This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus and is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. So far this week, we have seen James reveal for us the reality that
faith without fruit is a dead faith that cannot save. To say that we trust in
Jesus but do not live a life that produces attitudes and actions that look like
Jesus may mean that we have not really been rescued by Jesus. If the fruit, or
what is produced in our lives, looks nothing like Jesus, then a natural
question that must be asked is “Do we really know Jesus and have a relationship
with Jesus?”
We then saw James explain that a person’s faith in
God cannot be demonstrated apart from works. A persons trust in God is revealed
by their attitudes and actions. What we talk about, what we think about, how we
handle our time and our treasure, and where we run to in times of trouble
reveals what we truly trust in. We then saw James begin to unpack this reality
with three different examples. First, James uses demons because, just like
demons, having all the facts is not enough to have the faith that works and
that rescues us from our selfishness and rebellion. The difference between dead
faith and the faith that works and that rescues us from our selfishness and
rebellion is not having the facts; it is what we do with the facts.
James then pointed followers of Jesus back to a
section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible
called the book of Genesis and the example of a man named Abraham. We
discovered that God tested Abraham to prove his faith in God and His promise to
him. The only way that Abraham could prove his faith, however, was to trust.
Abraham had to act on his faith and trust that God would keep His promises.
Today, we see this concept of the interconnection
between trust and faith in the third example that James provides beginning in
James 2:25;
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?
James points the readers
of his letter, and followers of Jesus throughout history to the life of a woman
named Rahab that is recorded for us in a section of a letter that is recorded
for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Joshua. Now, in the
letters that make up the Bible, there cannot be two more different people than
Abraham and Rahab. Abraham was a man while Rahab was a woman. Abraham was
religious, Rahab was irreligious. Abraham was respected as the father of the
Jewish faith, Rahab was a prostitute.
In Joshua 2, Joshua sent
two spies on a reconnaissance mission to the city of Jericho. However, as the
spies went in to the Promised Land before crossing the Jordan
Now before they lay down, she came
up to them on the roof, and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror
of you has fallen on us, and that all
the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the
water of the Red Sea before you when you came
out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond
the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you
utterly destroyed. "When we heard it,
our hearts melted and no courage
remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
"Now therefore, please swear
to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's
household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all
who belong to them, and deliver our lives
from death."
A little further, we pick
up the story in verse 17-19:
The men said to her, "We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household. "It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him.
By referring to Rahab, James is revealing for us
the reality that what rescued Rahab was not having the facts. The faith that
worked and that rescued Rahab was acting on those facts by helping the spies
escape Jericho
James point here is that the difference between
dead faith and the faith that works and that rescues from our selfishness and
rebellion is that the faith that works is validated and demonstrated by the
fruit it produces. And that fruit is only produced when we act on that faith by
trusting God and the promises of God. And it is this thought that is shared both
by James and by the Apostle Paul.
Both Paul and James reveal for us the reality that
the faith that works and that rescues from our selfishness and rebellion has
proof and produces fruit. The faith that works produces actions or works of
trust that are fruit and proof of a living faith. We see this laid out for us
in James 2:26:
As
the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
After sitting at the edge of the pool for about 15
minutes, Rachel decided to trust and act on the facts by jumping into my
waiting arms. And for the next 30 minutes Rachel and Kaylee jumped in and out
of the pool in a joyful glee that one can only understand if they have
experienced the result of being in that type of a living and trusting
relationship.
And it is here, in this
section of this letter, that we see James reveal for us a timeless truth when
it comes to the faith that works. And that timeless truth is this: The faith
that works produces acts of confident trust in God and God's promises. Just as
it was for followers of Jesus in James day; just as it has been for followers
of Jesus throughout history, the faith that works produces acts of confident
trust in God and God's promises.
The timeless reality is
that the faith that works involves
more than having the facts; it involves more than an intellectual agreement
with the facts; the faith that works involves trusting Jesus by jumping in to a
life that is centered around following Jesus. I find it interesting that Jesus
did not call His disciples to receive the gift of salvation. Instead, Jesus
called His disciples and calls us today to leave lives of self reliance and
self trust behind to follow and trust Him. And the faith that works produces
acts of trust in God and God's promises that are the proof and fruit of a
genuine and growing faith.
So here is a question to
consider: What does the fruit, or what is being produced by your life reveal
about your level of your faith in Jesus? Does your day to day life produce acts
of confident trust that strive to follow the message and teachings of Jesus? Do
you trust Jesus enough to do the right thing, even if it is not the easy or the
popular thing to do? Do the attitudes and actions of your day to day live
demonstrate and validate a confident trust in Jesus?
Or do you trust Jesus
with the “big” areas of your life; but you still want to hold on to other areas
in your life. What does what you talk about, think about, how you handle your
time and your treasure, and where you run to in times of trouble reveals what
you truly trust in?
Because the timeless reality is that the faith that works produces acts of
confident trust in God and God's promises...
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