Book of James: 2:14-26 Faith that works
Notes
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Good morning and welcome to Oldfield Free Church.
I’m Ian and it’s great to see you here. We’re going to sing a few songs, pray and have notices
...before the message: Faith that works
If you’re new here welcome and please take one of the leaflets on the table at the back and stay for a cuppa after the service and introduce yourself.
We’d appreciate it if you switch your mobiles to silence so we are not unnecessarily distracted during the service.
Mighty God, everything you do reveals your glory and majesty. Open our eyes to see what you are doing in our lives. Let us marvel at your good gifts and your wise provision. Your acts are amazing Lord. We can not comprehend the number of blessings you pour out on us from day to day. As we gather today around your name, we pray that you would fill our hearts, our minds and our souls. Transform us Lord, and make us more like you. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Hymn: 302 Tell out my soul
Hymn: 302 Tell out my soul
VIDEOS: Jesus strong and kind, I have this hope
VIDEOS: Jesus strong and kind, I have this hope
Father of all, we pray for your church, all of those throughout the world, brought together through faith in your son. We ask for your protection upon your people and lift before you, those Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith. We pray that you will bring renewal to the church, in faith, love and service and that divisions will be healed so that unity may come. Help your church to have good, robust conversations, to listen and disagree well, help those that lead reach the decisions that will be for the good of all and for your glory.
Lord, we pray for our community. We thank you for all the opportunities that you have given and ask that you continue to lead and guide us as we seek to shine your light in this place and in this area. Lord, we pray for those as they go about their daily life and work, we pray for the young and the elderly, for families and those who live alone, that you will work through their and draw near to them that they find You.
Lord of all, we lift before you all leaders, we pray for the day when all that lead governments locally, nationally and worldwide will come under your rule.
Lord of healing, we pray for those who are sick and suffering, in mind, body or spirit. For those who are grieving such as Thavam’s family. Meet with those who find themselves in darkness and wrap your comforting and healing arms around them. In a moment of silence, we will each bring before you someone in need of our prayers today.
Notices & Collection (298)
Notices & Collection (298)
Video: Yet not I
Video: Yet not I
Reading and Sermon
Reading and Sermon
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and 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? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
How are we saved? By our works? Or by our faith? And that is the crux of the issue for the great reformer Martin Luther. He thought that James was contradicting Paul and had even written this letter to dispute with him. So much so that he put James in the appendix to the New Testament. Which, was a bit much.
It was a big issue in Luther’s day as it is today. If we are saved by faith plus works then we have to ask what was the point of the cross. We can save ourselves by doing enough good works. But if we are saved by faith alone then we are dependent upon Jesus’ death and resurrection. And if we read Paul’s letters especially those to the Galatians and to Romans then we will find that it is by faith alone we are saved.
So, is James saying the opposite then when he says faith apart from works is useless and dead? In fact, James, which was written first, by the way, Paul wrote his letters after. James is complimentary to Paul. And that is what we are going to find out as we go through this passage.
The difference is found in that Paul wrote to those who had placed their faith in the law as the way of salvation AND in Jesus. But the works of the law cannot save you. Martin Luther was addressing a similar problem with the Roman Catholicism of his day that was saying, as it still does to this day, that you had to follow all the tenets of the Catholic faith and its sacraments to be saved. This Luther and I are saying is not good news.
However, just as works plus faith cannot save, the evidence of faith IS good works. Faith justifies us before God. He knows when we put our trust in Him. Faith and trust are synonyms. God knows the moment we are saved. God is omniscient, that is, He knows all things. He does not need external evidence.
For example, the man on the cross next to Jesus had not a chance to show good works but that man entered Heaven regardless. Why? Because He submitted to the rule of Christ and trusted Him for salvation. This was no simple intellectual attitude of simply believing - no he trusted completely. This is true faith. Had he lived there would have been evidence in his life.
To understand that the word faith is more than simply knowing, there are many who know all about Christ, what He has done, and may even acknowledge that all those things are true. Does that save them? No. Why? Because they do not give their lives to God through Jesus. There are many reasons for this but the chief of them is that they love darkness more than light. So, it takes more than simply believing. Believing has to do with trust. You may believe a chair will not collapse when you sit on it but it is only when you have sat down on it that you prove your belief. And you have proven this since you were a child.
But now jump from a tall bridge with a rope attached to you on the basis that someone said it is safe to do so... and trust that the you will stop before you hit the ground without splatting. You may say you believe that all safety precautions have been taken, that the harness will be attached and that you would not die…but is it all talk until you actually bungee jump off the edge of the bridge? Until you actually jump do you really have faith? Maybe yes, maybe no. If you are truly a believer it is that that will move you to take that extra step…if not, it was all bravado and not true.
So James says: show me your faith! Before God we do not need to evidence our hearts but before people we do. We reveal our faith by what we do. Good works did not save us but faith without good works is evidence we do not have faith. True faith reveals itself in works. If our faith does not then we have to ask the question have we truly trusted in Jesus for our salvation or were we all talk.
Calvin, that is John Calvin of the 16th Century, not the maker of jeans and underwear, said:
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Six: False Faith (James 2:14–26)
“It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone.”
Paul wrote one of my oft quoted verses:
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
And Paul also says:
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
True faith is never by itself, it always has as its evidence good works.
We are familiar with the Parable of the Sower, right with the four types of ground, three of which produced nothing at all but one did: Why? Because they truly understood the Gospel:
23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
We are also told by Jesus
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
And didn’t Paul writes whole chapters on how we should live as Christians? Why? because our faith needs an outlet to work in the world and God works through us at such times.
Indeed, did we not see last week that James said that it is wrong to discriminate towards someone who is rich or poor? And that this faith produces mercy. James goes on in verse 16, that if you see someone in need and only encourage them with words rather than with actions then this helps not one iota.
Then what is the good of saying “I believe in One God” and have nothing to show for it. Yes, trust in God is mental assent but this does not save the demons. If you believe there is One God, what is called in Hebrew the Shema, well done, good for you! But you should know that the devil and his cronies know this and better than you. Guess what. It makes no difference. They are still demons.
People can believe this too and still behave like demons and live the worldly life. Unlike people, though, demons shudder and tremble knowing these things for they know they will not be saved and unlike us know all too well the reality of hell where they are headed. For them, as one commentator put it:
The Jewish New Testament Commentary Ya’akov (James), Chapter 2
unlike human skeptics, they know that this hell, with its lake of fire and brimstone, is real and not merely a scare tactic used to frighten the gullible.”
The true evidence of faith is works as a result. Works can never save you and nowhere does it say that, but if works are not evident then what or who are you really believing?
Has your faith been tested? It was only when Abraham was tested that his faith was no longer simply mental ascent or ethereal. It was only when he was about to kill Isaac that his faith became real and concrete. Now God can bring Himself glory before people that which God already knew about Abraham, that he was a man of faith. The proof of this is in
5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
long before the almost sacrifice of Genesis 22 when, as James says, his faith was completed. Justified before God AND people.
Let me ask you. When was Abraham first saved? in Genesis 15 or about 30 years later in Genesis 22? God, who knows the heart, justified him in Genesis 15. Why? Because He trusted and believed what God said. Genesis 22 just proves that God was right all along about Abraham. Abraham, or Abram as he was then, believed just once but it was permanent. He became the Father of faith.
Let me be clear. Not faith in faith. Some say, if only you faith or you gotta have faith as George Michael used to sing, if only you have a little faith. Do you faith, brothers? Prince Charles wants to be defender of faith. Or, at least he did, twenty or so years ago. Faith is a nonsense word unless coupled with the true God. The Queen is defender of THE faith. What faith? The Christian faith, the faith that saves you from your sins when you trust Jesus and His works.
Abraham’s faith in God and reliance upon God’s Word was such he thought that even he sacrificed his son’s life he will somehow be resurrected. Incredible! But all of us have such faith if we believe in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
All of us can be as Abraham if God asked us to do something. And sometimes God can ask us to do things that defy logic or reason or would even seem to be against God’s own nature, but if you know that you know that you know that God has spoken then you have no justification to say ‘no’ to Him but to be immediately obedient.
And Rahab, the opposite of Abraham in status being a Gentile prostitute in Jericho, was saved - and notice that the word saved throughout James never means to eternal life or to be saved from sin. The five times James uses it is always in regards to saving someone’s physical life. Rahab was saved by her faith when she looked after the two spies knowing that judgement from God was coming upon Jericho and the surrounding land. She even became an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ. She trusted God and put it into action.
Faith without works simply is not a thing unless we come to faith on our deathbed. We trust God completely through Jesus Christ and are made right with God for He shows His mercy to us. And because of His mercy we are merciful and do good works, following in the footsteps of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who went round doing good deeds and laying His life down for His friends.
Today, it is important that we examine where we are in the faith. Is there evidence? Can someone prove that you are a Christian indeed in deed? The demons we mentioned earlier believed with all their minds the truth of God and they were emotionally invested too but they remain unchanged and their destiny is still hell.
This leaves us with the crucial question about salvation, right? It is like the jailer in the Philippians jail who asked: What must I do to be saved? And the answer? Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved. That word ‘on’ or ‘in’ means complete trust and hope in Him.
Works cannot save us. Again, works cannot save us. It does not improve our position with God, before or after salvation. Some people have a lot of works but no faith. Some claim to have faith but no works. Both groups are in a lot of trouble before God.
What is the first work we must do?
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
If you will trust Jesus for your salvation right now, and let Him be your Lord and Saviour then you will receive the Holy Spirit who guarantees you eternal life, and this life that you have received will begin to reveal His life.
One more thing:
Abraham was called the friend of God because of his faith. Isn’t that amazing? God’s friend. God is not Abraham’s friend but Abraham was God’s. Good for Abraham, right! So what?! Listen carefully now: Abraham is the father of faith. And we are his children. And also by extension are we not God’s friends too? Perhaps you think that is too far but listen then to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith:
14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
The marvel is not that Jesus is MY friend, it is that I am His friend. Wraps your minds around that if you can.
How is this possible? All things are possible through faith and the works that follow.
Prayer
Can it be that I am the friend of God? Am I following in Your footsteps? I want to. And with your help we all can be Your friend.
Hymn: 300 Take my life
Hymn: 300 Take my life
Benediction
Benediction
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000)
Ellsworth, Roger, Opening up James, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009)
Gaebelein, Arno C., The Annotated Bible, Volume 9: James to Revelation (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009)
Hughes, R. Kent, James: Faith That Works, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991)
Radmacher, Earl D., Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1999)
Stern, David H., Jewish New Testament Commentary : A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, electronic ed. (Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996)
Wiersbe, Warren W., The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996)