James 2:14-26 sermon by Dr. Bob Utley

well this is good to have my wife Peggy back with me thank you all so much for praying for her we we kind of giggle she couldn't ride and couldn't sit and she fell in the bathtub and now she can we have a strange a guardian angel but we're great that she can travel with me that the text I'm going to deal with and you need to open your Bibles James 2:14 through 26 I want to do several opening remarks please kind of hang with me but keep your Bibles open the key is the text of the Bible first I want to say how grateful I am to Martin Luther the Roman Catholic monk Old Testament professor who recaptured the wonderful truth of justification by grace through faith Paul's wonderful truth from Romans 4 and Galatians 3 started the Protestant Reformation turned our heart back to a emphasis on the need to personally receive Jesus Christ and walk in him and I feel so uncomfortable saying that I think Martin Luther misunderstood this text I mean Who am I to say Martin Luther and misunderstood anything but Martin Luther misunderstood this text this is the text he wanted to just take the book of James out of the Canon over I mean he was willing to take the book completely out of the New Testament and this is the text this text is not hard to understand when you read it the problem is it crashes into some of our denominational systematic theology it crashes into some of the things that we've been told in Creed's and when it does that then it makes us uncomfortable this is the Word of God and I believe we have to deal with it now normally in a text like this where we have a Paul with an emphasis on justification by grace through faith and James with an emphasis on what seems to be works confirmation and normally I would say this is one of those biblical paradoxes but this is not a biblical pair this is a misunderstanding of the text of James now I you know I'm going against hundreds of years of church traditions so I want you to watch your text and I wanted I want to read a little bit of my introduction because I really want you to think about this I want to say again to you the more you know the more you know you don't know but there is only one source of faith and practice amen and it's Scripture so we've got to go back to Scripture so I hope while I'm doing this brief introduction that you will read through chapter 2 14 through 26 you've got two ears that's why God gave them to you so read and listen with one Paul and James do not contradict each other they complement each other now that's going to be strange at first because this is seen as a as a absolute conflict some even call it an theological error the problem is that we don't recognize the difference now hear me hear me hear me between the purpose and recipients of Romans and the purpose and recipients of James and we're guilty of putting a theological definition on a biblical word and then every time that word appears we insert our pre understanding to the meaning of that word and the problem is that New Testament authors do not use the same words with the same meanings and that's that is confusing to us but I think I'm going to be able to explain this using purpose recipients and the definition of key terms like faith and works so I'm gonna submit this to you and you've gonna have to work with me on this sermon and you're gonna have to do some study on your own to see what kind of conclusion you can come to and then walk in the light of that conclusion so let me do a couple of summary statements about Paul and the book of Romans because that's of course we're more Luther picked up this great truth from Chapter four and Galatians three and they're certainly both there Paul is writing to a group of Jews who feel like they're saved because of their race and their obedience to the Mosaic law so the word works in Romans and Galatians is going to be Jewish obedience to the Mosaic Covenant but James is written to Christians and the word works is not a struggle over obedience to the Jewish covenant but over how do you live daily sacrificial christ-like love so works has a totally different meaning from Paul's writings and from James writings and I think that's caused a lot of trouble Paul is gonna pick up on Abraham for two reasons I think he was right with God by faith goes back to the encounter Genesis 15 God spoke to him Abraham believed the Bible says it was counted to him as righteousness that's Genesis 15 Paul is discussing how do you enter the Christian life how does it start for you last Sunday I talked about the gate and the way Jesus's imagery from Matthew 7 a gate is the personal encounter the aha moment the receiving Christ but the asking him to come into your life and there has to be a gate there has to be a ha moment there has to be a personal reception but Baptists tend to stop that right there and the trick is after the personal reception there has to be a way a lifestyle and we tend to ignore the way and other denominational groups tend to ignore the gate so Paul is emphasizing the gate James also using Abraham but using Abraham in Genesis 22 as God told him to take his son his only son Isaac the son of promise to a mountain and sacrifice him there to me and Abraham did it and the Bible records no complaint or argument one is dealing with how it started we're choosing Abraham because he is the father of the Jewish nation we choosing Abraham because he believed before there was a Mosaic law so he's a believer before he was obedient to a covenant that was so important in 1st century Palestine but they're using two different times in his life James radical statement is faith without works is dead now if you've grown up in a Paul line community and of course I am a paulin preacher most of my sermons come out of Paul I love Paul when I get to heaven I'm gonna slap Paul for a change in the definitions of these words in different contexts and he does it all the time the word mystery he changes the word hope he changes and what's happening here is the word faith is changing you say oh no I know what faith is well wait a minute sometimes the word faith has the definite article with it what does that mean as I look at this I think there are three distinct usages in the New Testament by inspired authors of this very crucial word called faith and you know there's one Greek root and three English translations of that group faith believe and trust only one Greek word behind that faith believe in trust all the same well what is that well I think first of all I put it this way last week and I think I'll reiterate it this way Christianity is a person to be welcomed faith Abraham had faith was counted to him as righteousness that gate that beginning that aha moment the faith is often used verse 20 and several times and acts the faith once and for all given to the Saints the doctrinal truth Christianity is a person to be welcomed truths about that person to be believed and here's the third one of faith because remember I told you the writers of the New Testament are Hebrew thinkers riding in Street Greek so the place you go for definitions is not a Greek dictionary but the Greek translation of the Old Testament the Septuagint and one of the famous passages is this is Habakkuk 2:4 a back up to four which Paul uses is really about faithfulness a person to be welcomed truths about that person to be believed and a life like that person to live we are saved to serve the goal of Christianity is not heaven when we die but Christ's likeness now now this is the difference between Paul the gate and James the road and I think the vocabulary is the same but in the context the meanings of the key words change let me give you example about notice the word righteousness such a famous powerful biblical word now when Paul is writing to people they think they're righteous because they do certain things I'll you have your Bibles open I won't get you to turn a whole lot but if you'll just turn to Matthew chapter 5 and 6 just for a moment Matthew 5:20 Jesus says and I think the people who heard him quit breathing unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will no wise enter the kingdom of God think what he just said scribes and Pharisees are those conservative godly people in that culture and then looked down at chapter 6 verse 1 where the word righteousness is used again the definition of the word righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount is not Paul's justification by grace through faith no no it's Jewish it's Jewish rules that make you acceptable to God almsgiving prayer synagogue attendants this is what righteousness means in Matthew 5:20 and 6:1 that is very very different than what Paul makes it mean in Romans chapter 4 James is using the definition of Jesus the righteousness in this text is godly living written to Christians in James in Paul it's mosaic performance that cannot bring someone to God now if you don't see that it causes a lot of confusion and I hope you'll think of me on this one of my favorite little commentaries on James is by one of the professors at Southwestern his name is Curtis Vaughn and his little commentary his study guide commentary on James he says there are three summary statement look at your Bible now he says there's three summary statements in James - that reflect the outline of the author and look at these summary statements first is James 17 and what does it say it says genuine faith is not an empty claim its verses 14 through 17 the second summary statement is in verse 20 and he says it says genuine faith is not the mere acceptance of a Creed you believe in one God you do well the demons also believe in trimble one more summary statement in verse 26 genuine faith is faith that produces an obedient life now the problem in Baptist theology as we have so emphasized the gate and I certainly believe there's a gate you can't osmose into the kingdom amen there must be an encounter mechanism of some kind we can't say art this way is the only way or evangelicalism but there must be an encounter mechanism but what we do is tend to stop it with the encounter and turn it into a life insurance policy or a ticket to heaven and neglect the purpose of us being saved as so others can come to know him we totally neglect the emphasis on service we're gifted to serve the church we're called to evangelism what has happened to us we've turned into the family circle won't be broken by and by group well the family's a lot bigger than your family and God wants to impact people through you and James wants to say don't you tell me that you passed the theology test but you don't love your neighbor and that somehow you're the same kind of believer as a believer here who may not have any resources but he loves and cares every day we have turned Christianity into a building and an hour and a denominational theology and we walk past hungry needy lost people every day and don't seem to be bothered by it and we don't agonize in prayer and we don't be willing to participate no no we've got a theology we've got a building and that's all I'm gonna say about that well there's more than that and James wants to grab us by the scruff of the neck James wants to shake us and say there's more so much more than that first sweet day there's more so much more with each passing day for the life I now live Christ is living in me in each word in each deed in each day life had only begun when I gave him my heart wasn't the start of the day was only the start God's son was crucified but now James wants to ask you and me what about now what about today well it's painful because we tend to hide this in attendance to a building and in giving a few of our hours and resources to God the allocation of your resources says a whole lot about the priority of your heart it's hard to hear now would you look at verse stuff if 14 just for a minute can that faith save him would you agree with me that we're talking here in James not in Paul here in James about an eschatological timeframe we're not talking about the word save meaning from lost to saved we're talking about endtime judgment saved from God's wrath kind of thing I want to remind you we do it 7 Jellico's talk a whole lot about the gate and again I think the gate is absolutely crucial but can I remind you that the judgment scene of Matthew 25:31 through 46 doesn't say all of you who receive Christ raise your hand and move to the Sheep side I was hungry I was naked I was in prison I was sick and you came to me the way you tell the sheep from the goats in the Matthew 25 judgment is their lifestyle of love and service to one another I want to tell you one of the parables that haunts me and it does haunt me and it ought to haunt you there's Matthew 13 the parable the sewers were there four kinds of soil and the Gospel message and the Gospel message falls on four kinds of hearts one heart doesn't believe because the devil takes it away three hearts the seed germinates it even says they receive the word with joy and then two of those seeds for whatever reason fall away and the only way you know the true conversion is not the receive it with joy but it bears fruit how much fruit is not the issue 30 60 100 not the issue how much not the issue what kind the issue is there's fruit in the life of the true believer I've come to use this little cliche and I use it like a hammer maybe a cleaver no fruit no root Matthew 7by finish it with me their fruit ye shall know them not the bumper-sticker not the Christian college not the family Bible on the table no no love service daily Christlikeness these are the things that Paul is emphysema that James is emphasizing in the way and they're painful because we tend not to emphasize them in the church now the F of verse 17 is a third class most of the conditions through here a third class which is potential action I think that James is doing what we call diatribe through here there's a supposed objector he's gonna play like someone is asking him a question or making a statement and then he's going to present real truth based on this false question or statement and Paul uses this a lot some Old Testament minor prophets use it it's a way of communicating truth by a supposed objector now notice if you would where he says in verse 18 the second section show me your faith without works and I'll show you my faith now they're gonna say I have Orthodox theology I believe there's one God now this is monotheism I certainly am a monotheist the place we go to is Deuteronomy 6:4 through six the Hebrew prayer called the Shema hear o Israel the Lord your God is one Lord and you shall worship the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength that's the affirmation of Israel of monotheism we are not try theist as Trinitarians we are monotheists but we are forced into a footnote of three eternal personal manifestations because of the New Testament revelation now the point is if we claim that we're right with God based on true theology we fall right into the trap of Gnosticism that claimed they were right because of what they know now thank God for correct theology my problem is who in the world has it surely you are so arrogant as to think your theology is God's theology one of the greatest greatest blessings of my life is to do evangelism overseas I don't know how many trips I've done 40 plus and I meet great Baptists and evangelical Christians overseas great great believers in other cultures and they never thought about doing Church the way you and I think it's always been done everywhere and it showed me what kind of blinders we have to this the way we do it's the only way and of course it is absolutely not nor is the I remember I was in Norway and at the end of servation we'd preach and try to do evangelism and in the service what people were getting happy and I told the pastor I said wow it really gets happy in here at the end he said yes he said all the women deacons speak in tongues well they'd hang you in Lubbock I guarantee you that and I want you know this man became the national leader he is the Baptist leader of the nation of Norway today we have these preconceived notions that are tied up with Baptists systematic theology I assure you correct theology will not help you enter the kingdom of God I'll just share this and I'm a little nervous about it but I'm gonna share it anyway the older to get the more I'm committed that it is not correct theology that makes me a Christian it's not orthodoxy it's artha prac see and there are some groups that you and I in the past have kind of questioned whether they were really brothers and sisters and I've come to my mind to say this if someone tells me that they've loved and trusted Jesus Christ and their life has a moral transforming character there are my brothers and sisters even if they do have some weird aspects because aren't you glad we don't have any weird aspects but there's got to be an encounter and there's got to be a godly lifestyle demons are pretty Orthodox amen they knew who Jesus was every time and tried to tell him and he wouldn't accept their testimony demons are perfect systematic theologians huh I've met some demonic theologians do I want you look at verse 20 just for a minute I don't do this often and I'm not gonna take a long time to do this but you'll see the little phrase that faith without works is and you probably have dead that's New King James but there are other options I've been amazed how many different Greek manuscripts have a different word here now most of our New Testament is based on what we call young sealed manuscripts which are all caps from the top of the page to the bottom with no division between words I want to show you the variety here I won't bug you with all the names of them but the word dead appears in some really old manuscripts the word barren and the word vain now the word vain comes from the oldest papyri manuscript and that's what the the American Bible Society says is the best guess but think of the variety here now brothers and sisters people are always telling me when you can't trust the Bible because there's errors in the Bible most of these errors they're talking about are spelling errors that make no difference in theology some are ones like this where one manuscript has one word and one has a synonym would you look me in the eye right now there is no manuscript problem in the New Testament that affects any Christian doctrine unless you believe drinking poison and handling snakes is a major doctrine and the groups that believe that tend to get smaller and smaller the first two questions in James 2:14 through 26 expected no answer in verse 21 expects a yes answer Abraham now Paul's gonna pick up on Abraham's initial faith to leave her and follow God James is gonna pick up on this unbelievable request to take his son his only son and sacrifice him and this is where God says now I know you really trust me this is this is where Abraham begins to be called a friend of God and he is justified by works you see it there in verse 21 now here's the problem if I use the word a wide semantic field or there are many lexical connotations to a word what I'm saying is if you look up some words in the dictionary there's a list of 1 2 3 4 5 ABCD those are all the ways this word is used in different context and you have to figure out what context you're in to know which one of those meanings to plug in now if we go to Paul Paul is using this in a legal forensic sense we would almost translate it you were declared righteous this I would call this positional sanctification we are sanctified and we're justified the moment we have this personal encounter this gate experience we're in him we're holy coz he's holy we're righteous cuz he's righteous and that's how Paul uses this word justify the word justifying the word righteous are the same Hebrew root from a straightedge or a ruler James is not using that he's using the word but he's changing the definition to what godly daily acts of love it's the same Greek word but if you look it up in the dictionary there's different options for different authors Paul is writing for evangelism James is writing for the Christian life James is using Jesus's vocabulary Paul is using the vocabulary of the rabbi's once you see that this is not a problem notice where it says faith work with works faith was perfected now this is the word that means fully equipped mature equipped for the assigned tasks I do believe that there are Christians who've had a gate experience but the way is not very clear for them and you know I I meet damaged Christians they call me they email me something has happened they've done something somebody's done something to them and their plans and dreams their prayers they're a ganache has just not worked out and their life is damaged and their testimony is damaged and they have no opportunities that they used to have I understand that and God will work that out but the norm the norm the norm is a mature serving loving Christianity I can't change the theology for the exceptions I've got to hold up the bar of Scripture and the bar of Scripture is Matthew 5:48 be holy as your father in heaven is holy you're expected to be different we've talked about new man we talked about raised to walk in newness of life Jane would say show me the new life or forget the ritual rituals will not help theology will not help mama will not help Nashville will not help you need to meet Jesus and live for him every day every day and I've said it before it is tacky the problem is the only difference in American culture between a believer and non-believer is where you park your car a couple hours a week until the distinctiveness of the radical call to New Testament discipleship grabs the hearts and minds of believers we have no hope to penetrate this culture unless the Holy Spirit and mercy sins a societal revival and I hope you're praying for that I'd like to kind of close this lad a little bit at verse 25 would you look now the Jews used Rahab the harlot who is an ancestor of Jesus as the ultimate example of the power of repentance what James says is you know Abraham really believed God because he offered Isaac you know Rahab really was changed really was new really was different really became a believer because she helped the spies now this is a cliche but it's true is there enough evidence in your life to convict you of being a Christian if you were put on trial and if not the book of James wants to talk to you

Channel: Free Bible Commentary

Views: 14,972

Rating: 4.7192984 out of 5

Keywords: bible, bible study, bible commentary, hermeneutics, historical-grammatical, new testament, old testament, bob utley, first-west, James

Id: IiDpzAimUsY

Length: 29min 21sec (1761 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 10 2014