Sermon Tone Analysis

“*FAITH THAT WORKS*”

                     (A Series on the Book of James)

 

Westgate Chapel 03~/20~/05                                  James 2:14-26

 

Proposition:      The only faith that works to save is the faith that also works.

! i.    introduction

!! -     FOR the first three hundred years of the Christian faith, followers of Christ had little alternative but to stay close to Jesus, live in a vital love relationship with Him, and cling to each other for mutual encouragement and support.

!! -     THEY were persecuted by local and national governments and fearful every day for their lives.

!! -     CHURCH leaders from that period, like Tertullian of Carthage (around 160 AD), are an example of the emphasis on true discipleship.

He constantly wrote to the churches of his day calling for Christians to live holy lives, separating themselves from the practices and values of their pagan culture.

!! -     IGNATIUS of Antioch (117 AD) wrote,

!!!       “I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground up by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ…then shall I be a true disciple of Christ.”

!! -     THEN, around 322 AD, the worst thing that could happen, happened to the Church of Jesus Christ.

!! -     CHRISTIANITY became a popular movement in the Roman Empire.

!! -     CONSTANTINE the Great, the emperor, officially recognized Christianity as the state-sponsored religion of the empire.

!! -     AND when once Christianity became part of main-stream culture….it

had to do everything in its power to maintain that place of popularity, even if it meant compromising the truth of the Gospel.

!! -     RODNEY Clapp in his book, A Peculiar People, writes of this period of history that,

!!!       “the ethical requirements of the Church were adapted to the level of what might be called ‘respectable unbelief.’”

!! -     PLEASE listen carefully!

This author captures an accurate assessment of the condition of most of the churches in America today in this quote from his book,

!!!       “The question was no longer ‘How can we survive and remain faithful Christians under Caesar?’, but now becomes, ‘How can we adjust the church’s expectations so that Caesar can consider himself a faithful Christian?’”

!! -     THAT is exactly what is happening in the Church today.

Expectations are being lowered every day, and that by pastors, so that just about anybody in our society can consider themselves faithful Christians.

!! -     THE word “faith,” as in Christian faith, has been diluted and re-defined to mean a “belief system” that is held intellectually but need not translate into any difference in lifestyle from those outside the faith.

!! -     WE have adjusted the expectations of the Christian faith so that it is politically correct to call anyone a Christian regardless of how they are living their lives.

!! -     DALLAS Willard, in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, calls this “barcode Christianity.”

!! -     JAMES saw the tell tale signs of this in the early church, and wrote 13 verses of James 2, as a mirror of what it means to be in the Christian faith.

!! -     JAMES gives us a definition of the Christian faith we have to re-visit in our lives today.

!! -     TURN with me please to James 2:14-26 (page 1197).

!! -     THIS is a very controversial section of James.

!! -     MARTIN Luther wished the book had not been included in the canon of Scripture because of these 13 verses.

!! -     LET me show you why he felt that way.

!! -     LOOK at verse 21 with me,

!!!       “*Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?*”

!! -     NOW, look at the first half of verse 24,

!!!       “*You see that a man is justified by works*...”

!! -     ON the surface it looks like a direct contradiction to Paul’s teaching on faith.

!! -     TURN with me to Ephesians 2:8-9,

!!!       *“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, /it is /the gift of God;* 9 *not as a result of works, so that no one may boast*.”

!! -     DO you see the apparent contradiction between Paul and James on the subject of works?

!! -     JAMES says we are justified (saved) by works.

!! -     PAUL says that we are justified (saved) by faith (Romans 3:28).

!! -     IN reality there is no contradiction between Paul and James.

!! -     THE problem is that in common Christian usage the word faith has come to mean…

!!!       “…an intellectual assent to a set of doctrinal propositions about Jesus, the cross, and salvation….period.”

!! -     NO expectations of a transformed life.

!! -     NO expectations that sinful behaviors will be crucified and fall away.

!! -     NO expectations of holy attitudes, holy character or holy conduct.

!! -     JUST faith….and

poof, your sins are forgiven, you are going to go to heaven, and nothing can alter your eternal destiny.

!! -     IN reality, no such faith existed in Paul’s theology and James certainly leaves no room for this kind of faith in the verses we are going to examine today.

!! -     WHEN Paul says faith, he fully intends that it is a faith that has immediate and life-long ramifications concerning the Christian living a life of practical holiness.

!! -     WHEN James says works, he fully intends that it is a works that is birthed in and inseparable from the faith that saves.

!! -     WE have made the distinction between faith and works to our own peril and the peril of the Gospel in our day.

!! -     JAMES and PAUL did not!

!! -     AND in the verses we will be studying in James today, James holds up the mirror of God’s Word to show you and me *a faith that works*!

!! -     THESE verses don’t need a lot of elaboration, so I am going to read them in three sections…and then I will give you the theme I find in each section

!

ii.   this kind of faith is useful for works

!! -     FIRST of all, James writes in 2:14-17,

!!!       “*What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?

Can that faith save him?*”

(verse 14)

!! -     OF what use is faith that doesn’t change how you live?

The obvious answer is…none.

!! -     IN fact, James is so bold as to ask if that kind of faith is saving faith.

!! -     CAN what kind of faith save you?

The kind of faith that doesn’t change how you live.

!! -     AND the clearly inferred answer is…no, that kind of faith doesn’t save you.

!! -     THIS is what John Wesley called “convincing grace”….people

who believe they are Christians because they are convinced there is a God, convinced that Jesus is His Son, and convinced that the cross saves.

!! -     BUT they think that is all it takes to be saved….being

convinced by the grace of God.

!! -     THE problem, says Wesley, is that without regenerating grace, your life will not be changed.

!! -     AND if your life exhibits no change, you may have convincing grace, but you have not been regenerated.

You are not saved.

!! -     THAT is exactly what James is saying in verse 14.

Then he goes on in verses 15 and 16 to give just one example of a faith that can’t save because it hasn’t changed you.

!!!       “*If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,* 16 *and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for /their /body, what use is that?*”

!! -     THE answer to James’ question of what use that kind of faith is….is implied.

It is of no use!

!! -     IT is of no use to save you, and it is of no use in the work of the kingdom of God.

!! -     AND then, James gives the knock out punch in verse 17,

!!!       “*Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, /being /by itself*.”

!! -     FAITH is not faith when it is “by itself.”

!! -     IN verse 14 and verse 16, James uses the phrase, “What use is that?”….concerning faith without the works of a transformed life.

!! -     SO, the theme I get from verses 14-17, stated in the positive is….this kind of faith is useful.

!! -     *FAITH that includes works of righteousness is useful for salvation and the kingdom of God*.

!! -     THIS kind of faith does the work of the kingdom!

!

III.  this kind of faith is perfected by works

!! -     THE second point James makes about this kind of faith is found in verses 18 to 23, and this time James uses the example of Abraham…something his Jewish readers would immediately identify with.

!! -     VERSE 18a,

!!!       “*But someone may /well /say, “You have faith and I have works*…”

!! -     AS if it is possible to have one without the other…which is exactly how the Christian Church is living today.

!! -     JAMES answers these kinds of people with an argument,

!!!       “…*show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.*”

19 *You believe that God is one.

You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder*.

20 *But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?*”

!! -     THEN, in verses 21-23, James uses Abraham as an example,

!!!       “*Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?*” (verse 21)