James 2:14-26
I want to start by telling you a story about my granddaughter. She was talking to her mom about heaven and mom was answering a lot of questions! Then at one point, my little five-year old granddaughter said something significant. “Mom, I don’t think I’m ready to go to heaven. I would miss my friends.” What I am really proud of is that my daughter said back, “Well, if you tell your friends about Jesus and heaven, then they can all be there with you one day.”
That’s really a great reason to do evangelism. If your concerned that being a Christian might mean losing some friends who might think Christianity isn’t cool, try to actually lead them to Christ so they will get to be in heaven with you one day! If they become Christians, they will be for your friends forever, literally forever, not just for this brief life. And one more thought, you don’t want your friends to ever have to say anything like, “Why didn’t you tell me I could be saved from sin and forgiven by God’s grace?”
Those thoughts connect with James’ message in this part of his letter in which he says, “Faith without works is dead.” James launches into this section because he has just been talking about the behavior of favoritism and he doesn’t want to leave people thinking it’s all about behavior. It’s really all about genuine faith that generates more Christ-like behavior.
The passage links faith with works very closely. This is why so many people think that James’ letter is all about works so that it goes against Paul’s teachings on grace. In reality, Paul and James believe exactly the same thing about grace and works. They just each have their own inspired ways of talking about the same subject, from their own vantage points, addressing different audiences for different reasons. Taken together, we are guarded against two extremes. That’s why the Bible has letters from both people, to put the two perspectives together. With Paul, we are firmly grounded in God’s grace for salvation. There is nothing we can do. Jesus did all the work on the cross. In this we are saved from the extremes of legalism and works righteousness that say we are not saved unless we do more than believe by adding our good works in to the mix.
That being said, maybe we can see where it would lead if James had not written his letter. With James, we are prevented from moving to the other extreme of an easy believeism that the great Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” All you have to do is believe and nothing else matters. It results in the kind of thing I have seen on a bumper sticker: “Jesus paid for all my sins and I’m going to get his money’s worth. I’m going to sin all I want to.” Now, every Christian I know laughs at that and they are pretty shocked that anyone would say it, much less put it in print. But I think a lot of people actually do live that way. There are books written on the topic of “functional atheism.” It’s about people who say they believe in God, but don’t really live like it.
They are glad they are saved by grace through faith. But they don’t really do what Jesus asks in return, “Take up your cross and follow me.” They are Sunday only Christians, the kind of hypocrites that unbelievers complain about most correctly. They are the Sunday restaurant lunch crowd that waiters and waitresses don’t enjoy because they don’t tip well. They are not doing the works that go with faith.
There are also a lot of churches these days that are failing in the great commission. They are not “going” as Jesus commanded, to reach the next generation of young people. They are not making new disciples. They are not baptizing anyone because there is no one to be baptized. And they are not teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. They are not doing the works that go with faith.
Oh, they want to, as long as it doesn’t make them uncomfortable. They know that they are supposed to. But they tend to think that’s what they hired the pastor for. And since they continue to have worship services every Sunday, they really think they are trying to. But they are really only doing things the way they like them and are not willing to make the sacrifices it would take to do what would really work to reach the next generation.
Now I am not pointing any fingers. I’m talking in general terms about what the church of America is struggling with all over this nation. But if it sounds familiar or convicting, then the Holy Spirit is doing His work. And believe me, in my prayers I wonder about this stuff and wonder what’s wrong with me too. And trust me, I’m going to tell you about the hope we have in Christ too. There is hope. He is our only hope!
Now let’s get in to the text and look at it from James’ point of view. He says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” What James is saying is that if you really have the faith that saves, deeds will follow. It’s practically a necessity! You can’t believe in God without responding. Here’s an illustration. If you believe that the stock market is a good way to get rich, then you’re going to put your money there. What good is it to say you believe in the stock market, if you don’t invest in it? Such faith is worthless! You see the connection?
Next James begins to talk about the kind of deeds that faith generates in the believer, works of compassion and mercy. He uses this example: “Suppose a brother or a 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.”
Words without deeds, “Go in peace. Keep warm and well fed.” Sounds like a prayer. Sounds like a blessing. But it’s just empty words if you could be of substantial help but are not willing to be the answer to the prayer!
“Someone will say, “You have faith. I have deeds.” The point is trying to show that deeds and faith can be separated out. Then one might argue that there is a faith that saves even though there are no deeds. You could even point to the thief on the cross as everybody’s favorite example of saving faith without any deeds at all because he died on the cross shortly after Jesus promised a place in eternity.
But James says, “Even the demons act on the faith that they have, not that is saves them, for they cannot repent. But that might look like a real faith in God that is definitely distinct from any good works of faith. It’s sort of making a philosophical logical point that faith can be separate from works. James says, “That’s ridiculous. You foolish man. Faith and deeds cannot be separated out like that. You want proof?”
Now before we get to James proof, I have a few comments of my own about the faith of the thief on the cross and the faith of the demons. I think it is wrong to say that the thief on the cross had no works of faith to prove his faith did save him. I can tell you the works of faith that the thief did. His faith in Jesus resulted in first, the work of repentance. Second, this repentant thief rebuked the other criminal who was mocking Jesus. His third work of faith is the greatest of all! He asked that Jesus, who was dying beside him on a cross, would remember him when he comes in to his kingdom. Can’t you see what great faith it took for one dying man to say to another dying man, “I believe you are the King of Heaven and that we will both go on living after they take our dead bodies off these crosses! Please remember me.”
The demons also had a faith that resulted in a work. They shuddered! They did not repent, but they knew they were in trouble. So, it shows that we always act in response to what we actually do believe. They can’t be separated out.
Now for the proof, James gives two historical examples of how faith resulted in works. First Abraham. James says, “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.
How could Abraham be said to have faith in God if he had not in fact trusted God and obeyed the command to sacrifice his own son on the altar? If Abraham had not taken Isaac to the mountain top, we would all know that Abraham didn’t believe, either that God had asked him to do that or, that God would provide for him anyway, to keep God’s covenantal promise, in spite of this great sacrifice of the child through whom the promise should be kept. Hebrews 11:19 says, “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” That’s faith in God that enabled him to obey the command.
In addition, we know that Abraham did not act out of his own sense of righteousness. It was not his own idea to sacrifice Isaac. No, he believed God and so he acted and because he acted out his faith it gets credited to him as righteousness. That’s faith at work! This example is even more interesting because the Jews all know that their God does not want human sacrifice. So, there is no way that Abraham sacrificing Isaac could be credited to him as righteousness because it would have been a very unrighteous thing for Abraham to do unless God had really asked him to do it.
James’ next case for proof is Rahab. (See Joshua 2.) He said, “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?” Rahab had absolutely no good reason to put her own life in danger by protecting the spies unless she deeply believed something about the God who was with them. As a prostitute in a pagan city she also had absolutely no way that anyone would call her a good person or righteous, in any sense of the word.
All she had was a new faith in the Holy God of Israel. And because she acted on faith that she could be saved from the judgment that would fall upon the rest of the citizens of Jericho, she gets called righteous. In fact, one of the rewards for her faith is that she gets to be one of the ancestors of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Her faith has saved her, but not without the work of protecting the spies. Her faith is what caused her to protect the spies. If she hadn’t protected the spies, that would have proven that she didn’t believe in their God at all. Whichever way she acted, it would be a demonstration of what she actually believed in.
And so, it is for all of us. We all live by our faith. We all act according to what we really do believe, no matter what we say we believe. We really can’t help it. “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” There was a tight rope walker who really amazed the crowds with is ability. Back and forth, even dancing on the wire strung over the deep gorge. He was adored and applauded by a crowd of thousands of people. At one point, he took a hundred-pound sack of potatoes in a wheel barrow. Out on the wire and back again, perfect balance, perfect coordination.
Then he asked the crowd, “Do you believe that I could take an ordinary person out there with me and keep him safe?” The crowd went wild! Sure, they believed it and they wanted to see him do it too. So, he asked for a volunteer. Well virtually everybody had said they believed he could do it. But it turns out nobody was willing to act on that faith. So now we know what they really believed. Each one really believed, “If I got in that wheel barrow, I would surely die!” That’s the faith they acted on.
Faith without deeds is dead. Yes, we are saved by grace. There is nothing we could do to secure our salvation. But the only way we know that we are saved, the greatest assurance we have of salvation, is when that saving grace makes us alive in Christ so that we do the works he has prepared in advance for us to do.
Why do you suppose James even had to talk about the impossibility of faith without works? Why would his audience prefer that faith without works were possible? Let us remember again that James wrote his letter less than fifty years after the resurrection, to a very early church, that was suffering persecution. Why was that church struggling with this issue of faith and works? Because it was actually dangerous for true Christians to evangelize their friends and neighbors. Put yourself in their shoes. You would never know who might turn you in. So, you might go to the assemblies of believers and sing and worship and enjoy the benefits of Christian fellowship. But at home and at work, no one would ever know you were a Christian. Your faith has become a secret, private, personal matter, faith without works, faith that does not work to change the world.
Wait a minute, maybe that sounds familiar to us in today’s world. But how is it dangerous to evangelize your friends and neighbors? Maybe it’s just uncomfortable. Maybe there is a danger that they will mock you or shun you. That’s a form of persecution. But is that something that God wants us to be worried about? The message of James is to encourage the persecuted church to do the works anyway, even if you suffer trials of many kinds for doing it. And there is a persecuted church alive and well in our world today. They are winning souls by their courageous witness. They pray for the American church, for us to be stronger and bolder in our witness, where it is so much easier and not against the law.
So, what kind of faith is being worked out in your life? Do you believe Jesus loves you so much that he died on a cross for your sins so that you get a free trip to Heaven? Great. That is your only hope for salvation! Do you believe that Jesus gave the great commission to the whole church including you so that we are each all called to do the work of an evangelist and share our faith at every opportunity? You do? Wonderful! How’s that working out for you? Are you leading people to Christ? Are you inviting folks to church? Is your Spirit filled life showing up in your attitudes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and self-control?
Do you really believe that God wants a personal relationship with you? Are you acting on that faith by spending time with him in his word and in prayer? Do you really believe God wants this little congregation to have an active ministry, building community relationships to bring others to Christ? How are you personally investing in that? What is your role in that? It has to be more than just coming to church on Sunday and giving a little money, or even a lot of money! Where do you put your hands in the ministry?
OK. It’s really ok if you haven’t been doing that or are not sure if you are. God always is ready to forgive our failures and encourage us to move on in new life. That’s the power of the gospel. What matters is you want to. And if you want to then what really matters is asking God for direction that you can and will follow. It’s never too late to start letting the faith that is in you work its way out more and more in to how you live your life. Rejoice! God is with you!
Works of righteousness are like the smoke that rises from a fire. The smoke does not start the fire. But it shows that there is a fire. The saying goes, “Where there is smoke there’s fire.” If the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you accept on faith in what you heard about the gospel has lit the fire of God in your heart, there is no way that your life won’t show it off! Where there is a real fire, there really ought to be smoke!
Let’s pray.
Then I played Ray Botlz’s “Thank You” for positive motivation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrdJ2V3r7Y
I want to start by telling you a story about my granddaughter. She was talking to her mom about heaven and mom was answering a lot of questions! Then at one point, my little five-year old granddaughter said something significant. “Mom, I don’t think I’m ready to go to heaven. I would miss my friends.” What I am really proud of is that my daughter said back, “Well, if you tell your friends about Jesus and heaven, then they can all be there with you one day.”
That’s really a great reason to do evangelism. If your concerned that being a Christian might mean losing some friends who might think Christianity isn’t cool, try to actually lead them to Christ so they will get to be in heaven with you one day! If they become Christians, they will be for your friends forever, literally forever, not just for this brief life. And one more thought, you don’t want your friends to ever have to say anything like, “Why didn’t you tell me I could be saved from sin and forgiven by God’s grace?”
Those thoughts connect with James’ message in this part of his letter in which he says, “Faith without works is dead.” James launches into this section because he has just been talking about the behavior of favoritism and he doesn’t want to leave people thinking it’s all about behavior. It’s really all about genuine faith that generates more Christ-like behavior.
The passage links faith with works very closely. This is why so many people think that James’ letter is all about works so that it goes against Paul’s teachings on grace. In reality, Paul and James believe exactly the same thing about grace and works. They just each have their own inspired ways of talking about the same subject, from their own vantage points, addressing different audiences for different reasons. Taken together, we are guarded against two extremes. That’s why the Bible has letters from both people, to put the two perspectives together. With Paul, we are firmly grounded in God’s grace for salvation. There is nothing we can do. Jesus did all the work on the cross. In this we are saved from the extremes of legalism and works righteousness that say we are not saved unless we do more than believe by adding our good works in to the mix.
That being said, maybe we can see where it would lead if James had not written his letter. With James, we are prevented from moving to the other extreme of an easy believeism that the great Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” All you have to do is believe and nothing else matters. It results in the kind of thing I have seen on a bumper sticker: “Jesus paid for all my sins and I’m going to get his money’s worth. I’m going to sin all I want to.” Now, every Christian I know laughs at that and they are pretty shocked that anyone would say it, much less put it in print. But I think a lot of people actually do live that way. There are books written on the topic of “functional atheism.” It’s about people who say they believe in God, but don’t really live like it.
They are glad they are saved by grace through faith. But they don’t really do what Jesus asks in return, “Take up your cross and follow me.” They are Sunday only Christians, the kind of hypocrites that unbelievers complain about most correctly. They are the Sunday restaurant lunch crowd that waiters and waitresses don’t enjoy because they don’t tip well. They are not doing the works that go with faith.
There are also a lot of churches these days that are failing in the great commission. They are not “going” as Jesus commanded, to reach the next generation of young people. They are not making new disciples. They are not baptizing anyone because there is no one to be baptized. And they are not teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. They are not doing the works that go with faith.
Oh, they want to, as long as it doesn’t make them uncomfortable. They know that they are supposed to. But they tend to think that’s what they hired the pastor for. And since they continue to have worship services every Sunday, they really think they are trying to. But they are really only doing things the way they like them and are not willing to make the sacrifices it would take to do what would really work to reach the next generation.
Now I am not pointing any fingers. I’m talking in general terms about what the church of America is struggling with all over this nation. But if it sounds familiar or convicting, then the Holy Spirit is doing His work. And believe me, in my prayers I wonder about this stuff and wonder what’s wrong with me too. And trust me, I’m going to tell you about the hope we have in Christ too. There is hope. He is our only hope!
Now let’s get in to the text and look at it from James’ point of view. He says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” What James is saying is that if you really have the faith that saves, deeds will follow. It’s practically a necessity! You can’t believe in God without responding. Here’s an illustration. If you believe that the stock market is a good way to get rich, then you’re going to put your money there. What good is it to say you believe in the stock market, if you don’t invest in it? Such faith is worthless! You see the connection?
Next James begins to talk about the kind of deeds that faith generates in the believer, works of compassion and mercy. He uses this example: “Suppose a brother or a 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.”
Words without deeds, “Go in peace. Keep warm and well fed.” Sounds like a prayer. Sounds like a blessing. But it’s just empty words if you could be of substantial help but are not willing to be the answer to the prayer!
“Someone will say, “You have faith. I have deeds.” The point is trying to show that deeds and faith can be separated out. Then one might argue that there is a faith that saves even though there are no deeds. You could even point to the thief on the cross as everybody’s favorite example of saving faith without any deeds at all because he died on the cross shortly after Jesus promised a place in eternity.
But James says, “Even the demons act on the faith that they have, not that is saves them, for they cannot repent. But that might look like a real faith in God that is definitely distinct from any good works of faith. It’s sort of making a philosophical logical point that faith can be separate from works. James says, “That’s ridiculous. You foolish man. Faith and deeds cannot be separated out like that. You want proof?”
Now before we get to James proof, I have a few comments of my own about the faith of the thief on the cross and the faith of the demons. I think it is wrong to say that the thief on the cross had no works of faith to prove his faith did save him. I can tell you the works of faith that the thief did. His faith in Jesus resulted in first, the work of repentance. Second, this repentant thief rebuked the other criminal who was mocking Jesus. His third work of faith is the greatest of all! He asked that Jesus, who was dying beside him on a cross, would remember him when he comes in to his kingdom. Can’t you see what great faith it took for one dying man to say to another dying man, “I believe you are the King of Heaven and that we will both go on living after they take our dead bodies off these crosses! Please remember me.”
The demons also had a faith that resulted in a work. They shuddered! They did not repent, but they knew they were in trouble. So, it shows that we always act in response to what we actually do believe. They can’t be separated out.
Now for the proof, James gives two historical examples of how faith resulted in works. First Abraham. James says, “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.
How could Abraham be said to have faith in God if he had not in fact trusted God and obeyed the command to sacrifice his own son on the altar? If Abraham had not taken Isaac to the mountain top, we would all know that Abraham didn’t believe, either that God had asked him to do that or, that God would provide for him anyway, to keep God’s covenantal promise, in spite of this great sacrifice of the child through whom the promise should be kept. Hebrews 11:19 says, “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” That’s faith in God that enabled him to obey the command.
In addition, we know that Abraham did not act out of his own sense of righteousness. It was not his own idea to sacrifice Isaac. No, he believed God and so he acted and because he acted out his faith it gets credited to him as righteousness. That’s faith at work! This example is even more interesting because the Jews all know that their God does not want human sacrifice. So, there is no way that Abraham sacrificing Isaac could be credited to him as righteousness because it would have been a very unrighteous thing for Abraham to do unless God had really asked him to do it.
James’ next case for proof is Rahab. (See Joshua 2.) He said, “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?” Rahab had absolutely no good reason to put her own life in danger by protecting the spies unless she deeply believed something about the God who was with them. As a prostitute in a pagan city she also had absolutely no way that anyone would call her a good person or righteous, in any sense of the word.
All she had was a new faith in the Holy God of Israel. And because she acted on faith that she could be saved from the judgment that would fall upon the rest of the citizens of Jericho, she gets called righteous. In fact, one of the rewards for her faith is that she gets to be one of the ancestors of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Her faith has saved her, but not without the work of protecting the spies. Her faith is what caused her to protect the spies. If she hadn’t protected the spies, that would have proven that she didn’t believe in their God at all. Whichever way she acted, it would be a demonstration of what she actually believed in.
And so, it is for all of us. We all live by our faith. We all act according to what we really do believe, no matter what we say we believe. We really can’t help it. “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” There was a tight rope walker who really amazed the crowds with is ability. Back and forth, even dancing on the wire strung over the deep gorge. He was adored and applauded by a crowd of thousands of people. At one point, he took a hundred-pound sack of potatoes in a wheel barrow. Out on the wire and back again, perfect balance, perfect coordination.
Then he asked the crowd, “Do you believe that I could take an ordinary person out there with me and keep him safe?” The crowd went wild! Sure, they believed it and they wanted to see him do it too. So, he asked for a volunteer. Well virtually everybody had said they believed he could do it. But it turns out nobody was willing to act on that faith. So now we know what they really believed. Each one really believed, “If I got in that wheel barrow, I would surely die!” That’s the faith they acted on.
Faith without deeds is dead. Yes, we are saved by grace. There is nothing we could do to secure our salvation. But the only way we know that we are saved, the greatest assurance we have of salvation, is when that saving grace makes us alive in Christ so that we do the works he has prepared in advance for us to do.
Why do you suppose James even had to talk about the impossibility of faith without works? Why would his audience prefer that faith without works were possible? Let us remember again that James wrote his letter less than fifty years after the resurrection, to a very early church, that was suffering persecution. Why was that church struggling with this issue of faith and works? Because it was actually dangerous for true Christians to evangelize their friends and neighbors. Put yourself in their shoes. You would never know who might turn you in. So, you might go to the assemblies of believers and sing and worship and enjoy the benefits of Christian fellowship. But at home and at work, no one would ever know you were a Christian. Your faith has become a secret, private, personal matter, faith without works, faith that does not work to change the world.
Wait a minute, maybe that sounds familiar to us in today’s world. But how is it dangerous to evangelize your friends and neighbors? Maybe it’s just uncomfortable. Maybe there is a danger that they will mock you or shun you. That’s a form of persecution. But is that something that God wants us to be worried about? The message of James is to encourage the persecuted church to do the works anyway, even if you suffer trials of many kinds for doing it. And there is a persecuted church alive and well in our world today. They are winning souls by their courageous witness. They pray for the American church, for us to be stronger and bolder in our witness, where it is so much easier and not against the law.
So, what kind of faith is being worked out in your life? Do you believe Jesus loves you so much that he died on a cross for your sins so that you get a free trip to Heaven? Great. That is your only hope for salvation! Do you believe that Jesus gave the great commission to the whole church including you so that we are each all called to do the work of an evangelist and share our faith at every opportunity? You do? Wonderful! How’s that working out for you? Are you leading people to Christ? Are you inviting folks to church? Is your Spirit filled life showing up in your attitudes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and self-control?
Do you really believe that God wants a personal relationship with you? Are you acting on that faith by spending time with him in his word and in prayer? Do you really believe God wants this little congregation to have an active ministry, building community relationships to bring others to Christ? How are you personally investing in that? What is your role in that? It has to be more than just coming to church on Sunday and giving a little money, or even a lot of money! Where do you put your hands in the ministry?
OK. It’s really ok if you haven’t been doing that or are not sure if you are. God always is ready to forgive our failures and encourage us to move on in new life. That’s the power of the gospel. What matters is you want to. And if you want to then what really matters is asking God for direction that you can and will follow. It’s never too late to start letting the faith that is in you work its way out more and more in to how you live your life. Rejoice! God is with you!
Works of righteousness are like the smoke that rises from a fire. The smoke does not start the fire. But it shows that there is a fire. The saying goes, “Where there is smoke there’s fire.” If the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you accept on faith in what you heard about the gospel has lit the fire of God in your heart, there is no way that your life won’t show it off! Where there is a real fire, there really ought to be smoke!
Let’s pray.
Then I played Ray Botlz’s “Thank You” for positive motivation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrdJ2V3r7Y
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