I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James. We pick up where we left off a few months ago in the book of James. We find ourselves in James chapter 2 tonight. We're going to be looking at James chapter 2 verses 14 down to verse 26. But since it's been some time that we've been in this book, I'm going to begin our reading back up at verse 26 of chapter 1. 26 of chapter 1: James, again, beginning at verse 26 of chapter 1. "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
"My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabbing clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Forever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder, If you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
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 they need for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
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 Scripture was fulfilled that says, abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteous 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."
Well, early in my Christian walk, I remember being somewhat intimidated by this text. I didn't know what to make of it. I struggled to understand what exactly James was talking about in this section. You see, so easily upon first reading these verses, it's easy to conclude that James here is contradicting Paul. It would seem so easily that James is saying something like, "A person is saved not by faith alone, but by faith plus works." faith and works. It's easy to conclude here that James is undermining the historic Christian doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And so for these reasons, I was intimidated by this text. I often avoided this text. I avoided the book of James in general for that reason.
If that's you here tonight, I want to encourage you not to be intimidated by this text, not to allow that mindset to set in. This is a great book. It's a great book. It's spirit inspired God-given, God-breathed, holy Scripture. Instead of fear, we should strive to grow in our understanding of this book. And I hope that our study through it has done that very thing.
Because the truth is, we don't have to fear this section of the book. Because in reality, James is not contradicting Paul or any other passage in Scripture. He's not contradicting or saying that we are not justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. You see, being students of the Bible means that we have to take all the Scripture into consideration when we come upon what we consider to be the more challenging portions of Scripture. When we read those more challenging sections, we read them in light of those sections that we find to be clearer. And that's a principle biblical interpretation, is it not? It's called the analogy of faith, or the analogy of Scripture, which again is a principle biblical interpretation that says we read the more challenging passages of Scripture in light of the clearer ones. And the book of James is no exception to that rule.
And so tonight, I want to approach this text with you by asking three simple questions. First, what is James talking about? What is he talking about? Second, what distinction does James make here? What distinction? And third, what's his point? What's james point?
One thing we know about this book that I've said a number of times is that it's a very practical book. I've probably said that every time we've been in this book, and I'll continue to say that very thing, because I think realizing that this book is very practical practical helps to frame this letter for us. And that's something we need to hold on to as we consider these verses before us tonight.
James is again being very practical. He's been practical, and he will continue to be very practical. He's not overly theological in this letter. Yes, it's a book of the Bible, and so it's going to have theological things to say, but he's not overly theological. James is being very practical.
Remember how James began this book? He started by referring to the very practical matter of trials, did he not? If you would look back with me at chapter 1, verse 2, where he says this: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kind why? Because the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
Notice James mentions faith. He mentions faith right away in the beginning of this book, up front in verse 2 of chapter 1. And again, he's being very practical about faith. He says, "You don't have to fear trials because they have a purpose a purpose of testing your faith so that your faith may be perfected, completed. Trials test our faith, but they also build and strengthen and mature our faith, making our faith, as James says, perfect, complete, lacking in nothing."
Now, maybe you missed it, but that is directly related to what he has what he says in verse 22 of the text before us tonight. Again, if you would look down with me at verse well let's begin at verse 21. He says, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?" Then verse 22: "You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was what completed completed by his works."
See, James is interested in a certain kind of faith. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about faith. He's talking about faith throughout this entire letter. He's interested in a faith that is being perfected, a faith that is being completed, a faith that will lack in nothing. We might say that James is interested in a practical faith. What is that exactly? Well, a practical faith is a faith that is living, a faith that is active. That's what James means when he says in chapter 2, of verse 23, in regards to Abraham: he says "You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works." James is speaking of an active faith, a living faith.
Again, this book is very practical in that regard. So that we would follow the practical nature of his argument in this section before us, we began our reading back at verse 26 of chapter 1. And that chapter really helps us set up for the reader where James is taking his argument, in his discussion. What is James talking about in this section? He's talking about a specific kind of faith the kind of faith that saves a person. If you would, look with me now at verse 26 again of chapter 1, There where James says, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his own tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
Again, an entirely practical matter. You know, we could easily replace the the word religion here in these verses with the word faith so that the text read something like this: "If anyone thinks he has faith and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's faith is worthless. Faith that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: faith that moves a person to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
And so then, that sets James up in the very next section, right verse one of chapter two "Do not show partiality, brothers. Why? But because being partial and practicing favoritism is not in line with true, genuine religion true genuine faith in Jesus Christ."
James then moves on and brings up the law of God in the very next section the law which has become the law of liberty for Christians. But what does it say about us if we claim to follow the law of God and yet we don't love our neighbors as we should, because we practice favoritism impartiality regularly and unchecked within the church? What does that say about our faith? What's that say about us? It says that we are lawbreakers, our religion isn't genuine, and our faith isn't true. Or as James says
And maybe would summarize is worthless worthless and that brings us to the section before us tonight, in verse 14, chapter 2, where James says, "What good is it? What good is it, brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?"
You see, right in line with what James is saying all along He's not changing the subject here he's not shifting from the topic of faith to the topic of justification now. He's being very practical. He's interested in practical faith, in faith that is practice, faith that is living, faith that is active, faith that is genuine, faith that is displayed, you might say, through visiting orphans and widows in their affliction, faith that moves a person to love his neighbor as himself, even those that he considers to be beneath him in a social status, faith that denies favoritism impartiality out of love and respect for God in his kingdom.
So again, what is James talking about in this section? He's talking about faith, a certain kind of faith yes, but he's not talking about salvation. He's not talking about justification, how one is justified before God the Father. He's talking about faith, genuine faith, authentic faith, the kind of faith that produces good works in the life of the believer, the kind of faith that saves a person. It's that kind of faith that justifies us. It's faith that James says here is not alone. It's not alone.
And that brings us to our next question this evening: What distinction does James make here in this text?
Now, as good Reformed Christians, we're all familiar, right, with the doctrine of justification by faith alone? It's one of the great solas that is that we are justified by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. That's covered in Romans 3, Romans 5, Galatians 3, Ephesians 2, and many other Bible passages. Again, that's not what James is talking about here. That's what other portions of Scripture focus on, but not James here. He's talking about faith the kind of faith that justifies. Because yes, we all agree with the Protestant Reformation that faith alone saves, faith alone justifies. But we also agree with the Protestant Reformation that the kind of faith that is alone, that is faith that does not produce works, can't save anyone. This is the distinction that James is making here. There is a kind of faith that saves, and there's a kind of faith that doesn't save. So he asked the question: "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?"
The obvious answer is no. No, that kind of faith doesn't save anyone. It's a false faith, a false faith.
We run into false faith in, I think, different ways, but maybe today there's two kinds, or two expressions of false faith that we run in today. The first I'll call easy beliefism The second I'll call intellectual ascent
Let's focus for a moment on the first one: easy beliefism
We don't often see this in our Reformed circles, although it can be expressed at times, and in Christians or people who claim to be Christians for strictly cultural or traditional reasons. But more we're more likely to see easy beliefism in more evangelical churches today. And that might be because we, as Reformed people, can just be difficult in general, or we can make it too difficult for anyone to want to hang out among us, you know? you know and just casually claim the name of christ Nevertheless, we often see easy beliefism in more evangelical churches, where people claim to confess Jesus Christ, but really, that's the extent of their faith. It's more of just a a said faith it's not a faith that is expressed through the way someone lives. That's really what James is talking about here, right? He says, "What good is it if somebody says they have faith? What good is that faith?" James is saying faith that is only expressed in words and not in words and deeds is not genuine faith.
See, someone caught up in easy beliefism may have prayed a prayer. They may have had a exciting experience at church or at a conference or at a retreat. And so this person quickly professes belief in Jesus Christ. And yet, as I said, that's the extent of their faith. There's nothing else there. There's no real substance to their faith. Their faith doesn't lead them to attend a church. Their faith doesn't lead them to desire to be a part of a church. Their faith doesn't even bring upon them a conviction to consider being a part of a church. Their faith doesn't lead them to put themselves under any kind of accountability or leadership. Their faith doesn't cause them to deny themselves, take up their cross, follow Jesus daily, by giving their life fully to the one that they claim to believe in.
No, all of that is too much. It's too difficult. Too hard. Easy beliefism thinks that the sinner's prayer is enough, should be enough. Easy beliefism claims that just taking the name Christian should be enough.
Now, please don't misunderstand me. I don't think that there's anything wrong with Christian retreats. As you know, uh me and the youth leaders and the youth group were just a part of a Christian retreat not too long ago, right? And I had the privilege of addressing the young people three times at that retreat. Also, don't misunderstand me. I don't think there's anything wrong with praying a sinner's prayer. In fact, I came to commit my life through a sinner's prayer. Furthermore, I don't think that there's a problem with a little bit of excitement or enthusiasm at a retreat, or even in a church service. In fact, Reverend Gordon can be very enthusiastic at times, can he not? We all appreciate that.
The problem I have with easy beliefism is that it's often associated with these things retreats excitement, sinners prayers. The problem I have with the easy beliefism is sadly, many people confuse it for a genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
You see, this kind of faith leads a person to pray a prayer, to be excited in a church service or at a retreat. But shortly after those religious moments, these poor dear sinners find themselves continuing to live for themselves and not living for the one they claim to name.
But then there's the other expression of false faith: intellectual assent.
This expression of false faith is the kind that you might more likely find in Reformed churches and circles. The Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 21, asks, "What is true faith?" And the answer is: "True faith is not only a sure knowledge by where or whereby hold for true all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a hearty trust which the Holy Spirit works in me by the Gospel." Catechism says that true faith is made up of both knowledge and trust. But when we're talking about false faith expressed in intellectual assent, what we're talking about is someone who only has knowledge but no trust knowledge alone.
Now, for us Reformed people, we put a high value on knowledge, do we not? We certainly do. We appreciate good doctrine. We appreciate doctrinal integrity. We appreciate good theology, good scriptural interpretation and analysis. We appreciate theological books and discussions, podcasts. But here's the thing: those things are not sufficient to justify us. Those things are not sufficient for true, genuine faith.
So we like good theology. So you like to maybe flex your intellectual muscle. You like to be acknowledged as being well read Maybe you can talk about infra and superlapsarianism Maybe you can talk about the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ. But I would ask what James so simply asks: What good is that? What good is that, friend? What good is it?
No, friend, true faith is made up of more than just knowledge. It's made up of knowledge and trust.
Now, let me illustrate faith for you this way. I use this illustration often in my new members class, so I apologize if you've heard this before. But let's just say I have some work to do on my roof, and so I head up onto my roof to do some work. And my daughters being the good kids that they are they want to help Dad out, so they ask to come along with me. Well, against their mother's wishes, I take them up on the roof along with me, and we get the job done. We then head back down. I first, but before my daughters come down, I tell them, "Hey, don't come down the ladder. Why don't you just jump? I'll catch you. Jump!" while
My first daughter, being the first, or the good first child that she is, just does it right. She jumps. I catch her. She's on the ground. She's safe. Everything's good. My number two, though let's say she's a little bit more inquisitive. So she hesitates. She wants to jump. She just saw that I caught her older sister, so she knows she has knowledge that I can catch her. But she won't jump.
See, faith is like that. Knowledge without trust is not true, genuine faith. It's just intellectual assent. And to that, again, I'll repeat, James says, "What good is it?"
And then he asks a question in verse 19: or he makes a statement, "You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe and shudder."
See, even the demons have a belief in God, friends, based on knowledge. But they don't have trust. Intellectual assent, intellectual understanding, intellectual agreement is not enough for true faith.
Now, this maybe stands as a warning to our young people young people who maybe are considering professing their faith, or maybe they've just recently professed their faith. Either way, they're thinking about having to go before the elders, the pastors and elders, the consistory, and answer a few questions. Young people: answering questions will be the easiest part of that profession of faith. You've got to add trust to that. You see, I know that the church has prepared you well to answer questions. We've been aiming at giving you the right answers your entire life. But do you trust in Jesus Christ? Do you trust in him?
These are the two expressions of false faith. And as I said, James says, "What good are they? What good is it if someone says they have faith but does not have work Can that faith save them? No, it cannot."
No, it's false faith. What good is false faith? The only good that false faith is is to deceive the person who has that faith into believing that they're secure when indeed they are not. See, false faith might be one of them or the most dangerous kind of faith to have, in my opinion. It would be better for a person to have no faith than to have a false faith, because false faith so easily keeps a person from genuine faith because they're under the impression that they have faith when in fact they don't.
This is the distinction that James is making in this text: between true, genuine faith and false faith.
Well, our final question tonight is: What is James' point in this section? Why has James brought all of this up? Why bring up faith? Why why make a distinction between false faith and true, genuine faith?
Well, friends, the reason James brings this all up is because he's aiming throughout this letter to encourage true, genuine, active faith in the lives of Christians. He wants Christians to regularly practice true and genuine religion. I'll say it again: paul james here is being practical. Notice the examples that he gives throughout this letter. They're real practical issues that arise in real churches.
The issue of visiting widows and orphans these were real people in the congregations that James is writing to in his day, and addressing. Widows and orphans were being overlooked within the church. What good is it for a Christian to claim to have faith or genuine religion if they don't have compassion and love for those who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances? What good is that?
James has real people on his heart people who were so easily overlooked.
James also brings up the issue of partiality and favoritism again a real life issue, an issue that many churches face even today. We so easily make distinctions among ourselves, do we not? Worldly distinctions. And we treat those who we deem to be of lesser value to us or to the church in one way, and then we deem those or we treat those who we deem to be of more value to us in another. When the reality is, in the eyes of God, we're all the same. We're all the same.
There is no rich. There is no poor. Again, those are worldly distinctions. We're all sinners saved by grace the grace that we receive through the lord jesus christ and even what we have in this world whether we consider ourselves rich or poor, all of that has been given to us graciously, has it not? The gifts we have, the possessions we have they come from God's gracious hand. So we're to treat each other as the Lord has treated us: graciously, kind compassionately, as if we all belong to the same family the family of God.
As people who have been called out of the world and into his marvelous light, into his family, we are His, the sheep of his pasture.
And really, when you think about it, that's what this all comes down to, really the family of God. How are we going to be as a family? How are we going to act and live as those who have been called out of the world and now placed in God's peculiar people?
Yes, the discussion between you know, what Paul says versus what James says here is a necessary discussion. But I think that discussion can easily distract us from what James is really trying to impress upon us in this letter: again, the family of God and the way that our faith should actively or actively move us to live within that family.
James wants to see churches flourish in Jesus Christ. He wants to see Christians who live out their faith boldly. He wants to see Christians who are so thankful for the wonderful thing that Jesus has done for them living and dying for them that they live with hearts of gratitude, love for their fellow brothers and sisters.
James wants to see churches that are transformed, wants to see Christian lives that are transformed by the message of the Gospel.
Let's be honest: it is so easy for us to treat each other in a manner unworthy of the calling to which each of us have received. And yes, when we treat each other that way, it sometimes can cause us to call into question the very faith that we confess to have.
I've been a minister for 13 years. Sadly, I've seen this. I've seen people who I would ardently defend as being wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ, but Christians who have treated each other as less than brothers and sisters in Christ. I've witnessed favoritism and partiality within the church of God. I've witnessed people being overlooked and left alone because of their social status in this world.
Is that as part of all of this? I've seen these inclinations in my own heart.
Brothers and sisters, this text warns us, reminds us to remember who we are in Christ, to remember what our wonderful Lord and Savior has done for us, living for us. dying for us, And doing that so that we would no longer live for ourselves.
You see, there was a purpose for which Christ purchased us with His blood. He purchased us so that we would live for Him. We would be sanctified, set apart in Him. We were saved for a purpose. We were washed. We were cleansed. We were justified for good works. As Paul says in Ephesians 2, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Yes, we are justified by faith alone. But that kind of faith that saves is never alone. It is always accompanied by works of gratitude and thanks to Jesus Christ for all that he has done.
Let's pray.
Lord, a passage like this is a great reminder to us that You have called us for a very reason, for a purpose, Lord, to be Your very own people, set apart unto You through Jesus Christ. Lord, may we be a people who, out of knowledge and trust, live for You. Work in our hearts, Lord. Convict us in the areas that we need conviction. Encourage us in the areas that we need encouragement. Strengthen our faith, and be gracious enough, Lord, to grant faith to even those who have yet to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior among us. And we will be certain to give You all the praise and glory, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.