This week we are talking about the difference
between beliefs and convictions. Yesterday, we discovered that a clear and
simple definition of a belief is that a belief is a feeling that something
exists or is true. In addition, a belief tells us what we ought to do. By
contrast, when it comes to convictions, a clear and simple definition of a
conviction is a conviction is a firm belief that is so strong that it results
in behavior that lines up with the belief. And while a belief tells us what we
ought to do, a conviction results in us doing what we ought to do. In other
words, a conviction is a belief that we hold so strongly that it drives how we
behave.
You see, our behavior is not about our beliefs; our behavior is
about our convictions. What we really believe is revealed by how we behave. And it is our
behavior that often betrays what we say we believe to reveal what we truly
believe. And to experience a genuine and growing relationship with Jesus is not
simply about having beliefs about who Jesus is and what we ought to do.
Instead, to experience and genuine and growing relationship with Jesus is about
having convictions that drive us to do what we ought to do.
We see this reality revealed for us in 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, beginning in James 2:14-17. In these verses, James made the point that to say that
we believe in Jesus but do not behave in a way that looks like Jesus may mean
that we have not really been rescued by Jesus. If our behavior looks nothing
like Jesus, then a natural question that must be asked is “Do we really know
Jesus and have a relationship with Jesus?”
James then anticipated 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." The motivation behind this statement, however, is
the idea that belief and behavior are not necessarily related to each other.
In other words, it is possible to be right with God as a result of
our performance for God without trusting in God. And it is possible to trust in
God without doing anything for God. But is that true? Can you have either one
without the other? And specifically, can you really believe in Jesus without
living a life that looks anything like Jesus? We see James answer this question
in the rest of
verses 18-20:
show me your faith without the works,
and I will show you my faith by my works." You believe that God is one.
You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to
recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
James responds
to those who would say that belief and behavior are not necessarily related to
each other by stating "show me your faith without the works, and I will show you
my faith by my works." But what does that mean? James
point here is that a person’s
belief in God cannot be demonstrated apart from their behavior. A person’s belief
in God is revealed by their attitudes and actions.
Think about
that for a second. I mean, regardless of whether or not you buy the whole
Jesus, Bible, church thing, doesn’t that make sense? We are unable to know what
each other truly believes apart from how we behave. What we believe and trust
in is reflected by 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.
James begins to
unpack this reality with three different examples. First, in verse 19, James
states that the demons believe in God and shudder. But why would James use
demons as an example? I mean, obviously demons are not rescued by Jesus. James
uses demons because demons are fully aware of who God is. The demons have
better theology than anyone in this room. But the demons shudder in fear. The
reality is that the demons shudder in fear because their destiny is eternal
separation from God in hell.
The demons are
destined for hell because having all the facts is not enough to have the faith
that rescues us from our selfishness and rebellion. The difference
between being separated from God and experiencing a relationship with God
is not having the facts; it is what we do with the facts. James then continues
by giving us a second example from the life of Abraham in verses 21-24. Let’s
look at these verses together;
Was not Abraham our father
justified by works when he
offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith
was working with his works, and as
a result of the works,
faith was
perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which
says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS
RECKONED TO
HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he
was
called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified
by works and not by faith alone.
Here we see
James point 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. But to
understand why James is talking about Abraham, we need to go back and look at
Abraham’s life. James begins by referring to a passage in Genesis 22, starting
in verse 1-3:
Now it came about after
these things, that God tested
Abraham, and said to him,"Abraham!" And he said,
"Here I am."
He said, "Take now your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and
offer him
there as a burnt offering on
one of the
mountains of which I will tell you." So Abraham rose early
in the morning and saddled his donkey, and
took two of his
young men with him and Isaac
his son; and he split wood
for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the
place of
which God had told him.
Now, I don’t
know about you, but this conversation provokes several questions doesn’t it? I
mean what is going on here? The first question that naturally comes to mind
here is “well why is God testing Abraham anyways?” The word test here literally
means to test so as to prove and provide evidence that demonstrates the truth
of what someone or something is really like. So, God is providing a test to
Abraham to see if there was any evidence to prove that Abraham was in
possession of something.
On the one hand
that makes total sense doesn’t it? I mean, that is why we take tests, isn’t it?
It isn’t enough to say that we know how to drive a car; we have to take a
driving test to prove that we know how to drive a car. It is not enough to say
we are patient. It is only when we have our patience tested that we prove or
demonstrate whether or not we are actually patient. But, twhat does Abraham need to prove and
provide evidence about? What does he need to demonstrate that he possesses that
requires God to test him? And doesn’t God already know the answer?
A second
question that comes to mind here is “why would God command Abraham to kill and
offer his son Isaac as an act of worship? I mean that command seems extreme.”
By commanding Abraham with the words please take, we see the Lord acknowledging
how much Abraham cares for Isaac and how much this will cost Abraham.
Now this leads
to a third question, which is “why would Abraham even consider following this
command?” The reason that Abraham would not object to God’s command as being
strange can be explained by understanding two aspects of the context that this
conversation takes place in. First, at this point in God’s story, the Ten
Commandments had not been given. And God had not given any instructions
regarding the worship of Him, as we will see later in the Bible.
Second, the
cultures that surrounded Abraham and his family frequently killed their
children and offered them up as an act of worship. While we look at this as
morally reprehensible today in light of what God has revealed to us through His
word and character, Abraham had not been exposed to that yet.
You see, the
test for Abraham was not the unusual and potentially morally objectionable
nature of the command. The test was for Abraham that God was asking Abraham to
kill and sacrifice as an act of worship to God the one person who could fulfill
God’s promise that had been made to him. God commanded Abraham to give up to
death what was closest to himself, which would put to death God’s promises to
Abraham. A promise that
God made to Abraham in Genesis 15:1-6;
After these things the
word of the LORD came to Abram
in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to
you; Your
reward shall be very great." Abram said, "O
Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and
the heir
of my house is Eliezer of
Damascus?" And Abram
said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in
my house is my heir."
Then behold, the word of the LORD
came to him, saying,
"This man will not be your heir; but
one who will come forth from your own
body, he shall be
your heir." And
He took him outside and said, "Now look
toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to
count
them." And He said to him, "So
shall your
descendants be." Then he believed in the LORD; and He
reckoned
it to him as righteousness.
You see, Isaac
was to be the beginning of a great nation, a nation so large that it would
compare to the stars in Heaven. It had been around 30 years since God made that
promise to Abraham and Isaac is now a young man, at least in his late teenage
years. Imagine being in Abraham’s shoes. You had seen God give you a child in
your old age, when you were 100, when it seemed beyond possibility. You had
seen Isaac grow up and developed a close bond with him. As you head up the
mountain Isaac is carrying the wood and questioning you about where you are
going to get the lamb for the offering. Just a few verses later, in verses
9-10, we see what happened when Abraham and his only son Isaac arrived at the
place God told Him to go to:
Then they came to the place of which God
had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and
bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched
out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
When and how
did Abraham tell his son that he was the offering? What was he feeling as he
bound his son on the altar; what was he feeling as he raised the knife? Can you
imagine? Just at the point of striking with the knife, we read the following in
verse 11-12:
But the angel of the LORD
called to him from heaven and
said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
He said,
"Do not stretch out your hand against
the lad,
and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only
son, from
Me."
We know from
the rest of this event from history that God provided a lamb to take Isaac's place, a dramatic foreshadowing of what Jesus would do by taking our place,
when God gave His one and only son to provide us the opportunity to be rescued
from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God when we trust in
Him. But what is the point of the test?
God tested
Abraham to prove his belief in God and His promise to him. The only way that
Abraham could prove his belief, however, was to behave in a way that
demonstrated his trust in God. Abraham had to act on his belief and trust that
God would keep His promises. The idea of Abraham being justified or declared
not guilty of having a problem with God, in verse 21, is the idea that
Abraham’s belief was demonstrated and validated. Abraham's belief was
perfected, as it says in verse 22 by his behavior. What Abraham did in Genesis
22 was the outworking of his belief that was described in chapter 15.
We see this
concept of the interconnection between belief and behavior in the third example
that James provides in James 2:25. Friday we will look at this example…
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