Do you have something expensive you own but never really use? Like in the past year, do you have something that cost lots of money and you used it, say maybe once?
Most of the time we are good at something because we have worked hard at it—whether it was a hobby and we enjoyed it, or because we were pushed to do so, like by a coach.
In James 2:14-26 (Try reading it in The Message translation) James starts by asking a question—What good is faith? Can so called “faith” save him? James points out the difference between “saying” you have faith and having and actual faith which is a "doing" faith. To James, faith and action are the same thing. Have you ever listened to what we've called "arm-chair players"? Those guys who sit on their chairs watching football games and call out everything the coaches should have done? Ever ran into someone who said they were a follower of Christ, barked off everything Christians should be doing and then continue to sit in their chair? = Armchair Christians.
Armchair Christians. Think about it.
James then uses an example to illustrate: A fellow believer who is in greatly need. Is James’ example applicable today? How? Is faith without works is dead? Would you agree? Look at verse 18. How would you put that into your own words?
The just "believing in" argument tries to justify itself again here in verse 19, but James gets on the Armchair Believers who say they believe--“You believe in God?” How often do you hear that from people? –"Well, I believe in God!"
If you get a chance, read this article from the Barna Research Group; it might prove fruitful to tie in:
James pulls out the big guns when he uses the story of Abraham and Isaac to illustrate Faithworks. Then James looks at the bottom of the pile and uses Rahab as an example. James closes with the statement: "No spirit in the body? Dead. No works from faith? Dead. "
How is our faith to transact “good” in this world? James is calling for a “working faith,” a “get your hands dirty faith,” a “put your money where your mouth is” kind of faith, a “do unto others what you would want them to do to you faith.” Is this radical? Counter-cultural? Challenging at all to the Church today?
How is Abraham offering his son Isaac in obedience to God like a person who sees someone poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and then provides for them?
What good is it really to say you have something very expensive but you never use it?
You believe in God? Not good enough. You say you have faith? Not good enough. You say you have works? Not good enough. What good are you doing in the world by your faith in God’s Word (Abraham)? By your belief in him so much that you act on it (Rahab)?
James makes a big deal about a person “saying”—saying they have faith…then saying to a needy person, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled.” Saying versus doing. Why do people just talk the faith?
Faith activates works; Works complete faith.
- Another word for believe is trust. Do you trust God enough to do what he says? Abraham did. Abraham didn’t even say he trusted or believed God, he just did what God asked. Rahab spoke about God to the spies but then when it came time to do something she reacted in faith!
- Abraham was called “a friend of God”—isn’t that something! Faithworks come from a changed heart that reacts in trust of God, and God calls these crazy kind of people his friend.
We practice what we believe.
The Message
14-17 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Five popular American perceptions of Jesus, based on recent Barna Group research.
1. The Vast Majority of Americans Believe Jesus Was a Real Person. More than nine out of 10 adults say Jesus Christ was a real person who actually lived (92%). While the percentages dip slightly among younger generations—only 87 percent of Millennials agree Jesus actually lived—Americans are still very likely to believe the man, Jesus Christ, once walked the earth.
2. Younger Generations Are Increasingly Less Likely to Believe Jesus Was God. Most adults—not quite six in 10—believe Jesus was God (56%), while about one-quarter say he was only a religious or spiritual leader like Mohammed or the Buddha (26%). Millennials are the only generation among whom fewer than half believe Jesus was God (48%). About one-third of young adults (35%) say instead that Jesus was merely a religious or spiritual leader, while 17 percent aren’t sure what he was. In each older generation, the belief in Jesus as divine is more common—55 percent of Gen-Xers, 58 percent of Boomers and nearly two-thirds of Elders (62%) believe Jesus was God.
3. Americans Are Divided on Whether Jesus Was Sinless. About half of Americans agree Jesus Christ was human and committed sins like other people (52%). Just less than half disagree, either strongly or somewhat, that Jesus committed sins while on earth (46%), and 2 percent aren’t sure. (56% of Millennials believe so.)
4. Most Americans Say They Have Made a Commitment to Jesus Christ. The act of making a personal commitment to Jesus—often seen as the “first step” in becoming a Christian—is a step that more than six in 10 Americans say they have taken and, moreover, that commitment is still important in their life today. Fewer than half of Millennials say they have made such a commitment (46%), compared to six in 10 Gen-Xers (59%), two-thirds of Boomers (65%) and seven in 10 Elders (71%).
5. People Are Conflicted between “Jesus” and “Good Deeds” as the Way to Heaven. Nearly two-thirds of those who have made a personal commitment to Jesus say they believe that after they die they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior (63%). Only 2 percent of adults who report a personal commitment to Jesus say they will not go to heaven. About one in seven admit they don’t know what will happen after they die (15%). Overall, roughly two out of five Americans have confessed their sinfulness and professed faith in Christ (a group Barna classifies as “born again Christians”).