Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro:
Dr. McCormick, in "The Heart of Prayer," tells of a good woman whose daughter had died after a painful illness.
She came to her minister and said, "I fear I have lost my faith in prayer.
I used to believe that anything I asked for in the name of Christ, I would receive.
When my child was sick, I besought God in an agony of desire for her recovery.
I believed that God would answer my prayer.
When she died I was stunned, not merely because of my grief, but because it seemed to me that God had failed me.
I pray still, but the old faith in prayer is gone."
This woman was the victim of wrong placed faith.
She had, in a word, been led to substitute faith in prayer for faith in God.
If our faith in prayer is all the faith we have, then any disappointment or unanswered prayer will shake that faith.
But if faith in God is the object of our faith in life, then no matter what may be the outcome of our petitions we will still trust.
James talks about wrong placed faith in our passage this morning:
James 2:14-
James now moves from addressing the dispersed messianic Jews’ treatment of the rich and poor to pointedly addressing the root issue which is the core of their faith.
Essentially, this passage is a series of three questions with a conclusion that is firmly based in considering these three questions.
I. Theoretical Inquiry (v.
14)
That second question in verse 14 is really a piercing one “Can that faith save him?”
What faith?
well this hypothetical person likely confess with his mouth, “Jesus is Lord”—does that type of faith save you? what do you think?
Roger Ellsworth, in Opening up James, Commentary says:
There is not much point in saying something if no one is listening.
James wants to make sure his readers are listening!
So he does not begin by saying that he has done considerable research on a matter and is now ready to present his findings.
No, not at all!
He rather begins by asking a couple of questions, the second of which is: ‘Can faith save him?’
Now there are certain statements that are so universally held among Christians that to deny them is to brand oneself as a non-Christian.
‘Jesus is Lord’ is one such statement.
‘Salvation is by grace through faith’ is another.
And now James, the half-brother of Jesus himself, has the audacity to question whether faith saves!
James has their attention!
This actually leads directly into the contemporary debate between “Easy Believism” & “Lordship Salvation” You may recall these terms back when we looked at the end of chapter one in the sermon, “Seeing Isn’t Believing”
This 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:
1.
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.
With “Easy Believism,” all you have to do to get to heaven is simply believe in Jesus.
This actually is supported with several compelling verses.
2. 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.
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