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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
A
Useful Faith
(James 2:14-26)
by
Karl J. Forehand
What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no
works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing
and in need of daily food, and one of
you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet
you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is
dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I
have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my
faith by my works." You believe
that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you
foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our
father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the
altar? You see that faith was working
with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which
says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works,
and not by faith alone. And in the
same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received
the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith
without works is dead. (James
2:14-26)
This passage is more than just a
doctrinal debate about whether or not works save us. In my opinion, without this passage, we
would have an incomplete picture of faith.
It is part of the Word of God and necessary for us to understand
faith. The Old Testament people gave
us a rudimentary understanding of faith.
Jesus taught us more about faith through the parables and His
actions. Paul explained faith to help
us understand more fully. But,
without this passage, we would have been left with an incomplete picture of
faith.
What is faith? Warren Wiersbe says it is “The confidence
that God’s Word is true and the conviction that acting on that Word will
bring blessing.” Hebrews 11:6 echoes
that sentiment when it says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is
a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Several times, Jesus called the
disciples “little faith.” He didn’t
say they had a little bit of faith.
He actually called them “little faith” (oligopistos). This type of faith can’t save you – it can’t deliver you – it
can’t even help you. This type of
faith says, “I sure hope so…” It is
not the amount of faith we have – it IS the type of faith.
Faith must be consistent
with works (14)
This passage says, “If a man says
he has faith, but has no works.”
A faith that is able to save bears evidence of that fact. Faith is being sure of what you can’t
scientifically predict; but it is being so sure that we act on that
belief.
If you say “I believe God
will provide if I tithe” and then you don’t tithe, then you don’t really believe
it. If you say “I believe God
can change lives” and you hold on to sin and your past, then you don’t really
believe that either. If you say “I
believe Jesus can save me,” yet you don’t surrender your life to Him, then
you don’t really believe.
If our actions are inconsistent
with what we say we believe, then we are accessing a weak, anemic, human type
of faith. A faith that comes from God
has the power to save and the power to deliver us from sin. William Booth says, “Faith and works
should travel side by side, step answering step, like the legs of men
walking. First faith and then works;
and then faith again, and then works again – until they can scarcely
distinguish which is one and which is the other.
An inconsistent faith is
a useless faith (15-16)
I say I believe I should be on a
diet; but until I change my eating habits, that thought does me no good. This passage uses two words, argos and
nekros which mean “inactive” and “dead” to describe this type of
faith. It is a useless faith.
Faith and works are not mutually exclusive – they are naturally
dependent.
Faith is not a theory that just says, “It
is possible.” Faith is not a mystical
hope that says, “I sure hope so.”
Faith is not even a belief system or a religious dogma. Faith IS a practice. A faith that just talks is dead. A faith that has activity for activity’s
sake is dead. But, a faith that
responds to the Word of God with action is a useful faith.
Listen to Dr. Harlan Roper’s
illustration: “It is that kind of faith which would lead a
man to take a bottle of medicine from his medicine cabinet. Looking at the
instructions on it, he says, ‘I’m sure they’re correct. I have all confidence
in the source of the medicine. I know who wrote these directions. I believe
everything about it. I know this will relieve my headache, if I just take
it.’ But he takes the medicine bottle and puts it back on the shelf. He
doesn’t lose his headache. It continues on. Yet he can say I believe that
medicine. I believe all about that medicine. But still he won’t take it.
That’s dead faith.”
Belief is not enough
Tradition tells us that
James had calluses on his knees from praying. We say we believe in prayer, but do we actually pray like the
Bible tells us? Faith is not an
ascent to the facts. Faith is a
surrender of the will which produces action.
Why did Jesus call the disciples
“little faith?” On instance was when
they were feeding the 5000. They aid
they believed in Jesus; yet they halted their ministry to doubt and fear about
the meal. They were paralyzed by a
dead, unusable faith that said it believed but didn’t produce
action.
Works complete (perfect)
faith
There are two examples here; but if you
read back a few chapters (n Hebrews 11), you will find many more actions that
demonstrated faith.
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Abel offered a
sacrifice
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Enoch obtained a
witness
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Noah built an ark
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Abe – went out
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Jacob blessed his
sons and worshipped
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Moses – refused to
submit to Pharoah
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Rahab – welcomed
the spies
But, that is not
all. Read on in Hebrews 11:32,
“And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith
conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut
the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the
sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign
armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and
others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might
obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and
scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were
sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they
went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted,
ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts
and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these, having
gained approval through their faith.
Did their actions save
them? NO! But, they were saved by their faith; but it was a useful faith
that produced actions that validated their belief.
One question: What kind of faith would it be if I simply
said I believed in God, yet never put any trust in Him or did anything to
serve Him? Wouldn’t I then violate
most of the rest of Scripture? Isn’t
that where most of us are in our Christian walk? Your actions should be consistent with your belief.
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Do you believe you should have a ministry? Do you have one?
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Do you believe you should share your faith? Do you share it?
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Do you believe God can change lives?
Are you allowing Him to change yours or are you holding on to your
past?
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Do you really have faith?
James said “I show you my faith
by what I do.” In other words,
“talk’s cheap.”
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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