Living Faith (Final)

I- “What is the bear minimum?”

Foster is not the greatest eater sometimes.

He likes to play too much.

if he’s not feeling too hungry or if some of the food on his plate is not appealing to him you can bet its going to be a tough dinner. All he is going to want to do is go play, with one of us RIGHT NOW.

For a while I had him tricked. I would ask him to take 5-10 more bites of food and then I would help him by giving him 5 of the biggest bites imaginable. And he would chomp them down, as quickly as possible, and run off to grab his bat.

That worked great for about 2 week it seems like.

Because now he is smart enough to not let me choose the bites. And so when I say, take 5 more bites.

He takes 5 of the smallest bites you could possibly imagine, as quickly as possible. Says thanks Dad and runs off to play.

I’m a little proud of him, because its probably a developmental hurdle, the ability to look at a requirement and figure out the least amount you can possibly do to meet that requirement.

Like the kid in school that is constantly asking if something is going to be on the test, he wants to know exactly what is required so he can JUST meet it.

Or like at tax time every year when we all pay someone or work hard ourselves to figure out how to pay the least possible amount of money in taxes.

Y- We want to know “what we have to do to be saved?”

I think this desire to hunt for the minimum plays out in our lives in all kinds of different ways and it really varies person to person.

What is the least amount of time I can spend cutting my grass?

Just how many miles CAN I drive before getting my oil changed?

What is the

Do I have to stay for the whole concert or can I go home after my kid is done?

How many miles over the speed limit is it safe to drive?

What is the least amount of work I can put in, for the shortest amount of time to get healthy?

Of course this attitude hits us when it comes to our faith life as well. What is the least that I can do. Hopefully we don’t think about it that way but its it clear that many of us are asking that question in some ways.

Its a natural question considering the way the practice of the Christian faith has changed so DRAMATICALLY in the last fifty years.

The expectations for what christian faith looks like of our parents and grandparents have been radically transformed over that time and in many ways for the better.

People describe to me a time when the Christian faith was mostly about doing or not doing things to avoid the gossip of others at the church! Who went to the movie hall? Who missed Sunday night Prayer? And who’s car was seen parked outside the salloon? Were juicy tidbits and accusations all in one.

And now most of those expectations have melted away save a few.

You can

I think we find ourselves asking that same question about our faith.

“What do we have to do to be saved?” “What is the least I can do?

What does it mean to follow Jesus? Of course we know the line this one is from ,

The New International Version Chapter 2

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

So if following Jesus inst about what we do, do we need to do anything? What is the least we can do and be saved? B/C some parts of the bible seem to imply the least we can do is NOTHING.

But then again the very next line in Ephesians says,

The New International Version Chapter 2

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

So which is it!

What does it mean to follow Jesus. Is it about having the right ideas of who he is? Is it about going to church? Is it about thinking fondly about Jesus or praying or something? Is that it or is there more to it?

What does it really mean to believe in Jesus, is it enought to keep a thought in my head, or does it need to change my life, and how much?

I- James' Famous line Love it and hate it

Y- we go back and fourth on it Is it possible to have faith without action. In-active faith.

G -Its not about what you have to do to be saved, Its about what real living faith does naturally

TRANSITION: James’ sermon is all about this question. What does authentic faith “look” like? He does it by addressing a question that people often ask in the church. James leads off with the question we may be afraid to ask and it happens to be the question his audiance is asking. In verse 14.

The New International Version Chapter 2

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

Can you have faith without action? We want James to give us an answer, Can you have faith without action, and if so, how much action do you need to have for your faith to count? What is the least I can do?

James doesn't answer this question in the way we want, instead he, comes at it with some argument and a few stories, today we are going to focus on the stories.

A Naked and Hungry Brother or Sister

He tells a story about a member of their community in great need. Destitute in ways that we have difficulty imagining in our context.

The New International Version Chapter 2

15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 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? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

A brother or sister who comes in desperate for help. Cant you picture it. They come in the doors and see the faces of their friends and spiritual family. The community walks up and offers a prayer of blessing.

“Go in peace (peace here comes from the Hebrew Shaloam which means wholeness, completeness. Its sort of like saying be fixed, may you be ok). Go in peace; keep warm and well fed.”

Then they promptly turn their backs and offer no more. They have listened and offered their faith in a prayer. But do nothing about the needs of the person.

James asks, “What good is it?”

What good is it to the poor brother or sister? Because you cant wear a blessing or eat a prayer.

If the question is “can a faith without deeds save?” James says, ask the starving person who is not fed. Ask the naked person who is not clothed.

Is the faith of the community James describes worth anything to that hungry naked person?

Of course the answer is no. That sort of “faith” separated from action is dead James says.

The New International Version Chapter 2

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

But the story invites us to use our imagination more.

How would

Abraham

Next James mentions someone all of his readers would have known. Abraham.

Abraham - their distant ancestor. the father of their whole people, God’s chosen people. One of the most faithful people in the history of the world.

God promised Abraham that he would make a great nation out of him, a nation that would bless the whole world. Abraham is the distant ancestor of Jesus himself. But he was old and childless when God made him that promise.

For a long time Abraham waited for God to fulfil his promise of a son to inherit the blessing, when finally Isaac was born to carry on the legacy.

But God put Abraham’s faith to the test. HOw much did he trust God, would he lay down the most important thing he had, his only son?

Abraham did and God went on to bless Abraham and the whole world through him.

Rahab

BECAUSE Abraham had Faith, he believed that God could be trusted, and he acted accordingly even being willing to trust God when it came to the most important thing to him.

His faith lived out echoes all the way to Jesus.

The New International Version Chapter 2

24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

Rahab

His last story turns to an unlikely source. A town prostitute named Rahab.

Rahab was an inhabitant of one of the first cities God’s people had to fight in the promised land. She saved the lives of some of God’s people with fewer reasons to trust God than most.

Because RAHAB had faith, because she trusted God she saved the spies when she had the chance. Her knowledge was probably pretty small but she believed God could be trusted so she acted.

James chooses those last two stories on purpose

Her faith saved the spies, her life, and paved the way for God’s mission in the promised land.

They take place during two moments when

In all three Stories one thing becomes abundantly clear

True faith is played out in action.

If you really believe something is true, your actions follow.

Rahab, believed God could be trusted enough to betray her own people, in favor of God’s.

True faith

Faith lived out.

Abraham, believed God could be trusted enough to lay down everything.

Faith lived out

But the one with “faith” and not action cant save anyone.

James would say that whatever the person in the first story has, it is not a living faith. At least not anymore.

James puts it this way as he concludes this section in verse 26.

Concludes

The New International Version Chapter 2

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James doesnt say that faith without works is bad, or fake.

No he says it is dead.

James is NOT saying you better quick tack a few works onto your faith to make everything seem legitimate.

Try a little harder, do a few more things. Read the bible more or give some money away.

NO he is saying that

He IS saying, that IF your faith is alive it will change your life. It WILL work itself out in deeds. because it cant not.

If a body is alive it will breathe.

We want to know “what must I do to be saved?”

But we are asking the wrong question.

“It’s not about what you have to do to prove faith, to be saved.

James gives us three stories but only one answer.

“It’s not about what you have to do to prove faith, to earn salvation. Its

James says its more about what real, living faith does. It cant be faked, at least not for long.

Living Faith - feeds the hungry and clothes the naked

Living Faith - follows God even when it doesn't make sense.

Living Faith - Shelters the desperate.

Not because its trying hard, but because when you really believe something it changes how you act. If I love Foster and let him starve do I love him? If I say god loves the children but I support them being separated from their parents do I love god?

If I love Foster and let him starve do I love him? If I say god loves the children but I support them being separated from their parents do I love god?

Three images.

Images of the three stories coins

Living Faith - feeds the hungry and clothes the naked Living Faith - follows God even when it doesn't make sense. Father's a nation Faithless Abe could have refused

Living Faith - Shelters the desperate. Faithless rahab could have turned them in

If you care about someone who is sick and you don't visit them does it matter that you care? If I love Foster and don't change his diapers do I love Foster? If I say god loves the children but I support them being separated from their parents do I love god?

Living Faith - transforms us and the lives of others. Living Faith makes a difference. Actions are not a requirement for a living faith, but a result of one.

Y - it's time to check our pulse James says we can see the health and life of our faith based on what we do.

Look around you, are the lives of people changed in positive ways by your presence, or are they challenged. Are hungry people fed? Are poor cared for? Are the vulnerable looked out for? Are people loved?

When was the last time my faith impacted my life? When was the last time I said no to something I wanted or that made sense bc I didn't think it was what God wanted for me? When was the last time I took a risk bc I knew it was the right thing to do? When was the last time my faith challenged my opinion on something? When was the last time it changed how I act? When was the last time faith made a difference in my life or the life of someone else?

This is something us westerners really need to think about as well.

Now don't think you can solve this the other way. Don't think you can start doing a few more things and suddenly your faith will be strong again or full of life. That is not want James is saying. Just like if you're having a heart attack you shouldn't try and walk it off, there is only one solution to a faith that is dying or dead, and that is Jesus.

If it has been a while, that's ok. If your pulse is weak oteven nonexistent we have a god who raises the dead.

Pray, repent, ask for a reneewd life for the first time or again. Because God comes to us, no matter what we have done or not done.

W - Living Faith is on offer. Will we take it?

Conclude with cost of non+discipleship (we have this idea that we are making great sacrifices to be disciples, and we do...)