Do You "Believe"?

It is my father Bruce White dad, got his start in vocational Ministry at Eastside, Christian Church, many years ago. And I mention that because it was there that he ministered alongside some friends of this congregation, Graydon Jessup, Gary. Tiffin among others. And in fact, I believe Gary was present at dads organization. Currently died works on staff at Thurston, Christian Church in Springfield. He's also involved in church planning efforts and he helps coach and died. Young pastors of you. Please come up, Dad. So, glad to have you.

Thank you, Rachel. Good morning, everyone. Oh, what a treat to be here in, isn't this a gorgeous gorgeous day? This is the day. The Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it, right? Nothing like glorious fall days in the Pacific Northwest and you know, I love the fact and I love the fact that I can walk into a place like this where most of you are strangers and it doesn't matter. Cuz I instantly know that we are united, we are united by our faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ. That bond is so strong and so deep, and so trance, send it. Because of that, I feel one with you. And it is a joy to be here because the root of our individual connection with God, our Father, God our creator, and because faith is what lies at the heart of our life together as God's people than this morning, we're going to talk about space. We're going to look at a pivotal Bible, passage that reminds us what it actually means to believe in Jesus. And so they're on the screen, the title of my messages. Do you believe we're going to be in the Book of James chapter 2 verses 14 through 26. Now I will have the Bible passage on the screen but if you brought a Bible I encourage you to open it up and follow along. I think it's really good for us to learn how to navigate our way through our own bibles. If you don't have a Bible, I believe you can find one in the Rack in front of you and every congregation, there are always a handful of people who love to take notes. And if you are one of those people, I've included the sermon outline in the bulletin that you can use and you can follow along and jot down whatever it is that the Holy Spirit might prompt you to walk away with. So take advantage of that if that's important to you this morning and before we look into the scriptures were going to take a moment and pray We're going to commit this time to God and ask him to guide us. Please join me.

Our gracious. Father, we're so thankful that we have the privilege of calling you bother And it's so amazing. You the god of Heaven and Earth are our father and we get to live each day as your precious children. The father at this moment, in our worship together work, we're thankful for the Bible or thankful that through the power of the Holy Spirit. You spoke this book into existence. So we could hear from you and learn about, you know, you better

Each time we open the Bible. Individually or in settings like this. Help us to read it through fresh eyes. Help us to hear it. You fresh ears. Yes, we do. That father may you didn't give us new insights into the life of faith. So this morning, as we now looking at the scriptures together, we ask that you would teach us through the power of the Holy Spirit who created this book. The Power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

Please teach us now. So that we each might live each day, has more faithful followers of Jesus Christ. We pray this in his name. Amen.

Christian Author. Joseph Bailey was known for writing very distinctive short stories, and one of those stories is called, I saw gooley fly from the front cover of the book. And it's a story about a man named her goalie, who attends 8:00 flight school, but notice from the picture on the cover of the book, there's no airplane picture. Cuz her goalies. Flight school is that where you learned how to be a pilot? It's where you learn how to fly.

students take classes in human, aerodynamics takeoff and Landing techniques that and if this particular School, The Faculty, the staff and the students all deeply believe in human flight. They believe it's physically possible for human beings to spread their arms and flap them and fly through the air like Superman. It's only take classes on it and then do homework on it and he's studying and they debate it.

And everybody on that campus. Walks everywhere they go.

Except for Huli. Is it 9 after classes are over? And after studies are done herbaly, opens up the door of his door or window of his dorm room and he leaps out the window, And he soars over the campus. Everybody thinks her guli is not.

I saw gooley fly. Is a modern-day parable. The parable that Joe Bailey wrote to challenge Christians to consider what it actually means to believe and it highlights two different ways to understand belief. When we believe that, we just mentally accept something is true. Which is what most of the students and faculty of that flight school din. Or. Does believe me, we take it a step further. Azhar guli did. And actually let our beliefs affect the way we live. Not to distinguish between these two forms of belief. I called him belief one and belief to, and I want to put them up here on the screen so we can get them clear in our mind. So, believe one is accepting that statement is true or that something exists at the basic dictionary definition of belief. And that's what most of us mean when we say, I believe except that something is true. But if something exists Belief to.

that's when you take belief one and you act on it, you follow through, you do the thing that you say, you actually Do you actually believe to be true? Salt Life. One is agreement with a set of facts or principles. Bully 2 is agreement plus action. Believe two says, because I believe that human beings can fly through the air. Like Superman, I will jump out the window and do it.

Now the example of human beings, flying, we know that's foolish cuz it doesn't happen if we tried to do that. We would not survive, probably

But the principle is what I want to highlight is there is a huge difference between belief one and belief to, and it shapes our understanding of the life of faith in profound ways. It causes us to ask. What does it really mean to believe in Jesus? Can we actually follow Jesus? If we only Embrace belief one? Or does the life of Faith require belief to?

We find some answers to those very questions in the Book of James chapter 2 starting in verse 14.

James tells us that belief one is useless. Here's how he says it. What good is it? My brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no Deeds, can such Faith. Save them. Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food? If one of you says to them go in peace, keep warm and well-fed but doesn't nothing about their physical needs. What good is it? In the same way, Faith by itself. belief one, if it is not accompanied by action, belief to is dead.

Now, those words were written by James one of the leaders of the early church and he was known as the brother of the Lord. And of course, what's really interesting is he wasn't technically the brother of Jesus. He was the half brother of Jesus. They share the same biological mother Mary and they each had a different biological father. Jesus. Biological father was God almighty. James biological father was Joseph.

The Jesus was unique and very different kind of brother. And I often wonder what it must have been like to be judge to be James growing up in that home with his older brother Jesus. And over time, you learned that he thinks he's the son of God.

Really. And then Jesus goes out and starts doing his ministry and he's preaching about God and he's Healing The Sick and he's casting demons out of people. And it's some point James and Mary. And some of the other brothers, they think Jesus is out of his mind. They go to collect them and bring them home, so you're not well.

Get it.

And then Jesus died on the cross. And Jesus rose from the dead. James's transform. James became an incredible man of faith.

And a profound leader in the early church.

That's the James who wrote this. What jeans is telling us the faith in Jesus, and not be limited by belief, One Faith In Jesus means, and he's writing these words because there are a number of Christians in his day. Who think belief one. Just getting the facts, right? That's enough. In other words, if I had knowledge of Jesus Christ died on the cross, for my sins, like nausea was buried and raised from the dead. My knowledge that when I confessed my sins, he forgives me. That's all I need to do. I just need to believe.

if I accept the right set of facts, Believer. I can like talk turn right? A believer. There's a reason, the people James is riding too wound up at that point. You see, he's writing to Jews who have become followers of Jesus. And, as many of us, know life is a Jew involved obedience to God's law, which means that you're focused all the time, I'm doing the right things. You live a life devoted to good works because good works as what burns you God's favor. You believe that if you weren't doing good works. You're in trouble. Name. Jesus comes along and says, you know, you can't earn God's favor. I loves you. Let's be a love relationship with you. Jesus says, you know, my love and forgiveness are not something you are. So these Jews would lived under the burden of the loss. They accepted Jesus, their relief from that burden of the law and then they decide what we don't have to do anything at all.

So they went from a life where Works were required. To a life, where Works were irrelevant. What too far in the other direction? So James now is prompted by the Holy Spirit to correct that faulty thinking and he wants them to know that faith is more than just a matter of the heart. And the matter of the Mind, faith is an act of the will that affect our Behavior.

What's up? Let's say I'm not a Christian. but if she can God, Play come to the point that I understand, Jesus died on the cross for my sins. What's to forgive me and embrace me? I come to believe one. I got the right set of facts about Jesus but then I got to move to believe too and I have to do something about it. I have to act in order to receive the gift of forgiveness that God offers to earn it but just to receive it. And how do I do it? I do it throughout the Bible calls repentance and that is active and its expressed by Prince in God. Change my heart, please forgive me and then demonstrating my face in my repentance to baptism.

The face always requires action. Between Irwin County that weird face in the Scriptures. It always means belief to

That's truly first. Become a Christian. And it's true throughout our life as Christians. Because when we become a Christian that our faith should motivate us to do more than just think and talk and feel it should motivate us to do more than just get our facts, right? Or face should motivate us to act. Tell me about what we believe to be true.

James begins to make his case by highlighting a specific example and he offers the situation of a Christian who offers 0 help to a person in need And it's fair to ask. Why did he give that particular example. Because there are hundreds hundreds of Bible verses that encourage Believers to care for people who live on the margins both inside and outside the community of faith. God, consistently urges us to be generous and to share what we have with others.

open James says, if you think you can just simply wish someone, well, when they're hurting and in need take no action.

And you falling into the Trap of belief 1.

James calls that faith without Deeds.

Nice ass. It's useless. Because a dead Faith. Doesn't change us in a dead faint. Doesn't change the people around us.

Here's an example of the difference between thinking and feeling something to be true. And acting upon something. Back in the early eighteen-hundreds, there are many men in England who earn their living at something called a car her, which means that they hauled Goods around town in a horse-drawn cart about funerals. Men were wealthy, the most of them lived, a subsistence existence, they made, just enough to scrape by and one day apart Carter in the city of London was involved in an accident, and his horse was killed. And you have no funds to buy a new horse. This obviously was a huge economic setback, it would create major hardship for his family. As word spread about his financial disaster. He's sitting there grieving over this in his home, and his friends, gather to express their sympathy to commiserate with him and say we're all so sorry for you. But one man arrived at that house and he grew so frustrated at all the expressions of sympathy without any accompanying action. And so he said that poor desperate man, he said I'm sorry too, I'm sorry, 5 lb worth.

Can you put 5 lb in a hat? And then what the other people and he said, how sorry are you? He passed the Hat. And that group of people gave me enough money that the Carter was able to buy a new horse. They were challenged, they responded. As a result, they took what they believed sorrow for the loss, they translated into action and they help meet the need to offset the loss. That's kind of think James is talking about in our Bible passage. It's important to point out that caring for the poor is certainly not the only way we can express our faith. And if we're not actively caring for poor people, I hope Works pressing our faith in other ways. However, because scripture has so much to say about followers of Jesus, given what we have to help people in the margins. We do need to take it seriously.

And that's why James writes about that as a specific example. Of belief. KU versus belief one face. But that's just James's first example, he's not done yet. He's going to drive the final nail in the coffin. With the second example and show us the total and utter uselessness of belief 1. You're Eagles on the right, but someone will say you have faith. I have Deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by my Deeds. You believe that there is one God good, but listen, to even the demons, believe that And shutter, you foolish person, you want evidence that faith without Deeds is useless.

What I thought when I read that phrase there, you know, you have faith. I have needs to me, it's kind of has a contemporary ring to it. It reminds me of people to say something or you have a faith that works for me and you know, the face that works for you and we can just kind of do things our own way. But what James wants us to understand is any belief, one approach to Faith doesn't work at all.

Even demons, believe in God. He was about the facts right about Jesus. We see that time and again in scripture, Jesus comes to a person who is Afflicted with an evil spirit. And so often those evil spirits, we know who you are, you're in Jesus, the Holy One.

Incredible. Look at the facts, right? I believe. What is belief one? It'll move to believed to have no faith in Jesus, but they just live in fear of him, they don't want to follow him. They have a deep, Eternal belief one. Look at life and it does them no good at all. So these demons are a profound example of wife, belief without action is useless.

And I know so many people. Outside the church. if I'm inside the church, we're stuck in belief one.

That means they're like the students at herb goalies Flight School. Who believed that human beings can physically fly. And if they walk everywhere they go. Stuck in belief one which is functionally useless wants to flip to the other side of the coin is the positive side of things.

Just want belief. One is useless. Belief to is life-changing. He's not going to give us two examples to illustrate that very point. At least to his life-changing and here's an example. The first one was not our Father, 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 face was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled as his Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. Not by belief one.

So Jim's demonstrates his point by highlighting. This example of the face of a man named Abraham, if you don't happen to know his story, he was a wealthy Nomads who lived in the ancient Middle East and God appeared to him. And that is really where the biblical story of Faith begins. You can read about Abraham in the Book of Genesis and Abraham story is unusual in many ways, but this is this incident described by James is one of the most unusual. Because God comes to Abraham when he's very old. He and his wife, Sarah are beyond the normal childbearing ages. And God says, guess what? I'm going to miraculously. Bless you with a son. And it came true. The game. A boy named Isaac.

Isaac grows up a young, man. when Isaac gets about 8:30, maybe God comes to Abraham and says guess what? Know that miraculous son? I gave you the son. Whom you love. I want you. I want you to take him to an altar and sacrifice him to me. Kill your son on an altar to show that you honor me. That's crazy. Ignore human sense.

How to say Abraham response? Well, he Prescott

So he sets out on a journey to do. What God asks, he puts his son on altar to kill him. The scripture says, as the knife was coming down. Got arrested his hand. God steps in and you substitute an animal sacrifice in the place of Isaac.

A very wild weird and wonderful, sorry. Why does God do that for a couple of reasons? One, is it in the ancient Middle Eastern culture? Human life was viewed. Very cheaply. And many of the indigenous religions at the time. Promoted human sacrifice as a way to appease the Gods.

The god of Heaven and Earth God of Abraham and Isaac. The saying in that moment, no, I don't need humans to be sacrificed to appease me. Our God does not require the sacrifice of human beings cuz we're all made in His image and we are so precious to him.

Who God is making a profound point in that moment about the value of human life. He's also making a point about the importance of trusting him even when his commands make zero sense,

And here's how this relates to our lesson Not To Us by James for that lesson to have any value. It can't just be theoretical.

God, gives me to Abraham, Abraham look like several chat. You know why? These other other people's around 8? They sacrifice human beings but I don't need that. So just don't worry about human sacrifice. Play Abraham to say back to God. Oh okay. We don't want to check my people. I get it. But talking about it. Results in belief one.

I got the facts, right? Because God asked him to set out. To go through the process.

And for Abraham to actually watch God himself intervened to stop that. Senseless Abraham isn't just taught a lesson. He lives a lesson.

In that moment, he demonstrates the God and he demonstrates to himself, but he has belief to Faith. He will trust What God Says, and he will act on What God Says. He's not the only person like that in scripture. So James. Highlights a second example in the face of a woman named Rahab. In the same way, was not even Rahab The Prostitute considered righteous for what she did. When she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction as the body without the spirit is dead. So faith without Deeds is dead.

I really like this particular example. And you may not know rehab story. This is just a big summary of it for stories recorded in the Book of Joshua chapter 2 and what we learn there is that Rahab is a huge contrast to Abraham Obviously, she's a woman, he's a man. But also use a fluent. And she's a lower-class. Innkeeper, and a prostitute. So James is doing something very strategic here. He's selecting it individuals at both ends of the economic and social Spectrum, by selecting a woman and a man, he's showing that our sex has nothing to do with our spirituality. No one is beyond the reach of God, and every human being As the privileged opportunity to embrace belief to Faith.

So what's rehab story? Why is your face so profound what she's a citizen of Jericho and even many people who don't know anything about the Bible know about the walls of Jericho and that story will the Israelites are coming to attack Jericho. God has put them on that mission and Rehab from within that city has heard about God and she's heard that this God of Israel is completely different from the pagan gods worshipped by her culture. And she's wrestled with all that, she's come to the conclusion, that the god of Israel must be the one true God.

Rahab Embraces belief Two-Face. And we see that because in advance of the battle that you would people send some spies into town and Rahab helps them, she hides them from soldiers, he helps them get safely out of the city and because of that, demonstration of a friendship to the Israelite people. When the cities destroyed, Rachael Ray, having her family apart.

But here's what's really interesting. The scripture tells us that everyone in Jericho has heard all about the God of Israel. They've all heard about the way with them in the battle. They've heard about the Miracles that God has done on behalf of the Israelites. And how did they respond your quaking with fear? There hunkering down. They don't want anything to do with that.

Look at the facts, right? There's no faith. New tire city of Jericho. Rahab is the only person who Moved beyond belief one. What do I know about God the belief to. Now, how I put what I know in action

And as a result, she takes radical action and she rejects the religious beliefs of her own culture, portrays her own fellow citizens, and you can't do that. If your faith in God, simply is a set of mental beliefs.

The chips are down. You won't do. What's necessary if you're able if one person.

Rahab is a belief to person. So, she takes a life-changing step of faith. Becomes power of God. James summarises all that at the end of this passage with a very succinct.

Faith without Deeds is dead. Another words, belief one doesn't cut it. Elite 2 is what matters.

But here's what happens. Sometimes we get stuck in a belief. One lifestyle. I have seen what I'm about to describe it. Seen this happen with the number of Christians over there. Someone standing apart from God there spiritually adrift or spiritually lost, they realize our Center, they need the savior, they take those steps for Jesus. They repent, their baptized, they come in to Faith. They've moved from just knowing things about Jesus to sing, I want to be with you. Jesus, and I'm responding and Faith, they become a belief to person, in their embraced, in the family of God. What it what happens if start to get involved with the life of the church? And after a while they stopped focusing on action. They focus on gaining knowledge.

Bible study. I'm all for Bible study. Coming Bible say. Get all right answers.

Sometimes for us, Christianity becomes more a matter of getting the right answer.

And being the right kind of people.

And that's what our life stops changing. And we have unwittingly evolved into a belief when Christian. Teams does not want to see that happen to God's people, and that's why he tells us. So strongly, we must live out the truth that we know You're only going to do that. When we understand that belief, one will not sustain us in the critical moments of life.

Years ago, I read about a man. A Christian comedian named Ken Davis in this. Isn't it, how many story though? It has a couple of humorous elements, but he tells a story, which vividly illustrates the difference between believe and belief to If you write some of the time in college, when he was asked to give a talk to his speech class. And so he wrote a speech and he called it, the law of the pendulum and belief. There's a lot of the pendulum pendulum never can return to a point higher than the point from, which is released because of friction and gravity when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release Point each time, it swings at State, makes less and less of an arc until finally, it's at rest. And we see that here in this picture, you release depends on one and it goes out goes back and forth each time, though. It swings in a shorter and shorter Ark, so I can describe this to his class, he put a picture of it on the board. There was a chalkboard in and took out a yo-yo swing and then yes and then when it came back it didn't go. Quite as far, didn't reach a starting point back and forth until it came to rest. So he described it. He explained he gave a Demonstration of the class. You believe that the law of the pendulum is true. Everybody in the class. The professor said Peace. We believe it's true. What have they done? It expressed belief one. Accepted the facts.

Can watch them to understand the difference between belief one and belief to and so he's got another demonstration in the middle of that classroom. He hung a massive pendulum, weighing 250 lb. It's what it's made out of metal. Guess the wall of the classroom. He had put a table with a chair on it and that chair is against the wall. And then Ken, says a broth. Bring some Professor up, has some claim on the table, sit in the chair and have them sit there with his head pressed firmly against the wall. And can go and grab that pendulum. Brings it up and holds it just shy of the professors knows. He said, Professor, he says it's the law of the pendulum is true. But I release this, the pendulum will go across the classroom, and it will swing back. And if you sit still with your head firmly, pressed against the law in your face, will be in no danger.

Professor, do you believe that the law of the pendulum is true?

And says, there was a long pot. he said drops of sweat poured out on the professors head and he said,

So Ken. Release of the pendulum and it was so heavy with making. Like this is wishing, I was at home.

Reaches the far end of back for the professor. And he says, I never saw a man move so fast in my life. He literally

Does he lay there on the floor? I said to the class is our professor believe in the law of the pendulum, and they all went.

They were right. I didn't believe. You can't believe when it mattered most.

I love that story because it makes James's point. So abundantly clear belief. One really isn't belief, it will not stand up when put to the test, but here's the thing. Brothers and sisters. Do you like belief one? Cuz oh, it's so easy. As we can just say and think the right things. Believe two can be hard.

Leaf to means got to sacrifice your son. Okay. I'll go. Like, I tried to imagine what it was like for that Professor sitting there in that chair watching, metal hurtling, at his face, I would have found it hard to sit there. BC, it's for moments like that. The Apostle Paul wrote A 2nd Corinthians, we live by faith. Not by sight.

so, if something is true, Even if our eyes tell us something different, our emotions. Tell us something different. We can act in faith. It's like belief to Faith would have kept that Professor firmly seated. In the chair would have actually affects our Behavior. That's what James has been trying to tell us. Because of belief to Abraham, trusted God. Despite the fact that God's instructions made no sense because of belief to Rahab was able to turn her back on everything and become a follower of God.

We have those examples to guide us and that's what belief to look like in their lives. But it's important to ask what my belief to look like in your life. and in my, Where might God be speaking to us? And asking you and me. This pivotal question. You believe. You believe there's a few examples based on Biblical teaching to prod are thinking, there's a belief. One says, it's vital for us to reach out to people within our circle of relationship who are far from God. And we know that. Belief to. Compels us taxi, get to know. Her neighbors, were spiritually a draft. And pray that we might be, the means by which they might come to know the love of God in their own lives. You and I have meaningful relationships with unbelievers, coworkers. you know, my belief to Change the way you interact with people who don't know, Jesus. Do you believe?

Believe, one tells us that gossip and slander or destructive in the community of faith, belief to compels us to stop talking about other people behind their back and a striper Unity with other followers of Jesus.

I might believe to change the way that you talk about and interact with other Christians. Do you leave?

Leaf one tells us that we will never find lasting meaning and money and possessions believe to compels us to focus Less on material success and more on spiritual significance.

I might believe to change the way. You make financial decision. Do you believe? That's the question. James is providing us to prayerfully consider. You've made it abundantly clear that God wants all of his children to live as belief to people.

It was we put this Bible passage to rest today here's the question. I think God wants us to wrestle with.

Jesus, how might you be inviting me what my faith into action in new and different ways in the week ahead?

Prompto. You be more of a belief to Christian.

Heavenly father, I have to confess that these words from James and they make me uncomfortable. For the challenge, me to be open to more than just new ways of thinking.

You remind me that I need to be open to new ways of living.

Opposite of deeply Ponder. What we read today.

Father, is we just spend time in your presence today and throughout the week, help us to be reflective and to consider where we might be stuck in belief one, we know the truth and we accept the truth or just not living it. The power of the spirit help us to move forward as belief to people. Do we actually can live each day as ever more. Faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Our Lord and savior. We pray this out in his name. A man.