1. Secret Service
A man was coming out of church one day, and the preacher was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands. (You know. The preacher’s job is to: shake them in, shake them up, and shake them out!) Well, he grabbed the guy by the hand and pulled him aside.
The preacher said to him, "Hey, brother, you need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man replied, "I’m already in the Army of the Lord, preacher."
The preacher said, , "How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?" The man whispered back, "I’m in the secret service.”
2. In the first part of the chapter, James hammers us on showing partiality – many applications
3. Now, the end of the chapter describes the relationship of faith and works – based on observing the command to love our neighbors as ourselves (Royal Law)
4. James 2.14-18
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 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.
5. Faith is shown in our actions – not secretively, openly (Matthew 5.16)
I. Faith and Works: An Apparent Contradiction
Martin Luther said that the book of James was a “strawy epistle” because it emphasized works; he “discovered” faith in Romans
A. Faith without Works – Romans 4.1-5
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
1. Faith IN Christ
2. Western Tendency to “Cheap Grace” via mental assent
B. Faith with Works – James 2.18
18 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.
1. Standard in Judgment – Matthew 25
2. Faith OF Christ – Romans 3.20-26
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Paul’s Commentary on Psalm 143
3. Not a legalistic approach – Galatians 2.16 (AMP)
16Yet we know that a man is justified or reckoned righteous and in right standing with God not by works of the Law, but [only] through faith and [absolute] reliance on and adherence to and trust in Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [Therefore] even we [ourselves] have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law [for we cannot be justified by any observance of the ritual of the Law given by Moses], because by keeping legal rituals and by works no human being can ever be justified (declared righteous and put in right standing with God).
4. Have the Kind of Faith that Comes from God (is like God’s faithfulness)
a. Righteousness of Doing Right Things
b. Legal/Forensic Righteousness – cleansed of guilt of past sins; develop an obedient spirit rather than a rebellious one;
1) Made available by the DBR and meeting God’s requirements for justice – “tasted death for every man”
2) Then an unreserved faith/trust in Jesus causes us to live out the faith that is in because of the faith of Yeshua (Jesus) – illustrated in baptism (Romans 6.1-4)
3) The right behaviors occupy the rest of our lives – Philippians 2.12-13
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
C. Both /And Not Either /Or
We have never seen a calorie but have seen its resulting actions; wind/results
1. God is Love/Fire
2. Merciful/Just
3. 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. Hebrews 7.18-19
A true believer is a sign of contradiction--a living symbol of the Cross.
He or she is a person who believes the unbelievable, bears the unbearable, forgives the unforgivable, loves the unlovable, is perfectly happy not to be perfect, is willing to give up his or her will, becomes weak to be strong ... and finds love be giving it away.
II. Faith and Works: An Apathetic Condition (2.15-16)
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 1
A. God’s Concern for People in Need
27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1.27
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well James 2.1, 8
B. Our Concern? Action or Apathy?
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all - the apathy of human beings. Helen Keller
1. Heart/Faith OF Christ leads to caring for others
Yeshua (Jesus) served all manner of people – First Jews – Luke 19.10; Also Gentiles – Centurion/Syro-phoenician woman; Hungry; Ill; Rich; Poor; Disrespected (Zacchaeus); Respected (Nicodemus). . . .Even His enemies!
2. Selfish/Apathetic Heart Cares for Self
C. Our Concern Toward God? Action or Apathy?
1. Jeremiah tried to be apathetic – Jeremiah 20.9
2. His countrymen had made it – “temple of the Lord. . . .”
3. God is jealous; deserves first place – Joshua 24.16; Elijah at Carmel; David vs. Goliath; Matthew 6.33
Insensitivity: A new Minister was standing at his study window, weeping as he looked over the tragic conditions of the inner city of the community in which he lived. His friend tried to console him by saying, “Don’t worry, you will get used to it.” The Minister responded, “Yes, I know, that’s why I am crying.”
III. Faith and Works: An Arrogant Comparison
ARROGANCE/PRIDE: (McManus)In South America, the llama is a cultural metaphor for arrogance. To keep a herd of llamas corralled, you don’t even need a fence. All you need is one rope circling around the herd to keep them enclosed. Just by placing it at a height beneath the head and base of the neck, the llamas are secured in this makeshift pen. Rather than stooping beneath the rope, the proud llamas stand tall, but remain captive. (taken from E.R. McManus’ Uprising, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003, p.61)
A. Attitudes of Entitlement
1. Best Seats
2. Disciples and Greatness at Last Supper
B. Attitude of Humility – John 13
1. Display of service
2. By the one who had the right to be arrogant
1. Today – Dead Faith
2. Next – Demonic Faith – then Dynamic Faith
3. Bell’s Patent
Alexander Graham Bell was an amazingly talented person. He invented the multiple telegraph, the audiometer - which is used to test your hearing, the tricycle landing gear you find on planes, and a host of other lesser-known machines. In addition to this he was cofounder of the prestigious magazine Science, served as President of the National Geographic Society, and spent his life working with deaf people.
But most famous of all his creations was the telephone. It also made his family and his descendants enormously wealthy. But he almost lost it all. You see Bell never seemed to get around to submitting a patent application.
Finally, his father-in-law, who had financed a lot of the research, got so impatient that he filed the patent on Bell’s behalf on the 14th of February 1876, Bell’s 29th birthday. And it was a good thing he did, because just a few hours later, another scientist by the name of Elisha Gray went to the patent office to get a patent on a machine he’d been working on for many years – you guessed it, the telephone.
This story reminds us that sometimes it’s not enough simply to have great ideas. We need to act on them. Bell and his father-in-law are a good example of the relationship between faith and works. Bell had faith in his telephone but did nothing about it. His father-in-law had faith and works to go with it.
4. Next “Exorcising a Demonic Faith”
