True Religion: Living Faith

James 2: 14 - 26 

Cody Kennamer

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

As you're able, you can stand for the reading of God's Word. We're gonna be continuing in the book of James. James chapter 2. If you don't have a Bible, we have some red Bibles around here. It's gonna be on page 1076, James chapter 2, starting in verse 14 through 26. This is God's Word.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 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? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe there is one God. Good, even the demons believe that and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do, and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. This is the word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Thank you, Shannon. Just want to echo Philip's prayer. It's been beautiful this week. You know, we often say that the church is not a place in which you go, but it's a people who go. Um, it's a people in community together. And it's been beautiful this week just seeing this church family flood the Dupree family in prayer and in care. And so uh that's been good for my heart this week. Um let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Question to think about as we start out this morning is have you ever uh had someone say, maybe say one thing to you, but then the way that you experience that and the way they act it out, uh it's much different. Right? A person says one thing, but then the way they say this, but then the way that it works out and the way they act, it's different. Um I was thinking about uh a lot of times, you think about college football coaches when they come in, a new coach at a new school, and they make all these promises to their team that they're gonna they're gonna change the culture, they're gonna get to the end, and then that's not the case.

unknown 3:38

Right?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I think for myself personally, um even this past week of making the statement I'm not gonna eat as many sweets. Yeah, I find myself eating a lot of sweets. Say one thing, actions reflect something else. You know, James, we've been in this uh study of James over the summer, and James has kind of been pulling this thread through the book so far, um, talking about what you do externally. Right? The actions that you show says something about what's going on internally. The sermon series we've uh entitled True Religion. Um, right, James is teaching, uh, right, this is a James is writing this letter to a group of churches and is trying to say, this is what faith, this is what true faith, true religion, what the church is supposed to look at look like. He's been pretty straightforward, he continues to be very straightforward in this passage, right? Right? The true religion is not just mental ascent, not just not just knowledge, but it's transformed hearts. It's transformed hearts that live it out through what they do. So here's what we're gonna see from a passage this morning simply this, that faith produces fruit. Faith produces fruit. Let's look back at verse 14. It says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? So as we start out, we need to ask the question is what is he what is he talking about when he says faith? What is faith? Right? Faith is a receiving and resting, trusting in Jesus and the work of Jesus. We can think of really two aspects of faith in the Christian life. First is saving faith. Right? Faith that is the way that we we enter into uh and receive salvation. It's through faith alone, through grace alone, through Christ alone. Right, if you think of, I've liked uh this illustration has been helpful for me. If you think if you have a cup of water with a straw in it, and the water is grace, and the straw is faith, that's how you receive it. Faith is how you receive the grace through the work of the Spirit. And so there's saving faith, there's a practical acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord over your life. But then there's also, secondly, the Christian life is lived by faith. There's living faith. That's what James is talking about here is the saving faith, moving towards living faith. So he talks about, he says faith a lot in here. He talks about deeds. That's another word that's repeated a lot, or or works. So what are we talking about here? Right? These are um right, there there's there's a difference between an unbeliever who can do in in common grace good things, and a Christian living out the Christian life. Right, there's a difference when a Christian, when they are living out doing the works that James is talking about here, um, they're doing it out of obedience to God's word, right? Like when in Micah, when it says to do justice and love mercy. Right, we everyone can do that, but then the special way Christians are called through the work of the Spirit to do that as is commanded in God's word. And so James is making a distinction here, not in saving faith without works and saving faith with works. What he's actually doing is he's making a difference, a distinction between living faith and dead faith. Living faith and death faith, right? A lot of times we could, you can, if you read through this passage, you can be like, okay, this is about deeds, this is about works. Really, this is a whole lot more about faith. Living faith or dead faith. And so he does, right, he in this passage, he gives us two examples of dead faith and two examples of living faith. And so let's walk through these briefly here. Um first is the the two examples of dead faith. If you look at verses 15 through 17, right, he says uh it speaks of you coming to a brother or sister, right? Someone in the church and and they don't have clothes or their tattered clothing, and they're uh they're hungry, and instead of acting on that physical need, right, you see their need and you you just tell them, you fill them with the right Christian words. Right? You say, go, uh, I see you're in need, go, let your needs be met. That's basically what he's saying. Right? It's like, I see you can't pay your power bill, so go let your power be on. Or I see your car is broken down, go in peace and let your engine run smoothly. That's basically what he's saying here. I see you are grieving, go in peace and be happy. It's empty words. What he's saying here is that if uh when you hear that someone is in true need, uh, and you just give them the right Christian answer and and move on, that there's not much uh that there's something it says something about you and your heart in the matter. Right? And we can so often do this. It's so easy to um to have somebody come with a need and to just start thinking, okay, like I don't have the time for this, I don't have the mental energy for this, I feel like if I get involved in this, this is gonna be more than just right now, like I'm probably gonna have to keep on helping. Like all these things go through our minds, and so we can simply uh dismiss it. Or or just try to say, do the least amount to feel like we helped, but then move on. It may be that we feel like we can't actually fix the problems, right? But I think it's important to know that that this is a call, right? Not necessarily to fix the problem. But is it do we have a willingness to enter into it? Right? If we see someone in need in front of us, are we um willing to enter into that?

unknown 10:50

Right?

SPEAKER_01 10:51

James is saying that living faith is that when you see someone in need, you're not afraid to enter into that mess, to enter into their lives. See he says, dead faith is one where those are disconnected, where you just paint over with words, but there's no action. Secondly, verses 18 and 19.

unknown 11:14

Right?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

He says, but someone will say, You have faith, and um, you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. Basically, what he's saying here is that um he's using an example if someone comes up and says, Well, you know, I've I'm kind of the faith guy, you know, like I've got that down. Like I like thinking about theology, I like reading my Bible, I like faith, um, I like the mental aspect of it, but I'm not really a works person. And then on the other side, the person who's like, I'm more of a doer, uh, I like action, and so I'm more of a works person. Now he's saying that those two can't be distinguished, they can't be separate things. That it can't be um simply knowledge or simply action. Um the president of seminary I graduated from, Lig Duncan, he uh, or Lig and Duncan, he says uh um something he said one time that stuck with me. He says, doctrine leads to doxology. What he means by that is like what we can know about God leads to worship. And much in the same way, James is saying that the knowledge of who God is, our faith in God, the mental aspect of our relationship with God should lead to action. Right? Faith cannot just be having the right orthodox beliefs, the right beliefs.

unknown 12:53

Right?

SPEAKER_01 12:54

James says this in the passage. He says, he says, oh, you believe in one God? Right, like the uh Shema in Deuteronomy 6 says. Well, perfect. The demons believe in one God too. He says, even they have external action, they they shudder. It's not just about what James is saying is not just about knowing and believing the right things in our heads. He then goes on, he shows two examples of living faith here in uh verses 20 to 24. And the first one he mentions, he says, verse 20, you foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? And then he goes into this um into two examples from the Old Testament. The first, Abraham, right, the father of the faith, and he he points to Genesis 22, where uh Abraham sacrifices Isaac, his son, or he puts him up for sacrifice, and God saves him. And uh in this uh in this passage, it's important actually to pause here because this passage right here is one that people will often look at. Um they'll look at it, and then they'll look at some of Paul's writings, especially Romans 4. And it's interesting because in James here, James basically says in this passage with Abraham, he says, uh He says, faith is not by or it's not by faith alone, it's by works. Then you go to Romans 4, and Paul says the opposite. He says, it's not by works, but it's by faith alone. And so what are we to do with this? We came before this passage this morning, so I was like, I feel like we need to at least um talk about this because it helps paint the picture of what James is talking about. Um it's interesting. They both, James and Paul, they both point to Abraham. Um and first, it's important to, when we think about the way that we view the Bible, the way we uh interpret the Bible, there's a few key um key aspects, key uh interpretation rules we need to think about. First is that scripture, um scripture interprets scripture. So if there's something that seems a little foggy, we can look to other places that's more clear. And then secondly, is the idea that scripture doesn't contradict itself, that it's God's word, that it is truth. And so, how do we how do we pull these two together that James is saying, well, no, you have to have works, and Paul is saying, no, it's only by faith alone. Well, uh, again, when we think about these, right, these are letters written to churches, and so for certain situations, and we apply these to our lives, um, and it's important to realize what they are talking about here, right? Paul, Paul is making the argument of how are we to be right with God? And Paul is dealing with this relationship between the the Jewish people and the Gentiles, saying, saying, How are Gentiles to be part of the church when when we have this um this uh the works of the law, that we have circumcision and we have all these feasts and all these rules, like how to people who are outside of this come into the church? James, on the other hand, right, he's saying, What does true faith look like in the church? Right? Why are what you saying you believe not being shown in the way you act? It's works of faith, of practical evidence of salvation. So when they both point to Abraham, and they do, in Romans 4, Paul points to Abraham and Genesis 15, where it says that he believed it was counted to him as righteousness, that he has faith. And then James it points to Genesis 22, where Abraham takes his son up, and and uh um, you know, he's been waiting and waiting for years. God makes his promise, he believes, and he waits for years, and then his son finally comes, and and then God says, Well, I want you to bring him up onto the altar and sacrifice. Genesis 22, 5. Um, it says that Abraham um he told his servants when he was going up with his son, he said, he said, Stay here, because we will both will be back. Abraham believed God's promises. He he had the follow-through because he knew that the promise that that he would have a son and that he would have uh a vast um descendants would come true. What James is saying is that his internal faith and his status with God was shown by the external. That you could look at Abraham's life and say, okay, what's going on here, this shows that this is true. That God is working in his life. And so first we have the the uh Abraham, secondly, he says, Rahab. Rahab, I think it's we need to, it's important to note just how um, you know, you have Abraham, this father of the faith figure, and then he mentions Rahab, just how beautiful God transforms uh those who look like high figures and the lowly through faith and grace in Christ. And so they're interesting pairs, but but uh Rahab, if you remember this story in the Old Testament, um uh she or the Israelites and Joshua, Israelites have escaped um Egypt, they've been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, finally they enter Canaan, um, and they're about to conquer uh Jericho to enter into the promised land, and Joshua sends a couple spies in, and the spies, right, they they come in and they end up staying at Rahab's house. And uh the king of Jericho, he he hears this, he sends some soldiers, and she says, she hides the guys, the spies, and and kind of sends the soldiers a different way. And it says in Joshua why she did this, it says, uh, she said, That I know the Lord has given you this land, and I have heard of all that the Lord has done, and the Lord your God is God in heaven above and earth below. Right, she had heard of who God was and she believed. And in that belief there was an action out of it. James is saying, right, if you think of an example of of uh of throwing out seed, of if you have a living seed and if you have have bad seed, if you throw the good seed down, something's gonna sprout up. If you throw the dead seed down, nothing will rise. Faith produces fruit. But I think we need to think about um two ditches, right? Thinking about faith in works, two ditches that we can run off into. Um the first is legalism or moralism. It's the idea that I must live a good, upright, holy life to be saved. That I have to, it could either be I need to know all the right answers, I need to do all the right things. So on one side, on one ditch is just the idea that, okay, my salvation is based off of what I do. So if I mess up big this week, I'm done for. On the other side, the other ditch is antinomianism, which is a fancy word, um, which basically is the opposite. It's saying that because I'm saved, I don't I can do whatever I want. That I'm locked in, that I have my ticket. The problem is that you're going to waste away if you find yourself in either one of those ditches. Either one of those are gonna make you waste away in the everyday life. Life because the math equation of the gospel is not faith plus works equals salvation. And it's not though faith does equal salvation, it's not simply right on the one ditch of just all right, I believe this stuff, and so let's go live my life. But rather, faith equals salvation, and in that salvation, works flow out of that. Martin Luther once said, faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. Saving faith produces living faith. It's always a byproduct of it. The good news this morning is that through Jesus, through Jesus Christ, the fruit will come. The fruit will come in John 15. One of uh the I am statements of Jesus, Jesus says this. He says, He says, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, they will be thrown away. Right, Jesus is making this distinction here. Right, those who abide, right, he's the vine, those who are attached, the branches attached to him, are going to produce fruit. This living faith that James is talking about here is what he says at the beginning of chapter 2, verse 1. He says, You believers in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, in the true vine. He's saying that Jesus has the object of our faith. He is the connection point to our faith. He's the vine, we're the branches. You know, the reality is that we probably often, I know I do, live our daily life throughout the week, and we feel like our faith is all over the place. And so we can hear something like this and be like, oh man, I start feeling a lot of lack of assurance, right? A lot of, oh man, I mean, I feel like uh you're telling us that I need to have fruit and have works, and honestly, this past week I don't feel like it. What do we do with that? I don't know who said this, but it's a quote. Um, and I wrote it down one time, but it says, even a little faith is faith. Even a little faith is faith. Uh, St. Clair Ferguson, pastor theologian, says this. He says, true faith takes its character and quality, not from itself, but from its object. True faith takes its character and quality, not from itself, but from its object. True faith gets the person out of themselves and into Christ. Out of themselves and in to Christ. It's through faith in Christ, through abiding, sitting with him being the object of that we can live and have fruit in our lives. Not through mere mental knowledge, not through our our performance, but through abiding in Jesus, being connected to him. So, what's our response this morning? What is our response to this word? I was uh I have this Bible journey journalist called Seeing Jesus Together, and um I use it on occasion to study, and I like it because it kind of walks you through just um it kind of lets you connect with where you're at and pray and then meditate and then pray on what you meditated on. And then one of the pieces I like is it has a it has one of the last steps is discern next steps. And the whole idea of this journal and why it's called seeing Jesus is that that the ideas they want you to grow in looking to God's word and seeing and beholding Jesus Christ in your life. Right, that we would we would see him with the eyes of our heart. And one of the reasons that they have that discern next step section, they say uh in their instructions, they say seeing Jesus leads to displaying Jesus. Right? Seeing Jesus, beholding Jesus, who he is, the truth of who he is, and that when you're in him by faith, that you are abiding with him, it will display him. So I was using this journal this past week, studying this sermon. This was my application for myself, and so I would ask you all to consider this as an application for you as well, is that we would seek to let what is true of the object of our faith. Right? So whatever is true about Jesus, that we would seek for that truth to transfer into tangible action in our lives. So the object of Jesus in his, if it's sacrifice, that that I would look to Jesus and abide in that truth, and that that truth would show me, or would give me the strength to show sacrifice, gentleness, humility, whatever it may be. Seek to let what is true of the object, true of Jesus, reflect in our lives, because the truth is that our faith does produce fruit, and that fruit will come only through Jesus. It's only through the work of Jesus in our lives, growing us in Him. So are you seeing Jesus this morning? Are you experiencing Jesus? Is that what is fueling your life? Let's pray. Father, thank you that when you call us, um, call us in passages like this to look at our lives and reflect. Um reflect maybe on the ways that that we don't resemble um what we're called to. Lord, thank you that you meet us in that every time by your grace, Lord. Thank you that it's by your strength that we live our lives and not our own. Praise this and in Christ's name. Amen.