WWUTT 273 Faith Without Works Is Dead?

James and the Question of Faith Without Works

If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Faith without works is a dead faith when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. Greetings, everyone. We are in James 2, verses 14 through 17 today. If you want to open up your Bibles and join with me there. Before getting to the text, I would like to ask, if you listen on iTunes or with your iPhone through the podcast app, would you leave us a positive review on iTunes?

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James Explains Why Faith Without Works Is Dead

All right, let's let's get to the text. James chapter two, beginning in verse 14. Very controversial section here. Surely you've heard this. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body.

What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is a dead faith. Let's keep going here for the sake of context. But someone will say you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Now we're going to come back to this again next week on Monday and we'll expound upon this a little bit more for the for the most part.

I want to focus on verses 14 through 17. That's as far as we are going to go today. So the reason why this section is so controversial, and again, we'll get into this a little bit more on Monday, is because it looks like James is saying that we are justified by our works, whereas the Apostle Paul has said the exact opposite.

Justification, Sanctification, and Faith Alone

In Ephesians 2, 8, 9, it is by grace you are saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. And yet, James is saying here, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

So are the five solas wrong? Are we not justified by faith alone? By grace alone? In Christ alone? We are in fact justified by our works? It's not what James is saying here, because what he's speaking about is sanctification.

When it comes down to it, justification and sanctification are the same thing. Justification is the act, and sanctification is the process. Sanctification is that act in motion. It's taking justification and running with it.

That's basically what sanctification is. So if a person has been justified, if they have been declared holy by God, by Christ, and his sacrifice on the cross for us, our sins have been atoned for, we are forgiven before God, we are declared in the righteousness of Christ.

So if a person has been justified in Christ, we are guiltless before God, then he will be sanctified. He will be grown in that justification. He will grow in matters of holiness and righteousness being shaped in the image of Christ.

That's sanctification. If somebody has not been justified, then he won't be sanctified. If somebody is not being sanctified, then they've never been justified. Does that make sense? So James is talking about justification in terms of sanctification here.

That's what he's talking about. If a person has truly been justified, then he will show by his works evidence of that justification. The works are the evidence. They are not the cause of saving faith.

They're the evidence of that saving faith. That's really all that's being argued here. And I have had discussions before with Catholics and with Mormons who will use this particular text. They will use this scripture to say that we are justified by our works.

James says so. But to say that would be to dismiss everything else that is said in the New Testament. Because James and Paul would agree, they would not disagree on this point. There is no dichotomy between faith and works.

Paul and James would agree that the basis of salvation is grace alone through faith. Works are not the basis for that faith, but they are the result of that faith. We will show that that faith has really occurred in our lives and that we really believe what we say we believe when we show by our works the evidence of that faith.

We will show that faith being played out. And so that's what James addresses here in these first several verses. Verses 14 through 17. He says, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but he does not have works?

That's the thesis statement for everything that follows all the way through verse 26. You got to keep that in mind. If someone says he has faith, but does not have works, then his faith means nothing.

So works are the evidence of that faith. They're not the cause of it. He never makes the argument that works are the cause of faith. They are the evidence of the faith from the very first sentence on.

OK, so keeping all of that in context, can that faith save him if he does not have works? Is it a saving faith? That's that's James's question. If a person says that he has been saved by Christ, but they do not buy their works, show evidence of that saving faith.

Is it really saving faith? Verse 15, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body.

What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Very convicting kind of a scenario that James is painting here. You've got a person who is in need, and instead of helping them with that need, you just throw out these platitudes, these these pious statements.

Well, I will pray for you. I'll send you on your way, and I hope that the Lord blesses you with this need that you have. OK, and no matter how religious you might sound and the things that you say, all things considered, it's a cop out because you don't really want to help that person.

And furthermore, how often do we even follow through with praying for the person that we say that we're going to pray for? Like maybe there is an exchange that you're having with somebody else where there's not any way that you can help them materially, but they have a spiritual need and you say for it, you say to them, well, I'll pray for you.

But then do you do it? Do you actually later in the day think about that person and pray for them? Or you've just thrown out another one of those Christianese platitudes that comes from a disingenuous heart because you don't actually intend to pray for that person.

Why not right there on the spot pray like after you've shared these these things from your heart and you have felt sympathetic toward that person because of the the thing that they're experiencing right now?

Just pray right there. Say, well, why don't we pray about that? You and I together. Let's pray. Maybe you've got some other people around you. You can gather them together and you can have a group prayer over this thing.

And then you have several saints that are together on this. And maybe one of those saints knows how to help this brother or sister in a way that you didn't know how to help them. There are so many other ways that we can put this into action that we don't do.

It just becomes that regular Christian platitude of I will pray for you. And James attacks that sentiment right here, that rather that false sentiment when he says that, you know, if we see somebody who is in need, they're lacking in something in clothing or in daily food.

And one of you says, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. He's attacking that whole thing. Well, I'll pray for you. That's really what he's confronting right here.

Go in peace, be warmed, be filled. What good is it if you don't give them what it is that they need? So faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. We need to be putting legs under this faith that we say that we have, because otherwise it's just sitting in an easy chair and it's doing nothing.

And that's a dead faith. It doesn't do anything. It is not a saving faith. It is a faith that does not show the love of Christ. And we have this charge that is given to us in other places in the scriptures that we need to help those who are in need.

Love in Deed and the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats

The apostle John said, 1 John 3, verse 16, by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. We also hear in Matthew chapter 25, when Jesus is talking about the final judgment, beginning in verse 31, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a sheep separates, I'm sorry, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left.

Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.

And then he will say to those on his left, depart from me. You cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?

And then he will answer them saying, truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

You see here being described sins of omission, things that they did not do and therefore sinned against God because their faith was not shown to be genuine by doing the things that the Lord Christ had commanded we do for one another.

The Gospel Must Accompany Christian Charity

Now, I abhor the social gospel. I hate the social gospel. It's that idea of you just do good things for other people. And that's the gospel. As we go out doing kind things for others, we need to be delivering the gospel.

We can do kindness for one another. We can we can do charitable acts. We can show love by meeting needs in the lives of those who have needs. But if we do not take the gospel with us, then we don't truly care because anybody can help one another in another person's needs.

You see secular organizations in our country all the time helping to meet needs. The government can help to meet needs. They do a very terrible job at it, but they can still do it. And I know that they can because my wife and I have received government assistance before.

And so that's charity, quote unquote, as as genuine or disingenuous as it might be. It's still charity that comes from the government that helps to meet needs. So even the government can do that. But if we are not taking the gospel with us, speaking the message that rescues from death and gives life, telling a person that they are dead in their sins, in their trespasses, unless they repent and follow Christ Jesus, who gives us his righteousness and forgives us of our sins, unless we are telling them that message, then everything kind and comfy that we do for another person is really just giving them a comfortable seat to hell.

So the gospel must be there. It must be ever present. We don't just do kind works for one another. We must have the gospel. But hear me on this. If you have a faith that is nothing but your platitudes, it is nothing but your doctrines and your theology and your talk.

But there's no action to it. I tell you, my brothers and sisters, if you are my brothers and sisters, your faith is dead. In fact, it's probably wrong of me to call you brothers and sisters because you wouldn't be you wouldn't be brothers and sisters since you've never actually been transformed by the grace of Christ and shown evidence of that transformation in the works that you do for other people.

There must truly be a need and a desire to go and help the needs of the poor, those who are less fortunate. This is what Christ did. He did this for us. He not only preached the gospel, he helped those who were in need and he helped them even when he, as Christ, knew that they were not going to follow him.

Do you understand that? So as Jesus is God and is sovereign and he knows those who are going to follow him and those who are not, he called those disciples who are going to follow him and he knew by doing the good works that he did, the miracles and the kindness and charity that he showed toward other people, he knew who was going to follow him and who was not.

But it was in in showing these miracles that he did that he confirmed that he was God. And yet he still showed kindness and charity to everyone. And so, my friends, we must as well. Even Jesus, who knew who would follow him and who would not, and he still showed them kindness.

And so we must do the same. The gospel ever present, but the confirmation of the gospel also ever present in the works that we do. Amen. Makes sense. Do you understand? There needs to be more than talk and there also needs to be more than works.

It is it is the declaration of sound doctrine. And then the actions, the way that we live our lives, the things that we do for other people, the way that we show love confirms the doctrines that we believe in preaching sound doctrine.

Yes, absolutely. Do that. But then you must also live out your faith as a confirmation of that doctrine that you preach, teach, believe, share. Let it all be there together, the gospel ever present, for it is the gospel that has the power to save.

And remember, my friends, Jesus said that you will always have the poor. If I am saying these things to you and you're going, well, I just don't know any poor people, I'm telling you, you're not trying hard enough.

And there are people in your church who are less fortunate. Keeping these things in context with what we've just talked about in the earlier parts of James chapter two, something that I mentioned yesterday was either yesterday or the day before.

I forget now. But anyway, the most common kind of discrimination that we will see happen in the church, there is discrimination that occurs on a racial level, on an ethnic level, in a cultural context.

Those kinds of prejudices do exist within the church. But the most common kind is going to be prejudice between those who are more fortunate and those who are less fortunate. Those who are more blessed by the world's goods are going to look down on those who are not as blessed.

It is the most common kind of prejudice that we experience in the church, because even a church that is racially segregated will still experience that kind of prejudice among its members unless we are careful and the spirit has taken hold of our hearts and a loving kindness is well exercised in that particular church.

So there are people in your own congregation who need assistance. Look for them. Find ways that you can help them buy gift cards for crying out loud. Maybe you're like me and you just don't know what to get for somebody else.

I'm a terrible gift giver. I just I can't think of a good gift to buy for somebody else, even if they've told me what they want. I don't know why I'm just so terrible at it. So get a gift card. That's an easy thing to do.

Buy a grocery card for him or a gas card or something like that. Some something that you can do to help somebody else with their needs. We can find ways of showing loving kindness to those who are less fortunate.

And we must because our faith demands it. Our great God, as we have received this text, I pray that it truly would be convicting that every one of us can examine our lives and realize, boy, there is more that I can do.

There's more I can do for the brotherhood of Christ, for my brothers and sisters in the Lord and in my own body, in my own church. There are people in the community that I can reach out with with the world's goods and help them and deliver the gospel to them so that so that they hear it.

The words that have salvation for eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. What better way can I get that message to another person than by sharing the gospel? And so, Lord, guide me in these things.

Give me these opportunities. Give me a heart for the less fortunate that I would not result to these meaningless platitudes that I don't have any intention of following through with, not even praying for another person when I say that I'm going to pray for them.

But let me have a heart that that springs to action right here. I'm going to pray for you right now. I'm going to help you. Let me do what it is that I need to do to help meet these needs that you say that you have.

Help us to have this genuine love and care for one another in the body of Christ and even among everyone around us. As Paul said to the Galatians, as we have opportunity, let us show good to everyone, especially to the household of faith.

And we pray and ask for this zealousness in our hearts in the name of Christ, who gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people who are zealous for good works. As it says in Titus chapter two, it's in his name we pray.

Amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.