Faith W/O Works - Dead (Part 1)
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Student Read
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Student Read
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
James 2:18-
Student Read
Was not Abraham our father justified by 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 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 by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works 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.
James 2:21-
Pray
So, I want to help set up this message with a few comments. My hope behind this series entitled Authentic is that I want us to have a deep desire to know, love and find delight in Christ that type of desire that would propel us into obedience - Authentic obedience.
There is a danger before each of us today and each day that we would hear God’s Word and think that if I just do this list of duties - if I just learn the drums, get good at answering questions the way Josh wants them answered, if I become really nice, if I act the part - then I’ll be saved. Then I’ll be authentic. That’s not the point and that is not the hope of the gospel. If you want to take the cross of Christ and strip it of power and goodness go around and tell others that they have to do a list of things in order to find themselves in the grace of God. That’s not grace. We are people of delight. I want us to find our joy in Christ. I want us to love him. To trust him. To enjoy taking him at his word. To enjoy being with Him and to lock our identity, not into our outward obedience, but into Christ’s work for us.
You are not saved, Christian, because you do good deeds. In fact, if it were up to your good deeds you would be toast, it would be Cowboys in the 4th quarter against the Packers.
So my hope is that you would understand that delight, the delight that comes in knowing that all of our sin, past, present, and future, has been paid for on the cross of Christ. And no amount of action can make us more “lovable” or “unlovable” to Him. So being authentic in the way that James calls us to again and again and again is based on the peace and delight that comes in knowing he loves you, that your Creator God who knows everything about you hasn’t just forgiven you, but that he loves you, and on top of that, not only has he forgiven you and not only does he love you, but that with deep affection he likes you, and not some future version of you, but the messy, goofy, ignorant version of you right now. That’s the hope of the gospel. That is what we must preach to ourself daily - or else we will be swallowed by the tendency to feel hopeless or we will become legalist that say “okay give me my rules, I’ll get ‘em done.”
So let’s be a student ministry that rests in the finished work of Christ - let’s rest in the love and work Christ has accomplished on our behalf. Let that be the driving force of our entire life. Let that be the driving force of our Authentic obedience to Him.
Transition: Now, with all that let me say one more thing: tonight we will just be looking at the first four verses and then next week we will finish the entire passage. So with all that let’s get to our text for tonight.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
The truth we see from these verses, the one point we have for tonight is that faith that does not produce action or works is useless.
1. Faith w/o Works is Useless
1. Faith w/o Works is Useless
So James asks the question “hey if someone says he has faith, but his faith doesn’t produce a life of works can “that” faith save him?”
Two important things for us to understand from the start with this massive passage is what James means by faith and what James means by work.
So let’s begin with faith - faith trusts God and it obeys God. If it doesn’t trust God and if it doesn’t obey God even imperfectly then it is not a reality in your life. So faith trusts God and faith obeys God (even imperfectly).
Illustrate
Now let’s talk works - in this passage works does not mean the 10 commandments, it’s not talking about the mosaic law or anything like that - James is talking about loving God that flows to loving people. Works in this passage means loving God that overflows to loving people. Works is a life of loving God and loving people.
So when James asks this question “if someone says he has trusts God and obey God, but his faith doesn’t produce a life of loving God and loving people can “that” faith save him?” and the answer is no - no “that” type of faith can’t save of course it can’t because by definition it is not faith.
And so what James does is he gives us a working example to show that faith that doesn’t produce works is useless. It’s just useless. Like an iPhone that no longer works. Just a brick. Just an expensive paper weight.
Look at the illustration starting in verse 15. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food…” Now let me just talk to you for a second. When it says “poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,” he’s not saying he’s wearing a Faded Glory or US polo instead of a American Eagle or Polo polo. Right? It’s not poorly clothed as in “Got that at Wal-Mart or from a garage sale. or good will” That’s not what he’s saying here.
He’s not saying a brother is not fashionable; he’s saying this person who’s a part of the covenant community has fallen on the type of times in their life where they’re not able to survive from day to day. They are naked and cannot eat. They are completely and utterly in trouble.
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
What good is it if “…a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ’Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body…” Here’s his question. “…what good is that?” What good is that? See, where there is perceived faith like you think you have faith, but with no works, it’s useless and God does not minister to and through both the one in abundance and the one in need.
So when we say that faith without works is useless, in James’ illustration that cuts two ways. For the poor man who is unable to eat and unable to clothe himself and his family, he is ministered to, encouraged, loved on by God by the wealth of the saints, and the wealthy man is used by God in profound ways to minister to those who are hurting among them.
See, I think that where faith isn’t active things start to really break down in a hurry. Here’s what I mean by that. If you have been given by God, you have not been given by God so you might constantly be increasing the size of your closet with clothes or buying new electronics or increasing the size of your house and car and barn and 401(k).
Look I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of that as much as I’m saying that’s not the primary purpose by which you have been blessed by God. Students you have been blessed by God to live an open-handed life that shows you are not enslaved to those blessings but rather are grateful for them.
So in
Illustration: whoop-t-do stagnate water EK drink. No just don’t that’s harmful.
See, what happens when faith is stagnate, it’s not moving, is that we have a tendency to become spiritually constipated (I got that illustration from Matt Chandler). Right? You receive, receive, receive, but you never “let it go”! You have been blessed by God, and are now to be a conduit through which the blessings of God flow.
And here’s what you do: You steal joy from yourself when you are the apple of your eye and have no eyes to see the needs of others, but you just hide your love for self with religious words - that’s exactly what this guy just did.
He just said, “Hey, God bless you, brother in your nakedness. You’re not going to survive the day. Children starving to death. Be warmed. Hey, do you know what you should do? You should eat lunch. That’s what I would do. If I were you, I’d eat some lunch and I’d put some undies on. God bless you. Warm up man it’s cold out.” What good is that to the one in trouble and what good is that to the one who has been blessed by God to help his brother in the day of trouble? Faith without works is useless.
So what we know from the gospel is that as we experience the grace and mercy of God, as we rest in that by saving faith alone, our heart begins to be transformed and changed so that our love for God starts to translate into a love for people. That our love for God translates into a love for people. It’s not a love for people that makes us love God but rather a love for God that translates into a love for people…look right at me…an imperfectly executed love for people.
Here’s the reality students: People are hard, huh? Students are hard to love. There are some people I don’t like. Anybody? You just leave me up here hanging with my hand up? There are people I don’t like. Do you have anybody in your life you avoid if you see them? So look this passage is not easy. This is hard. It is not easy to love your classmates. It is not easy to demonstrate the love of God to them. It’s not easy to love some of your teaches. So the answer to this is not “I’m just going to try harder and make a to-do list and grit my teeth and add works to my faith.” No!
Here we are. We’re being honest about the difficulty of this. The answer to the difficulty of people is not to just try to make it work, but rather to fall more deeply in love with Christ. How’s that possible? But for faith. Faith without works is useless. Here’s the scary one and the one in which we’ll spend the most amount of time. Faith without works cannot save us. It’s mentioned in a couple of places, but the argument is in 17-25, so let’s read this.
The answer is to fall more deeply in love with Christ. How’s that possible? But for faith. We must fall in love with Christ. You will never love neighbor in the way James is pressing until you fall deeply in love with Jesus. So let’s end with a quote from Charles Spurgeon that we will come back to next week.
Spurgeon was the pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, a massive church in its day. Upwards to 10,000 with no amplification. Just a total beast.
Here’s what he said about this passage. ”A tree has been planted out into the ground. Now the source of life to that tree is at the root, whether it hath apples on it or not; the apples would not give it life, but the whole of the life of the tree will come from its root. But if that tree stands in the orchard, and when the springtime comes there is no bud, and when the summer comes there is no leafing, and no fruit-bearing, but the next year, and the next, it stands there without bud or blossom, or leaf or fruit, you would say it is dead, and you are correct; it is dead.
It is not that the leaves could have made it live, but that the absence of the leaves is a proof that it is dead. So, too, is it with the professor.“ Those who say they have faith but have not works. ”If he hath life, that life must give fruits; if not fruits, works; if his faith has a root, but if there be no works, then depend upon it the inference that he is spiritually dead is certainly a correct one.“
Do you hear Spurgeon’s argument? It’s not the leaf and apple that make the tree alive; it’s that the tree is alive and because it is alive it produces leaves and apples. So faith that saves is faith that trusts God and obeys God. There is no “to-do” list to make you saved, God saves and you grow. So if you fear that your faith is useless and you fear that you have missed the mark - right you have the type of faith that James says “useless.” It’s harmful to you like the stagnate water and is of no help to others.
So the call tonight is to press into Jesus Christ. He is the savior of the world and the savior of our souls. He is the soil that will produce blossoms in your life.
So the call tonight is to press into Jesus Christ. He is the savior of the world and the savior of our souls. He is the soil that will produce blossoms in your life.
Spiritual Application
Did James describe your quote unquote faith? Does it seem to you that your “faith” is just menal understanding of Christ that has produced no love for God and love for others? If so you need to see an adult and let them counsel you into understanding what saving faith looks like: faith that trusts God and obeys God.
2. If you have saving faith but you know that you have been relying more on your works and less on Christ’s work spend some time just asking Him to grow your love for Him. Ask Him to give you a heart that loves Him and delights in Him and longs for Him.
Pray
Faith that is not accompanied by works is useless.
Example of someone needing clothes and warmth
Faith that is not accompanied by works cannot save.
Example of the demons.
Faith that is not accompanied by works is dead.
Example of Abraham.
Example of Rahab.
Analogy of body and spirit.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James D. Saving Faith Reveals Itself in Works (2:14–26)
James leaves us in no doubt about the theme of this paragraph, announced three separate times in the course of the argument:
• faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (v. 17)
• faith without deeds is useless (v. 20)
• faith without deeds is dead (v. 26)
In what way is such faith “dead”? In the sense that it does not attain its purpose: it cannot save (v. 14) or justify (v. 24). Critical to understanding the argument of the section and integrating it successfully into a broader biblical perspective is the recognition that James is not arguing that works must be added to faith. His point, rather, is that genuine biblical faith will inevitably be characterized by works.
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The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James D. Saving Faith Reveals Itself in Works (2:14–26)
For this paragraph is the capstone on James’s presentation of “true religion,” begun in 1:21. Obedience to the word, James has insisted, is a necessary mark of authentic Christianity.
(v.14)
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James D. Saving Faith Reveals Itself in Works (2:14–26)
James uses “works” in a general sense to refer to actions done in obedience to God.
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The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Letter of James D. Saving Faith Reveals Itself in Works (2:14–26)
What James is contesting, then, is that the particular faith he has just mentioned can save. This faith is what a “man” who does not have works claims to have. James’s main point is that this “faith” is, in biblical terms, no faith at all.