BS94: Excercise required: James 2:14-24
Does your faith lack life & energy? Feeling bored/fed up in your walk with God?
(Do I sound like a bad advert!?!)
James 2:14-24 Faith and Deeds
14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.
20 You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
This is quite a hard passage to talk about! So I hope I come across in love and you feel encouraged, not condemned!!
I believe that if we are not doing the things that Jesus told us to do, seeing people being saved and served, then we will get bored and dissatisfied and ultimately wander away from God. Without exercise, like muscles, our faith will wither and die. We need to be putting it to work helping, serving and loving others. Just see how alive you feel when you start “stepping out” and doing things for God!! Not only will your own problems feel much less significant, God will “grow” in your eyes and your faith will come alive as you see him working through the things that you do.
If we don’t have any motivation to help/serve others who are in need (spiritually or physically) then we need to question ourselves as to why? We are told that everything we do for others, we do for God and anything we choose not to do for others, we choose not to do for God.1 If we do nothing to help those in need, then where is our love for God? Where’s our faith?
We know that it’s not by works that we are saved2 (Jesus has already paid the highest price) but once saved we should desire to serve out of the overflow of thankfulness for what Jesus has done. God made us for this purpose and prepared good works for us to do3. If we don’t have this inner desire to be serving God, then have we really grasped what Jesus has done for us and are we really trusting in Him for our salvation? If we are not careful, there’s a danger of our faith being turned into a hobby that we tack onto the side of the rest of our lives. We can end up “boxing up” God to bring out on a Sunday morning/Thursday evening, or like a genie in a lamp, just call on him when we want something!
Lots of people are waiting for a “divine calling” (and some do get a specific calling) but shouldn’t we all just be getting on with what God has already told us to do? Jesus has given us a living example4 of what we should be doing and how we should be living! People will observe how we live and when we serve wholeheartedly, standing out as people who love others, serve others and do the things God has told us to do – they’ll have to acknowledge that it’s God working in and through us and that our faith is alive!5
Please don’t let your faith die – give it some exercise!!
1) Matthew 25: 40″The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ / Matthew 25: 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
2) Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.
3) Ephesians 2:9 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
4) Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
5) Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. / 1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Tags: Actions, Faith, Good deeds, James, Live it Out