JAMES-PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY-CHAPTER 2

PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY

JAMES CHAPTER 2

FAITH PLUS

I.  FAITH OR WORKS:  We have discussed that some accuse James of promoting a salvation that is based on works and not faith.  So just to assure that we are all on the same page with these two ideas (faith and works) let’s talk about them for a few minutes.

QUESTION: What would be a salvation based on faith?

• I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
• I believe that He came to earth born of a virgin
• I believe that He suffered and died for my sins
• I believe that He rose again and ascended into heaven
• I believe that He accepts my confession and gives His forgiveness

QUESTION:  Does that sound like something you could believe in?  Is there something you could add to the doctrine of belief in salvation by faith?

QUESTION:  Then what would salvation by works look like?

•  I must realize my position as a sinner

• I must come to Him and ask forgiveness
• I must confess my sins and accept his forgiveness
• I must live in His will
• I will receive a crown of life

QUESTION: Is that something you could live with?

QUESTION:  What is the difference in these two lines of thinking?

Number one focuses on God’s part, which the believer “believes” He will do

Number two focuses on Man’s part, which the believer “believers” he should do

QUESTION: Is it necessary to have faith that God will do what He says He will do?

QUESTION: Is it necessary for me to do what God instructs me to do?

I believe it is important for us to realize that both Paul and James are describing the exact same experience but are looking at it from a different perspective

Do you remember the story of the four blind men who were asked to describe what an elephant looked like?

The first man walked up to the side of the elephant and touched the massive body.  “The elephant is like a wall”, he said.

The second man walked up and wrapped his arms around the elephant’s leg.  “Oh no, he said, the elephant is like a tree”.

The third man reached out and touched the elephant’s trunk.  “You are both mistaken”, he replied, “The elephant is more like a large snake”.

Then the forth man reached out and grabbed hold of the elephant’s tail.  “How you could be so foolish”he said, “The elephant is nothing more than the size of a rope”.

Use what you know about elephants and tell me, were these men right?  Were these men wrong? 

QUESTION:  Was their description complete?

Was Paul right when he supported the idea that one should “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved”?

Was James right when he said “God saves you to do something”?

Both were right but they were discussing two different and separate areas of the gift of salvation.

II. VERSES 1-9: FAITH PLUS-RESPECT

In these verses James discusses an area in which many Christians fall short.  James says that you must not exercise “respect of persons”, which in our day and time means that “you should respect everyone”.

Recently, just a week ago during the “big snow and ice event” we experienced, I met the man who operates the “Through the Grace of God” ministry over across the tracks.  He does not claim to be Baptist, Methodist, Nazarene or any other denomination.  He is a man who was saved and given a burden for the lost.  Doing the best that he can, he feeds, cloths, provides shelter, sings and preaches to these people.  Just a short time ago he was able to provide a car for a man who could not make it to work because he had no transportation.  Now the man is back to work making a living for his family.

As we talked about churches in general, he made a statement that has stuck in my “craw”.  He said, “The people who come to church services here won’t go to other churches because other churches don’t want them”.

You will probably react just like I did. “Sure we want them, we want everyone”.

So then, why do they go there, 80-100 a week and we are only seeing about 25-30 a week? 

THEY GO THERE BECAUSE HE WANTS THEM ENOUGH TO PROVIDE FOR THEIR NEEDS.  HE PUTS HIS FAITH TO WORK. He welcomes them, no matter how dirty they are, what color they are, how bad they smell or how rough they have lived. He respects them.  He values them.

AND THEY COME!  They come to get food, they come to get cloths, they come with their problems.  They come with alcohol on their breath, they come smelling like cigarettes, they come smelling like urine and filth but they come and they hear the Word of God.

That ladies and gentleman is what’s called putting your faith to work.  That’s called Faith Plus.  

I’ve asked around but I haven’t learned a lot about his ministry.  I don’t know about the doctrine he teaches.  I don’t know how he screens his people as to who get’s what and who he helps.  But I know this; He is reaching needy people on a daily and weekly basis that you and I are not even attempting to reach.

And that makes me ashamed.  How can we gather in our “Holy huddle” and be content to sing our songs and pray our prayers and listen to our devotions and messages.  How can we raise our hands and praise the Lord and call ourselves Christians and sit on our fat “fanny” and DO NOTHING?

If that offends you then great, it offends me too.  And I hope and pray to God that it offends us enough to cause us to get up and add to our faith some WORKS. 

Faith is wonderful.  Believing is essential. But there has to be some Holy arithmetic involved if we are to live lives that are pleasing to God. 

Let’s read II Peter 1: 1-7

V-1:  Peter a servant and apostle.  Not just an apostle.  Not just a saint.  Not just one of the twelve. Not just a close friend of Jesus Christ….BUT A SERVANT.  One who DOES STUFF for others. Peter was one who took on the role of a servant. 

V-2-3:  He talks of grace being “multiplied” to you (there is that Holy arithmetic again) through the knowledge of God. Here is what Gene mentioned in last week’s lesson.  The knowledge of God is gained  by studying God’s Word and listening to Him speak to you.  It is gained by asking Him to give you the knowledge and wisdom you need. And through that knowledge the grace that He gives is “multiplied”. 

V-4:  He gives us these promises.  Oh, folks please make you a list of promises from God, promises that will speak to your heart.  Write them down.  Look at them often. Memorize them and apply them to your life.  For it is through these promises we are “partakers of the divine nature”.

V-5:  And here it is, get this.  As you claim the promises, gain the knowledge and exercise your FAITH:

ADD TO YOUR FAITH:

• VIRTUE
• KNOWLEDGE
• TEMPERANCE
• PATIENCE
• GODLINESS
• BROTHERLY KINDNESS
• CHARITY

Yes, Paul I agree we must have faith.  We must believe, but we must have FAITH PLUS.

James gives this example in verses 14-16. 

“What does it profit, my brothers (what difference does it make)….if we see a man or woman (brother or sister) destitute of daily food (hungry) and we say, depart in peace (Jesus loves you brother) be warm and filled (good luck to you) but you don’t give them the things they need”!

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES YOUR FAITH MAKE IF YOU ARE NOT WORKING?

 In our church, in your life, in my life, are we making a difference?  We talked about a few weeks ago, the story of the boy and the star-fish.  He threw the star-fish back into the water and said, “I may not be able to save all of them but I can save this one”.  WE CAN’T EVEN SAY THAT!  HAVE WE MADE AN EFFORT TO SAVE ONE! 

I should be ashamed to lie down in my warm house, in my warm bed, with my overly stuffed belly.  I should be ashamed to sit on my bank book like a hen on her nest using the excuse that I must provide for my family first.  I should be ashamed to ask God to “bless those in need” and do NOTHING ABOUT IT.  SHAME ON ME AND SHAME ON YOU TOO IF YOU ARE IN THE SAME BOAT.

VERSE 17:  “Faith, if it has no works, is DEAD”.

What sanctimonious grave yards we have created and we sit back and call them churches. We have dedicated and consecrated Holy cemeteries where all of us good ole saints come to sit and DIE. 

CONCLUSION:  I’ll end with this.  You may be saying, “I’d like to help.  I’d like to be able to do something.  I’d like to make a difference and put my faith to work but I don’t know what to do”. 

Probably it more like you are saying, "I am too busy, I don't have time to do anything". Let me give you a few suggestions.

1. Go by The Grace of God Ministry see the manager, and ask what you can do.  Donate food, cloths, money.  Go by and sort cloths, sweep floors, talk to the people there, get to know them.  Help on the nights that they feed.

2. Go by the Son Shine Ministry in Jemison and see the manager there.  She has an old converted Sunday school building that has been converted into a place that is FULL of women and children who have no place to live.  That place needs someone to help organize and clean and coordinate the work of the women who are staying there.  She needs someone to come by and play with the kids.  She needs people who will spend some time picking up garbage and raking the yard and making the place presentable.  She needs people who will help cook and serve food. 

She has an old dilapidated duplex house that is full of homeless, desolate men.  The house needs someone who knows how to do electrical work, carpentry work, painting, plumbing and general cleaning. She needs building materials, boards, window panes, doors, plywood, and two x fours. She needs sheets and pillow cases and blankets.  She needs cots, bunk beds and mattresses.   She needs someone to say, I may not be able to do much but I can come by one day a week and help. 

3.  My daughter in law went to a nursing home a few weeks ago and took Perrin, my grandson.  She didn’t lead in worship.  She didn’t sing for them.  She didn’t preach to them. She let them hold the baby. She let them be parents and grandparents again.  She showed them respect and dignity for just a few minutes.  Why couldn’t you do something like that?

4. Our church could join other churches in the county that have said,” We will help in times of disaster” We will become a Red Cross shelter. “Oh, we’d have to let undesirable people sleep in here and eat in here”.  You surely would, but you would also get the chance to pray with them and preach to them and sing with them and offer them hope and help. 

I could go on.  But you know what you have to offer.  You know what God is leading you to do.  We just have to be willing to do it.  We have to have FAITH PLUS. 

I am well aware that most of the things that I teach or say in a Bible study are politely received and promptly forgotten, by my listeners and by myself.  We are good at making plans and setting goals and objectives.  Last week I looked back at the church board meeting minutes for the last ten years.  Can I tell you that there are items that the church board talked about, thought were very important and voted on and adopted by resolution and after ten years they are still not done? 

Just a few weeks ago we discussed in this very same room, around these very same tables, that when God shows you something  to do, DO IT NOW.  Don’t sit around and think it to death.  I’m all about planning.  That’s a large part of my job.  But we can plan ourselves and others to death.  We can sit here on our good intentions and say “as soon as we get this right and as soon as we complete this task, THEN we will be able to accomplish the task God has given us to do”.  And the whole time men and women and teens and children in our town, in our county are needy and lonely and lost and going to hell.

And don’t get it in your heads that it is just the “homeless and needy” that are needy.  There are people living across the road from our church, people who have much better homes than we have, people who have much more money than I could count, who are “needy”.

It would, or it should break our hearts if we realized the hurt that is being carried in the “inner self” of people we associate with on a daily basis.  Even the people we sit here around these tables with on Wednesday night, and Sunday morning.   

My prayer is that God will build a fire in our gut that will not go out.  If we will ask Him, if we will let Him, if we will be obedient to His leading, what a difference we could make.  This next year we can put our FAITH to work.  We can have FAITH PLUS.