James 02
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Intro Hook
Intro Hook
Story of the boy and his bad friend.
The Question that we need to reflect on.
The Question that we need to reflect on.
What does the way I live reveal about what I believe?
Our Actions Flow out of what we Believe.
Now you should go back and read James 02 1-13
James talks about issues of justice and favoritism… specifically within the church community, with the poor and how we deal with The Law… or the Torah.
Seam: We are going to continue though into James 2:14.
James 2v14
James 2:14 (CSB)
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
Medication. Have to take it to have it work.
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?
If our actions flow out of what we believe, then what does this scenario say about what we believe?
Notice, James is pointing to a brother or sister, he is not even talking about just the poor in this passage. He is pointing at a fellow believer. And he is using familial language to communicate the community of gospel love that we are apart of.
If we see a fellow believer in need, and dont do anything to meet that need…what does that say about our faith.
The question that has to be asked is “what does my not helping this brother or sister say I believe?”
For example, one of the number one issues that we have in our culture is that of Hurry and Business. The two indicators of what we value, or what we believe is time and money. So… when I say that I cannot help a fellow brother or sister because I am too busy… we are saying that something else is more important than that other person.
We feel this reality in our relationships. When we do not spend time and effort into our relationships, we communicate what is important.
We see this in marriages all the time.
When is it that my wife does not feel loved? It is when we have not spent time together.
In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
Dallas Willard Electricity Story
James 2:18–19 (CSB)
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works. You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
Notice, James is showing that his hypothetical opponent is saying that their faith and their works are separate. They just need their faith.
And the same argument still happens to day. See, in a secular worldview that our world has, we try and separate out our lives into different categories.
I have a personal life, a physical life, a married life, a work life, and a church life.
But this is not what Jesus or scripture teaches us about our lives.
We are actually and integrated or a “Wholistic Person”.
You and I feel this reality all the time. We yearn for integrity. When we are physically unhealthy we either yearn to be healthy or we become mentally unhealthy. When we are spiritually unhealthy, we become physically unhealthy. We are an integrated or a wholistic person.
Seam: The question is… what does that have to do with faith and works?
The Secular worldview says that we have faith and then we have knowledge. And that these are separate things.
Want to see how this works? Go to a bookstore. They have a spiritual section and a mental health section. A religious section and a self help section.
Regular schools and Spiritual Schools.
We do not teach biblical things in school, because those are spiritual… they are different then math or even philosophy or logic.
This is not a political statement about schools or what should be…this is just to point to the reality that the secular world around us has decided that knowledge and faith are separate realities.
Seam: As Disciples of Jesus, we need to ask the question “is this what Jesus taught? Is there a spiritual reality or faith? and Then separate from that is our physical life?
The Best teaching we have from Jesus is the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5. It includes the Beatitudes… what Jesus says about the world.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the humble,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
These are counter cultural to say the least. You and I can get behind some of it, but we struggle with things like “Blessed are the Meek.”
Then you continue and read things like Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire.
Or Matthew 5:27-30
“You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
And one of my favorites.
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
And what happens is that if we spiritualize these, or make these about issues of just faith… then we are saying that what Jesus is saying is not actually true.
Its the same as when your grandmother tells you that you are the most wonderful child in the world. The Smartest guy around… we dont actually believe that. We believe that Grandma at best is just being kind and saying that out of love…at worst she is lying or doesnt have true knowledge. She doesnt actually know what she is talking about.
And its easy to do the same thing with Jesus. “That is really a nice thought Jesus, but you dont really know how the world works.” or “ That is just not how the world works Jesus.”
We believe that Jesus is a good self help, spiritual teacher…but not an actual real life teacher.
And if that is true, then we take all of the power out of his comforts like in Matthew 6:25-7
“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?
Or Matthew 11:28-29
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Seam: If faith and knowledge are separate, then Jesus is not actually teaching us how the world works. And we live that way. Our belief that Jesus does not actually know what he is talking about flows into us doing what we believe is the way the world actually works.
We all know people who claim to follow Jesus but who look nothing like him.
We see this play out in our media all the time. Both the political right and left claim to be following Jesus or using the authority of the bible as a moral authority.
But hold up Jesus teaching on how to treat your enemies? Matthew 5:43-45
“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Imagine with me a political candidate that put their enemies before themselves. Imagine a political candidate that sought the good of the other person before themself. That was actively praying for their political opponent.
Or Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire.
Imagine a political season without name calling.
The truth is that the right has issues with following Jesus teaching upon mercy and justice on those in need. And the let has issues with what Jesus teaches about Holiness… especially when it comes to sexuality.
And we see it through the way they act. What we do, the choices we make pour out of what we believe.
We all know someone that says that they are Christian, and they are angry and mean.
And what breaks my heart is when I look at the amount of people that are deconstructing from the faith. I have friends and family that have walked away from the faith. People that I love dearly. Close family members. And the reason they give. Is because of Christians. Because of the church.
They do say that are actions do not prove that we believe what we say.
Memory of brother calling me a hypocrite
Seam: What is it that I actually believe? What is the way that I live my life?
Gospel of Sin Management.
Barcode Gospel.
Prosperity Gospel.
Seam: What did Jesus say that he came for? What is the life that we are offered?
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
What does Jesus say eternal life is?
John 17:3 (CSB)
This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.
Now, something that is lost in translation when we read the bible is the world Know. In our culture, in our language, Know has the connotation of just knowledge. But for the Hebrew reader, the original readers Know has a richer meaning. It is to fully experience someone or something. To have a deep relationship with.
So Eternal life is not only about a future date… it is experiential relationship with Jesus now.
I love this description by Dallas Willard
"The Gospel is the good news of the presence and availability of life in the kingdom, now and forever, through reliance on Jesus the anointed. - Dallas Willard
The Good News of God’s presence Now. We can live into his teachings Now. and forever. Through Jesus.
Seam: See Jesus is not teaching how to have a spiritual life. He is showing you how to have Life today.
And if we believe that… if we believe that Jesus is actually teaching us to live in our daily lives.. that will cause us to live in a different way.
The belief that we do not have to be anxious about anything. Imagine what that looks like in your life in action? If we believe that we are loved by God… John 3:16
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
What does that look like in Action?
And again, it is not that we need to try and do those things… What we believe is proved only to the level that we believe that it is true.
Seam: So then we return to James
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James gives the example of Abraham. It is belief that drove Abraham’s action. It is out of a belief that God is who he says he is, and that his promises are true that he is obedient. It is that kind of faith that God credits then as righteousness.
It is important to understand…that it is not the action that saves Abraham. Abraham was a broken person that made broken sinful choices.
And the truth is that we are in the same boat. You and I are broken and sinful. Sinfulness is connected with the idea of sickness is scripture. Scripture communicates this picture of us being “sick with sinfulness.” We cannot help but do broken, harmful and evil things. And no amount of what will power or positive thinking we do can change that.
But because God loves his world, he came in human form as Jesus. He did it to restore his kingdom, his creation. He did it to teach us how to live into his kingdom and the way he meant for things to be. And he died a real death and was born again to pay the price for our sinfulness and open up new life to us. Just like he was dead and rose again, we can die and have new life through him.
And he provides his power to enable us live into his kingdom. To live a life in the reality of what he teaches.
Peter in one of his letters tells us how we access that power… how we begin to live into new life.
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.
Notice: it is through knowledge of him. It is through faith that we are given everything that we need to live into his kingdom. To live a life of of “godliness.” It is through his goodness that he provides it. Not anything to do with our works… but as a gift because he loves us. All that we need to do is believe.
What did Abraham do that made him righteous? Believe. It was his faith.
Seam: And this gets to the point of what James is saying. That the faith that has power…the faith that is true belief…leads to works.
If we believe what God says is true. If we believe that the teachings of Jesus are true, that the kingdom is here and his presence and power is available to us… then our faith will flow into works or action.
And so Peter continues in his letter
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
It is out of our faith…that we have works…what we believe flows into what we do. And so our faith leads us to relationship with Jesus. To spend time in his presence and gives us access to his power. And these lead us to develop goodness, knowledge, self control, endurance, goodliness, brotherly affection and love.
And so if your faith is not leading to works…James is saying it is dead. Faith that is not developing into a relationship with Jesus that develops into spiritual fruit and love for others… is not fruit.
James gives one more example.
In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?
We dont have time to dive into the story of Rahab, but you can read about her in Joshua… go check it out this week. And notice, what is it that leads her to save others… it is her belief. Her faith.
Abraham, is justified by his faith… and that faith flows into action.
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Seam: So what does that mean for me today? If my faith is dead, how do I develop a faith that is alive?
The Simple answer is to begin to believe the right things. If you are in school, how do you pass the test? Get right information and apply it.
Cycle of Change:
BELIEVE
Observe: Actions.
Reflect: What do those actions show I believe.
Discuss: Trusted friend or in community. We have blind spots. True change happens with others. This is the power of the church.
REPENT
Account: What is the belief I need to end. What is a belief I need to start.
Plan: What do you need to start doing?
Act: Begin doing it.
If you do not believe something is true, the best way to prove it is to practice it.
In Math, how do you prove something. By working it out.
In a relationship, if you do not like someone, if you begin to do kind things for them or even begin praying for them on a daily basis, your attitude towards them will begin to change.
Now we have already said that we cannot change on our own. We are broken and sinful. Scripture uses the language of us needing new hearts. Something that we cannot do for ourselves.
We need Jesus to do these things through his spirit. Now, what we can do is open ourselves up to the activity of the spirit. Open ourselves up to his power.
Traditionally, this is what is called Spiritual Disciplines, or Spiritual Practices. It is doing what we can so God will do what he can.
How do we know what they are? They are just the way that Jesus lived? They are the activities that we see Jesus do and talk about in the Gospel.
And they have been proven through the last 2000 years to bring God’s true transformative power into our life.
So we pray, God changes our heart.
We Read our bible, God changes our thinking.
We Sabbath, God gives us rest.
We Fast: God gives us fulfillment.
We Spend time in Silence and Solitude: He gives peace.
So What can you begin doing today?
First, reflect on the question “What do my choices reveal about what I believe?”
Second, begin to learn what Jesus has to say. The best way to do this is just read the Gospel. Matthew mark luke and John. One chapter a day. asking the question “what is Jesus saying about life?”
You may need to repent of because you have not believed what Jesus says is true. His invitation is to come and follow him. Over and over…just begin to come and follow him. Not earn it, not do anything different yet. Just stop what you are doing and come and learn from him. Be with him. Know him. And allow your knowing him, your faith in him begin to open you to his presence and power.
It might just be an area of your life. Maybe you believed Jesus except for in the way you deal with anger, or finances, or at work/business. Imagine what your life could look like, if you began to believe what he said is true.
Faith that does not result in action or works is not faith. It is dead.
The way we live, the choices we make every day, flow out of what we believe.
What do you believe?