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5. Faith Works (James 2:14-26)
This morning we return to the Letter of James after a short break due to special services and I hope we’re ready to resume our study of a New Testament book that helps us get a greater grip on what it means to be a Christian in the real world.
When we looked at the first half of chapter 2 of James, we were reminded that discrimination against others is not acceptable in the Christian Church. This week, in the second half of chapter 2, James focuses on the meaning of faith and he maintains that there are basically two different types of faith.
First of all, there’s …
Dead faith (2:14-20)
In verse 14, he says:
“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?”
The Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century was theologically built upon the revelation of Martin Luther that “justification is by faith alone” and it has had most significant consequences for the Church ever since. At the time, it was very liberating, because it refuted the idea that people’s sins could be forgiven if they bought what were called ‘indulgences’ and it countered the belief that grace could be earned through religious practices like pilgrimage.
It is truly one of the most important developments in modern developments in modern theological understanding, because it made it clear that salvation cannot be earned, and is never deserved, but is wholly dependent upon faith in Jesus Christ. That is an essential point sure enough, but it has led some Christian theologians and commentators to downplay the importance of what James has to say about the vacuousness, the emptiness, of a faith which is not expressed through works.
James is not saying that salvation is earned by works, by acts of charity, by good deeds, but rather that an authentic faith, a belief in Jesus, which is not expressed in such actions is actually not worth very much at all. He takes the view that “what we do, reveals who we are” – faith and works go hand in hand; or, as William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army put it:
“Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again – until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.”
And this thinking is very much based upon what Jesus Himself taught in the Sermon on the Mount – remember this from Matthew 5:16:
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.”
The fact is, Christians are known by their fruitfulness and the way that we bear fruit is by following the Lord and putting His teaching into practice, rather than just sitting on the knowledge, the good news, we have received. Again in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples:
“By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.
(Matthew 7:16-20)
I’ll say part of that again: “... every good tree bears good fruit ... by their fruit you will recognise them.” It is by the ways in which we live out our faith that our faith becomes evident to others. Anyone can say they are a Christian – someone may even believe that Jesus is Lord – but if their life doesn’t reflect their claim, then their words have no weight. It is what might be called ...
an empty confession (v.14)
One Christian commentator has said, “It costs us nothing to become a Christian, but everything to live fully as one.” To put it another way: we need to walk the talk. One thing is certain: when our actions don’t match our words, people are turned off the Church, they are less receptive to the gospel, and they may even be lost to Jesus – just remember my story about how Mahatma Gandhi reacted when he was turned away from a church.
Jesus once told a parable about two sons:
“There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the elder one and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ‘I don’t want to,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. ‘Yes, sir,’ he answered, but he did not go. Which one of the two did what his father wanted?”
Words are cheap; actions are pure gold. Our confession of Jesus as Lord must not be empty!
And then James also berates …
false compassion (vv.15-17)
Just look at what he says in verses 15 and 16:
“Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Goodbye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” – but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?”
Again, it’s a case of empty words: if we see someone in need and ignore that need, our faith can be questioned. It’s of little comfort to merely dismiss someone with a “God bless you”, when, in actual fact, it should be through us that God does indeed bless them – if we turn away from them, we are, in effect, blocking God’s blessing upon them.
Just think again of the early believers in Jerusalem that we read about at the beginning of the Book of Acts – they were regularly meeting together and, in verse 45 of chapter 2, it says:
“They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need.”
Their care for one another was not false compassion, but a compassion that resulted in the relief of the needy. It’s fair to say that this, and the other texts, focus on the needs of fellow believers in Christ, yet I believe that the principle must be extended to the needs of everyone – in fact, didn’t Jesus Himself show compassion towards Samaritans and Roman army officers?
So, let our care for all people be genuine and practical – for faith without such compassionate action is actually dead faith, as James says in verse 17.
Then, in verses 18 to 20, James warns against ...
shallow conviction (vv.18-20)
verse 19 says:
“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this and they tremble in terror.”
It isn’t enough merely to believe that there is one God, or that Jesus is Lord, because even the demons, the forces of evil, know that to be true. It seems to suggest that this sort of knowledge is actually a matter of fact, not of faith!
If you want more evidence of that, then take a look at Luke 4, verses 33-35, which takes place just after Jesus has begun His ministry:
In the synagogue was a man who had the spirit of an evil demon in him; he screamed out in a loud voice, “Ah! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One sent from God!”
Jesus ordered the spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” The demon threw the man down in front of them and went out of him without doing him any harm.
You could say that the demon believed in Jesus, but that’s as far as it went – everything that the demon did was inopposition to Jesus’ ministry. If our belief, our faith, goes no deeper than merely a recognition of who Jesus is, then where does that leave us?
An empty confession, false compassion and shallow conviction all add up to DEAD FAITH!
Living faith (vv.21-26)
So what’s the alternative? What does a living faith look like? James illustrates living faith by the stories of two prominent figures from Jewish history and faith: Abraham and Rahab.
Abraham (vv.21-24)
In the New Testament, Abraham is portrayed as the very epitome of faithfulness – the letter to the Hebrews tells us that ...
It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him.
By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him.
It was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old ...
It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test.
You see, Abraham had a fullness of faith in God which is an example to us all. And notice that three out of those four verses about Abraham’s faith speak of him actively demonstrating it by what he did: he left his home country to go where God told him; he was prepared to settle in that new land, even though he knew no-one; and he was ready to sacrifice his own son – but, praise God, he didn’t have to do it! It’s just like William Booth said:
“Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, then works.”
His actions confirmed, or proved, his faith – James puts it like this in verse 22:
You see his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.
The second person James highlights as an exemplar of faith is a little more surprising ...
Rahab (v.25)
I say surprising because Rahab was, of course, a Gentile and a prostitute – a stark contrast to the figure of Abraham. And yet, both here and in Hebrews, she is commended for her faith. You may remember that it was Rahab who hid the Israelite spies sent to Jericho by Joshua behind sacks of flax on her roof. Before the spies return to the Israelite camp, Rahab says to them:
“I know that the Lord has given you the land. ... The Lord your God is God in heaven above and here on earth.”
Rahab acknowledges that the God of Israel is God almighty and acts accordingly – her actions confirm her beliefs. If she hadn’t acted on her faith, she would have died in Jericho with her fellow countrymen and we certainly wouldn’t be celebrating her today.
As different as they are, Abraham and rahab have the most important thing in common – faith in God; and it is a faith which leads them to put everything they had at risk for the Lord. I pray that we will show as much faith as they did.
Conclusion (v.26)
James ends this part of the letter with this blunt summary:
Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
We are all like “dead men walking”, if our professions of faith are not expressed in our everyday lives through acts of compassion and mercy. Words are not enough. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus tells his followers this:
“Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my father in heaven wants them to do.”
If that’s not a call to action, I don’t know what is! Amen.
This morning we return to the Letter of James after a short break due to special services and I hope we’re ready to resume our study of a New Testament book that helps us get a greater grip on what it means to be a Christian in the real world.
When we looked at the first half of chapter 2 of James, we were reminded that discrimination against others is not acceptable in the Christian Church. This week, in the second half of chapter 2, James focuses on the meaning of faith and he maintains that there are basically two different types of faith.
First of all, there’s …
Dead faith (2:14-20)
In verse 14, he says:
“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?”
The Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century was theologically built upon the revelation of Martin Luther that “justification is by faith alone” and it has had most significant consequences for the Church ever since. At the time, it was very liberating, because it refuted the idea that people’s sins could be forgiven if they bought what were called ‘indulgences’ and it countered the belief that grace could be earned through religious practices like pilgrimage.
It is truly one of the most important developments in modern developments in modern theological understanding, because it made it clear that salvation cannot be earned, and is never deserved, but is wholly dependent upon faith in Jesus Christ. That is an essential point sure enough, but it has led some Christian theologians and commentators to downplay the importance of what James has to say about the vacuousness, the emptiness, of a faith which is not expressed through works.
James is not saying that salvation is earned by works, by acts of charity, by good deeds, but rather that an authentic faith, a belief in Jesus, which is not expressed in such actions is actually not worth very much at all. He takes the view that “what we do, reveals who we are” – faith and works go hand in hand; or, as William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army put it:
“Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again – until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.”
And this thinking is very much based upon what Jesus Himself taught in the Sermon on the Mount – remember this from Matthew 5:16:
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.”
The fact is, Christians are known by their fruitfulness and the way that we bear fruit is by following the Lord and putting His teaching into practice, rather than just sitting on the knowledge, the good news, we have received. Again in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples:
“By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.
(Matthew 7:16-20)
I’ll say part of that again: “... every good tree bears good fruit ... by their fruit you will recognise them.” It is by the ways in which we live out our faith that our faith becomes evident to others. Anyone can say they are a Christian – someone may even believe that Jesus is Lord – but if their life doesn’t reflect their claim, then their words have no weight. It is what might be called ...
an empty confession (v.14)
One Christian commentator has said, “It costs us nothing to become a Christian, but everything to live fully as one.” To put it another way: we need to walk the talk. One thing is certain: when our actions don’t match our words, people are turned off the Church, they are less receptive to the gospel, and they may even be lost to Jesus – just remember my story about how Mahatma Gandhi reacted when he was turned away from a church.
Jesus once told a parable about two sons:
“There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the elder one and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ‘I don’t want to,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. ‘Yes, sir,’ he answered, but he did not go. Which one of the two did what his father wanted?”
Words are cheap; actions are pure gold. Our confession of Jesus as Lord must not be empty!
And then James also berates …
false compassion (vv.15-17)
Just look at what he says in verses 15 and 16:
“Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Goodbye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well” – but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?”
Again, it’s a case of empty words: if we see someone in need and ignore that need, our faith can be questioned. It’s of little comfort to merely dismiss someone with a “God bless you”, when, in actual fact, it should be through us that God does indeed bless them – if we turn away from them, we are, in effect, blocking God’s blessing upon them.
Just think again of the early believers in Jerusalem that we read about at the beginning of the Book of Acts – they were regularly meeting together and, in verse 45 of chapter 2, it says:
“They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need.”
Their care for one another was not false compassion, but a compassion that resulted in the relief of the needy. It’s fair to say that this, and the other texts, focus on the needs of fellow believers in Christ, yet I believe that the principle must be extended to the needs of everyone – in fact, didn’t Jesus Himself show compassion towards Samaritans and Roman army officers?
So, let our care for all people be genuine and practical – for faith without such compassionate action is actually dead faith, as James says in verse 17.
Then, in verses 18 to 20, James warns against ...
shallow conviction (vv.18-20)
verse 19 says:
“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this and they tremble in terror.”
It isn’t enough merely to believe that there is one God, or that Jesus is Lord, because even the demons, the forces of evil, know that to be true. It seems to suggest that this sort of knowledge is actually a matter of fact, not of faith!
If you want more evidence of that, then take a look at Luke 4, verses 33-35, which takes place just after Jesus has begun His ministry:
In the synagogue was a man who had the spirit of an evil demon in him; he screamed out in a loud voice, “Ah! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One sent from God!”
Jesus ordered the spirit, “Be quiet and come out of the man!” The demon threw the man down in front of them and went out of him without doing him any harm.
You could say that the demon believed in Jesus, but that’s as far as it went – everything that the demon did was inopposition to Jesus’ ministry. If our belief, our faith, goes no deeper than merely a recognition of who Jesus is, then where does that leave us?
An empty confession, false compassion and shallow conviction all add up to DEAD FAITH!
Living faith (vv.21-26)
So what’s the alternative? What does a living faith look like? James illustrates living faith by the stories of two prominent figures from Jewish history and faith: Abraham and Rahab.
Abraham (vv.21-24)
In the New Testament, Abraham is portrayed as the very epitome of faithfulness – the letter to the Hebrews tells us that ...
It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him.
By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him.
It was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old ...
It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test.
You see, Abraham had a fullness of faith in God which is an example to us all. And notice that three out of those four verses about Abraham’s faith speak of him actively demonstrating it by what he did: he left his home country to go where God told him; he was prepared to settle in that new land, even though he knew no-one; and he was ready to sacrifice his own son – but, praise God, he didn’t have to do it! It’s just like William Booth said:
“Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, then works.”
His actions confirmed, or proved, his faith – James puts it like this in verse 22:
You see his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.
The second person James highlights as an exemplar of faith is a little more surprising ...
Rahab (v.25)
I say surprising because Rahab was, of course, a Gentile and a prostitute – a stark contrast to the figure of Abraham. And yet, both here and in Hebrews, she is commended for her faith. You may remember that it was Rahab who hid the Israelite spies sent to Jericho by Joshua behind sacks of flax on her roof. Before the spies return to the Israelite camp, Rahab says to them:
“I know that the Lord has given you the land. ... The Lord your God is God in heaven above and here on earth.”
Rahab acknowledges that the God of Israel is God almighty and acts accordingly – her actions confirm her beliefs. If she hadn’t acted on her faith, she would have died in Jericho with her fellow countrymen and we certainly wouldn’t be celebrating her today.
As different as they are, Abraham and rahab have the most important thing in common – faith in God; and it is a faith which leads them to put everything they had at risk for the Lord. I pray that we will show as much faith as they did.
Conclusion (v.26)
James ends this part of the letter with this blunt summary:
Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
We are all like “dead men walking”, if our professions of faith are not expressed in our everyday lives through acts of compassion and mercy. Words are not enough. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus tells his followers this:
“Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my father in heaven wants them to do.”
If that’s not a call to action, I don’t know what is! Amen.
