Is Your Faith Dead Or Alive?

Is Your Faith Alive or Dead?

James 2:14-26 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his 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 what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor 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 justified by what he does 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.

Suppose I were to stand before you today and hold up this object (in this case, a piece of chewing gum) and tell you that it is a piece of gum.

„± How would you know that what I am saying is true? You could assume that I am telling the truth because you know that I am generally truthful.

„± You could observe that, as I open the wrapper, the contents appear to hold a piece of gum.

„± If you were close enough, you could smell the gum.

„± If I had enough pieces of gum or you didn¡¦t mind sharing, we could all taste the gum to see that it was indeed gum.

„± The point is that, beyond my statement that this is a piece of gum, you would have to either take my word or test the evidence in order to know for certain what is true.

This is the kind of argument James uses to talk about saving faith in our study today.

This particular passage is the test of a genuine salvation. By describing the difference between faith that is false and faith that is genuine, James helps believers reach a deeper understanding of what it is that God expects of those who claim the name of Jesus.

Matthew 7:21a, ¡§Not everyone who says to me, ¡¥Lord, Lord¡¦ will enter the kingdom of heaven¡¨ .

It is not enough to simply know what it takes to be a Christian ¡V real faith is shown by the way we live and the things we do on an everyday basis.

I. A LOOK AT ¡§DEAD¡¨ FAITH

James 2:14-20 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his 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 what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?

A. ¡§Can a person be saved simply by saying he is a believer?¡¨

B. We have all seen people say that they are Christians when even a passing glance at their lives leads us to believe otherwise.

C. Genuine saving faith is more than just saying that you are a Christian.

D. James uses an illustration in verses fifteen and sixteen.

1. the people in question are believers, not strangers;

2. they have real, long-term needs.

3. God¡¦s going to take care of you. Hang in there!¡¨

4. When needs go unmet in the household of faith, then the church has a serious problem.

5. Before we can ever expect to care for the world, we must first care for our own members.

6. Otherwise, our faith is dead.