Description of a Christian: FAITH

James 2:18-26

James 2:18–26 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? 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.

We are doing a 5-part series on the Book of James. The book of James can be viewed as a mini-instruction manual of what a Christian should look like.

Part 1 - Origination of temptation and the cycle of sin.

Part 2 - The aspects of a Christian’s faith. (Today)

Part 3 - A Christian and their tongue.

Part 4 - Christian and their relationships with others

Part 5 - Expectations of a Christian

Today, Part 2 - The aspects of a Christian’s faith.

W.T Purkiser was a turn of the century, well-loved preacher.

W.T. Purkiser said, “A religion of externals is a ghost, spirit without body. But a subjective faith without loving obedience to the will of God is a corpse.

what does our faith look like? Those around us will judge what faith is like and if it is worth by what they see in us. This chapter deals primarily with two issues;

treating people unequally

works

The first part deals with treating people unequally, particular rich better than the poor. James noticed a big problem in the church. This is a problem we still see today. Christians in the church would be nice and friendly to the poor, but when the rich came in, they would abandon the poor and only want to associate with the rich.

Romans 2:11

Romans 2:11 ESV

For God shows no partiality.

If God shows no partiality, then why should we?

1 Samuel 16:7

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

We should look at the heart and not the outward appearance. This is part of how we live out our faith.

Faith is living. It is alive. James tells us that faith without works is dead. Now, for a long time, people have gone to the far end of the spectrum and created a theology wrapped around works alone. Let us look at faith itself to help clear this up.

Let us define faith first.

dictionary definition

Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 ESV

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 Corinthians 5:7

2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Walking is movement. It is a verb and verb is action. It is very hard to walk standing still. You can do it, but it does not get you anywhere fast.

James 2:19

James 2:19 ESV

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

The demons believe in God, but it does not benefit anyone.

The Pew Research Center conducted a study in December of 2017, 24 years ago, 90% of Americans believe in a god of some sort, a higher power. Of that 90%, 56% believe in God as described in the Bible.

The Barna Research Institute took it a step further.

For the study, they defined “Born Again” as adults who believe they will experience an afterlife in the presence of God only because they have confessed their sins against Him and accepted Jesus Christ as the redeemer who saves them from eternal punishment.

They found that 20 years ago, 30% considered them as born again Christians.

The best way to see the connection between faith and works is to look at the greatest example of God toward us.

VIDEO

John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This was the greatest faith in action. God, the Father, had faith that we were worth it and put a plan into action. A plan so dramatic and so full of love, the world was taken by storm. Jesus came as a servant to rescue us from ourselves. It was a greatest work in action because of His tremendous love toward us.

How can we have faith that stands still? How can we have dead faith, when He did all this for us? We need to put our faith into action. We do not do works to earn salvation or show what an awesome Christian we are. We do works because of our faith. We want to live out what Christ has done for us and see our world changed. This does not happen from standing still. This happens because we are the Gospel in motion.

Conclusion:

A - Acknowledge

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

B - Believe

Acts 16:31 “And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.””

C - Confess

Romans 10:9-10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”