October 3, 2021 - Faithwork in Action (Sermon Only)

[Music] do [Music] [Music] well good morning church family uh here in per person out on the patio and online as well uh you know some people seem to love the idea of the bible more than they actually love what's actually written inside of it but if we're honest even if we love what's inside the bible there are parts of the bible that bother us sometimes and i'm not so much talking about the parts that are hard to understand although there are parts that are hard to understand i'm talking about the parts of the bible that we encounter in a sermon or or when we're reading it on our own that challenge our beliefs the call into question our values or that may confront our actions if we're honest that bothers us sometimes after all the bible itself says in second timothy 3 16 that part of the reason the bible was given was to teach rebuke correct and train us and so if a christian never feels rebuked or corrected by what they read or what they hear in the bible they're either not reading it very much or they're reading it very selectively well we're currently in a series called faith work through the bible's book of james and this last week we launched our six week faith work small groups and i'm really excited to share with you that we have over 250 people participating in these six weeks small groups we can celebrate that 67 of those people are either new to glenn kirk small groups or they're in a brand new small group and so i am praying for god to do some amazing things over the next six weeks of these faith works small groups and thanks for leaning into those um but today we reach a section in the book of james that really bothered a very famous christian leader the christian leader i'm talking about is a guy named martin luther luther was a german pastor who led the reformation in germany in the 1500s and the civil rights leader martin luther king jr was named after martin luther the 16th century reformer and luther's leadership not only transformed the christian church in germany but it also sparked a cascade of other reform movements in places like scotland where the presbyterians came from and places like switzerland in england and throughout york europe luther is one of the most influential christian leaders in church history and he said a lot of good things it's hard to overestimate his positive influence on the church but luther was not perfect and he was deeply bothered by the book of james in fact you once speculated that the author of james wasn't even a christian that james might have been a non-christian jewish person who put in a few references to jesus just to confuse the christians who read his book he banned the book of james from being taught in schools in germany and when luther came to translate the bible from greek and hebrew into german he briefly considered leaving james out although he eventually reluctantly did include it luther loved the idea of the bible but he didn't love the book of james today we're going to talk about faith work in action from james chapter 2 verses 14 through 16. and in this passage we're going to see what bothered martin luther so much about james and along the way i hope that we see that the parts of the bible that make us uncomfortable like this part made luther uncomfortable are just as important for us as the parts of the bible that comfort us so why don't we stand for the reading of god's word today if you are able would you stand with me and let me just read verses 14 through 26 of james chapter 2. what good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds can such faith save them suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food if one of you says to them go in peace keep warm and well fed but does nothing about their physical needs what good is it in the same way faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action is dead but someone will say you have faith i have deeds show me your faith without deeds and i will show you my faith by my deeds you believe that there is one god good even the demons believe that and shudder oh foolish person do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless was not our father abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son isaac on the altar you see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture was fulfilled that says abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called god's friend you see that a person is considered righteous not by what they do or is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone 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 as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without deeds is dead you can be seated it says the word of god for us today james has been building to this all along again and again so far he's called us to express our faith in action action like persevering during hard times resisting temptation being a doer of the word instead of a mere hearer of the word restraining our anger caring for the vulnerable ridding ourselves of the sin of favoritism all of these are actions or what james calls deeds or in some translations works in fact i titled this series faith work one word because for james faith and work can't be separated they're intertwined with each other luther believed verse 24 of our reading today contradicted what the apostle paul says in the new testament book of romans so let's set those verses side by side and i i'm putting them in a different translation the new revised standard version just because i think that captures the difference a little bit verse 24 says you see that a person is justified or the niv had made righteous it means made right with god by works and not by faith alone but in romans 3 28 paul says for we maintain that a person is justified same word made righteous made right with god by faith apart from the works of the law so which is it is it our faith apart from works that makes us right with god or is it our faith along with our works that makes us right with god now to luther verse 24 of james chapter 2 sounded a lot like the works based message that some of the leaders of the medieval roman catholic church were teaching back in his day and luther couldn't see how both of these verses could be true and so forced to choose he chose paul over james and concluded that james was wrong but if we look closely i think we we find that luther missed the point that james is making so let's look closely at this section let's start by defining the word faith the greek word translated faith in this passage um is a greek noun the noun pistus pistuo is the verb form pistus is the the noun and this noun occurs 243 times in the new testament 11 times just in the section that we read today and this noun means believing in something to the extent of complete trust and reliance on the object of faith and the faith here is a reference to christian faith faith in jesus the kind of faith that results in a reconciled relationship with god the kind of faith that justifies us that makes us right with god now you've heard me say this before but it bears repeating here that there are three essential parts to this kind of faith knowledge agreement and trust first there's knowledge you can't have faith in someone you don't know anything about and the bible is our source of knowledge about jesus the old testament gives us the stories and the promises that look forward to jesus and the new testament gives us the account of jesus's life and death and resurrection and ascension back to heaven and his promise to return again but after knowledge comes agreement agreement happens when a person believes what the bible says about jesus is true they say i i may not understand everything the bible says about jesus but i believe what it says about him is true and so whenever we confess our faith together when we say the apostles creed together at a baptism we are expressing agreement the second part of faith but then after knowledge and agreement comes trust when we trust we personally commit our lives to what we believe to be true about jesus back to the definition of that greek noun we believe in jesus to the extent of complete trust and reliance upon jesus building on knowledge and agreement trust is what brings us into a relationship with jesus rather than knowing about jesus because we have the facts we come to know jesus because we trust him and when we trust we surrender our lives to his lordship and we begin a journey a lifelong journey of becoming a fully devoted disciple or follower of jesus authentic christian faith is going to have all three of these aspects knowledge agreement and trust now james is asking us here what good is it if a person claims to have this kind of faith but they have no action or no deeds that come from that faith and the implied answer to his question is it's not good at all james then asks whether this kind of faith the claim to faith that has no action can really save a person from their sins and the implied answer is no it can't that faith without deeds faith without action is somehow incomplete it's not saving faith it's stopped short somehow in verse 15 james gives us an example he says one christian sees another christian a brother or sister in christ who doesn't have any food or clothing but instead of giving their christian brother or sister a coat to keep them warm that night or some groceries so they can eat that night the first christian says to the second i sure hope you're warm tonight and i sure hope you're well fed and then they walk away james says what good is that and of course the implied answer is it's not well wishes for a member of our own church who's in dire need when all we do is wish them well is no good at all and james says this is an example of faith that has no action this kind of faith that cannot save this kind of faith james says is dead a mortician can make a corpse look lifelike but a corpse still has no life and likewise faith without deeds is dead in verse 19 james actually appeals uh seems to be alluding to an ancient christian creed this creed comes from deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 and 5 and it goes like this hear o israel the lord our god the lord is one and you shall love the lord with all your heart soul strength and might jewish people recited this creed every day in the morning and in the evening twice a day in fact according to bible scholar scott mcknight the earliest christians also receded recited this creed but they added the command to love your neighbor as yourself so james seems to be saying in verse 19 you recite your creed that there's only one god and that's good because you're right there is only one god but don't confuse just reciting your creed with faith if all you do is say your creed twice a day but it doesn't lead you to action you've stopped short of faith he says in fact the demons even believe agree with your creed demons have correct doctrine but they don't have trust and so they don't have saving faith verses 20 through 26 james concludes his argument here by giving us two examples from the bible of people whose faith led them to action he begins with abraham abraham's stories found in the first book of the bible the book of genesis and in chapter 12 of genesis god called abraham in chapter 15 god gave promises to abraham and established a covenant with abraham in chapter 17 god commanded abraham to be circumcised as a sign of that covenant and in chapter 22 god commanded abraham to offer his son isaac on the altar now if you know the story abraham was willing to follow through on that command and then god stopped him before he actually followed through and so here james is inviting us to consider abraham's whole life in totality in verse 23 of james two james quotes a verse from genesis chapter 15 it says abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness that's that's genesis 15 6 when abraham trusted in god's promises to him god considered that faith as righteous in god's sight it's another way of saying that abraham was made right with god or made righteous or justified before god by his faith in the promises of god and paul quotes this exact same verse from genesis chapter 15 in both romans and galatians to show that abraham was made right with god on the basis of his faith alone years before abraham obeyed the command to be circumcised in chapter 17 of genesis years before god obeyed the command to offer up his son isaac in genesis 22 before any of that happened abraham believed and god received that faith and it made abraham right with god and so paul's point in romans and in galatians is that abraham's faith came first followed later years later by the works that we read about here james is making a slightly different point james is saying when you look at the whole of abraham's life from start to finish abraham's faith eventually led him to action the righteousness that was credited to abraham in genesis 15 eventually expressed itself in actions in genesis 17 and genesis 22 and this leads to verse 24 the verse that bothered luther so much look again at what it says you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone notice that phrase you see we we jump over it pretty quickly but pause on it now that could be a figure of speech when your friend says something clever clever and then says you see what i did there that's using the phrase you see as a figure of speech to mean uh did you pay attention but this phrase you see can also refer to literally seeing something with our eyes like did you see that car that just cut me off that's literally seeing it with your eyes i think that's what james means here you literally see another person's faith through what they do through their actions see only god can see faith i can't see your faith you can't see my faith we can only see actions what people do what they say how they treat each other the decisions they make see james emphasizes what we see paul emphasizes what god sees the second example of rahab makes the same point rahab's story is found in the book of joshua in the old testament and rahab was a canaanite prostitute who lived in the city of jericho and when the hebrew spies came to jericho to scope out the city rehab recognized that they were sent by god and she trusted in the god of israel even though she wasn't a hebrew and she sheltered and hid the spies and sent them out and after jericho fell rahab and her family joined the people of israel and she became part of the family tree of jesus like abraham rahab expressed her faith in action so let's consider three ways this passage applies to us here at glenn kirk today first real faith inspires us to action always and every time a real faith will inspire us to action again and again our faith will lead us to action and that action won't need to be forced it won't need to be coerced it will be inspired and ironically martin luther who didn't like this passage he understood this in his uh introduction to the book of romans luther said faith doesn't ask whether works are required but before someone can even ask the question faith has done them real faith inspires us to action and it bears the question of why are there so many people around us today who say that they're christians but who don't have actions in their lives i mean nearly three out of four americans say that they're christians when they when they take the survey that's the box they check on the survey and yet in many cases you'd never know it by how they live in some cases we're talking about people who have knowledge and agreement about jesus but who stop short of trust in jesus and i've met lots of people who believe all the right things about jesus who agree with what the bible says about jesus but they've never taken the step of trust to enter into the relationship a couple of years ago i met a woman in her 70s who have been attending church her whole life been a member of that church for years and years and as we met she realized that she had never taken the step of trust until that moment other times i think the reason is the church i think churches have often become so focused on entertaining people or or on politics or on telling people what they think people want to hear that they're not talking about what it means to trust jesus authentic faith that leads to action and in these cases faith has been reduced to getting a ticket a ticket to heaven that i can fold up and put in my pocket and save it until i need it but that kind of faith doesn't make a difference in how we live our lives each day what kinds of actions will faith inspire us to well well throughout james he's focused on obedience to god's word and loving other people being a doer of the word instead of a hearer caring for the vulnerable treating people without favoritism loving our neighbors meeting practical needs when we're able a real faith will always inspire action second real faith always builds on good doctrine it always builds on good doctrine when when james cites that creed in verse 19 that the jewish people recited each day it's not because he's against doctrine or against creeds he just doesn't want us to stop there one of the things i appreciate appreciate about our reformed tradition is our creeds and confessions that we have and that the two most basic are the apostles creed and the nicene creed and these creeds and confessions are not infallible they're they're not perfect they stand under the authority of the bible but they're good and reliable guides for good doctrine because there's a lot of bad doctrine out there these days especially on social media and cable tv are filled with bad doctrine and many christians aren't familiar enough with good doctrine to know bad doctrine when they hear it according to george barna in a recent poll only six percent of american christians have developed a christian world view we can call that sound doctrine on life six percent a real faith always builds on good doctrine and then finally third real faith always leads us to risky obedience real faith will lead us to risky obedience that's what abraham and rahab have in common they're examples of people who express their faith at risk to themselves abraham was ready to sacrifice his future by lifting his son isaac as an offering and rahab risked her life to to shelter the hebrew spies and in both cases their faith led them to actions that could have cost them obedience to jesus is easy when it doesn't cost us anything and it's it's easy to talk about loving our neighbors when we surround ourselves with people who we find are lovable it's easy to talk about forgiving people when the the worst thing a person does to harm us is cut us off on the freeway i mean that's annoying but it's not life-changing it's easy to talk about loving our enemies when we don't have any enemies in his book the cost of discipleship dietrich bonhoeffer talks about obedience that doesn't risk anything and he calls it cheap grace as opposed to costly grace a real faith will lead us to risky obedience to jesus many people today love the bible the idea of the bible more than they love what's actually written inside they love the book leather bound and all that it symbolizes to them about morality and godliness and the past they love the fact that the bible gives us the ten commandments even if they can only name five or six of them themselves they don't really know or sometimes even don't care to know what's actually written inside the promises the words the commands the stories the doctrines and i hope here at glenn kirk is as an evangelical church that we're a church that loves what's inside the scriptures and not just the idea of it because we believe that it's god's word that it gives us everything we need to live life and when a passage really bothers us like this passage bothered luther that we be people who surrender to the teaching of the bible rather than looking for loopholes in a passage that bothers us or ignoring the parts that might make us uncomfortable and we want to be a church where our faith in jesus is the kind of faith that leads us into action a church that doesn't settle for just knowing the right things about jesus or reciting the right creeds but a people filled with men and women and students and children who actively trust in jesus with a living faith and who don't keep that faith to themselves but who share it with their friends and neighbors and their community and the world because faith without works is dead and a church without a faith that works will die too let's pray together father thank you for these words of scripture thank you for the book of james and we confess that sometimes things that we read in your word bother us and lord as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the sacrament of the lord's supper today and as we listen to joseph play a piece may that music lead us into a moment of reflection that we might look at our own lives and say have we settled for knowledge and agreement and stopped short of trust that we might take the bread and drink of the cup today not just knowing the truth not just believing the truth but trusting in you that we might receive grace and strength and courage and love to live the way that you've called us to god we pray these things in christ's name amen

Channel: Glenkirk Church

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Length: 29min 5sec (1745 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021