Faith Without Works is Dead
By Earl G. Presley – Pastor, First Christian Church, Rockdale, TX
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
James begins with commentary on the church's tendency to court the favor of moneyed converts while making poorer converts feel less welcome. James said that such partiality is sin!
I.Relationship between faith and works.
A. Care for the poor (found in verses such as Deuteronomy 15:11 or Proverbs 22:9).
1.Blessed are the Poor
2.“As you have done to the least of these my brethren”
B.By their fruits ye shall know them
II."Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"-
(The familiar "faith without works is dead" in The Message reads)
A. Look at James 2:17.
1.Commentary in the New Interpreter's Study Bible refutes the notion that James wrote to challenge Paul's teachings on faith and righteousness.
III. What do our actions say about our faith?
A.Have we unintentionally said: "Be warmed; be filled; be gone?"-limiting words of welcome to fellowship hall or the basement?
1.Black Ministers at Southwestern Baptist Seminary Educated in the Basement.
B.Are we cuddled with the moneyed, while the poorest of the poor feel welcome only on the church steps in the middle of the night?
1.Does the world hear our words when we don’t show them our compassion?
C.What do our actions say about our faith?
1.How do we act in public?
2.How do we speak in public?
3.How do we live in public?
IV."Do we, with our acts of favoritism, really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?"
A.The question raised in James 2:1 is timeless
B.Hate and Bigotry are the antithesis of Christianity
1.You cannot hate and be Christian.
2.You cannot be apathetic and Christian
3.You cannot be intentionally immoral and Christian
4.You cannot live in ignorance without compassion and be Christian.
