James 2:14-18

“Faith Without Works is Dead”

Today, we come to the end of our series on the New Testament book of James. The first week, we heard how James teaches us to “Consider the trials and temptations of life as pure joy”, for when we allow God to help us with these things, we can grow and be shaped into the people that God is calling us to be.

The second week, we heard how James teaches us to “Tame our tongues”, understanding that we can use our tongues either as concealed weapons to hurt and destroy or we can use them to be a blessing.

Today, our focus is on verse 17 of our scripture lesson. It is there at the top of your Sermon Notes and on the video screen. Let us say this verse together: “Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

These are very important words that we should strive to live by. And this is really what James is offering us in this letter. This is a letter about “Where the Rubber Hits the Road”. It is about how we are to live the Christian life. And the passage that we have before us today is James’ way of saying, “This is what it is all about. It is one thing to say that you believe. It is another thing to actually live your faith.” So, this is the key verse to understanding what James is talking about in this entire Epistle is, “Faith without works is dead”.

But you need to recognize that there has been some controversy surrounding this verse in Christianity. On the surface, it seems as if James is contradicting what the Apostle Paul taught in his letters. Paul had this wonderful insight into the Gospel. He came to understand that in Jesus’ suffering and death on the Cross, God was providing a new way for our salvation.

In the past, the Jewish people were bound to obey the Law. They tried to live in holiness, in accordance with the Law. When they failed, they offered up an animal sacrifice for atonement for their sins, and then, they went back to trying to live up to God’s Law. Paul had been a Pharisee, so he had tried to live that way his whole life. But he realized that no matter how hard he tried, he could never fully live up to what the Law required. And when he came to know Jesus Christ, he realized that God had turned salvation on its head. In the past, you worked and God saved you. But now, because of what God did through Jesus, Justification and Salvation comes from God’s grace.

Through Jesus, God has offered his gift of salvation to everyone. Jesus died for the sins of the entire world. And all we do is receive that gift from God by faith. You don’t work for it to try to earn it. You don’t have to “do something” to make God love you. We recognize upfront that God loves us already. God has already done everything necessary to save us … we just have to receive this gift of salvation by faith. We simply trust that it is so, and we have this gift of salvation.

Paul says it this way in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” So, according to Paul, we don’t have to “do something” in order to be saved. We simply have to trust that God has already done this for us through Jesus. Our good works come as a result or a response to this grace of God. This is what Paul was teaching.

The problem was that some were taking what Paul was teaching and saying, “All I have to do is to accept Jesus, get involved in a Christian community, perhaps, and that is all that is necessary for my salvation.” Some thought that they could live any way they wanted to after they walked out the doors of the church, because they believed that their faith was just a matter of the heart. It didn’t need to be manifested in their daily lives. “I am free from the Law and all its rules and regulations. I am now free to live however I want to live.” They had faith in their hearts, but not in their works. And they pointed to Paul as their Apostle who was teaching them these things.

So, James comes along and hears how people are twisting Paul’s teachings. And he says, “This is not right.” And he offers a counterbalance to what Paul is teaching. James and Paul were not really in conflict with each other. Paul would have said, “Of course, authentic faith must be lived out in works.” He teaches about this in all of his Epistles. And likewise, James would never have said that we have to work in order to earn our salvation. But James wanted to make sure that we understood that, “Faith without works is dead.” For authentic faith always manifest itself in good works.

In verse 14, he says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith, but do not have works?” And then, he goes on to point out that even the demons believe in God! So, it is not enough to simply believe in God … there is something more.

James witnessed how people were living their lives and he saw how Christians in his day were struggling with this. And part of what we do when we read Scripture today, is to ask the question: “In what ways are we tempted to act in the same ways that these 1st Century Christians did?” so that we hear God’s Word in a way that it is fresh for our lives today. So, the question would be, “Do we ever struggle with living our faith? Do we ever walk out of the doors of the church and say, ‘That was a nice sermon,’ but we never do anything about it?” And the truth is, we would all have to admit that we struggle with actually living our faith. This wasn’t just a problem for Christians in the 1^st century. It is also a problem for us today.

So, James gives us this admonition in 1:22-25 – “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing.”

So, we are to be “Doers of the Word and not hearers only.” You know, as a pastor, I spend a lot of time during the week trying to figure out how to help people understand what all this means for their daily lives. And I sometimes wonder … when you walk out the doors of the church after service, will you remember it? Or will it just quickly be forgotten? This is what James talks about when he says, “We are like those who look at themselves in a mirror and then forget about it.”

Sometimes we may remember God’s Word, but remembering it and acting upon it are two different things. Part of the reason that I ask you to take out your Sermon Notes each week, is that my hope is that if you write some things down you might remember it. If you are like me, I don’t remember anything if I don’t write it down. So, I’m thinking that may help you. Part of the reason that I provide a Study Guide each week, is that I hope by reading the Scriptures daily that tie back into the sermon, you will remember it and be more inclined to live it. All of these are devices to help us be “Doers of the Word and not hearers only.” For, we all struggle with doing what we are supposed to as Christians.

I mean, we all believe that God’s Word is important for our lives or we wouldn’t be here. We know that following God’s Word is what we need to do. But sometimes we forget. Sometimes, we lay it aside and we fail to put it into practice in our daily living.

And the bottom line is that James doesn’t want us to be robbed of God’s blessings in our lives by failing to be “doers of the Word”. This is why James says, “Being not hearers who forget, but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing.” We are blessed when we do God’s Word.

Last Sunday, we talked about how we need to use our tongues to bless others and one of the ways to do that is to offer the words, “I’m sorry or I forgive you.” And I challenged you to consider those persons in your life that you need to offer such words to. This week, one of our members decided to be “a doer of God’s Word” and reached out to someone they had been estranged from.

In an email, she said, “Though it was difficult and scary, I took the risk. Her face welled up with tears as I offered forgiveness. It was as if I set her free from an unbearable weight she was carrying. The truth is, though, I was the one who was set free and blessed the most.” We are blessed when we are doers of God’s Word, and not a hearer only.

And when it comes to doing God’s Word, James tells us that there are different ways of doing God’s Word. There are “Deeds of Omission” and “Deeds of Co-mission”. We’ve heard these terms in relation to “Sins of Omission” … which means you were supposed to do something and you didn’t do it. So, you sinned by not doing it. And then, there are “Sins of Co-mission” … where you do something that you know you are not supposed to do.

Likewise, when it comes to good deeds or works of faith … there are “Works of Omission” and there are “Works of Co-mission”. And James gives us examples of these. “Works of Omission” are things like we talked about last week … controlling the tongue. Because we are followers of Jesus Christ, we choose to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”

Then, there is “Avoiding friendship with the world”. James says that there are times when we become too cozy with the world’s values. So, as Christians, we avoid doing things that may lead us astray. And the very act of avoiding it, is an act of faith. And then, he talks about “Avoiding envy and pride”. These are all things that we need to avoid and “omit” from our lives. And we know that we are not supposed to do these things, but still, we struggle with them. But what you need to know, is that even the act of struggling is an act of faith.

I remember how I once ministered to a man who was struggling with Internet Pornography. Before he became a Christian, it was not a struggle ... it was just part of his life. After loosing his marriage to it, he began to turn to God. And once he became a Christian, he began to struggle with this, realizing that this was not something that pleases God. But it wasn’t easy to lay aside, it was an addiction, after all. And when he failed, he would feel ashamed and not want to come to church.

But I said to him, “Listen, God can see that you are struggling against this and God sees that an act of faith. Even though you give in from time to time, keep working on laying that aside. And eventually, you will overcome this and it won’t be a problem anymore. But for now, understand that God sees how hard you are struggling. And God sees your struggling with this as an act of faith.” Eventually, God is expecting that over time, with His Spirit’s help, you will lay aside those things in your life. But the struggle is also what God is looking for.

And then, there are “Deeds of Co-mission”. And these are the good things that we do to live out our faith. And again, James gives us a number of examples of this … but he seems to focus on a few specifically. One, is that we “Care for widows and orphans”. A second is “treat the poor with respect”. A third is “Supplying the needs of the poor”. These are the things that James gives as major emphasis when it comes to deeds of co-mission … and this is where we want to focus the remainder of our time on.

It is interesting, that when you study life in the 1^st Century Roman Empire, you will see that their society was very divided between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. There was an emerging Middle Class by the New Testament period, but primarily you had a small percentage of the population who were “haves”. And in days prior to the New Testament, it was clear that they were “the Patricians”.

This was the term that most of learned in school. “The Patricians” were the rich and wealthy, upper class. “The Plebeians” were the working class. The Plebeians had no contact with the Patricians, other than being in a servant role, providing for their needs. The Patricians were the “haves” and everyone else were the Plebeians.

Now, when Christianity came along, it had a strong appeal among the poor and the slaves. There were many who found hope in Jesus Christ. But it wasn’t only among the poor and the slaves. It was also among some of the rich … the Patricians. And when they began to hear the Gospel, their hearts were changed. So, they began to come and visit the churches.

Now, churches in that day were gatherings of small groups that met in people’s homes. There may be 20 people gathered there. There would be slaves and servants. There were rich and poor. There were Jews and Gentiles … men and women, and they all worshipped together. You remember how the Apostle Paul said, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” The same was true for rich and poor. There were no distinctions within the Church. There was just one group of people coming together as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.

Now, the Rich began to understand this and most of them became okay with this. When they came to the church, they learned to lay aside their feelings of superiority and God taught them humility. But the Middle Class and the Poor struggled with this more. The struggle came when they saw people who had means and who were important in society and when they came to church, the poor still treated them as special. But in the Body of Christ, that’s not how it works. In fact, Jesus said, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first. And the greatest in the Kingdom of God is the least among those you would expect.” And so, the least deserve more honor than those who the world would say deserve the most.

And James notices this going on in the churches. He sees that many of them are practicing some things that were not in line with the Gospel. Listen to how he addresses this in James 2:2-8 … and I’m reading this from Eugene Peterson’s, The Message translation. He says, “If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in the back row," haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted? Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself. But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it.”

You see, the Gospel is calling us to have a radical re-evaluation of the worth of all people. When we begin to see other people through the lens of our faith, we begin to treat them differently. We see that there are those in the world who are kicked around and they don’t get very much respect. But when it comes to the Body of Christ and how we are to treat people as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are called to model for the rest of the world the truth of the Gospel. When people walk in, who may not be honored outside the church, they are to be treated with honor and respect. This is the place where we are to model what the Kingdom of God will and should look like now.

And this is something that we have to always be on guard about. Churches can get a reputation by socio-economic class. There are those who don’t feel comfortable coming to our church, because they see us as being an all white, upper middle class church. Folks tell me that when they are shopping for churches, they will determine whether they will come in based on the kind of cars they see in the parking lot. Visitors will often sit in the parking lot and watch to see how people are dressed as they enter the church, to see if they will fit in or not. People are sensitive to these things.

Now, I don’t believe that any one here at our church would want to communicate that those who don’t dress as fancy as some of us do, or those who don’t drive as nice a car as we do, or live in a home as nice as we do … that they are not welcome here at this church. But we have to go the extra mile to make sure that this is not being communicated. We need to make sure that all persons are honored, respected, and treasured in the Kingdom of God … regardless of their worldly status.

In the Body of Christ and here at this church, it doesn’t matter what our income is or whether we’re famous or not, or what kind of clothes we wear, or what color our skin is. We are all brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. This is part of what James is teaching us.

And James also teaches us that “Good intentions and well-wishes are not enough”. And on this subject, as James talks about this, it grabs our hearts, because we all realize that we have done the very things he is talking about here. In 2:14-17 he says:

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” (In other words, “I’ll pray for you.”) and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

The key verse for this entire Epistle is taken from a section where James is talking about how some in the church were struggling, but nobody was doing anything, other than saying, “I’ll pray for you.” Does that sound familiar?

Now, when it comes to ministry with the poor, I know that there are challenges. I mean, how much is enough? We can give away everything we have, and there are still people who are poor. And there are times when we wonder if we are really helping somebody or not. But a good rule to follow is, when in doubt, err on the side of doing more, rather than less than you should.

And I realize, that even that is hard to figure out and follow. But, this is the calling upon our lives as Christians. It is to look at those who have needs and ask, “How can I help? What can I do to make a difference?” Throughout the year, we try to identify needs that we see around us, both in our church and in the world around us. And we seek to reach out and help those in need. Regularly, you will hear about opportunities to give of your abilities and resources to reach out. As James admonishes us, we are called to be “doers of the Word, not hearers only.”

You know, if you study Early Christianity, it is an amazing story of how a small group of rag-tag people, most of who couldn’t even read, and who followed a Crucified Lord, were able to overcome the Roman Empire. But that is exactly what happened. Christianity, who’s Messiah was put to death by the Romans, ultimately conquered Rome. How did that happen?

The answer is found in historical records, such as the anti-Christian pagan Emperor, Julian the Apostate, writing in the 4^th century wrote, “These godless Galileans feed not only their own poor, they feed our poor. Our poor lack our care and the Christians feed them.”

Eusebius, the 4^th century Church Historian, describes how during the Great Plague in Europe during the 3^rd century, when others were afraid to touch those who were dying or minister to their own loved ones who were dying, it was the Christians who went into the abandoned cities and ministered to those who were dying. This is what Christians were known for.

In as early as the 2^nd Century, in a document called “The Shepherd of Hermas” we read these directions to Christians: “Having fulfilled what is written in the day in which you fast, you will taste nothing but bread and water. And having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day that you intended to eat, you will give it to a widow or an orphan, or some person in want, and thus you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul and pray for you to the Lord.”

So, it was expected that one day a week Christians would fast, eating only bread and water, and give away what they would have spent on meals to people who were in need. This is how Christians lived their faith! They served others. And in compassion, they gave to those who were in need. And this is how they transformed their world and changed the Roman Empire.

Last September, in Time Magazine, there was an article entitled: “Does God Want You to be Rich?” And you know, there are a lot of preachers out there who are proclaiming a “Prosperity Gospel”, claiming that God wants us to be rich … that God’s desire for us to have an abundant life is somehow tied to material gain.

Here’s what I think. I don’t think God wants for us to struggle in poverty, such that we can’t do Kingdom work. God wants for us to have enough food, so that we’re not so worried about where our next meal is going to come from, and so we can work on other things. So, I don’t think God wants us to live in poverty. But I don’t think it is even on God’s radar screen to make us rich. I just don’t think it is God’s primary concern to make his people rich and wealthy materially. I believe that God is mostly concerned, not about how rich we are, but how generous we are. God is most concerned about how much we share, and give, and minister to people who are in need. It’s not a sin to have riches. The question is, “What are you going to do with it?”

And that leads us to this challenge. We learned in this study, that James claims that the trials that happen in our lives are a testing of our faith. It is not that God sends the trials our way, but when they do come, they test us. And with God’s help, we overcome and we are shaped into the people God wants us to be. This is why James says, “Consider it pure joy when the trials come, because the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” And so, the trials of life are a test.

Then we learned that how we use our tongues is a test. Jesus said that the words we speak come from our heart and we will have to give an account for every word that we speak. So, we are to be, “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”

And today, we learn that there is “a test” every time we encounter another person. In your attitudes; in the way that you treat other people; and whether you give to others when there is a need or lend a helping hand. Life is a test. And what James is interested in and what Jesus is interested in, is whether we’re only going to be “hearers of God’s Word” or “doers of God’s Word”. This is the essence of what James’ letter is trying to challenge us with. So, which is it going to be for you?