heart, all my soul and all my mind. What is my response to this belief?
I talk with him through prayer, I spend time with Him learning who He is through Scripture, I praise Him for all of His Glory, His Wonder, I do all things in order that He might be glorified in my life.
I do this for no other reason than the fact that I want to respond to Him.
That’s the type of faith that is needed. A faith that is both/and.
I think that a great exercise for all of us in this new year to take part in for the activation of our faith is to ask similar questions to what I have been asking myself. We should sit down and meditate concerning the things we believe God desires. And then ask ourselves the question, “What is my response to that belief that I have?”
This exercise will enable us to have an active faith that is based on our involvement with others and both our belief and action. Something I really believe that God desires of our relationship with Him.
There is one last thing that a Christian does in order to activate their faith.
3. They are honest with themselves (26)
a. Explanation:
Look at the last verse in this section, verse 26 “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without Deeds is dead”
As we follow through with this exercise. Let’s not make excuses for ourselves. If we come across an area where our commitment does not match up with our response accept it. Let’s admit that we need to prayerfully work on this area in our life. We’re not perfect. God is still working in us.
Don’t allow the exercise to condemn you. But, neither allow the exercise to bear no fruit. Be honest with yourself, it’s O.K.. God wants to work in our lives. He wants to work in our lives because we need work.
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
b. Exemplification:
It’s the man, woman, or child that is unwilling to allow God through His Spirit to work in His life—through aligning their responses up to their stated beliefs—that must be concerned.
Because that person is not being honest with themselves. They are deceiving themselves by not believing a “faith without Deeds is dead.”
Romans 8:6 says, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”
We can all readily agree with that. Unless a person comes to God through Jesus Christ then they are spiritually dead. It’s not the most politically correct thing to say because it’s a very exclusive statement. But, in order to remain true to God’s word and remain honest with ourselves we accept it as true.
1st Corinthians 2:14 says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
A person without the indwelling Holy Spirit that comes when one accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is dead.
A person without Deeds that are a response to their belief that God through Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit made a relationship with them is dead. A person who does not have deeds that respond to that belief in that relationship has a dead faith.
Paul, in the 1st letter to the Corinthians spent a great deal of that letter exhorting the church there because of some of their number’s inability to align themselves up with God’s desires rather than man’s standards.
In effect Paul was telling the church there that in light of their profession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior they should not be involved in worldly things, such as sexual immorality or lawsuits against one another.
Paul tells the Corinthians, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” 1st Corinthians 6:9–10.
He ends chapter 6 saying, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
Paul is not saying in this passage that in order to be a Christian you need to do this and this and this. He is saying that there are some pretty clear things that you should not be doing according to God’s directives—sexual immorality is such a thing. But your motivation for doing what you do is not so that you will be a Christian… your motivation to do these things is because you already are a Christian and you should “Therefore” have a desire to “honor God with your body.”
If you have faith and it is a faith that is alive you will desire to respond to God in the deeds of your body. If you don’t have these deeds that are in response to God, deeds that are meant to give God glory, then your faith is dead.
This is a tricky thing to communicate. Because I know that there are some people that would hear me would think he’s saying I have to do A, B, and C to be a true follower of Christ. Whereas, what I’m really saying is that if you are a true follower of Christ—if you have a belief in Him as Savior and Lord—then the A, B, and C’s will naturally take place because you desire to please God in everything.
c. Accentuation: Clinch it
“Faith without Deeds is Dead”
Exercise:
1. Ask yourself the question (and remember we are being honest with ourselves), “How has my life changed since placing my faith in Jesus Christ?” or possibly for those who are older in their walks with the Lord, “How has my life changed in the past couple of years?”
Because you know our faith is not to be a stagnant faith. God is constantly working in our lives, perfecting us into the image of His Son. To be stagnant would mean that you’ve been perfected (which is impossible) or that you’re faith has died.
Some possible answers to that question are:
a. I’ve stopped taking the Lord’s name in vain because I want to glorify God and honor Him. I realized my taking His name in vain was not glorifying to Him.
b. I’m more patient than I was a few years ago. I’ve recognized my impatience with people and I know that is not what God desires so I’ve prayed for help in this area and I’ve seen positive change.
c. I’m loving that family member that has been so hard to love. I’m doing this today because I realize how God loves me unconditionally, even when I’m unlovable, and I desire to respond to Him by loving others.
d. I’m in God’s word and in prayer now more so than I was a year or two ago. I’m doing this not because I feel obligated but because I love the Lord my God with all my heart, my soul and my mind.
2. After you’ve asked yourself this question, stop and ask yourself what you can do in the upcoming year to respond to God. Pray about it asking God to help you make a list. “God what is it that you desire of me? Please impress it upon my mind.”
a. Share your faith.
b. Love your neighbor as yourself
c. Be gentle
d. Be humble, seek to serve rather than be served.
e. Be kind
f. Be patient
g. Etc.
Conclusion:
I’d like to reiterate some important points from this morning’s study to make sure I’m not giving you the wrong understanding.
As you enter the new year and consider your resolve for the year. As you reflect on the past and as you consider this message.
1. Don’t condemn yourself. This is not a message of condemnation. It’s not meant to beat us up. It’s meant to encourage us in our progression toward the future.
2. Remember that your activity is not a payback. That is, you are not trying to make things right between you and God. He’s already done that for you through Jesus Christ. He didn’t have to but He did because He loves you. Realize that great love and allow your activity to be a response to Him.
3. As you apply the principals from this passage to your life activate your faith by:
a. Getting Involved with others. RECOGNIZING Needs that God desires you to be COMMITTED to RESPONDING. And allow your involvement with others to be your response to God.
b. Also activate your faith by Demanding both a belief and a active response. Evaluate what you believe and align that up with how you act.
c. Also activate your faith by Being honest with yourself. Know that you are not perfect… accept it. Know that God desires to work in your life. And allow Him to work in your life. Aligning your desires up with His own.
Like Eddie Rickenbaker we should determine our growth potential and see to it that it takes place.
We need to recognize how God desires us to grow this year
(Evaluate your spiritual life),
We need to commit to the process of growing
(Make spiritual new years resolutions),
and We need to respond accordingly
(Act in alignment with God’s desires)
I encourage you to sit down and do this in the upcoming week. Write down your beliefs. Pray about them daily, that the Lord would enable you. Share them with someone who is close to you, someone that will encourage you through out the year to align your actions up with God’s desires.
