Talk The Talk And Walk The Walk

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.