Functional Faith

Recently I splurged and bought a combination of battery powered tools. This little blower was part of the collection. It’s great for cleaning up after small projects, blowing out the garage and clearing leaves from the front porch. This blower has a purpose - to create a flow of air that can move things. That’s its function. In order to accomplish its purpose, the blower needs the motor and the battery. When both the motor and battery are present, the blower is functional. However, if I separate the motor from the battery, the blower is no longer functional. It cannot accomplish its purpose. It is dead. It is useless.

Our passage today deals with faith. Faith has a purpose. The purpose of faith is to deliver us from sin to righteousness; the purpose of faith is to transform us. In order for faith to accomplish its purpose, faith needs belief and action. When both belief and action are present, faith is functional. But if belief is separated from action, faith is no longer functional. It cannot accomplish its purpose. It is dead. It is useless.

Functional faith is belief in action.

If we believe we are to accept all people and we act on that belief by initiating a conversation with someone of a different race, our faith is functional. It is saving us from the sin of partiality (2:1-13). Both belief and action are necessary for our faith to function and transform us. If you separate belief from action, faith is no longer functional. In the words of James, faith without works is dead. Its nonfunctional. It cannot accomplish its purpose of transforming our lives.

In this section of his letter, James is confronting those who wrongly insist that belief alone is sufficient for the Christian life. In verse 14 James confronts those pushing this false idea.

James 2:14 ESV

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

What is the purpose of faith according to verse 14? It is to save us. The function of faith is to deliver us. The point of verse 14 is that faith limited to belief cannot accomplish its purpose to save us..

In this context, what does save mean?

To whom did James write this letter? To Jewish Christians; they possessed justification salvation. Throughout the letter he addresses them as his brothers and his beloved brothers. Therefore, save in this context, does not refer to “go to heaven when you die”. Save means to deliver or rescue. Looking at 1:1 to 2:13, are there things from which believers need to be delivered? In 1:5-8, believers, then and now, need to be delivered from double-mindedness when asking for wisdom. In 1:13-15, believers need to be delivered from temptations to sin that arise in the midst of trials. In 1:19-21 believers need to be delivered from filthiness and wickedness and receive the Word. In 1:22-25, Christians need to be delivered from the deception that hearing the Word is enough. In 1:26 believers need to be delivered from out-of-control tongues. In 2:1-13, believers need to be delivered from the sin of partiality.

Faith without works, belief without action is powerless to deliver us from any of these things. It is dead. It is nonfunctional. It really is not faith at all. James next gives an illustration of how useless faith without works really is.

James 2:15–16 ESV

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?

What is the purpose of speaking a blessing over the needy? To bless them! But what is needed in addition to the verbal blessing? A gift basket full of clothes and food. The verbal blessing alone is useless - actually its worse than useless, its cruel.

In verse 17 James reiterates the point faith without works is dead. Belief alone cannot save. Belief alone can’t do anything. It is dead. Nonfunctional.

James 2:17 ESV

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

James anticipates pushback. In 2:18-26 he gives a thought problem and two illustrations to further drive home the truth that functional faith is belief in action.

James 2:18–19 ESV

18 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

“You can have it both ways.” seems to be the idea James is confronting. The idea is that for some people just believing is capable of transforming their lives and for others believing and doing is what transforms them. James exposes the fallacy that belief alone transforms. First, without works of some kind it is impossible to demonstrate the reality of your faith. If you say you believe evangelism is important, but never share the gospel, how does God or anyone know what you really believe? It’s all words. That’s all you have.

Second, the enemies of God, the demons, have correct beliefs about God, but they are not transformed by them!

You can’t have it both ways. The purpose of faith is to save us. It is to deliver us from sin to righteousness. Faith requires belief in action to accomplish its purposes in us.

James 2:20 ESV

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

Again, verse 20 emphasizes that faith has a purpose. Faith without works is useless; it doesn’t work. Faith with works is useful. Useful for what? For delivering us from sin to righteousness. For transforming us to be more like Christ.

James next gives two illustrations to prove his point. The first is the faith of Abraham, the father of the Jewish people and the father of faith.

James 2:21–24 ESV

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 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. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Genesis 15:1-6 records God’s promise to Abraham that he would have a son who would be heir to the covenant.

Genesis 15:1–6 ESV

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Verse 6 says Abraham believed the Lord, but what was the ultimate proof, the ultimate demonstration that Abraham believed God? How did Abraham show his faith by his works? This is what James means by the word “justified”. To demonstrate one’s faith clearly.

Abraham clearly demonstrated his faith by sacrificing Isaac.

Genesis 22:9–12 ESV

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

By his action of sacrificing Isaac, Abraham proved, demonstrated, gave evidence that he truly feared God and trusted God. That is what James means when he says Abraham was justified by works. His “work” of sacrificing Isaac made it clear to God and to all that Abraham genuinely believed God’s promise of an heir. Abraham believed God would resurrect Isaac because Isaac was the heir of the Abrahamic Covenant (Heb. 11:17-19). Through his functional faith, Abraham became father of the Jewish nation, forefather to Messiah and a friend of God.

James closes this section with a final illustration. It is an illustration of the functional faith of Rahab, a gentile prostitute in the days of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land.

James 2:25 ESV

25 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?

Joshua 2:8-11 records the story of Rahab and three Israeli spies sent to Jericho to gather intelligence. Rahab hid the spies. She explained why she was betraying her people:

Joshua 2:8–11 ESV

Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

How did Rahab demonstrate her faith in Israel’s God?

Joshua 2:15–16 ESV

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. And she said to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.”

Did Rahab believe in the God of the Israelites? How could they know for certain? In what way did Rahab’s functional faith save her? It delivered her and her family from physical death, it delivered Rahab to a living relationship with the one true God and she was privileged to be in the line of Messiah (Matt. 1:1-18).

James concludes by comparing functional faith to a functional human being.

James 2:26 ESV

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

Just as a functional human being is the union of a body and spirit so also functional faith is the union of belief and action. If you separate soul from body you render a person nonfunctional; they are dead, unable to accomplish their purpose. Separating action from belief renders one’s faith nonfunctional; it is dead, unable to accomplish its purpose of saving us.

A day is coming when our granddaughter will learn to ride a bike. There will be a day when she will need to take the step of riding without training wheels. On that day she will need functional faith. She might believe that riding on two wheels is the greatest thing. But to experience the joy and freedom of riding on two wheels, she will need to be delivered from dependence on her training wheels and her fear of falling and delivered to the joy of riding on two wheels. She can believe all she wants, but until she acts on her belief and rides without the training wheels, she will not be “saved”; she will not be “delivered” from fear to joy.

Years ago a gentleman came to Grace whom I had met years earlier at Ramona Cafe. On his table at the cafe would be his bible, a commentary or two and a notepad. I was usually there with someone I was discipling. So when he came to Grace I was glad to see him. But within about a month, I got wind he was complaining to people in our church family and seeking support for whatever he was wanting. It became clear to me this fellow was sowing division within our church and that he needed to be confronted. Problem was, confrontation is one of my weak points. I believe shepherd-elders need to be men of courage who defend the flock from false teachers and divisive personalities. I believed Titus 3:10-11 was what needed to be done, but I was struggling with fear.

Titus 3:10–11 ESV

10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Believing God would sustain me, I took the action to meet with this brother one on one. I confronted his divisive behavior and warned him to stop it or he would be asked to leave the church. He was not happy with me, said some less than complimentary things, but made the decision to leave the church of his accord. In this case faith and works delivered me from my cowardice to lead in courage. I did not die from the experience so I gained a bit more confidence as a leader. And his departure protected our church family from division.

The point is, we all need to live by faith because it is by faith that we are transformed and continue to grow to become more like Christ. Believing without doing will not accomplish God’s work in our lives. We need to believe and do. Functional faith is faith and works. Functional faith has the power to deliver us from sin and deliver us to a rich life of service for Christ.

Functional faith has the power to deliver us from sin and deliver us to a rich life of service for Christ.