The Real Value of Works
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning!
Please open your bibles with me to James chapter 2. I often listen to audio books when I drive out here from Spokane, and I have gotten to listen to some pretty good ones. I recently spoke about R.C. Sproul’s The Holiness of God that encourages his reader or listener to contemplate the attribute of God that sets him apart from all humanity. I decided I liked that one so much that I decided to listen to another one from R.C. Sproul, and this one is Hard Sayings In The Bible. In it, he encourages his readers to remember the the Word of God is infallible - meaning that it is without error. It’s not to say that there aren’t the occasional passages that challenge the student of Scripture and seem to contradict what Scripture says in another place.
This sort of view on Scripture is called a “High-Scripture” view, meaning that the Word of God is given final authority in the believers life. He walks his listener through what to do when you disagree with Scripture - and the reasons for those disagreements often being a sign of either not knowing what is being said or having a rebellious heart.
Many in our country today find the Scriptures to be bigoted because of the fact that Scripture teaches male headship in the home and in the church. Many don’t like the level at which the Israelites were commanded to blot out the inhabitants of Canaan after they crossed over the Jordan River - the idea of killing every man, woman and child is upsetting because it supposedly flies in the face of everything we believer about God - that he is just, merciful, loving and kind.
One thing I appreciate about this book is that he points out that wrestling with hard sayings in the Bible helps grow a believer’s faith because it reminds us to trust in God and his perfect word, recognizing that his ways are not our ways.
The passage we are coming to today is one of the Hard Sayings in the Bible. It appears on the surface that James and Paul are in disagreement over the real value of works - Paul emphasizes faith alone where James appears to advocate that works play more of a part in our salvation than what we realize.
Paul’s motivation is seeing people get saved - James’ motivation is to see people live out their faith.
What James is presenting in our passage today is essentially a test - how can we know if our faith is authentic?
Authentic faith in Christ is always evidenced through loving action; as our faith deepens, our deeds will reflect the love and grace we've received, marking us as true followers of Jesus.
Faith and works are inseparable; true saving faith is not just an intellectual pursuit, but is evidenced by transformed behavior and grace, mercy and compassion towards others
Authentic faith in Christ is always evidenced through loving action; as our faith deepens, our deeds will reflect the love and grace we've received, marking us as true followers of Jesus.
Today we are going to look at three ways we should at answering this question from James: What does genuine faith look like?
It is Proven by Faith
It is Professed through Deeds
It is Perfected by Action
It Is Proven By Faith (2:14-17)
It Is Proven By Faith (2:14-17)
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food
16 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?
17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
One of the primary out workings of grace and mercy in our lives should be a natural proclivity to showing grace and mercy to others. Last week, we spoke about the Parable of the unmerciful servant. He was one who was given tremendous mercy - having a fortune of debt forgiven. Jesus uses that parable to show how wicked it is not to pay that mercy forward. The specific instance in that parable is being gracious and forgiving when others sin against you. However, we out to remember that every good and perfect gift is from God. What we have - the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the roof we shelter under at night - all these things are gifts from God.
James is pointing out that there are times that there will be people to whom God did not give those things in such abundance as he gave others.
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
God has a purpose and that purpose is not for us to question - what we should rather do is pay forward the compassion and mercy Christ has given us to those who’s needs we can help meet.
This is in no way intended to butter up the church or to garner any sort of favor, but my family and I have been really blessed by the kindness and generosity we have been shown at Sprague. After going though a really difficult year of moving back to Spokane, losing my job and my PhD when the university went out of business after we started a remodel project, we have rarely felt a sense of “need” like we have in the last 8 months or so - then compiled on to that, the death of my mother in April, my good boy, Decker back in June and Becky’s grandpa two weeks ago, we have needed to be reminded of God’s faithfulness repeatedly, and God has used many here at Sprague to be agents of his mercy by encouraging us through words, actions, relationship and yes, even sometimes gifts. It has helped us to remember that God is with us and that his people are mobilized to be his hands and feet. So be encouraged church, I believe this is one area where we do well!
Christians do good works as an overflow of what God has done for us. In so doing, we are proving that we have, in-deed, been saved. Notice that James isn’t asking us to judge whether or not other people are doing good works, but has the focus laid squarely on introspection? We should be asking if we are being faithful to do good.
The challenging portion of this part of the passage in verse 17:
17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
What he is saying is that if we have no motivation to actually act in compassion and mercy towards others, that we should have reason to be concerned. He isn’t saying that faith must be accompanied by good works in order to save us - that would be heretical! But rather, James asks us to ponder whether or not a faith that doesn’t motivate us to action is really a faith capable of fulfilling the requirements in the gospel of repenting and believing in - or placing our faith in - Jesus Christ.
What happens when we place our faith in Christ? The old man is gone! The one who was under the curse of sin and faced damnation in hell - that person is gone! The one who carried the weight and burden of sin is dead, and you - the new man / or woman - stands in their place under the grace and mercy of Christ.
How many of you have read Pilgrim’s Progress? It is a great allegorical novel that shows the journey of Christian Pilgrim to the Celestial City where he will be a citizen of the King. After he finds this book that talks about the Celestial City and her King, Christian Pilgrim gets weighed down more and more under the enormous weight that represented sin. Once he was convicted of his sin, it became more and more of a burden until he could carry it no longer. Finally, Christian places his trust in the King of the Celestial City and the King removes the pack from his back and gives puts him in new clothes and overwhelms Christian with the release of all the weight of his sin. It really is a beautiful scene that shows what the mercy of God in our lives really does - he not only gives us purpose, but also gives us the mercy we need to rid ourselves of the burdens of sin that we are sometimes all too eager to pick back up and carry again.
The works that James speaks of come after we are saved, once we are made new again. This is important because it relates to how our nature impacts the overflow of what is happening in our hearts and is seen on the outside. Martin Luther said this:
The following statements are therefore true: “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works; evil works do not make a wicked man, but a wicked man does evil works.”
Martin Luther
Good works do not make one a Christian, but a Christian - because they are a Christian, does good works.
How do we know our faith in God is genuine? We trust God when he presents us with opportunities to good works and we walk in obedience with him. We do the good works he lays on our hearts to do - that is evidence of genuine faith!
But what else do we need to know about genuine faith?
It Is Professed Through Deeds (2:18-20)
It Is Professed Through Deeds (2:18-20)
18 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.
19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
20 Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
There is a sense here where James is seemingly preparing for a rebuttal, but instead he doubles down that faith without works to accompany them is evidence of a shallow faith at best. He says that works is how a Christian gives a genuine and real profession of their faith. He essentially uses the argument from an old expression - that you can want in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up faster. It is an older expression that highlights the importance of taking action - that wishing alone wont accomplish anything.
He then goes on to talk about someone’s generic profession in verse 19 -
19 You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
What James is referring to is a generic profession of faith. We live in the United States - where people would rather claim Christianity than tell the truth that they aren’t affiliated with a belief system. Generally the atheists and agnostics are proud to tell you of their disbelief, but for those to whom religion is of very little importance, they will still probably say that they are Christians in the sense that they are American and America has a cultural background that is richly and profoundly Christian.
He then goes a little further to say that even the demons believe - and they shudder. He is contrasting the profession of faith without works to the fact that even the demons have actions that follow their belief - they shudder.
We profess our faith by doing good works!
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
12 Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
Our works carry weight as a means of professing our faith. Don’t get me wrong - you cannot preach the gospel without actually talking about Jesus mitigating the guilt of sin and being the propitiation or atoning sacrifice for our sin by grace and through faith.
The big question here, church, is how are we doing with this individually? Would anyone look at our lives and see the truth in our claims to following Jesus because of the works we do? Simply put, a work, in James’ mind is the tangible actions that demonstrate and validate a believer’s faith. He uses the example of helping a brother or sister in need, by either feeding them or even showing them hospitality and helping them stay warm. But a work that a believer does can be any good thing we do for another person because God showed us tremendous kindness first.
We do want to be careful and not do good works for the sake of receiving some kind of glory for ourselves - we want God to receive all the glory for the works we do because he gave us the mercy and grace we needed to stand up under the weight of our own sin, our own faults and our own failures. He deserves all honor and glory, forever, amen?! With that caveat given, I think it is a good thing to reflect on how we are doing in these things. We want to get better and set goals for things that are important to us, and James is saying here that doing good works should be vitally important if we are, in fact, believers in Jesus Christ.
The goal I have set for myself is to bless people in minor ways at least once a day, and then in bigger ways at least once a week. This can be more difficult for me than it sounds because so much of my life is spent in isolation and I don’t see many people throughout the week. It does require we be intentional. What I am calling the “minor works” could look like anything, from bringing someone at work coffee to letting someone tell you all about something they’re really excited about that really doesn’t interest you at all… This is one of those moments where I would normally try to call out my wife and be funny, but she’s in Arizona. Sometimes, my wife shows me tremendous love by just letting me nerd out about something out loud for 5 minutes. I’ll talk about a cool woodworking joinery technique I learned or how the audio quality of a certain album adds to the artistry of the music, or whatever…. I digress…
But the other side to that is finding one way to bless someone every week that requires more investment of time or resources than the other ways I just described. It requires more intentionality and perhaps even more of some kind of investment, whether time or financial. This could look like spending a morning with Edith while she packs up her house. It could look more like bringing a family a meal while they are going through various kinds of trials in life. It could look like a whole bunch of different things, but if we have it in our minds - being on the lookout for opportunities to do good works for the glory of God, we proclaim to the world that Christ is the Lord of our lives because our lives reflect the mercy and care that we ourselves have been shown.
So genuine faith is proven by Works,
It Is Perfected Through Action (2:21-26)
It Is Perfected Through Action (2:21-26)
21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,
23 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.
24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 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?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
James uses some vocabulary here that is similar to Paul’s, primarily, justification. James says that justification comes by works and faith, where Paul says specifically that we are justified through faith -
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith.
28 For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
So we see between James 2:24 and Romans 3:28 that it appears on the surface that they are telling us different things. This is one of those “hard sayings” R.C. Sproul will probably discuss at some point in his book, but I haven’t gotten that far yet. However, the argument hinges on what the two men meant by justified. Many words can be used to communicate different ideas depending on the sense of the word.
For an example the word tie could have multiple meanings - a race or a pair of shoes could be tied. In both sense, they mean different things. Because both Paul and James are engaging in a theological discussion, people mistakenly assume they are using the words in the same sense. However, the focus of each writer shows the different sense in which they use the term “justified.” Because Paul is talking about the nature of salvation, his use of the word justified is focused on the theological idea that our legal standing before God is innocent because of our faith in Christ - his grace transfers our guilty verdict to Christ and is satisfied by his work on the cross.
James, however, is talking about the outworking of faith and how works are what justify our claims to faith. A person’s faith claims are justified, completed, perfected or authenticated by their works. The nuance is small, but it clears us this potential for misunderstanding! We want to know who God is and how he operates based on his own revelation through his word - that means that words and their meanings matter greatly!
James uses the example of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac on the altar - that work was being done out of faith and obedience to what God had called him to do. Because he acted in obedience to God, he was justified in his relationship with God - his obedience was taking his faith to its final conclusion - a genuine faith born out through obedience.
His belief, his faith was his righteousness, but what made him obedience to God was his actions - his works of faith.
His obedience to God’s command to sacrifice his son is witness to the full maturity of his faith. The desire of Christ for the church is the spiritual maturity of her members - which requires faith
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
And spiritual maturity also requires obedience and action
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge,
6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness,
7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
8 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.
9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.
Peter highlights character qualities that are all born out in action - how do we express goodness? By doing good. How do we express knowledge? By doing the right thing and acting in wisdom. How are we self-controlled? By restraining our desires and making them submit to the will of Christ.
Works, in the sense that James is using it are the result of faith that evidences not only an authenticity of one’s faith, but also the perfection of that faith through obedience. We don’t want to be those people who claim faith in Christ yet cuss like a sailor around our friends! We don’t want to be someone who claims to be a follower of Christ yet is unwilling to lift a finger for the poor or needy. While we are saved b y grace alone through faith alone, works authenticate or prove to the outside world the reality of what God has done on the inside.
It is reminiscent of Jesus’ assertion that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit and a good tree cannot bear bad fruit. There is an outward testimony to the reality of what Christ has done in our hearts that is perfected by or brought full circle by our works.
James uses Abraham here to illustrate a point, but I bet each of us - if we think about it hard enough - can think of people in our lives who were faithful to God and witnessed how incredible a life of faith and obedience to Christ could be. Not out of a weird sense of envy or anything, but out of a desire to be more like Christ, I think it is good to think about these people and strive to use their example as a source of encouragement, motivation and instruction on how to be obedient to Christ, bringing our own faith to perfection through our works.
Authentic and real Christian faith is
proven by faithfulness
professed through our deeds and
perfected in through our actions
Conclusion
Conclusion
So what are we looking at in this passage? Is this some kind of biblical contradiction, as says the secular opponents of Christ? James perhaps does stands in opposition to Paul - not in substance, but rather in topic of discussion.
Here, James’ discourse is focused on WORKS as the out-working of our faith serving as a test that we can use to determine the validity of our own confession in Christ. Paul’s focus is on the fact that WORKS CANNOT SAVE US. He is focused on the nature of salvation - on what is it that takes a man dead in his sins and how does he become regenerated into the new man in Christ.
I began this morning by talking about RC Sproul’s book, Hard Sayings. This passage we have dealt with today is often misunderstood and is, for some a hard saying. However, when we take the time to dig in, we can see more clearly that Paul and James are not only NOT contradicting each other, but are, when taken together, giving us a beautiful glimpse at the reality that God saves us by Grace alone through Faith alone, and that the regenerated heart should strive to do good works to the Glory of God alone.
For each of us, we can take James’ words today and spend some time in honest reflection - “Do I act and work like one who has been saved?” That’s not to say that we are perfect by any means, but the fact of the matter is that if the Holy Spirit lives inside us, he empowers us to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
God saves us so he can use us in the lives of other people. The clearest expression of this is the works we do within the church. God calls us to walk along side each other and to serve one another the way he served his Disciples and all his followers.
Are we allowing the great work Christ has done in our lives through saving us to motivate us to do good in the world? We should! If we don’t have that motivation, ask God why not. Ask him to give you a heart to do the works he prepared for you in advance.
Lets pray.
