Jan. 11, 2015 James 2:14-26 ”What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James is talking to an established church here. They have drifted away from the beliefs they were founded on. He can speak in the way he does to them because they understand what he is saying as discipline and training. If he were talking to new Christians or a newly formed church, the conversation would go much differently. He starts looking at faith without works with this simple analogy: If you have faith but no works it is like having a hungry man but not feeding him. Our faith is not based on what we say but rather on what we do. Telling the hungry man that you will pray for him so that he will not feel hungry; how will that make him feel? It will make him mad. He doesn’t want your prayers; he wants you to do something about it. That is what we say, that doesn’t hold much weight with the hungry man. What we do should mimic Jesus’ example. He did everything necessary to make the person whole physically then He ministered to their spiritual needs. Not until they were ready to listen did He speak to them. Not until they were able to focus on something outside of their current situation did He address their spiritual state. When we say we have faith but there is no evidence of it, is it really there? Are we at a point in our lives where we do believe in God but only from a distance? Is God the last resort when something goes wrong? Is He the last thing we think of when we need to get through a problem or had situation? This idea of a tight rope seems to draw a lot of attention to the topic. If we strung a tight rope across the church and the preacher got up and walked across it, would you believe he could? Yes, you saw it with your own eyes. If he got a wheel barrel up there and ran it across the rope with him, just as level and steady as can be, would you believe he could? Yes, you saw it with your own eyes. Last challenge, he wants you to get in the wheel barrel… Do we trust him that much? It is the same with God. We can see things happening in our lives and all around us but when we are required to step out on faith and really have faith and trust in God, can we do it? James says, look at Abraham, he had so much faith in God, his faith was so obvious by his works, he trusted so much in God that as he was standing over the alter ready to sacrifice his son… Wait a second, WHAT?!?! That speaks for itself, he could have just walked up the mountain with the stuff that God said to take, sat down and told God: “Here, I did it… I am only able to do this much, didn’t you say you were going to take care of the rest? I will just sit here and wait.” He would have sounded just like you and I. He would not have experienced God’s hand growing his faith and trust and he would not have had the opportunity to strengthen his relationship with God. On that mountain that day, Abraham did not tell God what his abilities where, he told God he was available. As we consider how we can mimic Abraham’s strong trust and faith, we need to ask ourselves: are my actions by my ability, through my doing or are they from God, something I would not have been able to do without him? We see the same faith with Rahab. The risk that she took as she hid spies and help them escape could have easily cost her life. Instead it caused an amazing transformation in her life. She was taken in for her help and she was accepted as she was. She changed her lifestyle and God blessed her by giving her a place in the lineage of Jesus. God doesn’t expect anything but for us to come to Him and be willing to do what he commands. This also reinforces that final statement in this passage: faith without works is dead!
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 21:14:33 +0000