At the church where I serve, we have been looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. James was the half brother of Jesus who turned from being a doubter in Jesus to being a pastor of Jesus church and an author of this letter that is recorded for us in the Bible after seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead. And as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus.
This week, I would like for us to spend our time together
picking up where we left off last week. And
as we jump into this next section of this letter, we are going discover a
timeless truth that occurs in the life of a faith that works itself out in a
way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus. However, before we
jump into this section of this letter, I want to set this section of this
letter up with a story.
My wife Julie, my daughter Rachel, and I lived in Kingman Arizona
for about ten years. Then, in 2000, we moved from Kingman to Portland, Oregon
so that I could attend seminary. After our first year in Portland, a family who
were close friends with from Kingman, Jody and Wiatt, along with their daughter
Kaylee, came to visit us.
We had shared several milestones as families together,
including the birth of our children only two weeks apart. It happened that Jody
was going to be in Portland to attend a conference for a week in July, so the
entire family decided to join her for a vacation. During the time that Jody was
involved in the conference, the rest of us would go out for some sightseeing of
Portland.
One day during the trip, we decided to hang out at the hotel
and swim at the pool. Jody and Wiatt were staying at the Marriott in Portland,
which had a beautiful outdoor pool that was surrounded by the different wings
of the hotel. Now, at this point, Rachel and Kaylee were both three years old.
As we began to swim, I immediately noticed that Rachel was a
little apprehensive. Rachel had taken her first swimming lessons, but she did
not seem totally comfortable. As time went on, however, she seemed to relax and
was enjoying riding on her daddy’s back and floating in the pool with those
little arm floaties and other toys.
After about 20 minutes, Kaylee decided to start the fun game
of getting out of the pool so that she could have her dad catch her as she
jumped back in. As soon as she hit the water and was caught by her dad, she
would head straight to the ladder to start the process over again. After seeing
Kaylee having such fun, Rachel and I decided to join in.
Rachel followed Kaylee out of the pool and walked beside her
up to the edge, laughing with excitement the entire time. Rachel watched Kaylee
jump into her daddy’s arms with claps and a loud yell. Then it was Rachel’s turn.
And something very strange happened.
As Rachel inched closer to the edge of the pool, her joy and
laughter turned to uneasiness and nervousness. As Wiatt and I gave words of
encouragement, a fearful look came over her face. Rachel began to say “Daddy I’m
scared. Daddy, I want to jump in, but I’m scared”. I began to reassure her, by
saying that I would catch her and that she would be safe. I pointed out to
Rachel that she still had her floaties on. I pointed out that I was standing
there and would not move. I even held my arms out to show that I was ready to
catch her.
I asked her if she thought I was a good swimmer. She said
that she did, but that she still was not sure if she wanted to jump in. I then
told her that once she jumped in the first time, she would enjoy it so much
that she would want to do it over and over again. I continued to reassure and
encourage her to take the step and jump in, yet Rachel was paralyzed with
uncertainty.
Can you relate to this story? As a parent, can you remember
a time that you were in a similar situation with your son or daughter? And even
if you are not a parent, can you relate to being in Rachel’s position? Maybe
for you it was not jumping into a pool, it was jumping into college. Maybe for
you it was not jumping into a pool, it was jumping into a new job. Maybe for
you it was not jumping into a pool, it was jumping into a major decision or
transition in your life.
Have you been there? Have you faced that point in time where
you needed to “jump off the ledge and into the pool” so to speak? I mean, we
have all been there, haven’t we? So with that in mind, let’s jump back into
this next section of this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus
and is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, beginning in James 2:14-17.
Let’s look at it together;
What use is it, my brethren, if
someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a
brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you
says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do
not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so
faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
James begins this section of his letter with a question, an
illustration, and an answer. In verse 14, James asks “What use is it, my
brethren, if someone has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?”
In other words, James is basically asking “what use is faith
if that faith does not do anything? Does a faith that does not do anything
really rescue anyone from an eternity separated from God? How can you say that
you trust Jesus, when you do not do anything that demonstrates that you are
trusting and following the message and teachings of Jesus?”
James then provides and illustration or example of such a faith
that does not do anything in verses 15 and 16. If James was providing this
illustration in the language we use in our culture today, this illustration
might sound something like this: If someone was to come to the Emergency
Assistance Window asking for help and we responded as a church by saying “I
hope that everything works out, we’ll be praying for you. I will be praying
that God provides you some food and resources. Good luck and have a nice day”.
James then answers his own question in verse 17 by stating
that “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” And it is
here that James reveals for us the reality that faith without fruit is a dead
faith that cannot save. James point is that 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?”
Now right about now you might be thinking to yourself “Well isn’t
James saying that we are saved by works? Isn’t James saying that we are rescued
from our selfishness and rebellion by what we do for God? Isn’t that what James
is talking about?"
There are some religious systems, that would day that it is
our performance for God that results in us being right with God. That is the
position of Islam, for example. Or in the case of Mormonism and even
Catholicism, it is faith plus our performance, such as keeping the sacraments,
which make us right with God.
However, if that is the case, if we are saved by works, or
performance for God, that would seem to contradict what the Apostle Paul stated
in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by grace through faith alone. So is James
saying something different from Paul? And if so, who is right, James or Paul?
We see James anticipate and articulate this challenge for us in the first part
of verse 18;
But someone may well say,
"You have faith and I have works;
In other words, James anticipates the person who would say
“Well you think you are saved by trusting in Jesus. Well look at everything
that I do for Jesus so that I can be right with God. You go ahead and trust in
Jesus; I trust in what I do for Jesus."
But is that true? Can you have either one without the other?
And specifically, can you really trust in Jesus without living a life that
looks like Jesus?
We see James answer this question in the rest of verses 18-20.
We will look at James answer tomorrow….
No comments:
Post a Comment