Let me invite you to take your Bibles in hand and to turn with me now please to the letter of James chapter 2. James chapter 2, verses 14 through 17. If you are using a church Bible, you will find the passage on page 1012. The book of James, as you may know, is immensely practical. It was written to help us understand the implications of faith in Jesus Christ for the way that we live day by day. A particular burden of the letter of James is to challenge the church over its fascination with wealth and to call the church to the proper care of the poor. And so for example, James 1:9-11, “Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.” Riches don’t last, that’s James’ point – so what are you living for?
You see, for James, a primary evidence of real, saving faith is the outward-facing care of God’s people for those who are in practical need. That is very much the focus of our work together this weekend – the outward-facing care of God’s people for those who are in practical need. It’s also the heart of the argument of our passage for this morning here in James 2:14-17. A primary evidence of real, saving faith is the outward facing care of God’s people for those who are in practical need.
If you look at the text with me for a moment, I want you to notice three things in the passage in support of that proposition. First, you will see that James asks a provocative question. You see it in verse 14? A provocative question – “What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?” It’s a provocative question. Then in verses 15 and 16, James addresses a practical situation. This is not theoretical or abstract. No, no. Here is a church member who is poorly clothed, can’t put food on the table – now what are you going to do? So there’s a provocative question, there’s a practical situation, and finally, verse 17, James brings his argument to a profound conclusion – faith without works is dead. He wants to make sure we have living faith and not a lifeless counterfeit. Real faith, saving faith, James wants us to see, works. It makes a difference. It gets real and it gets practical. So there’s a provocative question, a practical situation, and a profound conclusion.
Before we look at each of those, we need to pray and ask for the Lord to help us and then we’ll read God’s Word together, so please bow your heads with me as we pray. Let us all pray.
Our Father, we come and we remember the promise of Scripture that as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so also Your Word that goes out of Your mouth shall not return to You empty. Would You now therefore, as Your Word is read and proclaimed, do precisely that? Give seed for the work of sowing the Word and give bread to nourish our hungry hearts from the manna of holy Scripture, to the praise and glory of Your name. Amen.
James chapter 2 at the fourteenth verse. This is the Word of God:
“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 needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
Amen.
Let’s think first of all about James’ provocative question. Look with me at verse 14. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” It’s a provocative question because we’re so accustomed to saying faith alone saves, aren’t we? I mean hasn’t James read Ephesians 2:8-9? “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God; not of works so that no one may boast.” Works don’t save you; only faith in Jesus Christ can save you, right? So what’s he on about? James’ question seems to imply that faith without works can never save us, but Paul says faith without works is the only thing that ever can save us. And so which is it? Isn’t James contradicting the apostle Paul?
Well the first thing to say in response is that James knows exactly what he’s doing in phrasing it this way. He’s being deliberately provocative. He’s being deliberately provocative. One commentator says James is being impish, trying to make us all sit up a little bit and pay closer attention. When you do pay attention and ask, “Is James really disagreeing with Paul here?” you will quickly notice the key word in verse 14 that helps us understand what’s really going on. Look again at verse 14. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith?” Or if you have a New International Version, I think it read, “if someone claims he has faith but does not have works. Can that faith save him?” Alright, so do you see the real issue that James is dealing with? He’s not contradicting Paul so much as he is correcting a possible abuse of Paul. If we are saved by faith alone, doesn’t that mean that my behavior is irrelevant now, it doesn’t matter? Well not at all, James says. Merely saying, merely claiming to have saving faith and actually having saving faith, those are not the same thing. No, no, real faith, the faith that saves, works.
I saw a cartoon the other day of three businessmen sitting at a boardroom table looking worriedly at one another, and the caption read, “The company lacks leadership. We need to think about the possibility of thinking about whether it may be an idea to get together a few people to discuss looking into the problem.” It’s a classic description of a committee meeting without leadership where everybody is scared to make a decision. Talk, on the other hand, is cheap. The men at the boardroom table want to look like they’re addressing the problem, but all they have is words. The proof of real faith, James says, like the proof of true leadership is to be found in our actions, “our works” is James’ word. And so here’s what James wants us to do this morning as we listen to his message. Here’s what he wants us to do. He wants us to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves if we have merely been saying that we have faith in Jesus without ever actually showing the reality of that faith in the way that we live. A Christian, James says, isn’t someone who merely claims to be one.
A little later in the chapter, if you look down at verse 19, you see he illustrates that point quite strikingly, doesn’t he? Look at verse 19. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” You can be orthodox and correct in your doctrine, you can ascent to all the major tenets of Biblical religion as fact and confess them to be the truth of God and still be no better off than the devils in hell because more is required. You must have that, but more is required. We need to ask ourselves if we’re all talk. That’s James’ point. Are you all talk?
You covenant children, you’ve been raised in the church, mom and dad have taught you all about Jesus. If I stopped you in the corridor after the service and asked you, “Who is Jesus?” you wouldn’t skip a beat; you’d tell me immediately, “He is the Son of God.” And if I said, “Well what did He do? What did Jesus do?” fast as lightning you’d say, “Well, He died for our sins, for our forgiveness.” And if I asked you, “Are you a Christian?” you’d smile at me and say, “Yes, sir.” And look, that’s all very good, but James wants you to understand you need more than just knowing the right answers because that’s not the kind of faith that will save you. You need the right answers, but you need more. You need a faith in Jesus that changes your heart so that we begin to live differently. What kind of faith do you have, young people, older people? What kind of faith do you have? Is it just an intellectual belief about the facts of the faith that were taught to you by other people, or is yours a faith that shows up in a transformed life? Only faith in the work of Jesus Christ can secure for you forgiveness before God. Only faith will save. It’s not our work that saves us; it is our trust in Jesus’ work on our behalf that will save us.
And that’s right, amen to all of that, but we mustn’t stop there. That’s James’ concern. All true faith in the finished work of Christ on our behalf will bear fruit in our lives so that having come to trust Him who gave Himself for us we, in turn, want to give ourselves for Him – not to earn His favor or manipulate His blessing, but because we stand righteous and accepted and forgiven freely by His wonderful grace, and now our hearts have melted in love to Him. And the faith that brought us to Him now propels us to serve Him and live for Him and honor Him. Famously – you’ve heard this line before I’m sure – someone once said that “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.” It works. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves doesn’t stay alone. It works. Our works are no part of the basis on which God’s favor will come to us. We don’t ever twist His arm into saving us by anything that we can do for Him. We must trust entirely in what Jesus has done for us. But once you trust Him and you see what He has done for us, how can you do anything, how can you do anything but resolve to give your whole self, your whole self for Him? If you have faith but you don’t have a changed life, you do not yet have the kind of faith that saves. If you have faith but you don’t have a changed life, you don’t yet have the kind of faith that saves. “Is your faith good for anything?” James wants to know. “Is it the real thing?” And so he starts with a provocative question.
But then he pushes his message a little bit further, doesn’t he? He brings up now a practical situation. Look with me at verses 15 and 16. Verses 15 and 16, look there please. “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 needed for the body, what good is that?” Now it seems likely, given the knowledge James clearly has of the behavior here of the Christians in the churches to which he is writing – he’s told us earlier in the book that they are given to showing favoritism to the rich, marginalizing the poor – given his specific knowledge of their behavior, it seems likely this scenario here in verses 15 and 16, it’s more than just an abstract hypothetical. No, no, this is the kind of thing that’s actually been going on among them.
Now you’ll notice if you look carefully that the situation James imagines is unfolding inside the local church rather than out there in the world. “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed” – and so his focus is on a fellow believer, a fellow Christian, a member of the local church; that’s the target of James’ scenario. There are members of the church close to destitution. That’s what he’s saying. And just to be clear, by framing it this way with a believer at the heart of the story, James does not mean that we are to restrict our concern only to fellow Christians and then live in serene indifference to the millions all around us in desperate, crushing need. That’s not James’ point at all. But James knows, as the old saying goes, “Charity starts at home.” And so he focuses our attention on our own fellowship because that’s where our closest and most immediate responsibilities lie. And if we can’t respond well there among the people to whom we are already committed, with whom we already have, at least we’re supposed to have a deep connection, if we can’t respond appropriately there then we’re never likely to respond anywhere else.
And so here’s the practical scenario – can you see it? A Christian brother or sister is wearing worn out, threadbare clothes; their elbows are poking through their sleeves; their toes are poking through their shoes and they can’t put food on the table. They often, as often as not, they go hungry. Now what are you going to do about it, James wants to know. How should we respond? Now I think James is like an Olympic sharpshooter here in verse 16, don’t you think? He takes careful aim at our hypocrisy and he hits the bullseye dead center. Here is the needy Christian, and along we come – nice, shiny, smiley church people – and we see the need and look at our response in the text. Do you see how we respond? All we have is words. One of you says to them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled” without giving them the things needed for the body.
Now it’s pious language, isn’t it? The passive construction, “be warmed and filled,” is sometimes called a divine passive. That is to say it implies God is the one the speaker expects to provide the warmth and the filling. “Go in peace and may God warm you and fill you,” that’s really what’s being implied here. They’re pronouncing the Lord’s blessing, or maybe praying for the Lord’s blessing on behalf of a suffering, impoverished fellow believer. But then having prayed the right thing, they leave off actually helping. “Someone else will take care of it,” they assume, and they move right along.
So look, it’s never wrong to desire the blessing of God for others. It’s never wrong to pray that God would supply their needs. That’s not what’s got James upset. No, James’ problem is with pious folks who pray for God to act while they themselves stand in a position to help and yet do nothing. One commentator puts it like this. “It is wrong to wish such blessings upon people when you yourself are able to help meet those material needs but do nothing beyond wagging your tongue in their direction.” That stings a bit, doesn’t it? I wonder if you’ve spiritualized your indifference to the physical needs of others by wrapping it up in fine sounding theology. “The church has a spiritual mission, don’t you know? And we mustn’t get involved in the social gospel.” Well yes and amen, that’s true, and I will yield to no one in my own commitment to the spiritual mission of the church. But for all that, I cannot avoid the clear rebuke of James 2:16 when it calls me out on my nice, clean, safe, middle-class presbyterianism that says all the right things but will not help someone who is hurting right in front of me. What use, what use is my pious best wishes? What’s the point of praying for God to meet needs if I am not willing myself to be part of the answer to that prayer and step forward and give and serve and care? “What good is that?” James asks in verse 16. Is your faith, is it the real thing? That’s what James wants to know. If it is, what it does will prove it. It does what it can to serve people in practical ways. Real faith.
And the application of that principle to this weekend, ought I think to be obvious. It is not the church’s mission as an organization instituted by Christ to fix the ills of society. That’s not our mission. Our mission is narrower than that and more focused. We are to make disciples. The mission of the church is to make disciples, but the mission of disciples is to live Christianly in every sphere of life. And that always means more than just words; it means works. It means serving others and giving your time and your talents and your treasure for their good. And look, there are lots of ways to do that. Of course there are, and God will often put people in our lives with real needs right before us that we are uniquely placed to minister to and care for. And when He does, we ought to respond as our Savior did for us who came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. But as a church, as part of our commitment to your discipleship, we want to help you find ways to serve others in obedience to God’s Word by connecting you with our local ministry partners around the city. That’s the point of this weekend.
And so maybe putting your faith to work will mean something like showing up at Gateway to help serve a hot meal and listen to homeless image-bearers cry and telling them about a Savior who had nowhere to lay His head but who died and rose for them. Or it might mean helping broken families reconcile and thrive through the application of Biblical principles and loving Christian support in our Families Count ministry. It might mean caring for children in a safe, Gospel-rich environment where they can see Christians who love them and value them as made in the image of God in a world that views them only as inconvenient and disposable through the work of organizations like the Pearson Foundation, We Will Go. At the very least it means giving generously, doesn’t it, so that our ministry partners like The Mustard Seed that we’ve just heard from or The Center for Pregnancy Choices or The Jackson Leadership Foundation or Lifeway or Mission First so they can staff adequately and provide for people properly. The call of this passage is to put hands and feet on our faith. Jesus is not an accessory, adorning our nice, easy lives. He is our Lord who came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. And if you are His, He calls you to go in imitation of Him – not to be served but to serve and give yourself for the good of others.
So there’s a provocative question here. What’s the good of faith that doesn’t work? There’s a practical scenario here – a brother or sister in need, and we need to do more in response than merely to say the right things. We need to do the right thing. And then finally and very briefly, there is a profound conclusion. Look at verse 17. Here is James’ conclusion. “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” He’s concerned that we have real saving faith. That faith is living and it works. A faith that doesn’t work, a faith that consists only in knowing facts and speaking words, that faith won’t save you. It will never inconvenience itself to see to the needs of others, and a faith like that, James says, is dead. Faith, if it does not have works, is dead. Not defective, dead. What kind of faith do you have? Is it real, living, working, serving?
The object of saving faith is Jesus Christ. You need to trust Him – His work for you, His obedience, His death, His glorious, triumphant resurrection. His works, not ours, reconcile us to God and secure our pardon and peace forever. Faith’s object is Jesus Christ, but faith’s evidence is good works. “I show my faith,” verse 18 says, “by my works.” I show my faith. The evidence of faith is a changed life, a life of service. What does your faith produce? Are you for real or are you all talk? We are hearing from several of our ministry partners today, serving in all sorts of works all over our city this weekend. As you listen, it may be that the Lord has begun to stir your heart to find some fresh outlet for Christian service. Part of your repentance might be to get plugged into one of these ministries and find a way to put hands and feet to your faith. Would you come and talk to me or maybe to Jamie or to Carol Anne Miconi and we would be delighted to help you find a place to serve. Go to the ministry fair and talk to our ministry partners and get plugged into their work.
But maybe as you’ve listened to James chapter 2 God has actually put His finger on your real spiritual condition and you’ve begun to see now that up till now your faith has not been anything more than inherited, intellectual ascent, an unthinking participation in the religious routine; a set of dogmas you’ve been trained to acknowledge but have never made the slightest dent on your daily life. Maybe you’ve come to see that today actually your faith such as it is is not alive at all. It doesn’t work. It’s no use. Now the problem isn’t necessarily the content of your faith – what you believe. It’s the way that you believe it. More is required than mental ascent alone. So the call of James is to look to Jesus Christ. He is the one who can save you. You need to turn from your superficial religion and cry to Him for mercy. Move from mere belief to the response of your heart and come and confess your sin. Beg the Lord Jesus to wash you clean and reconcile you to God. Ask Him to take away your stony heart and give you a heart, a new heart, and put His Spirit within you. Would you stop playing at religion today? Enough with vague convictions about the general, historic probability that Jesus rose from the dead. That won’t do. You need to get to Him, go to Him yourself, personally, and cry to Him for real. You know if you will, He will come to you. He Himself, He will come to you and He will change you. He will give you a new heart and the kind of faith that James is calling for – a faith that works, that serves, that cares, that gives and goes. Because faith like this knows and feels in its gut the wonder of what the Lord Jesus has given for us.
Now if you’d like to talk to somebody more about that, there will be a minister down front here after the service. Honestly, we would love to pray with you and talk with you about how you can find peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Would you come and talk to us please? For now, let’s bow our heads as we pray together. Lord our God, we bow before You and we come with repentance, with sin to confess. We know, all of us, even the most mature believer here, we know how easily we slide into mere talk, orthodox truth, not backed up with an obedient and sacrificial life. Please forgive us. Forgive me. Forgive us as a church. Have mercy upon us. We want to serve those around us that You put in our paths. We want to serve in our city, to bring the light of the knowledge of the glory of God into dark places, shining from the face of Jesus Christ. Show us how to do that please. And we pray for some here today who only have historical faith, intellectual faith, mental ascent, who have the same faith as the devils in hell. They know the truth, but it makes no difference at all. O Lord, would You grant that today, this morning, might be the day when all of that changes and they hear the call, the summons of Jesus Himself to come and trust Him from the heart. And as they do, O God, please would You awaken in them that faith that trusts and goes in obedience. For we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.