Faith That Saves
Jam 2:14 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?
Jam 2:15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved
Jam 2:16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup--where does that get you?
Jam 2:17 Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
Jam 2:18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Jam 2:19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?
Jam 2:20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Gal 5:6 For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
1Co 13:1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
1Co 13:2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
1Co 13:3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Can that faith "which is without works" save him? No more than it can profit his neighbour. -John Wesley
Wesley's quote leads us to turn the microscope on ourselves and ask...Do your neighbors BENEFIT from your faith? Understand, I am not asking are your neighbors effected by your faith because honestly we can have a good effect or a bad effect on others because of faith. If we are self-righteous and condemning our neighbors are effected but they would harldy see it as beneficial. I am also not asking do your neighbors know you are a christian. We can listen to our christian cd's and wear our t-shirts but these are of no or little benefit to our neighbors. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors. When asked "who is my neighbor" Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan. Check it out in Lk 10. Not only does he teach who are neighbor is but He also teaches how we are supposed to love them. He is describing the type of faith that saves.
Jam 2:15 For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved
Jam 2:16 and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup--where does that get you?
Jam 2:17 Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
Jam 2:18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
Jam 2:19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?
Jam 2:20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
Gal 5:6 For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
1Co 13:1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
1Co 13:2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.
1Co 13:3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Can that faith "which is without works" save him? No more than it can profit his neighbour. -John Wesley
Wesley's quote leads us to turn the microscope on ourselves and ask...Do your neighbors BENEFIT from your faith? Understand, I am not asking are your neighbors effected by your faith because honestly we can have a good effect or a bad effect on others because of faith. If we are self-righteous and condemning our neighbors are effected but they would harldy see it as beneficial. I am also not asking do your neighbors know you are a christian. We can listen to our christian cd's and wear our t-shirts but these are of no or little benefit to our neighbors. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors. When asked "who is my neighbor" Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan. Check it out in Lk 10. Not only does he teach who are neighbor is but He also teaches how we are supposed to love them. He is describing the type of faith that saves.
posted by Mike Rea at 9:19 PM
4 Comments:
good stuff mike. what version is all that from?? Cause you know, if it aint KJV, it aint the bible ;)
just kidding. no really, i love reading the scriptures this way.
I shiver when I read James though. man. he really calls a spade a spade.
j
Yeah, there is some serious meat in James. As a church I think we have been working our way thru James since November and we only just finished chapter 2. This version is "The Message" I absolutely love it. It paraphrases in very modern language but I think time and again it nails the true meaning of what is being written. Is the KJV still in print?
um....yea... been in print since Moses. ;)
hey guys,
I shudder with fearful hope when I think of the Church getting into a study of James... I'd love to be revolutionized again!
I love your blog, Mike. Keep it up. This stuff is so strong and scriptural...
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