Faith w/o Works - Dead (Part 2)

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 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? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

ESVWhat good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 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? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Student Read

James 2:18–20 ESV

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. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

James 2

James 2:18–21 ESV

James 18-2

ESVBut 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. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Student Read

James 2:21–26 ESV

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 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? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

ESVWas not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 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? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Pray

Okay, let’s recap on last week. Last week we talked and said - James throws a fireball of a text at us here with that demonstrates the idea that faith without works is dead.

Last week James showed that faith without works is useless.

Remember the illustration James used?

You have a brother or sister who’s hungry and naked and you see them then you tell them “hey, you need to get warm! Why don’t you go drink some hot coco! It’s cold out so I’d put on some clothes cover up that naked body! Oh, and your children that are like starving over there in the corner - why don’t you feed them some baby food. I’d do that if I were you! God bless you, just let God’s blessings poor over you abundantly brother in Christ.”

What good is that? That type of faith - that isn’t faith at all - is useless. It does not receive the blessing of being used by God to help others in need and others don’t receive the blessing that would be offered by it.

Remember true faith is believing God and obeying God. And this type of faith James speaks of does not obey. It has no love for God that flows out into love for others.

So that was last week (v.14-17) we learned from God’s word that faith without works is useless. Now tonight we add to that the second ingredient proves dead faith...

1. Faith w/o Works Cannot Save Us

I have only one point tonight so high five your neighbor!

James 2:17–25 ESV

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 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. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 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?

Faith without works cannot save us. It’s mentioned in a couple of places, but the argument is in 17-25, so let’s read this.

“So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ’You have faith and I have works.’”

Okay, so how popular are superhero movies? What’s your fav.?

So my all-time fav. hero movie is LOTR. Everybody this is your chance to roll your eyes. Go ahead - no judgment here. Now I want you to think for a moment about Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, Gimili and Aragorn. What are they without Sauran, Saruman, Orcs, Goblins, Smeagle, and the ring of power? The LOTR trilogy is epic - but without the enemy well, these characters are just people.

So what James has just done is interjected a bad guy. The ring of power is found here in (v.18).

Now, I can see myself, If I’d written this letter I would have probably had someone in mind - like say - Micky Miser. I’m not saying that James is passive-aggressive, but I am saying that hypothetically speaking there could have been a guy in the church who was saying that faith and works are two separate things and shouldn’t be tied together in any way.”

I don’t know him personally, but if James is passive-aggressive, this brother is actually in the church that this letter will be written to. All right? He’s like, “Let’s just say hypothetically speaking there was a guy who would say that faith and works are two separate things and shouldn’t be tied together in any way.”

So what James has just done is he’s added a bad guy in the form of an argument. It’s a form of argument where he would say, “Someone would say. I don’t know, maybe Micky. Somebody here would say...You have faith and I have works.” And so the following (v.18b-25) is his attempt to beat the bad guy.

“Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith [that is] alone. 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?”

So this bad guy, this antagonist James has introduced into the argument is saying, “Now faith and works are separate. They’re just two different things. If you get those things too close together, it’s dangerous. Like lighting a bottle rocket inside the house.

So you have works, James, but I just have faith that the Lord will save me.” That’s the argument. So here’s James’ argument against such an idea. The first one is this. “Okay, you have faith. That’s great. Show me. Show me.”

Now, I’ve taken this demonstration from a altar call that Steve Morrow did years ago and adapted it to this passage.

So all of us in here are sitting in chairs. There’s an aspect of faith for you sitting down, correct? And we know not all chairs are made alike. If you’ve seen the Patriot with Mel Gibson you know what I’m talking about. Some chairs are rickety and have not chance of actually holding you. They are holding together with band-aids and grandma’s prayers. I’m not sitting in that chair.

But then we have these chairs. I have no problem sitting in these chairs. They’re made of metal. Right? So here’s James’ argument. James is saying, “Hey, you’re saying you believe that the chair will hold you. Well then, have a seat. I’ll show you I believe the chair will hold me by having a seat. Mr. Bad Guy, have a seat. Do you believe the chair will hold you?”

“I absolutely believe the chair will hold me.”

“Well, have a seat.”

“Well, you know, I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure of what?”

“I’m not sure I want to sit down.”

“But you’re sure the chair will hold you.”

“Absolutely confident that that chair will hold me.”

“Well, have a seat, buddy.”

“Can we just stand and talk though? Last week I sat in one of those chairs that you were talking about earlier that broke. Do you think maybe we could just stand and talk for a bit?”

“I mean, we can, but surely you’re eventually going to get tired. When you get tired, would you like to have a seat?”

“Yeah, I don’t know, man.”

“Well, do you not believe the chair will hold you?”

“Well, I mean, I do. What’s it made out of?”

“Metal, brother. You’re 105 pounds dripping wet. This is metal. You’ll be fine. Have a seat.”

“I’m just not sure.”

And so the argument goes. Right? So James’ argument is, “Have a seat. I’ll show you I trust the chair. I’ll sit down.” But then James moves from this idea of “Show me faith without works.” What does that even look? What is that?

He moves from that to what a really clever man will do. A smart person will say, “Well, I intellectually, mentally believe what is doctrinally true about the person and work of Christ.”

So what James does is he argues against this type of thinking. “Well, I intellectually believe what’s true about Christ. I believe the mechanics of the chair being able to hold me. I can see this is metal. I know metal is strong. I can see the structure of the chair is sound. So I don’t need to sit down because I can see the chair will clearly hold me.”

Well, James immediately dives into that argument. Look back at (v.19) “You believe God is one? You do well, but even the demons believe that’s a chair and they shudder.” Intellectual knowledge and agreement of correct doctrine is not salvation. Look right at me. Intellectual knowledge of correct doctrine is not salvation.

See, this is where you come across the friend who knows a lot of doctrine, but his heart is all stoney and cold, and he uses doctrine like your momma used the spatula to smack you into submission and so his pride is built, his rootedness is found in his knowing the Bible better than you. No real love for God. No real love for people. He’s just clever. And that smartness may betray him.

Because James knows the argument. If you say you trust the chair, have a seat.

See this argument is to argue about the structure of the chair and how the chair actually works, and if I only trusted more in the structure of the chair then I wouldn’t even need to sit down. I could just, like him, say, “Well, the chair will hold me.”

But see, I’m a weak man because I have to actually sit to find out. Right? That’s the argumentation.

James is going, “You believe God is one. Congrats. But even the demons believe that, and they’re not children of God. The demons believe that.”

The demons have better theology than all theologian. They know more than you do, I can promise you. They know the Bible better than I do, I can promise you that.

Yet what do we have awaiting for us by faith alone that they cannot understand? Reining with our Creator and Savor. So yes, bad guy, yes you may have intellectual knowledge and correct doctrine - you can look at that chair and tell me all the physics behind why it can hold you and that’s why you don’t need to sit down - but so can the demons. You guys have some serious Twinsies going on. And students in this case “Twinning is not winning.”

Yet I have awaiting for me by faith alone what they can’t fathom, an eternity of reigning and ruling alongside the Creator of the universe. So they have correct doctrine, but it’s not saving doctrine.

So what James has said about this idea of faith and works being these separate things, they have no business being anywhere near one another is first, “Okay, show me your faith then, sit in the chair,” and then secondly, “Don’t just go intellectually. You have to sit in the chair. If you’re going to say you believe the chair will hold you, you have to sit in the chair,”

And then finally he finds biblical support showing that the unity of the Bible is if I can borrow from the great reformer Martin Luther “that faith alone saves you, but not faith that is alone.”

And He uses two illustrations. One shouldn’t surprise us at all, right? The first is Father Abraham, right? He had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham.

So Father Abraham showing up in this text as a defense for James’ argument being written primarily to Jews should not surprise us, but Rahab the prostitute? I’ve checkd all my Veggie Tale library and I have not ran across the Rahab the prostitute song? You don’t! There’s not one, and yet how important and beautiful is this woman in the lineage of our salvation! I love that Rahab stands here.

What you have is the argument that Abraham revealed he trusted God by sitting down in the chair. So Abraham had faith. “God has given me an heir. Through that heir the nations, the world is going to be blessed.” Then God says, “Let’s sacrifice that promise, Isaac, on the altar,” and Abraham by faith put his son on the donkey and headed up the hill even as Isaac said, “Dad, where’s the ram?” “The Lord will provide.” We like to make biblical people into cartoon characters, unreal, glossy people. But just know that Abraham with much fear and trembling…and yes hope he bound his son in an effort to obey God by sacrificing him.

Can you imagine? He bound his son and was prepared to sacrifice when the Lord stepped in and said, “Don’t.” See, Abraham trusted God. How do we know? Because he took the promise up on the hill. He sat in the chair. Abraham had faith that the Word of God would come into its fullness. How do we know? Because he took Isaac up on the hill, because he bound him, and he was ready to be fully obedient to God, trusting that God is able.

Then really, after that moment, we don’t see any more of the kind of foolish wickedness Abraham was marked by in his early life when he lied and said, “Hey, that’s not my wife. That’s my sister. Abimelech, you can have her. Just don’t kill me.” I just have to believe that that came up for the rest of their marriage. I mean, you don’t whore your wife out to save your own skin and not hear about that in arguments in the future, right?

So Abraham. Not much of a surprise to find him here. After this moment, his faith in the Lord is robust. We don’t have any of that silliness his early life was marked by.

Then we have Rahab. Rahab is a prostitute in Jericho. I have two little girls and I can tell you that no little girl dreams of being a prostitute when she grows up. No one dreams of being used and abused like an object. You become a prostitute because very wicked, evil, demonic, deplorable things happen to you.

You are used and abused, treated like a commodity, treated like a soulless recreational vehicle.

So Rahab in Jericho is used and abused. Now, women were already treated as not even second-class citizens in this culture. What would a prostitute be if just women in the court were treated as second-hand citizens? Can you imagine the type of abuse she had to endure?

So what happens is that there are the spies being sent by Joshua to scout out Jericho. Basically, “We’re going to conquer this massive fortified city.” Rahab, having caught wind that the people of God were coming, that salvation was coming, began to help the spies.

Then when she found out that word had gotten out the spies were there, she hid them and then redirected them and put her faith, her small faith, that this God would usher in what is new, that this God would usher in a new beginning for her.

I love that Rahab is here because how simple was Rahab’s step? Hide them.

“Well, God, what if they come in here and use me? What if they show up and take advantage of me? What if they treat me like a commodity?”

“Trust me, Rahab.”

“Okay, hide over here. Remember me when your God gives you this city.”

See, I’ve said this a lot. I think the most miraculous baptism testimonies we do start like this, “I grew up in a Christian home.” Like, are you serious, Chandler? I’m totally serious. Not the witch? No, the witch knows she’s a mess. Not the drug addict or the promiscuous. Of course, I know where that leads. It leads to heartbreak, so it makes sense for somebody to go, “I’ve been addicted to heroin for 10 years. It destroyed my life, and Christ saved me.” We should applaud and rejoice of the saving work of Christ.

But the kid who grew up in church picks up Christian jargon. He picks up Christian language. He knows, she knows what to say, when to say it, knows the behavioral expectations of the community, and it’s easy to play the part and not have a heart that loves Jesus. It’s easy for a bulk of your life to have your parents’ faith.

And according to (which our T2 HG should be reading) Rahab finds herself in the lineage of our Savior, and therefore is our family. It was just a step.

Students faith without works cannot save you. What do I mean by works? You saying, “I’m a Christian,” with no love for God that leads to love for others even if you do it badly means you should stop calling yourself a Christian. I love you. You’re not a Christian.

James is saying, the Word of God is saying, that there are those who claim faith, they claim to be Christians. They are connected to the community of faith. They’re active in church. Active in Fuel. They confess an orthodox faith. They’re even supporters of the faith...and they do not love God, and it has not led to loving others, and therefore they are not saved.

There are those who claim faith who are connected to a community of faith. James is writing to people in the church who confess an orthodox faith, who are supporters of the faith.

If you went to their Instagram page, they would have all sorts of little links to cool YouTube religious clips. They’d have a favorite preacher, a favorite author. They’re in, but they don’t love God and that loving of God has not led to a loving of others, and James’ argument is, therefore, they are not Christians. They are not Christians.

So faith without works is useless (that’s last week) and faith without works cannot save.

Every week of this James series I have said what God is doing in James is inviting you into the richest, most full life imaginable. He’s not trying to steal from you anything. He’s inviting you into all there is to have. In every family with a child you go through this season where you’re trying to convince the child that the pool is awesome, right? So the kid stands on the side of the pool, and what you do as a dad, as a mom, is you get real close. You’ll be like, “Come here. Jump to me. Jump to me.” They can clearly see (I’m 6’5“) that the water is up to my thighs. ”Jump to me.“

”I don’t know. Scoot closer.“ I’m like, ”My thighs are also touching the side. There is no closer.“ Then you can pick them up and get in the water, and they grip on, and they’re like, ”Ah!“ You’re trying to convince, ”Hey, this is awesome! You’re going to love this. There’s going to be a day I’m not going to be able to get you out of here without threat. Trust me. Jump into me.“

There’s fear and there’s nervousness. If you’re like me, you’re trying to reason. It’s like, ”Have I ever tried to drown you in the bathtub? Do you think I’m going to do it now publically in front of all these people? Jump to me. Look, if Dad wanted to kill you, he’d have done it already, all right? Now come on. Come to me.“ I’m just kidding.

This is what is happening here. When God says, ”Don’t,“ when God says, ”Do,“ when God says, ”Pursue me,“ the invitation is, ”All you want is found in this direction. Jump in. All you desire, all you hope for is this way.“ So we’re nervous like the kid standing on the side of the pool, and until you jump in, you’ll never really understand the delight of what it looks like to swim.

So faith without works is ineffective. If faith is meant to lead you into trusting God and obeying God and loving God in such a way that it flows out into love of others, the invitation isn’t a bunch of, ”Quit doing this and start doing this,“ but it’s, ”See me, love me, pursue me, chase me.“ This is why if you wonder why I’m constantly going, ”Look up. Quit looking at you. Of course you’re a failure at this,“ it’s because of this right here.

Therefore, faith without works is dead. This is a strong statement. He uses it twice in this passage (v.17 & 26). What he’s arguing is that faith without works is not merely outwardly inoperative but rather inwardly dead. He’s saying faith without works isn’t faith.

So we get back to our illustration we ended with last week from Spurgeon:

”A tree has been planted out into the ground. Now the source of life to that tree is at the root, whether it hath apples on it or not; the apples would not give it life, but the whole of the life of the tree will come from its root. But if that tree stands in the orchard, and when the springtime comes there is no bud, and when the summer comes there is no leafing, and no fruit-bearing, but the next year, and the next, it stands there without bud or blossom, or leaf or fruit, you would say it is dead, and you are correct; it is dead.

It is not that the leaves could have made it live, but that the absence of the leaves is a proof that it is dead. So, too, is it with the professor.“ Those who say they have faith but have not works.”

The works faith creates is a love for God that leads to a love for others, even if that love is badly performed. So I can with full confidence tell you this:

If there’s no inkling mustard seed of love for Christ, and if other people for you are a means to an end, they exist for you and there’s no real love for them, stop calling yourself a Christian. You’re not one.

I don’t care if you got baptized when you were 6 years old because your dad told you about hell. I don’t care if you walked down an aisle and prayed a prayer with me. If there’s not even a mustard seed of love for the Lord, you’re not a Christian. You haven’t been given a new heart.

Spiritual Application

Maybe this illustration in closing might serve us. After my conversion, a man who was discipling me gave me this sentence. Discipline not desire determines destiny. I love that sentence. I think if that sentence is applied into certain areas of life it’s effective and helpful and good. A disciplined life is a good life. It’s a terrible sentence to put on your relationship with Christ. No, no, it’s desire that leads to discipline that determines destiny.

I love my wife. I love her. Her name is Lauren. We’ve been married quite some time now. I love her, and that love drives in my life discipline. I’m disciplined about date nights. I am disciplined about doing certain things around the house because I know she likes them. I’m not doing those things in order to make me love her. Are you tracking?

It’s not like I get up in the morning going, ”Man, I’m really not feeling Lauren right now. I mean, I wish I could get out of this marriage. I have no feelings for her anymore except contempt. I know! I’ll clean the kitchen, and if I clean the kitchen then I’ll love Lauren and Lauren will love me back.“ That sounds idiotic, doesn’t it? Does everybody agree that sounds idiotic? Like, ”I just have nothing but contempt for my wife. I know! I’ll take her out on a date. I’ll spend time with her in my contempt for her.“ I mean, that’s just going to do nothing but exacerbate contempt. Right?

No, no, no. It’s my delight in her that drives the discipline; not the discipline that drives the delight. So what are the works of the saint? To know the Lord and to love the Lord. So how do we do that? When Peter preaches in , at the end of his sermon, the crowd just cries out, ”Just tell us what to do!“ Then he says, ”Repent and be baptized.“

What would I tell you to do? If you feel that James pinned you perfectly tonight - that you in fact were the bad guy - not willing to sit in the chair. What I would tell you to do is run from the danger you are in - run by going and talking with an adult about truly trusting in Christ - a belief that produces obedience. If this is you go see an adult now. They are spread all around the room.

See, one of the things that happens as I spend time with my wife is I get to know her more deeply. Here’s what’s interesting about Lauren. Lauren just keeps changing. She keeps growing. She keeps progressing in life, and so there’s always something new to learn about her and to appreciate in her and to marvel at God’s work in her. In the same way as God is an inexhaustible well, there’s always something else to marvel at, always something else we’re just now starting to understand.

Pray

The works faith creates is a love for God that leads to a love for others, imperfectly executed but present. So I can with full confidence tell you this. If there’s no inkling mustard seed of love for him, if other people for you are a means to an end, they exist for you and there’s no real love for them, stop calling yourself a Christian. You’re not one.

I don’t care if you got baptized when you were 6 years old because your dad told you about hell. I don’t care if you walked down an aisle and prayed a prayer with a pastor. If there’s not even a mustard seed of love for the Lord, you’re not a Christian. You haven’t been given a new heart.

Now on that delight piece, here’s where I’m fighting for your delight. Because if you came in here all banged up and beat up, trying to serve the Lord, feeling like there’s no fuel for that, no real love for the Lord, this could be a simple season of desert weariness, or it could be you’ve never confessed and repented and asked the Lord to reign and rule in your life.

So the delight that’s offered to you today is that door to walk through. See, I’m not a fool. Our first chairman of the elders was saved when he was the deacon at another church. Deacons getting saved? How does that work? Well again, we already read what James argues. The reason a sermon like this that just basically goes, ”Hey, question your assurance,“ really is the opportunity to delight in the saving work of Christ, because if you just got exposed you got exposed by the sovereign King of glory as a type of invitation into assurance.

One of the things I want to do today, the reason I’ve pared back this message because it could’ve been much longer, is I want to give you some time to consider before we dive into the elements. So I’m going to pray, and as I pray, men and women are going to begin to hand out the elements around Communion. We’re not done, so don’t jet out. This is an extremely important Sunday to not bail.

When I say amen, they’re going to begin to hand out the elements, and then I’m going to give you about five minutes to just consider the things that have been said. Give you about five minutes to just consider and weigh your heart to do the hard work of diving in and going, ”Is there a mustard seed of love for the Lord? Is there a mustard seed of affection being given towards others, compassion towards others? Or is none of that present?“

If not, I want to give you just the opportunity to cry out to the Lord for salvation. The same truth you celebrated can be yours not intellectually, but yours spiritually. That should be the desire of our hearts. Not intellectual assent; internal transformation. One little step at a time. Let’s pray.

Father, for the weak and weary, will you encourage their hearts? Those whose faith feels so weak, I pray you remind them that according to Jesus a mustard seed of faith will eventually become a tree so large that birds of prey perch in it, and mustard seed faith can move mountains. So I pray they not feel condemned or weighted down by their tiny speck of faith, but rather that that tiny speck of faith might lead to a deep assurance and delight in you.

But I do pray for those who have learned Christian language, they have learned Christian behavior, they have learned Christian posture, but they do not know you. I pray you would not let them escape today, that you would lovingly expose and that you would lovingly reveal their need for you, their need for repentance, their need for salvation. Help us. It’s for your beautiful name, I pray, amen.

A couple of things on Communion as they begin to pass those out. We practice open Communion here. What we mean by that is if you are a believer in Christ in good standing with the church you’re visiting us from, please celebrate the Table with us. We are heirs of God together in Christ, and so it’d be foolish not to celebrate what Jesus has done for us.

But I would like to ask this. If you’re not a Christian, and I don’t mean you’re wrestling with what has been said this morning. I mean, you know that even as I talked, ”Whatever. Hurry up. Got lunch. Not interested.“ If that’s you, will you just abstain? This will not make you lucky, and this will not forgive any of your sins. It’s grape juice and a cracker, but to those of us who have been bought by the blood of Christ, it is a sacred and profound moment of remembering all God has done for us in Christ via faith alone.

So as they pass out the elements, here’s what I want to give. I want to give you just four or five minutes here to consider, to think, to mull over what the Word of God has said so we might partake together as a family with all the more boldness and confidence in his saving work by faith alone. If it has been revealed in the last 35-40 minutes that we are not Christians, then might we cry out for salvation and find the Lord to be near and at the ready.

Just want to lead us in a couple of prayers here. Would you just keep your head bowed and eyes closed? I want to give us the opportunity. If there is persistent and willful neglect to put sin to death in our lives, let’s spend a moment or two confessing that. Where there is secret sin, where we do not take sin seriously in our lives, we play with it, try to train it, justify it, deny it, let’s spend just a moment or two here confessing before the Lord.

Where there is willful and consistent neglect to pursue a love relationship with the Lord, let’s spend some time confessing that, asking the Lord to fan into flame the hope he has put into us. Let’s ask the Lord to increase our confidence in his saving work, to give us eyes to see whether that mustard seed of faith is there. Not intellectual assent, not church attendance, not right doctrine. Whether that mustard seed of love for him and others is present.

Give us clarity, Father, and it’s for your beautiful name I pray, amen.

The Bible says that on the night Jesus was arrested, he took the bread and he broke it, and he said, ”This is my body broken for you, paying for all of your sins. Do this in remembrance of me.“ In that same night after dinner, he took the cup, and he blessed it. One of the things about the Table of the Lord is it’s one of the things that actually should fuel our delight in the Lord. It should fuel our faith to love and trust him because it’s a reminder that he is for us and not against us. It’s a reminder that he is better. It’s a reminder that he has covered our sins.

The reason this moment in our service is so important is because what are doing here except remembering there’s no sin with more power than the cross. He took the cup and he blessed it. He said, ”This is the blood of the new covenant, my spilled blood shed for you. Don’t forget it.“

Father, we confess just in closing today that you are better. Jesus, you are better. You’re better than any treasure, any pursuit, any other desire of our heart. So even as we begin to sing, Jesus, that you are better, would you take that truth just out of our minds alone and will you drop it down into our gut so we would feel and understand and be transformed by the reality you are better. There is no pursuit, no treasure worth more than knowing you and loving you. Help us. It’s for your beautiful name, amen.