Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction (40min)

Today, we come to what is probably the most significant passage in James as well as perhaps the most controversial.

Martin Luther said of the Book of James:

Therefore St James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it.

(Luther’s Works 35, 362)

I almost feel like throwing Jimmy into the stove . . .

(Luther’s Works 34, 317)

Luther was embroiled in a battle against the Roman Catholic Church which was teaching that salvation was found only through the pope and Roman Church and that God’s grace for salvation was only administered to you through the priests as you followed certain rules and actions.

As Luther studied the Scriptures, he found this went against what God had said especially when confronted with passages such as what Paul writes in

‘This paragraph is the most theologically significant, as well as the m

This was the stand that Luther took - We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Now, as Luther, you start reading and you come across vv 17:

17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

(ESV)

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

You can see how Luther might react a little strongly to James’ writings.

(Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000), 118.)

We will touch on the relationship between what Paul writes and James in a bit, but for now know it can be summed up in this way:

Mainly because of James’ main point which he states three times vv.

17, 20, 26

** You don’t need works to be saved, but if you’re saved there will be works.

**

‘The appearance of a conflict is created because they give two key words, ‘faith’ and ‘justify’, different meanings and because their arguments are advanced against different errors.’

or

** A living faith is a fruitful faith.

**

The real question Luther was asking, and is the real question each of us asks is:

**How can I know that my faith is real and alive?**

This passage in James answers that question and it will be as much an encouragement as it is a warning as it is a motivation.

Douglas J. Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, vol.

16, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 103.

**How can I know that my faith is real and alive?**

The answer to the question is to as much an encouragement as it is a warning as it is a motivation.

Description of Dead Faith (14-17) (35min)

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?

ILLUST - living tree and dead tree

We can tell if our faith is living if we look.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?

What James is contesting, then, is that the particular faith he has just mentioned can save.

This faith is what a “man” who does not have works claims to have.

James’s main point is that this “faith” is, in biblical terms, no faith at all.

James is not arguing for the prescriptive but the descriptive that should lead us to prescriptions.

James is not saying we are saved by our works or that works produce faith; instead he is saying that saving faith will produce works.

James does not understand works to be a moral behavioralism adding to or restricting from certain moral actions.

James and Paul

Here is where Luther’s struggle between Paul and James comes in.

‘The appearance of a conflict is created because they give two key words, ‘faith’ and ‘justify’, different meanings and because their arguments are advanced against different errors.’

Douglas J. Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, vol.

16, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 103.

The difference between Paul and James is that Paul is talking about the initialization of faith in reference to the Jewish Law where as James is talking about the evidence of a current faith through fruit, in other words Paul is talking about a faith that might be where as James is talking about a faith that is claimed to already be.

ILLUST - Doctor with two patients.

Suppose you overhear a doctor go into the exam room with one patient, “You just need to rest.

That’s what will bring health and life.”

Then he leaves that patient’s room, enters the next room and you overhear the doctor say to the second patient, “You need to get up and get busy.

The only way you’ll have life and health is to get busy.”

Are the doctors prescriptions in conflict?

No, they are the right prescription for different contexts.

Same is true for the seeming contradictory statements of Paul and James.

They are speaking to different contexts.

Paul is telling those who have a religious background or have legalism in their past - to rest.

It’s faith alone - Your works don’t gain you faith.

James is talking to those who are just resting on the idea of ‘salvation through faith alone’ and he is saying that if it is not exercised in your life and evident through the things you do - your faith isn’t real.

Stop resting on your ‘faith alone’ and live like you believe it.

Just as in previous passages, James gives an example to make his point.

We know our faith is living if we love.

If you have a living faith you will love others.

15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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?

17

15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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?

Go in peace = prayer of blessing for God’s favor and provision

Be warmed and filled = an acknowledgement of the problem and an understanding of the need (to be filled somewhere else)

** The most obvious fruit of a living faith is self-sacrificial love for those in need.

Gal 5:

John 13:

We have no right to talk about the Christian faith if we have no intention of actually taking care of the needy around us.

Can you think of someone who may need a meal?

Who could use some clothes?

Does someone around you have a need you could actually provide?

Johnson remarks, “It is not the form of the statement that is reprehensible, but its functioning as a religious cover for the failure to act.”

The modern version of this is, “I’ll pray for you.”

Let’s run with this, This is what James is saying:

You see a brother in church who is not sure he can feed his family that week and you tell him you’ll pray that God provides for him - WHEN PERHAPS YOU’RE THE ONE GOD PLACED IN HIS LIFE TO BRING HIS FAMILY A MEAL.

Perhaps you are not in a position to be able to offer a tangible help, and prayer (when actually used) is the most powerful tool we have, but the fruit of a living faith will by default, act out of a heart of compassion to be the hands and feet to Jesus to meet the needs of those in need.

1 john 3:17

Johnson remarks, “It is not the form of the statement that is reprehensible, but its functioning as a religious cover for the failure to act.”

While this could describe a potential scenario in our church at some point, this is a real scenario for many outside this church on a daily basis.

Think about this from the outside in.

Have you ever prayed for the homeless?

When was the last time you brought them a meal?

Have you ever prayed for the orphans?

When was the last time you offered them a bed in your house?

Have you ever met someone who doesn’t know Jesus and at any moment could enter eternal death?

When was it that you shred Christ with them?

James is echoing the words of his big brother.

17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Dangers of Demonic Faith (18-19) (23min)

Demonic Faith = Statements and

Demons aren’t atheists.

The demons even give a fuller statement of Jesus’ identity than the disciples.