Active Faith
James 2:14-26
There is an old story that tells of a man who was traveling on his donkey when he came upon a small fuzzy object lying in the road. He dismounted to look more closely and found a sparrow lying on its back with its scrawny legs thrust upward. At first he thought the bird was dead, but closer investigation proved it to be very much alive. The man asked the sparrow if he was all right. The sparrow replied, "Yes." The man asked, "What are you doing lying on your back with your legs pointed towards the sky?" The sparrow responded that he had heard a rumor that the sky was falling, and so he was holding his legs up to catch it. The man retorted, "You surely don’t think that you’re going to hold it up with those two scrawny legs, do you?" The sparrow, with a very solemn look, replied, "One does the best he can."
Have you demonstrated faith at any time this week? Have you been called to show faith to someone or in something?
I am positive that all of us have not just this week but even since you got up this morning.
Did you have faith that your clock went of at the right time? When you reached for the light switch were you surprised when the light came on? How about the car cranked or that I showed up this morning? Were you personally surprised by any f those little details of daily life? So in the last few hours and this week you have exhibited faith that the things you know about our world are true most of the time and by faith your went through the week using the phone, turning lights on and off heading for a red light in the car (breaks) and any number of other automatic responses, hundreds of times.
We often talk about how hard it is to exhibit our faith but we ignore all the other times that we do it everyday. How is it that we can divide faith into different categories, the stuff we depend on everyday and the faith that there is a God and a judgment to come.
In our scripture today, we hear from James. He is said to be the half brother of Jesus. Some believe that Paul and James say something different about faith but I believe that if you read the text for your self you will find that they actually agree. They just say it in different ways. Today we will just look at what James says.
He starts with a question. What good is it if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? I don’t know about you but as a kid I have has someone claim to be my friend, because they wanted me to do something. They normally did not want to do things for me.
I have heard politicians claim to be this or that or for or against and later learn that it may not have been true and perhaps even a plane old lie.
Then James gives another more biting question. Can such faith save us? Today we are looking into what James is saying about faith and works. We are looking at his explanation of the signs that a person really has faith.
James gives an example of peoples actions. He talks about a Christian meeting up with a brother or sister (Christians) that are in trouble. They are having trouble with the bills, normal basic needs. We aren’t talking about the Cable TV or cell phone. We are talking about food and clothes. Perhaps something happened with the job or a health problem that wipes out their energy and money. A fellow Christian sees their need when they see each other, listens to the problems and says I’ll pray for you and wishes them good luck. They don’t do anything to help them beyond visual concern and kind words. What good is it? Then he says that faith is like that, if there is no action then it is dead. What good is it? If there is not activity in faith then there is no life.
He is pointing out that people that would do this have missed the basic prinicpal. Their faith is dead because they are not responding to obvious need. They are not responding and allowing the Grace of God to be generous and caring through them.
He continues as if he is in a verbal discussion, indicating what some people might say. You have faith I have Works. Then he gives his response, Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do.
What are the deeds he is talking about here? Is it taking care of the poor and needy in the church? I think it is more than that. That was already established years before, especially for those within the church. Remember the distribution of food to the widows early on. I really feel that James is using an accepted work of the church to bring the understanding if the Christians to a higher level. James’ letter is being written to the Christians who are dispersed into all the nations. These are the people that wanted to avoid persecution and moved to get out of the way of trouble. They carried their faith with them. But I suspect that wanting to avoid trouble they just met up with friends and did not share the message.
When James is defining the different types of faith, the easiest one to define is the dead faith. It is a faith that thinks “everything’s okay.” It is faith that says, “I believe in God,” but never thinks about how that might affect the way I live.
-- What has happened is that the one who ignores the need of others has taken the name of Christ, but failed to adopt the character of Christ. Often they have said, “I want the benefits of being a Christian, but I don’t want any responsibility that comes with it.” James says, “It doesn’t work that way.
If you have faith, it changes you through and through.” Dead faith is the kind that is nothing more than words on your lips. It is a statement of faith without a lifestyle of faith. What James is warning us about here is that that kind of faith is no faith at all. Don’t be content with dead faith.
So is James talking about loosing your Salvation? Not directly. It seems to me that James in this open letter is addressing several problems. He is pointing out to the Christians that they are far from perfect. That they are doing the same things that the Jewish authorities have done. Some are exhibiting a misplaced pride and they look down their noses at other Christians and non Christians.
I think that we are talking about the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.
Head knowledge is when we think that we know how to make living growing fresh vegetables. You just put the seeds in the ground and harvest when it is time. Heart knowledge knows when to plant, what to plant, to be watchful of trouble and knowing when to harvest for the best results. Understanding the basics of how and actually knowing how is very different. This letter contains several examples of the kinds of deeds that James is pointing to. Caring for the less-fortunate is one aspect but there is also controlling of one’s tongue, avoiding favoritism, loving your neighbor as your self, resisting temptation.
James is telling the readers that the faith that gives salvation involves more then just a little lip service. More than a minimum giving and physical work. It is living as a life choice. Because you have faith you will constantly show it with deeds.
He gives another example, to help people understand that action is absolutely required. He says, so you believe in God. Good! Praise God that is fantastic! So you believe the same thing as the demons. The only difference is that the demons react. The demons at least shutter with the understanding of God.
It appears that James is desperate to get these people’s attention. He is using harsh words to just get their attention.
Have you ever gotten scared just by thinking about something? The IRS gives me the willies because I have heard what they can do to me. Have you ever been sitting around the campfire and someone was telling a scary story? How about a ghost story, like the Man with the golden arm. I remember my dad telling that story on a scouting trip. As he gets closer to the end he gets softer and evenly one in leaning in to hear the story and he shouts you Got it! The reaction from us boys was screams and shouts and maybe even a few steps running. For a brief moment we believed that we were GOT.
The demons that we read about in scripture knew who Jesus was and that he had power over them. They followed his direction because they knew that He was God.
Demonic faith is the faith that believes in the existence of God, and that belief affects the emotions but not the will. James says if you have dead faith, even the demons are one up on you. They believe and shudder. If your faith is dead, quite honestly you ought to be scared to death that the ones whose eternal destiny is hell are affected more by their belief in God than you are.
There are many Christians who say we are saved by “Faith Only.” Much of Christianity believes Paul and ignores James, when in reality both James and Paul are looking at the same thing from two different sides of the coin. Paul is saying “You can’t work your way to heaven, it takes faith to please God.” James is saying, “You have to have faith to please God, but the only faith that is pleasing to God is faith that does something.” God wants you to have an active faith, not a dead faith!
James offers two examples as a proof of active faith which yields action.
I am sure you are familiar with the story. God promised Abram and Sarah that if they followed Him they would have a child that would be the father of a great nation. Abraham waited and waited and waited until he was 100 and Sarah was 90 for the promised child. Finally amidst laughter and I’m sure a few tears, the child of promise comes. It was a miracle of God for those two Senior Saints to have a child born to them. But an incredible thing happens. Now that they finally have the Son promised by God. God tells Abraham to do something outrageous. God speaks to Abraham and tells him to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. Literally that meant to offer him up like a bull or a sheep in that sacrificial system. To kill him on a stone altar. Abraham loads up the stuff, travels with his only son to the altar and with every ounce of energy he can muster he raises the knife to be obedient to God. God stops the sacrifice and provides a ram for an offering. Abraham proves he is totally submissive to God “and it was credited to him as righteousness.” In other words, Abraham was justified by his willingness to trust God implicitly.
On the opposite end of the social scale was Rahab. Abraham is the most respected person in all the history of Israel. Rahab is not very high on the scale. She was not an Israelite, but a member of a pagan nation that God commanded Israel to wipe out. She wasn’t even wealthy like Abraham. She was a prostitute, financially and morally she was a poor person. But when the spies went into the land to scope out what they would face when they were going to try to conquer it, Rahab was there to help them, to hide them from their enemies. In the end, Rahab was saved from the destruction of the city. James says that in God’s eyes, Rahab was justified by what she did.
James is using scripture as his proof which is always a good starting point. James is trying to teach the readers that Faith and works are connected. That because Abraham was willing to follow through with the sacrifice he was made completely righteous by God. God did even more that that as he called Abraham friend. Rahab Believed in God and helped his people, her faith proved by her actions allowed her to be saved. He is teaching that faith is made complete and visible by our actions. These actions are a response to our environment, people’s needs and our response to the pressures and attacks of this world.
So where does all this lead us today? Do we show our faith in God in our daily lives as easily as our faith in the power company or the breaks on you car?
Is your faith better described as dead or active? Let me give you a couple of ways to check your spiritual vital signs.
1. How do you feel about worship? Is it something that is a priority with you, or is it an insignificant ritual that you just go through because you know you should?
2. What kind of thoughts and goals do you have for life? When you think about the things you would like to do for the next year, are you at the center, or are other people and God in the middle?
3. How do you feel about giving? Is it a painful experience, or are you the cheerful giver Paul talks about in I Corinthians?
4. How often do you study the Bible? Is it something that gets no attention in your life, or are you actively pursuing a greater knowledge of God and his will for your life?
The church is too often populated with Spiritual Zombies, people who think they are living by faith, but who know nothing about what it means to be excited and challenged by the joy of active faith.
A living faith is visible and it attracts people because it includes joy and excitement and activity that is satisfying. When faith is dead people outside the church recognize that and it keeps them from wanting to become a part. Dead faith believes in God, but it does not trust Jesus. Dead fait never tries new things and only shows up on Sunday.
James is attempting to pass along a simple way to identify our spiritual condition.
Are we only giving lip service, only holding Head knowledge and no hear knowledge. The actions that James is calling for is to walk with Jesus and to listen and learn from the master and to be his hands for service and his presence in time of trouble. Active faith is expensive because we must be willing to risk our selves in our trust Jesus.
He is still calling all of us to be active and follow him. Do you trust Jesus?
All Glory Be to God!
