Faith and Works (James 2/Eph 2:8-10)

Introduction

First of all, thank you for having me back. It is always a pleasure to have the opprotunitiy to come have fellowship with you all and to get to teach. If you were here when I preached last time you would have met my daughter and son. Unfortunately they are at our other church this morning, but for those of you who got to meet them, you might remember how outgoing they are. My kids will literally talk to anyone they see. It makes going to walmart a nightmare becuase they try to engage every single person that we pass in a conversation. I don’t know why either, it isn’t like we neglect our children and don’t talk to them. They aren’t deprived of conversations in our household. Well let me rephrase that, they might be deprived of real conversations, normally it’s a one sided conversation because we can’t get a word in. My mom recently took my daughter up to Paloa Kansas to see my sister and her kids and Taylor talked the entire way up. My mom said at one point she got out her phone and timed the quiet periods where Taylor didn’t say aything. The silence never lasted more than 7 seconds. My kids love to talk. And honestly it will be a blessing once they learn how to use it for good. But let me tell you one thing my kids aren’t good at. They are not good at cleaning their rooms or picking up after themselves. Whenever we ask them to clean their rooms it is like a miniture battle to get them to actually do it. They might go to their room and start picking up, but then they get distracted and they start playing with the toys they are supposed to put away. And if they aren’t playing or picking up, they are typically complaining about how hard it is to clean their room. You would think that I was asking them to do something impossible with how much they complain and how long it takes them. It’s not like I am asking them to do something that is complex or back breaking, i just want them to pick stuff up and shove it into a drawer so that I can actually walk around their room without fear of stepping on something. I don’t know why, but for whatever reason cleaning their room is the hardest thing to do in their eyes. But the hope is, that eventually, if we make them clean their rooms enough, it will develop into a habbit and they will actually WANT to clean their room. I am sure when I was a kid that I couldn’t stand cleaning my room either, but as I matured and grew having a messy room now bothers me. If my room or living space starts to get messy or dirty I feel a need to clean it. So hopefully one day my kids will develop that habbit and actually want to clean their rooms, but until then it is going to be a fun challenge to try and get them to do it.

When I think of how frustrating it is to get my kids to clean their room, which is a very simple task, I can’t help but think if that is how God view us with our lives. As a parent when I tell my kids to clean their room there is the expectation that they will go clean it. But what normally happens is that i go downstairs and find them distracted and doing something else. I think our life is sometimes the same way, God tells us to do something, and commands us to live a certian way, and we often get distracted by the things of this world. How frustrating would it be if I went downstairs to check on my children after telling them to clean their rooms only to find them reading a book. I would say “Why aren’t you cleaning your room like I asked” And they might say something like “Well i found this great book called “The Best Way To Clean Your Room” and I have been reading that instead of actually cleaning it. Or they say, Dad, i thought really hard and long about cleaning my room, i met with some friends for breakfast and we had a discussion about cleaning my room and the best ways to do it and I thought that would be good enough. Or even worse, if my child said something like Dad I have been pondering the philopshy of having a clean room and I have to ask, what does it mean to have a clean room, how clean does it have to be for it to be considered clean, what is the threshold of cleanliness that I must acheive. If I found them doing any of that stuff what would my response be. Well that’s great, but did you actually clean your room? Did you actually do what I told you, did you even make an attempt?

Main Body

And this is what we are going to be talking about today, faith and works. Actually living out what they Bible says. Now this can be a very touchy topic to some people. Growing up I was taught that grace alone saves us. Eph 2:8-9 says this:

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

So I would hear people say that we are saved by grace and faith. Not by works, works have no influence on our salvation, we simply have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and we will be saved by Grace. That sounds awesome right? I just have to believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and I get to go into heaven? But there was always one problem to this school of thought. And that problem is found in James chapter 2. You see James 2 says this:

James 2:14–17 NIV

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 a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Whenever I read that it appears to me that Paul and James are contradicting eachother. I mean on one hand you have Paul saying that works don’t save us and that we have been saved by grace, through faith. And James is saying that faith without works is dead? So is this an actual contradiction in the Bible? Did Paul and James disagree about how we obtain salvation? Absolutely not, but in order to comprehend fully what is going on here, we first must what the word faith actually meant to James and Paul. Sometimes people mistake the word faith for simply meaning belief or a belief system. When people ask the question “what is your faith” they are asking which belief system you subscribe to, what do you believe in. We also use faith many other ways in the english language, so it is important to understand how Paul and James used it so we can better understand the points they are trying to make.

The greek word for faith that is used both in Ephesians and James is pistis (pees tees). Now we translate this word into faith because that is the best word that we have for it, but it really doesn’t capture the true meaning of the word pistis. "Pistis" means belief, trust, and dedication. It captures the depth of trust in relationships, like loyalty, assurance, and commitment. This understanding helps explain the deep faith, trust, and dedication shown by heros in the Old Testament that Paul talks about in Hebrews 11. In other aceint Greek documents outside of the bible the word pistis is usually used in a legal sense, and its predominant meaning is “guarantee, security.” Almost like a contract or a covenant. We also see it used like this in the New Testament as well, one example being in 1 Timothy 5:12

1 Timothy 5:12 NIV

Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge.

Here pistis is used in the context of an oath or contract. Another time it is used to describe a promise or a guarantee is in Acts 17:31

Acts 17:31 (NIV)

For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

So we see the term "pistis" includes meanings like good faith, loyalty, fidelity, and forms the foundation of agreements. An example is 2 Tim 4:7 , when Paul says ;

2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Paul isn’t talking about his religious belief but to being loyal and trustworthy. For instance, in other historical texts such as the Antiquities of the Jews, the same phrase implies "I kept my word" or "I stayed loyal". Specifically, it often describes loyalty shown by those in service roles, like soldiers or officials. Paul, in this context, is expressing his dedication and loyalty in his role as an apostle serving Jesus Christ. Pistis, then, implies complete loyalty. So this word, that we translate into faith, means much much more than simply believing in something. Pistis does not equal belief, but instead wraps trust, loyalty, security, guarantee, promise, and belief all into one word.

So when paull says in Eph 2:8-9

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

He is saying that our trust, our loyalty, our dedication to Jesus is what earns us that grace through which we have been saved. Paul goes on to say in verse 10 Eph 2:10

Ephesians 2:10 NIV

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

You see, we were created through Christ, through our trust and dedication to him, to do good works. Paul is saying that works don’t save us, but the works are a natrual by product of our relationship and loyalty to Christ.

Now that we have a better understanding of the word let’s go back and take a look at James 2:14-19

James 2:14–19 NIV

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 a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 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! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

James says listen, you show me your dedication, your loyalty, trust, belief in Christ without action and I will show you my dedication, loyalty, trust and belief by my actions. James is saying that if you are going to claim to be a loyal and dedicated follower of Christ, you better be able to back it up with actions. Imagine if the United States made a pact with Canada to protect each other in times of war, but then suddenly Switzerland evades Canada and In Candas most desperate time of need they ask us to fullfil our pledge and we ignore them. We would have broken faith with Canada, if we aren’t going to fulfill our end of the bargin then why make the pact in the first place. This is the point that James is trying to get across, you can’t claim to be a loyal follower and completely dedicated to Christ and yet not do what Christ commands. Simply believing isn’t enough, even the demon believe in God, but that doesn’t make them righteous. You see when we are truly followers of Christ and living the way he commands we actually do what he says. Good Works don’t save us, but they are and should be a by product of our faith. James go on to say in James 2:20-22

James 2:20–22 NIV

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 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 faith was made complete by what he did.

James gives the example of Abraham and how his faith, or relationship with God and his actions mirrored eachother. I love the example that James uses early in the verse when he says James 2:15-16

James 2:15–16 NIV

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

This goes back to the whole cleaning the room thing from earlier. Suppose I tell Taylor to go and clean her room and she says to me, “Sure dad, I would love to go do that” but doesn’t actually do it, what good is it? If i ask her to clean her room I expect her to actually clean it. Her telling me she will is an empty promise if she never actually does it.

And Paul is saying the exact same thing in Ephesians 2 specificaly when he says that we are created in Christ to do good works. Paul is saying that this gift of grace is not something that can be earned, it is freely given by God to a people who don’t deserve it, and no amount of good works can earn us that grace. However, once we accept that and put our faith, or our trust, and pledge our loyalty to Christ we are made new and the essential quality of this new life is good works

You see Paul and James aren’t contradicting each other at all. We just fail to fully understand what it means to put our faith in Christ. Putting our faith in Christ isn’t simply beliving or acknowledging that God exists and that Jesus died on the Cross. It is going all in for him, pledging that we will follow his commands and do what he says. Paul and James understood this and challenged their auidence not to simply be hearers of the word but to do what it says.

I think that Jesus himself states this perfectly in John 14:23-24

John 14:23–24 NIV

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is, are we actually doing what Jesus says. Are we cleaning our room if you will. Or are we like those that James warns about in James 1:22-25

James 1:22–25 NIV

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Are we Christians who listen to the word and do what is says, or are we like the one who looks at himself in the mirror, goes away, and immediately forgets what he looks like. I will finish with this, in no way am I saying that our good works earn us salvation. There is no amount of good works that we could do to earn the grace of God. We are saved only through our relationship with Christ. But I challenge you to honestly evaluate your relationship with Christ and see if your actions line up with the teachings of Christ. Let’s pray.