Rev. David Holwick M (re-working of May 29, 1994 sermon)
Boothbay Baptist Church
Boothbay, Maine
August 21, 2022
James 2:14-26
FAITH THAT WORKS
I. The needy are all around us.
A. The beggars on the Walmart corner.
We do most of our monthly shopping at Walmart in Cooks Corner.
I am sure most of you do the same.
As you turn off the main road into their parking lot, you often
see one or two people with cardboard signs standing there.
You don't have to read their signs to know what they want.
It is not really an issue as you are entering Walmart.
But what will you do when you are leaving, and have to stop
by them before turning left?
Do you ever give them something?
Do you avoid their gaze and stare straight ahead?
...but still feel a little guilt?
B. Christianity is full of guilt trips like this.
In the back of your mind you recall the parable of the sheep and
the goats, when Jesus says, "Whatever you have done for one
of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
So you are not just stiffing homeless people, you are stiffing
Jesus himself.
C. I am in a special place because I am a pastor.
When I served churches in Ohio and New Jersey I helped out
hundreds of people.
I think in New Jersey alone I distributed over $70,000 to people
in need.
Hungry families, transients with no place to stay, drug addicts
who needed bus fare to their rehab sessions.
I gave to them freely - because it was other people's money.
With my own money, I tend to stare straight ahead.
But I do think of the words of today's passage when I do it...
II. Christianity values helping people.
A. Soup kitchens and food banks go back thousands of years for us.
1) Even today, most of these ministries are done by believers.
2) We don't just wish people well, we do good things for them.
3) There are secular ministries and government ministries that
help people, but I think Christians do their share & more.
4) Some churches like the Salvation Army make it their main
mission (and they really are a church).
B. There is a place for prudence.
1) We shouldn't give people what they want, but what they need.
a) I don't give to panhandlers at Walmart or elsewhere
because I know many of them have addiction issues
and I don't want to feed that.
b) But there are times when I will buy them a healthy
lunch. Any maybe pray with them.
C. James argues action like this reveals our real faith.
1) It doesn't just help people, but shows our faith is genuine.
2) This has gotten James into trouble with some in the church.
III. Is our salvation due to our actions, or God's free gift?
A. Many Christians think our actions contribute to our salvation.
1) God does his part and we must do ours.
2) Roman Catholics are often portrayed this way.
a) They say God's grace is what enables them to do good.
b) But they have to do good, or else...
3) Some people are very crass and think their actions alone
will bring about their salvation.
a) The Bible calls this "works righteousness" and condemns
it.
b) Even so, many people think their salvation hinges on
their good works outweighing their bad works.
B. Protestants stress salvation being based on God's grace alone.
1) It is due to grace alone, and not our efforts.
2) When James says in verse 24 that we are justified by our
actions and not by grace alone, that is a problem.
C. There are pitfalls on both sides:
1) Catholic: hard work - then smugness, or defeating doubts
about our inadequacy.
2) Protestant: just believe - low commitment, lax morals.
IV. Exploring the tension between James and Paul.
A. Paul deals with this issue in Romans 4.
1) Both James & Paul base their argument on Abraham.
a) Jews tended to do that - Abraham was their ultimate
example.
2) Both use the same language for justification and works.
3) Both quote the same passage in Genesis. Genesis 15:6
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him
as righteousness."
B. Each comes to a different conclusion.
1) Paul concludes Abraham was saved by his faith alone.
2) James concludes he was saved by what he did, and not by
faith alone.
C. Can the contradiction be solved?
1) The great reformer Martin Luther didn't think so.
a) He called James "a right strawy epistle".
b) That means he thought the letter of James would be
reduced to ashes on the Judgment Day.
2) Baptists have a tendency to favor Paul and sweep James
under the carpet but that misses an important truth.
V. James and Paul have different focuses.
A. Paul is addressing salvation - how I come to know God.
1) He attacks self-righteous legalism, those who think they
can earn their way to heaven.
2) Salvation is a free gift from God and we cannot earn it.
3) Also, salvation comes to us before we do anything good.
a) Notice Romans 4:10. Abraham was justified before
he was even circumcised.
b) (Also, it was years before he offered his son Isaac
on the altar, or even had a son by Sarah.)
c) When Abraham believes, he cannot boast about what he
had done for God.
1> He hasn't done anything besides leaving Ur.
B. James is addressing the Christian life.
1) He addresses his audience as (saved) brothers. He is not
talking to unbelievers.
2) James attacks superficial faith, which has no effect on
the life of the person who claims to believe.
a) His great example is demons. Jam 2:19
b) Like any good Jew, demons believe there is only one God.
1> The gospels show that demons always recognized
Jesus as being from God.
2> Are demons therefore saved? Absolutely not.
3> They believe intellectually, and even emotionally
(they shudder) but do not surrender to that truth.
4> Their belief was orthodox, but it didn't result in
repentance and obedience.
3) Plenty of people are untouched by what they say they believe.
This is illustrated in an incident that happened to
evangelist Tony Compolo.
He was walking down a street in Philadelphia one day
when a man came up and robbed him.
Hoping to instill guilt in the robber, Tony told him,
"I am a Baptist minister."
The robber replied, "Really? I'm a Baptist too!"
Then he took Tony's wallet and ran.
C. For both Paul and James, faith must be real.
1) Real faith always produces works. Always.
a) Paul believes it just as much as James.
1> Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is
faith expressing itself through love."
2> Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do."
3> Titus 3:8 - "This is a trustworthy saying. And I
want you to stress these things, so that those
who have trusted in God may be careful to
devote themselves to doing what is good..."
4> James would say "Amen!" to these!
b) Genuine faith cannot be invisible.
1> Neither can it stand alone.
2> This is meaning of verse 18 -- "you have faith, I
have deeds." They cannot be divorced like that.
3> James says faith and works are like breathing and
exhaling. One must lead to the other.
2) James hates dead faith.
a) It is really not faith at all.
3) Jesus agrees with James.
a) Jesus rejects those who claim to have faith but don't
back it up with deeds.
b) In Matthew 7:21, he talks about those who yell out,
"Lord, Lord!" and list off all the nice religious
stuff they have done.
1> In reality, their lives were filled with evil.
2> Jesus will tell them he never knew them and shuts
them out of heaven.
A> Can you imagine him saying that to you??
VI. A patriarch and a prostitute.
A. Abraham was a patriarch. 2:21
1) He is declared righteous for what he did.
a) Yet sacrifice of Isaac was around 30 years AFTER Gen 15.
1> What he did on that altar showed his earlier faith
was genuine.
b) Without good deeds, his faith would have been:
1> Incomplete (2:22), useless (2:20) and dead (2:17).
2> But he had real faith and is called God's friend.
B. Rahab was a prostitute. 2:25
1) She is also considered righteous for what she did.
a) Unlike Abraham in every way: pagan, woman, prostitute.
2) Yet on faith, she chose to identify with Israel.
a) She did not even have a direct word from God, like
Abraham did.
b) Instead of being dead, her faith moved her to risk
her life to protect the spies.
c) Her immorality is not commended but her living faith is.
3) These examples show that it doesn't matter who you are as
long as you have the important thing - real faith in God.
VII. How does your faith stack up?
A. Faith is not just something you say you have.
1) It may not even be what you THINK you have.
2) SHOW that you have it.
B. The world is watching us.
1) Unfortunately, they often don't like what they see.
The English writer Dorothy Sayers said that God has three
great humiliations.
The first was the Incarnation, when God took on the
confines of a physical body.
The second was the Cross, when he suffered the shame of
death by public execution.
The third humiliation, she suggested, was the Church.
We fall so far short of the glory we should be reflecting.
The atheist philosopher Nietzche said bluntly, "His
disciples will have to look more saved if I am to
believe in their Savior." #3899
2) What a difference it makes when our beliefs are backed up
by our actions!
Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, joined
with some other churches and renovated public schools
in their neighborhood.
The schools had not asked for help and were surprised when
the churches offered it.
Thousands of church volunteers showed up to paint hallways,
rebuild playgrounds, and construct much-needed cabinets.
One fourth-grade teacher was amazed at the work done in her
classroom by complete strangers.
She told them, "If this is Christianity, then I'm
interested."
#16100
C. Do a fruit test on yourself.
1) Do you have a concern for people, especially the needy?
a) James mocks those who see need, and throw a religious
platitude at it, but do nothing to help.
b) This is why my family supports ministries in poor
areas like Haiti and Kenya.
c) Others have helped in soup kitchens or mentored poor
kids.
d) What are YOU doing to make your faith concrete?
2) Do you have a desire to support God's work in the church?
a) Abraham believed in God enough to offer up his son.
b) What have you offered to God?
1> In time?
2> In effort?
3> In resources?
D. Don't focus on doing good things - focus on knowing Jesus.
1) He is the one who gives us the power to be transformed.
2) Anything good we do, should be done to give him the glory!
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 3899 “God Isn't As Embarrassed As We Think” by Philip Yancey,
Christianity Today magazine, October 21, 1988, page 64.
#16100 “If This Is Christianity, Then I'm Interested,” by Rev. Robert
Lewis, www.sermoncentral.com, newsletter, November 10, 2002.
These and 37,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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