Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard told the story of a
make-believe country in which only ducks live. "One Sunday morning all the
ducks came into the church, waddled down the aisle and into their pews, and
squatted. Then the duck minister took his place behind the pulpit, opened the
duck Bible and read, ’Ducks! You have wings, and with wings you can fly like
eagles. You can soar into the sky! Use your wings!’ All the ducks yelled ’Amen!’
and they all waddled home."
As a pastor…as a pastor who loves, loves, loves this church,
that is one of my worst nightmares; that we would all leave here saying what a
good time we had but our lives were not changed. I’ll be honest with
you. I have never once prayed, “God, please bring a big crowd to Christ
Fellowship.” I have never once prayed, “God, please bring a lot of money
in the collection plate.”
But I’ll tell you what I pray every week is, “Lord, please
give me truth and may our lives be changed by it.” I want
your life and I want my life to be changed by the truth of God’s Word because I
love you, not because your lives are such a mess. I want your life to be
changed because it is God’s will that we become more like Jesus. And I want
your life to change and my life to change because that is how the world will
know that we are followers of Jesus, because we look like Him.
And how do we look like Him? Obviously I’m not talking
about looking like Him physically. We don’t know what He looked like.
We look like Jesus when we do what Jesus did. In John 13:35 Jesus
said, “By this everyone will know that you
are my disciples, if you love one another." We look like Jesus most when we love. And
how do we show that we love?
Is it when we say
it? That’s part of it, right? But what if you only tell your spouse
that you love them but you never show it? Is that enough to just say it
but not live it out? Of course not. Thomas a' Kempis said, “Whoever
loves much, does much. “ That’s kind of what James is trying to
tell us in the 2nd chapter of
the book of James. Poor Pastor James has had his book maligned and
misunderstood almost since he wrote it.
And this second chapter is the source of all the
confusion. The great Martin Luther read this chapter and decided that the
book of James should not be included in the canon of scripture. Some
people have read this and justified their belief that we have to work our way
into Heaven. Others see a contradiction between what James is teaching and
what Paul is teaching in much of his writings.
But settle down. It’s ok. We’re going to touch
on some of that as we go but more importantly, we are going to see the truth of
God’s Word and how our lives should be changed by it. Turn to the book of
James, if you will. It’s in between Hebrews and 1 Peter in
the New Testament. Then turn to the second chapter, verses 14-26.
We are going through the book of James very quickly. It is one of those
books that it would be fun to just camp out in for a few months but we are
going to hit the 5 chapters in 5 weeks. We are in the second week. James
2:14-26 says, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone
claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose
a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If
one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does
nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In
the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.D)"
style="">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 my deeds. 19 You believe that there
is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.20 You
foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is uselessa]"
style="">[a]? 21 Was
not our father 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,”b]"
style="">[b] and
he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a
person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.25 In
the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what
she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different
direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is
dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
I have said many times that this church reminds me so much
of what I believe the first church was like and every time I read this passage,
I think of our church. When James says in verse 15 to suppose that
a brother or sister is without food and daily clothes, some of us don’t have to
imagine it. We lived it and I love to tell the story of the man who came
in to our church when we were still in Runaway Bay.
There weren’t many of us left at this point. We had
decided to move over here and we were talking in Sunday School about what kind
of church we wanted to be when we got to Lake Bridgeport. We were
literally in the middle of saying how we wanted to be known as a church that
would meet the needs of the hurting and the homeless when the hurting and
homeless man walked in the front door. I kid you not. And Sunday
School stopped.
We invited him in and he politely told us he was hungry but
he was a diabetic. So somebody who was also a diabetic ran home and got
him some good food and then we gave him some clothes, some gas for his van,
some money in his pocket and we just loved on that guy, all before we ever
mentioned Jesus. But we did that as well and when we had given him
everything he needed and we had done all that we were supposed to do, when he
was ready to go, then we wished him go in peace, keep warm and well-fed.
And I have never been so proud to be part of a church than right then.
And I continue to be proud to be part of a church that
continues to prove its love of people in Jesus Christ through the way that you
give and give and give; never asking to be repaid or even to be thanked or
appreciated. There are 9000 verses in the Bible that talk about doing
that kind of thing but few churches do it as big or as cheerfully as this
church. You are an inspiration to me and a joy to work with so thank you
for all that you do. I love you.
But in every church there is the potential for somebody to
rest on what has been done in the past. Or perhaps there is somebody here
today that doesn’t understand what James is talking about and may be confused
when they read about faith with deeds so let’s break this down into some
manageable chunks. And really, it’s pretty easy to understand when you
just define some words and terms.
James talks a lot about faith or belief. He talks
about works or deeds. And he talks about being righteous or
justified. And all of that can sound pretty churchy in this context but
it’s really not hard to understand if you think it through. I know I just
lost some of you right there but try to hear me out. I hear you saying, “I
didn’t know I was gonna have to think through something today. Oh great.”
He talks a lot about faith. I think you can use
“faith” or “belief” interchangeably here without a problem. And to
illustrate faith we have all seen or heard somebody use a simple chair.
So, let’s start there by using this chair to demonstrate faith. I can say
I have faith that the chair will hold me up but until I actually sit down in
the chair I have not proven my faith, right? But James tells us there are
actually 3 kinds of faith. There is dead faith, demonic faith
and dynamic faith.
James tells us in verse 17 that faith without action
is dead. It is dead faith. Dead faith is the guy who just says to
the homeless and hungry person, “I wish
you well. Keep warm and well-fed!” He doesn’t do anything about
it. He is the guy who says from a distance that he has faith in the
chair, but it’s all talk no squat, right?
You might compare him to your neighbor who, if you were to
ask him this morning – well, you couldn’t ask him this morning because he is
out on the lake fishing – but when he comes home later this afternoon, you
could ask him if he believed in God and he would say, “Sure, I believe in God.” And that would be the end of the
conversation. Lip service is all you are going to get from Mr. Dead
Faith.
Then in verse 19,
James introduces us to demonic faith. He says, “You believe that there
is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
Now, are demons believers? Well, technically, as James says, they
are. But are they Christians? Are they going to Heaven? Of
course not. Demons see this chair and they believe. They have
faith. They even have an emotional response to it. It says they
tremble. It scares them to death.
They know all about the chair. They know that this
chair represents the fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and
nobody gets to the Father but through Him. And they really believe.
But they don’t really sit in the chair. And it’s these same people who
come to church, maybe even every Sunday, and they have an emotional response to
the worship time and they enjoy themselves but they waddle home completely
unchanged and they look just like the world Monday through Saturday.
I’m not saying those people are demons. I’m saying
that is the same kind of faith that demons have. And it’s nothing to brag
about and it certainly won’t get you to Heaven. Churches nowadays are
full of people with demonic faith. And Satan giggles like a school girl
every time they show up because he knows they will waddle off and make the
whole church look bad the rest of the week.
Old Mrs. Demon Faith may have gone down the aisle as a
little girl and prayed a prayer and even been baptized but that was as close to
the chair as she got. She sings the songs in church on Sunday morning and
even enjoys it but not as much as she enjoys the world. Monday through
Saturday she looks just like everybody else. She watches the same TV, has
the same hobbies, goes to the same places, eats and drinks the same, talks the
same and then clucks on Sunday morning about the good old days when all the
pews were full.
Oh, but she has good deeds. Why, just last month she
made that pie for the visitors social. But she may not do that anymore
because people just don’t compliment her on it anymore like they used to and if
people aren’t going to notice and appreciate what she does then it’s not worth
doing. She knows all the answers in Sunday School but her life has not
been changed. She can explain the chair but she has not sat in it in
faith.
Again, I am not saying that person is a demon but James
would say she has demon-style faith. James then says in verse 20, “You foolish person, do
you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? And then
he goes on to give 2 examples of people in the Old Testament that proved their
faith by their deeds. Were they saved by their good works? Did
their good deeds get them to Heaven? No, of course not. But we are
going to talk about that in just a second.
Their good deeds did not make them righteous. It
proved their righteousness. There is a big difference. Let’s look
at that word “righteous” or “righteousness” for a second. What does it
mean to be righteous? The dictionary definition says it is to be morally right or justifiable. It basically
means to be right or make the right decisions in the eyes of God. Jesus
said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Blessed are those who want to do what God wants them
to do. That is being righteous.
And you prove you want to do what God wants you to do by
…what? You prove it by doing it, right? Let’s go back to the chair
illustration. Dead faith says, “Sure,
I believe it will hold me up.” But nothing else ever comes of
it. Demonic faith agrees that the chair is able to hold him up. He
really believes it mentally and emotionally. But he will not use that
chair to hold him up because it is just too confining. He likes to do
what he has always done so…no chair for him.
But dynamic faith
is different. Dynamic faith, by definition, has to do
something. Just like Abraham and Rahab both did something to prove their
faith, Mr. Dynamic Faith proved his righteousness and proved his faith by not
only having mental and emotional faith in the chair but sitting in the
chair and relying on it and conforming to it. And that is
the proof of faith. That is how other people know you have faith.
That is how the world can see that you are a Christian. They see you
sitting in the chair and sitting the way the chair was designed for you to sit.
If you lay across the chair, are you showing faith in the
chair? Yep. Let’s just call that dumb faith. It’s a whole
other category! You are showing faith. You are even relying on it
but you are not conforming to it. Or you can conform to the shape of the
chair without actually relying on it. You do good works but not for the
right reason. Well that’s not dynamic faith either. Dynamic faith is relying on and conforming
to the chair.
You are relying on God and conforming to His will for your
life. That is dynamic faith. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able
to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Don’t conform
to this world. That kind of faith is useless. That’s what James
says. And what does he mean by useless? We know that we are saved
by grace and through faith but this kind of faith – when you conform to the
world – will not save you. It will do nothing for you. My dear
family, there may be some of us here this morning without dynamic, saving
faith. And that scares me. The really scary part is that you may be
able to fool most of us here. 1 Corinthians 2:11 says, “For who knows
a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them?”
You may be
able to say all the right things and have all the right answers but you don’t
have saving, dynamic faith because you are not relying on God for everything
you need and to be everything you need, nor are you conforming to His
will for your life. So, how do you know? What does it look like to
have dynamic faith? Is it just doing good works? If so, then how
many little old ladies do I have to help across the road before I get to go to
Heaven?
If that’s
your question then you are never going to get your answer. You are
missing the point. Let me share with you what I think are 3 different
types of works or deeds. You can help a little old lady across that
street and that’s good. That’s a physical deed that you can do. Mow
the neighbor’s lawn. Give to the food pantry here at the church.
Work in the nursery. Give your tithes and offerings. Those are
physical things you can do that show you are relying on God and conforming to
His will.
There are
also moral deeds that you can do. Don’t raise your hand but how many of
you are outraged at the federal government giving money to abortion
clinics? Now, how many of you are doing anything about it? That would
be a moral deed. Just being outraged is just like the guy saying, “Be
warm and well-fed” but doing nothing. Your congressman may be a great guy
but where does he stand on same-sex marriage? The Bible calls it a sin so
we should do our moral deed and vote against that guy.
Maybe you
should encourage your kids or grandkids to get married before they live
together. Because not saying anything? “Be warm and well-fed.” Or maybe your moral deed that God
would have you to do is simply inviting your neighbor to Christ
Fellowship. That is relying on God and conforming to His will for your
life.
But there are
also spiritual deeds that we should do. And if you really want to show
that you are relying on God and you are conforming to His will then you will read
your Bible. You will pray. And you will attend worship. You
will trust in the Lord (have faith) with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your
paths. And you will not waddle out of here.
If you don’t
see those things in your life; if your life is not producing moral, physical
and spiritual fruit then maybe you need to do business with God right now to
see if you are a true believer. But if
you are looking to any of those things to save you; if you think good moral,
physical or even spiritual deeds will assure you a place in Heaven then you
have misunderstood.
In Luke 23
we see the awful end of the life of Jesus. He is hanging on the cross
with two criminals on either side of Him. One of them makes fun of Him
but the other simply says to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your
kingdom.” And right then and there his eternity was changed. He
didn’t do any good deeds. He never got baptized. All he did was
believe but in doing so that man was relying on Jesus and to the best of his
ability was conforming to God’s will for his life. That is faith and that
is why we will see that man in Heaven. Have you done that? All you
have to do is believe.
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