This morning we continue a series of messages from the book of James. This morning we come to chapter two. I hope you have taken the time to read through the book of James in recent days. It does not take a long time to read, and it is time that will be well invested.
We live in a world that seems to be increasingly either/or. Rich or poor. Liberal or conservative. City or country. Republican or Democrat. Northern or southern. East coast or west coast. UK or UofL. The polarization of everything these days weighs upon all of us, especially as the level of polarization has increased.
Reading through the book of James, we find a sense of either/or, which reminds us that our world has been polarized from the beginning of time. As we read through James, we see that he writes about the either/or polarization of his time. There were the haves and the have nots. There were those of lofty social stature and those who were not. And we sense that either/or as James writes about faith and works, as he alludes to the polarization in his time that some saw between those two parts of faith – is it faith, or is it works? Reading through chapter 2, especially, one can sense an undercurrent of disagreement in the early church about the way faith and works coexisted.
So, let’s look at a portion of that chapter, and follow along with me as I read James 2:14-26 –
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
23 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.
24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 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?
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
The title of the message today is A Faith That Is Visible. It is a message about how our faith becomes visible by the works that we do. As we study this passage today, I want to offer you three words to remember when it comes to how our works makes our faith visible – testimony, service, and love.
1. Testimony.
The book of James is one that has an interesting background, in terms of the history of the Bible. I don’t know what you might know about the history of the Bible, but it came together over many centuries, and not without some measure of disagreement and even controversy. Martin Luther, the renowned reformer who was responsible for the Protestant Reformation, was not a fan of the book of James, saying that St James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the Gospel about it. That’s kind of harsh, isn’t it? Luther believed the book of James didn’t necessarily belong in the Bible, but as it was already included he thought it should remain, even if he did not much like it. Luther’s primary disagreement with the book of James is its emphasis on works, which seemed in opposition to his own emphasis on faith alone. To Luther, Paul’s words in Romans 4:1-3 – what then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”– were testimony that faith alone (what became known as sola fide, Latin for faith alone) brought about a person’s salvation. To Luther, the words of James veered perilously close to implying that a person could earn their salvation through good works.
While I can understand Luther’s sense that the book of James seems to imply a salvation by works, I think he misunderstand what James was saying. I don’t believe that James is at all implying that a person can earn their salvation through good works of any kind. Instead, I believe James was writing about the impossibility of giving testimony to our faith without works. A healthy, living, vibrant faith is going to be seen; a faith that is not evident by any good works is one that is most likely stale, inconsequential, and barely alive. As James says, very bluntly, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead(2:17). Faith and works are like our two hands, working in concert to bring about a wholeness to our faith. Faith without any actions is a faith that is of little consequence in terms of its benefit, especially to others. Actions without faith, on the other hand, can devolve into little more than a sense of duty and obligation, lacking in the love that serves as both the foundation and motivation for faith and works. Good works are not something we do in an effort to earn our salvation; they are, instead, what we do as a natural expression of faith. We do good works because that is what faith moves us to do.
What is important to us becomes evident. Generally speaking, you don’t have to talk with someone very long or know someone for very long before you discover what is important to them. If they are a grandparent, it’s not long before they take out pictures of their grandkids. If they have a hobby they really enjoy, it’s not long before they begin talking about it. Give me a minute or two and I’ll be happy to talk to you about guitars. In fact, if you have a few minutes after church, I’d be happy to tell you why I think PRS guitars marry together the best of Gibson and Fender, the way in which they improve on those two brands, and why I think this is among the many reasons PRS builds the best guitars. Or would you like to hear about that right now? Yes? Okay…
2. Service.
James, being the practically-oriented person that he was, gives plenty of examples of how we ought to serve others. Last week, for instance, we read his words religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world(1:27). This morning, we read some further examples. In verses 15 and 16 he says, suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? Earlier in the chapter, in verses 1-9, James says, 1My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
Here is what I think James was reacting to – groups such as the Pharisees created and emphasized rules that separated them from others and the needs of others rather than leading them to engage with others. The Pharisees put everything in the head, and little to nothing in the hands and the heart. What they didn’t seem to understand is this – any expression of faith that separates one from the needs of people is a false expression of faith. How often did Jesus separate himself from the needs of others? He didn’t, did he? In fact, Jesus was often overwhelmed with crowds of people because of his compassion and his willingness to serve.
We have a fascinating dynamic in our society. For all of our problems – and they are many – we live in a society that has places a great emphasis on service, and where does that come from? I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that emphasis on service comes from the influence of faith on our culture. Whatever one might say about the place of faith today in our culture, it is very much true that faith’s impact has permeated our culture with a sense of serving others. When we were on our mission trip back in the summer, for example, it was interesting to see the list of groups that have been with the Christian Appalachian Project this year. It wasn’t just churches and individuals; it was also business such as UPS, engineering firms, and airlines. You can also go over to the Open Door of Hope Men’s Shelter here in Shelbyville and find that businesses and corporations send teams of their employees to help them, or to the Serenity Center and other ministries and hear the same. This sense of service, born of the Christian faith, has so permeated our culture that it is not just churches who desire to serve, it is also businesses and corporations.
Faith that is alive and vibrant and meaningful is never hidden; it is always seen! It is seen in the what we do for others and in the way that we treat others. As James says, we don’t treat those who have a great deal as though they matter more than those who do not have much at all. As James says, we will care for the orphans and the widows in their times of distress. As James says, we will care for those without adequate food or clothing. May our works to bear testimony of the service we do in the name of Jesus!
3. Love.
We are happy to do something kind and good for those we love, such as our spouse, right? If Tanya says to me, as she does from time to time, let’s take a week off, I will say, sounds great to me! And she will go on to say, let’s spend the week together, and I will say, sounds really great to me! And then I discover that she has been setting me up, because she will next say, let’s spend our time together cleaning the garage. And you know what I will say? Absolutely! I was just now thinking that exact thing! I can’t think of anything I would rather be doing! And do you know why I will agree to that task? Because while I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, it doesn’t mean I’m the butter knife either. I do have some sense, after all. But it’s really because I love her, and I am happy to do what she wants to do.
Love is what ties both faith and works together. You can’t have just faith or just works; it’s not an either/or. Faith is, in my opinion, the easy part. I don’t find it difficult to believe or to have faith, but translating that belief into action is something I find to not always be so easy. Love, however, not only makes it easier, it makes it possible. Love is what enabled the Samaritan to stop and help the one who considered him an enemy. Love is what enabled Isaiah to say, here am I, send me(Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!”– Isaiah 6:8). Love is what has motivated countless others to go where they have been led, to forgive when wronged, to reach out a hand filled with bounty to those who are without; love is what has led those who reach across the boundaries set by society to care for others, love is what will lead people to give of the last of their resources, love is what will lead people to give of time they believe they do not have, love is what will lead people to places they did not think they could go, love is what will lead people to do what they believed they could not do, love is what will lead people to speak truth to the powers of this world and to challenge those powers when they abuse people, love is what leads people to lend their voices for equality and justice, love changes our nature and by changing our nature it changes our actions; love changes the way we conduct business, love changes the way we treat people, love changes how we respond to the inequities in society, and on and on we can go.
Without love, faith can become nothing more than a mental equation. Without love, faith can become little more than an intellectual exercise. Without love, faith can become little more than words. Without love, works can devolve into legalism or obligation. Without love, works can become burdensome. Without love, works can become, as Paul says,a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal(I Corinthians 13:1).
It always comes back to love, because it is love that brings our faith alive, and moves us to make our faith visible through our good works. Let us always make our faith visible, by offering the good works that come from love!
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