Day #330: James 2:1-26

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

In today's passage, I want to focus on two key verses - 14 and 26. The person who claims to have faith obviously thinks that his belief alone, without any good actions (deeds done in obedience to God), is satisfactory in God’s sight. However, faith not accompanied by deeds has no saving value. Anyone can say he has faith, but if his lifestyle remains selfish and worldly, then what good is that faith? It is merely faith that believes about Jesus, not faith that believes in him. That kind of faith can’t save anyone. Instead, the faith that saves is faith that proves itself in the actions it produces.

Two images help us remember the importance of genuine faith:
On one side are people who project confidence in their standing before God and yet show no evidence that their faith affects any of their actions. They may even take pride in the fact that they can believe what they want and that no one has the right to challenge their faith. After all, “only God really knows for sure,” they may say.

On the other side are people whose lives demonstrate such a frantic flurry of activity that they literally have no time to think or talk about their faith. Those people, whose lives at first exhibit the marks of someone who believes, turn out to have real doubts. They doubt God’s acceptance and feel compelled to work very hard in hopes of gaining that acceptance. But trying hard to build merit with God becomes a substitute for faith.

James helps us see that genuine faith will always combine deep trust in God and consistent action in the world. It is not the one who claims to have faith, but the one who actually has faith who is saved.

Someone may ask, “But what if genuine belief never really gets a chance to demonstrate itself in action?” One instance of genuine faith given little time is the case of the thief on the cross who believed in Jesus (Luke 23:32-43). In sight of death, this man acknowledged Jesus as the Christ. Did even this man’s short-lived, genuine faith lead to real action? Certainly it did! The dying thief said a few words of profound eloquence: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42). The thief could not possibly have known how many times his simple trusting witness during his final agony would give hope to others who felt they were beyond God’s help.

Most of us have a great deal more time than the thief on the cross. Do our lives count for as much? Do we declare our faith and then demonstrate its vitality throughout our life?

Even Rahab the prostitute was made right with God by her actions. God’s final judgment on a person’s life considers the righteousness that person shows through works. But why would James bring up Rahab? After speaking of the great faith of Abraham, the father of Israel, James cited the example of Rahab, a pagan woman with a bad reputation (Joshua 2:1-24; 6:22-25). But these two people, as opposite as they were, cemented James’s argument—both people were made right with God on the basis of their actions that resulted from their faith. The contrast is not between faith and works, but between genuine faith and false faith.

Faith and good deeds are as important to each other as body and spirit. Good deeds are not added to faith; instead, the right kind of faith is faith that “works,” that results in good deeds. Otherwise, Christianity is nothing more than an idea.

No one is moved to action without faith; no one’s faith is real unless it moves him or her to action. The action is obedience to God. This draws us back to James’s words in the first part of this chapter concerning care for others. The believer must do what God calls him to do—serve his brothers and sisters in Christ, refuse to discriminate among them, and help them out with good deeds.

Understanding how faith and deeds work together still doesn’t mean that our lives will be different. James is about to continue with a series of life situations that we all encounter. It is in these everyday events that we demonstrate our faith to be alive or dead. From time to time, we need to take our own spiritual pulse by matching our lives with God’s word. But we also need to have people around us, the body of Christ, whom we can ask, “How do you see me putting my faith in Christ into action?”

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

But how do I show I am a believer? James says there's five ways you can know you've got the real thing.

#1. REAL FAITH IS NOT JUST SOMETHING YOU SAY

v. 14 says, "What good is it my brother if a man claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such `faith' save him?" It doesn't say he, actually has faith, he just claims to have it. He talks about it. He knows all the right phrases. There are a lot of people who claim to be Christians. George Gallup says that 180 million Americans say "I'm born again," but you don't see anything in their lifestyle. Today we tend to label people as Christians if they make the slightest sound of being a believer. It's more than just talk that is involved in real faith. Jesus said, "Not everybody who says to me `Lord, Lord' is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Not everybody with a Christian bumper sticker is a believer. Not everybody who is a professor of Christianity is a possessor of Christianity.

#2. REAL FAITH IS NOT JUST SOMETHING YOU FEEL

It's more than emotions. A lot of people confuse emotions and sentiment with faith. You can be emotionally moved and never act on it. You can go to church and get a quiver in your liver, goose bumps, but it never makes any difference.

Then he gives an illustration. v. 15 "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him `Go, I wish you well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?" Real faith is more than just sympathy and feeling and emotion. You get assistance. You do something about it. You act on it. Real faith takes the initiative. A real believer has real faith and it's practical. It gets involved with people. 1 John 3:17 says, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" Real faith is generous. It wants to give. Who can count on you in a crisis? How many Christians have the freedom to call you up in the middle of the night if they are in an emergency? Not just talking the talk. Not just feeling for people.

#3. REAL FAITH IS NOT JUST SOME SOMETHING YOU THINK

For some people, faith is an intellectual trip -- a matter to be studied, debated, talked over and discussed. James imagines this intellectual objector v. 18 "Someone will say `You have faith, I have deeds'" He's imagining some intellectual guy who says, "You're into faith, I'm into works. That's cool. Different strokes for different folks. Let's debate it. You've got your thing, I've got mine. To each his own way. Stimulate me mentally but don't ask me to make any commitment." "Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do." Circle "show me". Real faith is visible. You can see it. It's apparent. If you claim to be a Christian, people will be able to see it. It's visible.

James would have made a good Missourian. The theme of the state of Missouri is "Show me". James is saying, “You say you're a Christian? Prove it. Let me see your actions back up your words.” If I say, "I believe my health is very important. Personal health is a high priority in my life. I believe that health is one of the most important things we ought to have." You say, "Do you eat right?" No. "Do you exercise? Do you get your proper rest? Do you take vitamins? Do you ever go for a check up?" No. It doesn't matter what I say. What counts are my actions.

#4. REAL FAITH IS NOT JUST SOMETHING YOU BELIEVE

"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that -- and shudder!" There are a lot of people who have strong beliefs in God, the Bible, about Christ. They can recite creeds to you and catechisms and talk about doctrines of the Trinity, quote bible verses. James says, "big deal!" Just saying I believe in God is not enough to get you to heaven. Even the devil believes that.

The word believe in Greek means "to trust in, to cling to, to rely on, to commit yourself completely." I believe in Hitler but I'm not a Nazi. I'm a Christian because I believe in Jesus. But it's more than just a head knowledge. A lot of folks are going to miss heaven by 18 inches. They've got it in their head but not their heart. They say "I believe in God." James says, "Big deal. Everybody believes in God. How do you have a creation without a Creator? But that's not enough.”

#5. REAL FAITH IS SOMETHING YOU DO

Our faith is not determined by what we do, it is demonstrated by what we do. About 50 years ago there was a famous tightrope walker named George Blondin who, for a publicity stunt, decided he would walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. On the appointed day they stretched a tightrope from one side of Niagara Falls to the other. He got out there and there were crowds lining both the Canadian and American side. Thousands of people showed up to see this unbelievable feat. Blondin walked up to the edge of the tightrope, put one foot on the tightrope and put another foot out and began to walk across -- inch-by-inch, step-by-step. He got out in the middle and everybody knew that if he'd make one mistake in balance he'd fall off the rope and into the Falls and obviously be killed. Blondin got to the other side and the crowd went wild, shouting and cheering. Blondin said, "I'm going to do it again."

He got to the other side and the crowds went crazy. Blondin said, "I'm going to do it again but this time I'm going to push a wheel barrow full of dirt." He pushes the wheelbarrow across. He got to the other side. He did this nine or ten times. On about the tenth time, he pushed the wheelbarrow right in front of a tourist who said, "I believe you could do that all day." Blondin dumped out the dirt and said, "Get into the wheelbarrow."

In a very real sense that's what God says to you. Talk is cheap. Put your money where your mouth is. "I believe in Jesus!" Prove it. Our faith is demonstrated by our actions. Actions speak louder than words. Our behavior shows what we really believe. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith." Test. Check it out. See if you're really a believer or not.