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Real Faith is Real Work
Get Real Series
James 2:14-26
Welcome!
I hope you came today to worship in truth!
We celebrate a God who is worthy of all our praise and all our worship.
Thank you for choosing to worship with us this morning.
Real quick, I want to say a huge thankyou to each of you who gave to the Annie Armstrong Easter offering.
We went right past out goal of $1000 and were able send almost $1900 dollars to our SBC missionaries and church planters.
Congratulations!
We are in the middle of a series studying the book of James.
Our Series is titled Get Real.
So far, we have studied the storms and temptations that touch our lives and how to receive Real Help in these situations; we studied how to deal with our anger.
We saw that we need to be quicker to listen and slower to speak and even slower to anger.
We also studied in chapter 2 how to not show prejudice and how not to play favorites.
We saw how Christ expects us to show Real Love, His love, to everyone equally.
Today we are going to finish chapter two and look at the topics of faith and works.
The title of the message this morning is Real Faith is Real Work.
Please feel free to take notes in the space provided in your bulletin.
This passage is possibly one of the most controversial passages in all the Bible.
This Is one of the passages that ended up splitting the catholic and protestant churches some 500 years ago.
Remember that as we study this passage that James was writing to Christians who were not living like Christians.
They proclaimed the name of Christ but lived just like everyone else around them.
Let’s ask God to guide our time this morning as we study this passage.
Prayer
Faith is an interesting topic.
If you were to go into downtown Randolph and spend a few days just asking people on the sidewalk what they thought faith meant, you would receive a variety of answers.
Some would quote the definition we memorized as children, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”
Some would say it is a religion, “what faith are you?”
Like a noun.
Some would say it is just believing in something.
Or the most modern line of thinking, it can be whatever you want it to be!
We all have faith in things.
You had faith last night that when you fell asleep your alarm clock would wake you up this morning.
You had faith that when you turned the key in your car that it would crank.
Interestingly Webster’s dictionary says that faith is “belief and trust in and loyalty to God.”
James pretty much takes everything we have ever known or learned about faith and turns it on its ear.
For instance, we all know the passages of scriptures that tell us that if we just “believe” or “have faith” in God that he will “save” us.
That’s it.
We all know the scripture that says that faith saves us not works.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
-- Eph 2:8-9 (ESV)
Then James comes in and just seems to toss it all away.
It seems that he contradicts our very core of beliefs.
“Whosever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
This passage is the passage that made Martin Luther in the 1500’s say that James was a 2nd tier book of the Bible because he and others felt that it contradicts what Christ and Paul taught in other books.
I like James.
He is an out of the box thinker.
He is so blunt and to the point.
He just says it like it is, calls it like he sees it.
And he can do that because he knows he is right.
He knows he is right because the Holy Spirit is guiding his pen!
Let’s look the passage starting in vs 14-17
“14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can that faith save him?
15If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
James comes and says what good is your faith if you do not have works!?
I have been told most of my life that all I need is faith and if I just believe in God that I will go to heaven!
And here is James saying that faith by itself is dead!
This is the split between the catholic and the protestant churches right here.
Most Catholics believe that you get to heaven by doing good works.
Most Protestants believe that all you need is faith.
So, over the millennia since Christ, we have managed to take faith and works and make them polar opposites that work against each other.
So, who is right, who is wrong?
Do the passages penned by Paul and this passage in James contradict one another?
I do not believe that there is a contradiction.
Bless the theologians over the past hundreds of years, but they missed it altogether.
I think Freeman Sleeper said it best, “Paul’s argument is that obedience in Christ is enough to put a person right with God.
For James, on the other hand, the real issue is whether making a Christian commitment is worth anything unless it changes the way in which you live.”
You see, Paul and James both see faith as the same thing.
They both see faith as what singularly saves a person and transforms a life into something productive that God can use.
Neither one of them see faith as merely a belief in doctrine or theology.
James Ropes puts it this say, “The contrast is not so much between faith and deeds, although this stands in the background, but between dead, useless faith and living faith.
Faith alone without works is as dead as a body without breath.
Deeds are not something extra to be added to faith; they are a necessary part of faith.
Without deeds faith is not really a true faith – it is only a shadow, a shade, an imposter, of true faith.”
So, James asks a rhetorical question, “What good is faith without works?
Can such a faith save you?”
He makes the assertion with this question that it isn’t worth anything.
He continues to make his point with a hypothetical situation.
He talks again about how Christians react to the poor.
He says if a poor man walks in and needs clothes and food and you look at him and say “Go, I wish you well, stay warm and fed” and then send him on his way.
What good have you done that man?
We do the same thing today.
We see a friend going through a tough spot.
He or She is really in a deep valley of life.
We usually say, well I will be praying for you!
Now prayer is good, but how have you helped that person right here and now?
That kind of help leaves us with no responsibility.
James says that is not good enough.
He says that we need to do something.
When someone is in the valley, we need to walk with them.
Help them in their situation; help them to get out of the valley.
18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.”
Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19You believe that God is one; you do well.
Even the demons believe—and shudder!
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