WWJBD
Part 2 – “Faith That Works”
James 2:14-26
I could tell you countless stories of growing up with 2 brothers. But the one that sticks out in my mind as most traumatic was the time we were living in a small rental house while my dad was building the house they live in now. I had just gotten out of the shower and was walking from the bathroom to my bedroom with only a towel around my waist. To get to my bedroom you had to walk through the front room and past the front door. My two genius brothers get this idea: One of them is going to hide behind the front room door and the other is going to stand at the front door of the house with his hand on the handle ready to open it. And they timed it just right….I walk through the front room and just as I get in position at the front door, Jarrod grabs my towel and pulls it off while Jordan opens the front door and Jarrod pushes me outside in the front yard…buck naked! Here’s where their perfect timing comes in….I’m standing in the front yard at the front door when something to the right catches my eye….it’s the gas meter reader standing there staring at me.
I wonder if Jesus’ brothers messed with him growing up. I know that if I am Jesus’ brother and I am planning a prank, I had better think long and hard about the payback…
What would Jesus’ brother do? That’s a good question. Let’s look at James 2:14-23,26 and find out.
Read Passage
Faith That Works…..
Suppose you are flying along in an airplane when the captain comes over the speaker and says “this plane is going down, we’ve lost power to the engines – you need to strap on your parachute and jump.” So you get your parachute on and you are standing in the doorway of the airplane and you are considering where you are and looking down at where you need to be…..and it is at that point you have a choice to make. So you ask yourself a question; “Can this parachute save me?” Your answer is yes because you understand the stringent requirements that the government puts on parachute manufacturers in order for them to market their product so there is really no doubt in your mind that the chute will rescue you. But all that being said and true, there is really only one way to find out, right? You can have faith in the parachute all day long, but that faith cannot save you until what? You jump.
And that is what we need to chew on today. James says in verse 17 “So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all – it is dead and useless.”
Martin Luther is quoted as having said “…St. James epistle is a right strawy epistle in comparison with [those of John and Paul], for it has no gospel character to it.”
The reason he made that statement is because of this verse right here. See Luther’s vision was for every man and woman to see their ability to have a personal relationship with God that was based solely on their willingness to accept that relationship by faith without the aid of the church, the priests, and certainly without the requirement of works. So in reading James 1:17 that faith is not enough, he had a hard time balancing that with Paul saying in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast.”
So, was Luther right? Do we have a problem? Is there a contradiction? Is Paul correct in saying grace saves us, not works? Or is James right in saying that we are justified by works and not faith alone? The answer is…..yes.
Yes, grace saves you by faith and yes saving faith is a changing faith that always, always, always results in acts of compassion and mercy and graciousness and God-like-ness.
Paul and James are both right. Let me explain……….
Regardless of what people think to be true about people, the truth is that everybody has faith.
Everybody has faith….in something. Rob Bell has taught us that the popular idea that some people are people of faith and some are not just isn’t true. Everybody has faith in that everybody is following somebody.
For example, Bell writes: “Some people believe we were made by a creator who has plans and purposes for his creation, while others believe there is not greater meaning to life, no grand design, and we exist not because of some divine intention but because of random chance. Both perspectives are faith perspectives, built on systems of belief. The person who says there is no creator has just as many beliefs as the person who says there is a creator…maybe even more.”
So everybody has faith, we are all believers. But there is a difference in faith, faith and “saving faith.” There is a difference in faith that resolves doubt about something and faith that actually redeems.
So what is the difference? Well, that is the question that Jesus’ brother is trying to answer here. He says again in verse 17, “faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all – it is dead and useless.” So the difference between the faith that most people have and the faith that is redemptive seems to have something to do with what we do.
James goes on to say in verse 18, “Now someone might say ‘some people have faith, others have good deeds’.” In other words, some are the hope-ers while others are the do-ers. And apparently this guy thinks you need both. But James says, “I can’t see your faith if you don’t have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds.”
So essentially he’s saying, if I really claim to have found faith that has changed who I am, then it will be evident to those who are watching the way that I live. My faith won’t just be something that I talk up….but something I act out as I go and leave no room for doubt.
So the difference between faith, faith and redeeming (saving) faith is how it expresses itself. James is teaching us that the true expression of our faith is offering compassion, mercy, justice and grace to those who normally wouldn’t find it.
It’s interesting, he says in verse 19, “Do you still think it’s enough to believe there is just one God?” What does he mean by this? Remember James is speaking to a Jewish crowd here. They are people who know Torah and understand the Jewish (OT) culture. We’ve learned this year of the Jewish confession of faith called the Shema that begins “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”
This was the OT Jewish expression of faith in the omnipotence of God. He is one. There is none like him, and we believe it, we have faith that it is true. And James says to that “Do you still think that is enough?” “Are you still convinced that believing in the oneness of God is all there is?” He says “Even the demons believe that and they tremble.”
You remember on several occasions in the New Testament during Jesus’ ministry when he would confront demon spirits who would say to him “Son of God, what do you want with us?” James says, even they have faith…..but remember there is a difference between faith, faith and redeeming faith.
And in verse 20 our teacher reminds us of that difference again. “Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in Good deeds is useless?”
Is this beginning to become a little more clear? TRANSITION
I think if James were teaching this live he would have asked that same question. I think that because of what he goes on to say in verse 21. Speaking to his Jewish audience he uses a familiar name or two to clarify.
“Don’t you remember Abraham?” Duh. That’s like asking us if we remember Abraham….Lincoln. Yea, they remember Abraham. James says He was declared righteous when he offered Isaac on the Altar (remember that story?). And verse 22 really begins to bring to perfect clarity the answer to our question… “You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to do. His faith was made complete by what he did – by his actions.”
See, there it is. Paul and James then are not in contradiction at all. Paul stresses the reality that we are saved by the Grace of God alone. That there is nothing in and of ourselves we can do to obtain it. We are saved by grace through faith. And James is simply teaching us what the faith that Paul describes, what redeeming faith, looks like.
Let me give you another example. Luke 7:47-50 (tell the story). Pick up reading at verse 47:
I tell you, her sins – and they are many – have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only a little love.”
Then Jesus says in verse 50, “Your faith has saved you, go in peace.”
So let’s walk through this. According to our story, what is it that saved this woman? FAITH! But how did we know that her faith in Jesus’ ability to do something for her existed? HER DEED, HER WORK.
And Jesus really made it clear why when he said “those who have been forgiven much, love much.” In other words, those who have truly found redeeming faith also find the natural expression of that faith to be love, acts of mercy and compassion.
Let me bring this into just a bit more focus. As I consider all of time and try to put my arms around the greatest example of faith ever, I have come to rest on the idea that it was Jesus and his death on the cross. What do I mean?
In John 2:19 we read Jesus makes a statement when asked for a sign to prove he is God’s son and he says, “Alright, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Now, the Jews thought he was really talking about the Temple, but on this side of the cross we understand that he was talking about what? HIMSELF. That’s a pretty bold statement of faith isn’t it? Why? Because in his divinity, Jesus knew the master plan was to redeem man through his death and resurrection….but in his humanity Jesus had to have been thinking….you will raise me Father….right?
In this passage Jesus makes a bold statement about his faith in God to redeem, and then he expresses his faith by what? His work on THE CROSS.
This is what James means in 2:26 he says “Just as the body is dead without a spirit, so also faith is dead without good deeds.” Faith without the natural expression of love is no faith at all.
We are going to end our time together today with a celebration of Jesus’ work on the cross. Let’s pray and then the men will serve you to partake on your own.
