Faith that is Alive and Working

--- We're on week four of our Bible study in James, and the title this week is Faith that is Both Alive and Working. I think we've got some really, really great stuff this morning. I'm super excited. I want to start by just reading some of our verses, James chapter 2, starting at verse 1.

So we'll pause right there for just a minute. We're getting the drift in this whole book that James talks quite a bit about the differences between the rich and the poor. This is so straightforward, those seven verses, that it hardly really needs any commentary, any comment on it. But I am going to comment for three reasons. The first reason is that this is the first of many examples we're going to encounter now in chapters two through five, examples of how our conduct and our character should resemble that of Jesus. We should resemble Jesus more than we should resemble the world. Jesus here, world here. OK. Jesus was the one that broke down the social barriers between people. He destroyed the division between Jew and Gentile. When he was teaching, he taught to the rich and the poor and the young and the old and the sick and the healthy. And even though this passage is clearly about the community of the church, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminded us of what the character of his heavenly father is like. And it was in our study guide. He makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good. And he sends rain on the just and the unjust. That's God's character. Romans 2 11 says, for God shows no partiality. So when we show no partiality, who do we look more like the world or like Jesus? We are matching the character of our heavenly father. Now that might seem kind of like a no brainer, but I want us to think for a minute of what commerce and business was like in this day when it was written. So think about the shopkeeper who has his things for sale and someone comes into his shop dressed for success, looking wealthy and would not the shopkeeper say, oh, come in here. Sit right down there. I'll make you a nice little pomegranate tea. Well, you can look over all the things that I have for sale, right? And someone comes in and very shabby clothing and the shopkeeper would take a look at him and say, can you just wait over there until I'm done? If I have time, I'll get to you, right? You can kind of see this, maybe not that strongly, but you can see it being played out. That's what business is like. And you know what? It's not so different today. I thought back on a time just a few years ago. One of my kids gave me a gift card for a pretty nice store in the mall. So I went in to spend my gift card and I must have looked just like the kind of girl that was only in there because she had a gift card because the clerk was like paying attention to a lot of other people shopping. I was invisible. She never said a thing to me. And I'm thinking to myself, why aren't you talking to me? And then I thought, you know what? I didn't dress for your attention. I didn't dress like the kind of person who would be buying a $300 sweater. So I get it. That's the way business goes. I did spend my gift card. But you know, that's just the way it is. Wealthy people get tickets on the 50 yard line. It's the way it is. That's the world. So how awesome it is when the church has an opportunity to be completely counter culture. When people come into the church and the words here are, you know, when in the assembly, you know, when you are assembled, when people come into the church, how awesome that there aren't those distinctions. Second reason I want to comment on this is because I feel like Calvert Chapel Ontario gets somewhere between an A and an A plus on this. Like when I observe our people, this is dialed in and it makes me super proud in the good sense of the word proud because I just feel like this is, you know, we've got this part figured out. Third reason I want to comment on this is because I think it bears mentioning here that we shouldn't confuse. Don't show any favoritism in the church community based on wealth and social position. Don't confuse that with don't show any discernment in your relationships with based on character. That is not what James is saying. The key words here in what you read were pay attention, rich, poor. That's the vocabulary of favoritism. Favoritism and discernment are two completely different things and they shouldn't be confused. First Corinthians 5.13 says, do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good character. So we absolutely need to be discerning on who we link arms with in our relationships and our personal life. We need to teach our children to be discerning about their friendships. James is not saying discernment is wrong or unnecessary. He's saying discriminating based on whether you're going to get something back from that person in the church environment. That is what we should avoid. Makes it clear, right? All right. So we get to verse eight now as we move on. And I feel like James kind of wanted to brand this concept and he goes, if you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, which is you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you're doing well. So this helps simplify figuring out how we should respond in situations. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do you guys remember in the 90s, the WWJD? What would Jesus do? We had bracelets. We had this. It was a great brand for figuring out what should I do in this situation? You could often say, what would Jesus do? Oh, I know what the right thing to do is. I don't think that Y-S-L-Y-N-A-Y, you should love your neighbor as yourself, will ever catch on in the same way, but it's really similar, isn't it? It helps us figure out what is the right thing to do. You should love your neighbor as yourself. Okay, now I know how to respond in this. So it simplifies those things. Verse nine says, if you show partiality, you're committing sin and you're convicted by the law as transgressors. Clearly showing partiality goes against God's law because it goes against his character. God's law is always built on what his character is like, and favoritism might seem like a small thing. That's really not a big deal, but I feel like James is wanting to say it's all a big deal because look at verse 10. He goes, whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point, maybe we can say one small, one seemingly insignificant point. He says, becomes accountable for all of it. For if you do not commit adultery, let me start over. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. If you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you've become a transgressor of the law. So here's the summary, verse 12, and we're going to work through this for a while. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who's shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. All right, speak and act as those who will be judged. And you say to yourself, wait a minute. Romans 1, or Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So how do I process this? What does it mean that we'll be judged under the law of liberty? I thought we were past judgment as God's kids, as born again. Is there a key here with this law of liberty? What is the law of liberty? Those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Well, in the last chapter, last week, James 1, 25, he called it the perfect law that gives freedom. That sounds the same, doesn't it? Law of liberty, perfect law that gives freedom. It's just using synonyms on both sides of that. If we move on in that passage I just quoted from Romans 8, verse 2 says, Paul called it the law of the spirit of life. And he said it set us free from the law of sin and death. We sure have a lot of laws going on here that we need to sort out, don't we? But these phrases like the law of liberty, the law that gives freedom, remember the context was the implanted word which is able to save your souls. We can put those in this bucket over here and we can ask what does this law of liberty do? Well the first and the most important thing is it sets us free from the law of sin and death. We are no longer under condemnation. The law of liberty has set us free. But let's not stop there because of the context of what we're at. It also does something else for us. It liberates us, it enables us, it gives us the power to actually do the things that God would have us to do, to actually meet up with his character, to display his character, to do hard things like he just said, like not show any favoritism. That might be a challenge. But the law of liberty gives us the ability to match that and do that, to do hard things like forgiving someone who has really wronged us. The law of liberty enables us to do that. It enables us to love our neighbor as ourself. It enables us to put the needs of others first. The law of Moses was something that was outside of people, that pressed in and demanded attention. But this law of liberty is birthed inside of us and it enables our obedience. So it frees us from sin and death. It enables us to obey. And the third thing it does is it rewards us for actually doing what it has enabled us to do. That's a pretty good system. It rewards us. So when we talk about speaking and acting as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty, we've been freed from the law of sin and death. We're not talking about judgment for life or death. We're talking about judgment for rewards. We're talking about being rewarded. So speak and act as those who have the potential to be rewarded for how you speak and how you act. Those who have the potential to suffer the loss of rewards based on how you speak and how you act. Does that make sense here? And it's a good reminder for us, we are to be judged for our words and for our actions. We are to be rewarded for them. We are to be rewarded for our resistance to sin by stopping words and actions that would go against God's character. We get a reward for resisting those things. That is how we're to be judged. So as we read on, I want to grab the idea from last week when we talked about the implanted word and that we talked about the parable of the sower. I want to grab that idea here in verse 14 as we go on. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith, but he does not have works? Can that faith save him? And here comes an example now of words and actions. Verse 15, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed, lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warm and filled without giving him the things needed for the body. Well, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it doesn't have works like that example, words and actions, it is dead. Okay, I don't want us to get high centered on the example here. A great example is clothing and feeding someone that's in need. That is great. We worked through that in our study guide, but I don't want to get high centered on that example, but rather I want to focus on the fact that what are the things that prove that our faith is real? Okay, again, we're thinking about last week's example of the parable of the sower. The seed was planted into the soil, and Jesus explained that as the word, and we talked about the fact that when the word of God matches with our will, what happens? There is a birth, okay? He chose to give us birth through the word of truth. It is germinated, if you will, when that happens. Okay, germination is the vocabulary. It is the beginning, the beginning of the plant. It is the birth. Now we all understand farming or gardening enough to know that germination isn't a guarantee of a harvest. It is possible for something to germinate and not produce a harvest. Let's take corn, for example, okay, because everybody can understand corn. Why do you plant a kernel of corn? You plant a kernel of corn in hopes of getting three ears of corn with thousands of kernels in return. That is why you plant that. Probably want to eat it. What word do we use to describe the process for that to happen, to go from planting to having? What word do we use? You go down to the garden center, you buy a packet of bodacious sweet corn, you turn it over, it says 75 days to maturity, to maturity. That is the word. That matures when it produces a crop. What word do we use to describe our spiritual goals? Maturity, don't we? We want to be mature. We started that off at the beginning. That's what this book is about. It is about maturing in our faith, okay? Is it possible for that kernel to germinate but not to produce a crop? Absolutely. Is it possible for a Christian to be born again and not produce a crop of good works? Absolutely. What is it that God wants from us? He wants the fruit. He wants the crop. We could go through our entire New Testament and find multiple examples of God's intention for us. But when that seed that we planted does produce ears of corn, are they not proof that the seed did germinate and it grew to maturity and it yielded a harvest? It is impossible to get to the harvest without the birth, okay? Without the germination. So the point here, I'll put it in another analogy. It's not the start of the race that matters. It's not the middle of the race that matters. It is the finish line that matters. And that is what our focus should be on, is getting to the finish line. Our race is not a competition between one another. It's more like a marathon. Now I do know people who are very competitive in marathons and the point is to be the fastest one to win. But most people that run marathons, they just want to finish. They are just happy if they got all 26 miles. That in itself is their reward. And so I like to use the example of a marathon. And that's, we're not competing against one another. We are merely wanting to get to the finish line. That is the important thing in our Christian life. Now let's go back to verse 18 and keep going with what James is trying to express here. He says, but someone will say, you have faith. Faith is the beginning. And I have works. I have the crop. He says, show me your faith. Show me the beginning apart from your works. You can't. There's no proof. I'll show you my faith by my works. I'm going to let the crop speak for itself that the seed germinated, it grew, and it produced a crop. I have proof. So it's a matter of proving. So works become not only the proof that our faith is real, but works also, according to this judgment of the law of liberty, they become something that we are rewarded for. They prove the beginning and we get rewards. Okay. So a little aside here. What would we call works? Fruit. Without faith. What would we call that? Is that possible? Can you do good deeds without the foundation of faith? Absolutely. People do it all the time. Here's one word for it. Philanthropy. Okay. I looked up the definition. The desire to promote the welfare of others expressed especially in the generous donation of money to good causes. Nothing wrong with that at all. However, some people think that it proves, you know, their worth, but we should not be deceived about that, that things that we do substitute for the acceptance, the acceptance of the word of truth. Okay. So I have a little quote here from the life application Bible. I'll put it on the screen for you. It says, while it's true that our good deeds can never earn salvation, true faith always results in a changed life and good deeds. That's just another way of saying what we're studying this week in this book. Okay. Good deeds can never earn that salvation. So one important lesson for this chapter is not, I think an important lesson is not to lean on that starting point as if you're all done. I. I'm saved, I'm good, it's all done. No, clearly we are not to lean on that as if that's the end, but yearn for the finish. Now, John the Baptist was talking to the Pharisees. It's recorded in Matthew 3, eight. So he's talking to the Pharisees. These are religious Jews. They had a starting point, didn't they? They had a strong starting point. They're sons of Abraham. And John the Baptist said to them, he said, bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. John was saying, look down to the finish line. Don't get all high centered on looking back and saying, we got Abraham for our father. We started well, it's all good. No, he said, that's not what they're supposed to do. Now, as we go into verse 19, I sort of wonder if James is kind of saying the same thing to these people who are holding onto their Jewish roots, their starting point a little bit. Let's read verse 19. You believe that God is one, you do well. Remember, we looked up Deuteronomy 6, four. What would the Jews say? Here, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord is one. He says, you believe, you look back to your starting point. That's good, that's great. He said, but the problem is even the demons believe that and they shudder. He said, do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless, that the starting point apart from the finishing is useless? Do you want that to be proved to you? Because it is useless. Faith, just like the kernel of corn, as great as a brand of seed corn you might get for a starting point, if it didn't mature and produce the crop, it was useless. So also our faith, a great starting point apart from works, which is fruit, is useless. Now, is that hard for us to take? Is that a hard message for us to absorb? Do you remember we started off saying, when we started this Bible study, that we wanted to let the word of God change us and not change the word of God to match what we think. So the title this week is Real Faith That Is, well, it's real faith that is alive and working, but I want to say real faith that's not just alive, but also working. That's the message here. And so we went in the last page on our study guide to the Sermon on the Mount to listen to what Jesus said in a different way, the same words, Matthew 7, 19. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. That is a hard message to take. That is hard to absorb, but that is our lesson for this week. So we need to absorb it. And I want to say here one little aside about the fruit, the works, the deeds, I think they're not necessarily always what we think they are. I think that we can be, depending on if you're a type A or type B personality, we can think that these deeds, these works are very doing oriented. But sometimes I wonder if the fruit that God's looking for is resisting sin. Like we'll go next week into bridling our tongue. That is a fruit resisting sin. I wonder if it's something like long suffering in a difficult relationship. I wonder if it's something like doing the same mundane tasks over and over again to bless our family. I wonder sometimes if fruit is very different than what we perceive it to be. All right, what I want to do is move on now to this last section. James gives two examples of real faith that matured and produced a crop. Here's his examples. It was Abraham and it was Rahab, okay? And in the study guide, I mentioned how very different they were. I don't think you could pick two more different people. Abraham was a friend to God. Rahab belonged to the enemies of God. Abraham was a godly man. Rahab was a harlot. Abraham in his fruit had to listen and obey God. Rahab had to think resourcefully. And the thing I thought of this week is that Abraham's actions in this example happened decades into his journey with God. Rahab's actions right here happened moments into her journey with God. So great examples for us to look at both ends of the spectrum. So let's read it, verse 21. Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works? Let's read that, proven, proven by his works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar. You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed, proven by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified, I wanna say proven genuine, by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works, proven by her actions when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Okay, so let's bring it home. We've been given two examples, now let's bring it to us. God's word points to these actions as proof that these two individuals faith had actually germinated, sprouted and produced a harvest right there in that moment, okay. Now I can guarantee, I can be 100% sure that God is not gonna call on any one of us here to sacrifice our son. That is not an example that we can get traction with. I can also be pretty sure that God's not gonna call on any of us to hide Israeli spies and send them out another way. But I can also guarantee, I can guarantee with 100% accuracy that God has designed exactly specific good works and fruit for every one of us in this room. Why can I say that? Because Ephesians 2.10, that's why I can say that. It says we are his workmanship, we are created in Christ Jesus, birthed in Christ Jesus, germinated in Christ Jesus for what purpose? It says two, four good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in. God prepared for every one of us in this room specific good works, fruit that he had in mind, just like the gardener goes down to the garden center, picks up the package, and has in mind, I'll plant one kernel of corn, yum, I'm gonna get thousands of kernels, it's gonna be great. God had in mind before it was planted the harvest, the fruit that he wanted for us. It is important to him, and so it should be important to us. He expects our works to come to maturity. Not only germinate our faith and sit around and be super happy that we're saved, that's great, but for us to produce a crop. So I wanted to just show this verse, I can't remember if it was in our study guide, 1 Timothy 6, 18 and 19. We are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for ourselves as a good foundation for the future so that we may take hold of that which is truly life. All right, let's summarize. What have we learned in this chapter, in this lesson? First thing, that real faith shows no partiality, okay? In our attention, paid to people based on social standing, based on their wealth, it shows no partiality. We've learned that living according to the royal law, which is you shall love your neighbor as yourself, is a great thing to remember because it helps simplify matters of what should I do in this situation? How should I respond in this situation? It's just as good as what would Jesus do, and this one is actually in the Bible. We learned that we no longer face judgment for our sins, but we will face the believer's judgment for rewards. Therefore, we should speak and we should act as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. That should be on our minds. And lastly, we were gently confronted, I don't know how gentle it was, with the truth that production of good works, fruit, the crop that God wants from us, that comes along with maturity, that's God's desire for us. That is God's plan for us. So if that's God's plan for us, we should help one another with that. And so I just wanna leave us with Hebrews 10, 23 and 24, that talks about both faith and good works. And I edited this down a little bit so you could see that. The faith part, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope. Let us hold fast to our faith. And let us consider how to stir one another up to good works. And that's what we should be doing, ladies. stirring one another up so that we can honor the Lord with the fruit of our lives. Father God, I pray today, Lord, as we close this, that you would help us to just ruminate over this lesson over and over again, personalize it, Lord, pray that you would protect our minds from the distraction and the deception of the enemy to bring, just bring trouble into our minds, but Lord, I ask that you would help us to take this to heart in each of our lives and ask the question, what does this mean? What sin do you want me to resist that actually produces fruit, Lord? What actions, positive actions do you want me to take? What positive words do you want me to speak, Lord, that would be pleasing to you? Lord, I think we all need this reminder that we will be judged on our words and actions. So Lord, help us starting today, just produce a crop that is beneficial for the kingdom, Lord, that pleases you and like we learned, you are the one that enables us and then you are the one that rewards us. So help us lean on you and not just try and dig into our sinful nature to make this happen, Lord, but to dig into the spirit-filled life, Lord, and hear from you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. ---