James:True Faith That Expresses Itself In Faith-filled, God-Glorifying, Jesus-Testifying Works

Nominal Christians

Dr. Robert Plummer was my hermeneutics professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a brilliant New Testament scholar and a master teacher. He has done extensive work on the epistles of James. In the NIV Study Bible that was recently published, he notes,

“One of the constant challenges of the Christian church is nominalism—that is, those who claim to be Christians but are so “in name only.” When one actually looks at their lives, there is no evidence of the transformative work of God’s Spirit.” Dr. Robert Plummer

Nominal means, “in name only.” A nominal Christian is one who is a Christian in “name only.” To understand nominal Christians, it is better to describe them.

One Christian cultural commentator describes nominal Christians as “church-goers or otherwise religious people whose “faith” does not go beyond being identified with a church, Christian group, or denomination. They are Christians in name only; Christ has no bearing in their lives. Nominal Christians may attend church and Christian functions, and they self-identify as “Christians,” but it is just a label. They view religion primarily as a social construct, and they do not allow it to require much of them in terms of morality or responsibility. Nominalists take a minimalist approach to their faith.” (“What is Nominal Christianity?” Got Questions, accessed July 8, 2022)

By contrast, Jesus says genuine believers will bear faith-filled, God-glorifying, Jesus-testifying fruit that comes from loving Him as their supreme worth. He taught His disciples that those who truly love him will be recognized by their love that is expressed in obedience to his commands. Jesus said to his disciples,

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

and a few verses later,

John 14:23–24 ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

He also teaches that just as a tree is known by its fruit, so a genuine believer who loves Jesus will be known to the world by the fruit of their lives, their works (Matthew 7:17-20). Dr. Robert Plummer, wisely says,

“Verbally affirming Jesus as “Lord” is hypocrisy unless such a person “does the will of [the] Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21).” Dr. Robert Plummer

Nominal Christianity has no place in the church because there is no such thing as a nominal Christian. A nominal Christian is a religious hypocrite is a weed in the church, not the wheat.

Nominal Christianity exists for a number of reasons. For starters, too many churches do not have a robust membership process. Christian nominalism is easy faith. Nothing is required of you; no life transformation, not evidence of salvation, no commitment to discipleship, no accountability. You profess Jesus? Great. Common in. In these churches, your sexual immorality does not matter. What you do in your house on your time is your business. The fact that you embrace post modernism, the notion that we all have our own truth and Jesus’ truth is just one truth mixed with all the other truths, is not a concern in these churches. What does the scripture mean to you? That is all that matters, not what it is actually saying.

Along with having a weak membership process is the reality that many churches are not committed to a robust teaching of God’s inerrant, authoritative, and fully sufficient word. They preach self-help sermons from a therapeutic deistic hermeneutic, meaning that God is more like a therapist to you than the Sovereign King of the heaven and earth.

A third problem is there are too many denominations or churches that allow generations to be “born into the faith.” I think, as Baptist we are quick to point the finger at Catholics and Lutherans because of infant baptism, but the SBC is not exempt. We have a long history of baptizing children who were pressured by their parents to be baptized more than their genuine faith in Christ.

Finally, it is worth considering that some people are attracted to Jesus as a wise sage or philosopher, but not as their Sovereign Savior. They like his teachings and they feel good about helping the poor every now and then. Their “good works” are enough for them and the church, but are not pleasing to God because they have no faith (Hebrews 11:6). This allows them to embrace liberal theology and practices that contradict God’s truth.

There is a direct connection between your faith and your works. You can have works without faith, but you cannot have faith with God-glorifying, Jesus-testifying, love driven works. That is what James is driving home to the audience he is writing too.

Jame’s letter was written for the church to understand that

Genuine love for Jesus always expresses itself in obedience that produces faith-filled, God-glorifying, Jesus-testifying, works.

Or, as Kent Hughes succinctly puts it, the the dominant theme in James is,

“faith that is real works practically in one’s life. That is, true faith is a faith that works.” Kent Hughes

If you were a child in the 1980’s, there was a toy called the View Master. Picture scenes on a circular disc would fit into a plastic red pair of binoculars. The scenes would switch when you pulled a black lever. This morning, I want to look at the letter of James through a pair of View Master binoculars. You will see that there are four faith-filled, Jesus-testifying frames that are helpful in how studying James will help us fight against Christian nominalism by showing us what authentic faith-filled works look like. Faith-filled works look like

Faith-filled works look like Jesus’s ethics and morals

James is a wonderful compliment to the four gospels of Jesus. One could read the letter of James along side the Semeron on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) because James mirrors much of Jesus’s ethics and morals; especially in dealing with poverty, relationships, and social justice.

Faith-filled works look like religious hypocrisy denounced

James denounces religious hypocrisy when he says,

James 2:18 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.

and

James 2:26 ESV

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

You can have works without faith. But you cannot have faith without God-glorifying, Jesus-testifying works. James will show you that if you say you love Jesus and do not have the works of Jesus manifested from your love-driven obedience to Jesus, your faith is dead. You are practicing nominal Christianity.

Faith-filled works look like wisdom.

James is filled with edifying and encouraging wisdom. One commentator points out, “James is all about faith and wisdom coming to life through action. Trust in God can’t be confined to one compartment of life; it has implications for everything. It affects how we speak and how we spend money. James says that if you can control your tongue, you can control your other actions as well. Wise speech leads to wise actions, including the wise use of time and resources (1:19–2:13; 5:1–6). We now live according to the leadership of Christ, whose words and message have become our new law of liberty (1:22–25). (Barry, John D., Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar. 2012, 2016. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.)

Faith-filled works looks like practical faith.

James says

James 1:22 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James sets out to teach you how to put your faith into action. There are 108 verses coupled with 60 imperatives in James’s letter. James wants you to have a visible and productive faith that tells the world you treasure Jesus. If you will take his imperatives to heart, your life will look different and your faith will be vibrant.

To understand the letter of James, you need to have some historical context as to why he is writing this letter. Essentially, we are asking,

What is the message and purpose of James’ letter?

Social Tension

When you read James, you realize there is a lot of tension. Some people are showing partiality between people (James 2). Others are using hurtful words (James 3). There is selfish ambition and criticism that might of led to murder (James 4:1-12). What you see here is the tension of their day inside the church.

James is writing to Jewish Christians who are living outside of Jerusalem. You can see that in when he identifies whom he is writing to in

James 1:1 (ESV)

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

The phrase “twelve tribes in the dispersion” was a common way for NT writers to address Christians, particularly Jewish Christians, who were living outside of Israel. The 12 tribes could have a symbolic sense, representing all God’s people under the new covenant who are scattered from their true homeland until God’s promises come to fruition (Jas 5:7–8).(Barry, John D., Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R. Grigoni, and David Bomar. 2012, 2016. Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.)

Tension between Jewish Aristocrats (Wealthy) and the Peasants (Poor)

Jewish Christians at this time were living under Roman rule, and it was not a friendly relationship. Over one hundred years before James, Roman General Pompey divided the Judean territory and made Jewish peasants landless. Coupled with carrying the burden of Herod the Great’s excessive taxes, many small farmers went out of business. Feudal states were created were created and worked by some of the peasants. Others become day laborers likely only finding work during the harvest. Tension and animosity began to develop between the peasants and the aristocratic landlords all throughout the empire. The peasants had no money, little food, and had to raise their families in poverty. Neighborhoods for the peasants in Jerusalem were built downwind of the sewers of the Jewish aristocrats. It was also known that if a peasant refused to pay his land owner, that the land owner would send squads of hired assassins to deal with them.

Tension between the Zealots (Jewish Nationalist) and Rome

On top of the social structure inequities, there was added tension of grain shortages that would result in rioting. To try bring peace to the region, the Jewish aristocracy would align with Rome through practical politics. This infuriated many common Jews creating a hotbed of nationalism. Zealots, as they were called, were a resistant group that hated Rome, and anyone who aligned with Rome, felt that only God should rule the land. They set out to rid the land of Rome through acts of terrorism. Zealots became extremely popular by the common Jews. After various outbreaks of violence, a massive revolt took place in 66 A.D., followed by a massacre of priests. Eventually , Romans armies surrounded Jerusalem and the city fell and the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and The Judean War, as if is called, was over. The final resistance stronghold at Masada fell in three years later.

Cultural Tension instigated Church Tension

James wrote his epistle somewhere between 48-56 A.D. The audience of his letters were caught up in this social tension. He was addressing Jewish peasants and Jewish aristocrats who became followers of Jesus, both who struggled to reconcile these social tensions, that eventually led to a war that not only led to more death and poverty, and it destroyed the temple.

The power of the gospel is it is able to take people from all walks of life who have nothing in common, who have even hated each other, and unify them in the kingdom of God by the Spirit of God. The church has the ability to be a unified people, but it takes submission to the Spirit and intentional faith-filled works of grace.

James sets out to deal with the pride of the rich (James 1:9-11; 2:1-9; 4:13-17), the persecution by the rich (James 2:6-7; 5:6), and the exploitation of the poor by the rich (James 5:4-6). He also addresses those who want to retaliate with violence (James 2:11; 4:2) or hurtful words (James 1:19-20; 3:1-12; 4:11-12; 5:9). He offers proverbial wisdom (James 1:5; 3:14-18), active faith (James 1:6-8; 2:14-26) and an exhortation to patiently endure (James 1:9-11; 5:7-11) as a means to treasure Jesus and love your neighbor as yourself.

As you can see, there is no place for nominal Christianity in a church within a culture of such hostile social tension. It takes work, faith-filled works, to love people whom you have hated your entire life.

Brothers and sisters, might I commend to you this morning, that James is a timely and perfect word for us right now? Are we not living in a period of time where you could cut the social and political tension in our country, even our community, with a knife? Is it possible God will call you to love someone whom you have grown to hate because of their politics or social justice positions? is it possible that the church could become the greats beacon of light to our culture and community by the way we love one another? That takes God-glorifying, Jesus-testifying, faith-filled, love-driven obedient works. And who better to help us begin then James himself.

As I close, lets us briefly look at the man God used to write this letter.

James 1:1 (ESV)

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ...

James does not give us a lot of information about himself in his introductory verse. But there are three attributes about James that set the tone of the book.

Three Tone-setting attributes of James

James was a just man.

James was not a nominal Christian. His works, covered in piety and love for Jesus, were esteemed by his peers and hated by his enemies.The Jewish historian and several Jewish-Christian writers, wrote that James was a man who was loved by the poor and esteemed by his peers for his piety. In 62. A.D. the high Priest Ananus II executed James for no other reason than his love for Jesus. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, said this,

“These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ. For the Jews slew him, although he was a most just man.” Josephus

The public outcry was so great, says Craig Keener, that when the new procurator Albinus arrived, Ananus was deposed from the high priesthood over the matter. James says

James 2:18 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.

James’ faith led him to live rightly before God and his neighbor. His life was poured out to make much of Jesus in both mercy ministries to the poor and apologetics before the Jews. And when he died, he showed the world his faith by his work of martyrdom.

James was a humble man.

James describes himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word servant is also the word slave. James says he is a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus. What makes this interesting is James was the half-brother of Jesus. He is identified in Marks gospel as such;

Mark 6:3 ESV

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

John also recognizes James as one of Jesus brothers who did not believe he was the Messiah at first,

John 7:3–5 ESV

So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him.

James has an encounter with the resurrected Jesus that changes his mind. In Paul’s letter the Corinthian church, in his chapter on the resurrection, he says Jesus appeared to James:

1 Corinthians 15:7 ESV

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

and Luke says James was with the apostles in the room praying after Jesus ascended.

Acts 1:14 ESV

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

James had a unique position of authority and insight that the disciples do not have. He was Jesus’s half growing up with Jesus. If anyone knew Jesus well, even as well as Mary his mother, it was James. And yet, James calls himself a slave of his older half-brother, whom he now recognizes is his Messiah.

Theologian Douglas Moo asks a great question, one that might be on your mind right now.

If James, the Lord’s brother, wrote this letter, why does he not mention his special relationship to Jesus?

Douglas Moo answers this question in two parts. First, James was not qualified to write the letter based on his physical relationship to Jesus, but his spiritual one. James was a genuine believer. He lived his Christian life in such a way that he was admired for his piety and Christ-likeness. Paul recognized James as an apostle, even.

Galatians 1:19 ESV

But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.

The second part of the answer is that James took great honor in being a slave of the Lord. He followed the tradition of great leaders of the people of Israel such as Moses (Deut 34:5; Dan 9:11) and David (Jer 33:21; Ezek 37:35), for the title servant of the Lord was only applied to men like this. Paul and Peter both took the title as well (Rom 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1).

James recognized his place under Jesus by having a high view of Jesus. James is a servant, a slave of God. He then equate Jesus with God by using the conjunction “and.” The conjunction “and” ties two nouns, ideas or phrases, equally together. jJames believes Jesus is God, and Jesus is his Lord. It is an honor to be a servant of the Lord.

James addresses his readers with his authority as an apostle, but with also his humility as a servant. James’ humility reminds me of Jesus’ words in Mark

Mark 10:45 ESV

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

James was a pastor.

James was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. You see his pastoral influence in the early church.

James prays with the disciples just before Pentecost (Acts 1:14), which puts James at the genesis of the church. In Acts 12:17, after Peter is miraculously released from prison, Peter tells the church tell James everything that has happed. In Acts 15:13, James takes part as a leader at the Jerusalem council. In Acts 21:18, Paul visits James with all the elders, in Jerusalem to update him on his missionary work to the Gentiles. Lastly, Paul identifies James as an apostle in Galatians 2:9 and 1 Cor 15:7.

James was a pious man, a humble servant, and authoritative leader in the church. His first love was Jesus. His second love was the church. He wrote this letter with great care and wisdom so that God’s people can flourish, and their faith would work to testify that Jesus is worth treasuring and the kingdom of God if full of life.

James was not a nominal Christian, one in name only. He treasured the one with the “name above all names,” Jesus, and expressed his love for Jesus in obedience that produced faith-filled, God-glorifying, Jesus-testifying works.

And God willing, we will learn from James to not be Christians in “name only” but to have true faith that works.