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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“What good is it, my
brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can
such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and
daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,”
but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way,
faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
“But someone will say, ‘You
have faith; I have deeds.’”
“Show me your faith
without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
“You foolish person, do
you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father
Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on
the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and
his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled
that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”
and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous
by what they do and not by faith alone.”
“In the same way, was
not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she
gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the
body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
“Who is wise and understanding
among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility
that comes from wisdom.”
James 2:14-26,
3:13
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Faith.
It’s something that most
people possess but what that faith is placed in can vary dramatically.
Some people place all
their faith themselves. They feel so self assured that there’s no need to
redirect their faith in anyone else.
Some people place their
faith in other people sometimes to the place of dependency. These people are
the polar opposite of the self confident people. They see their inadequacies
and adopt an attitude of reliance, seeking people to do for them what they can’t
do for themselves.
Still other people place
their faith in material things, like their money, job, or possessions, a
dangerous proposition because all material things can be fleeting, here today
and gone tomorrow.
And then there are those
who place their faith in a higher power, a spiritual power they see as far
greater than themselves. This is the premise for almost all of the world’s
religions and it is certainly central to Christianity. Christians realize they are
sinners who fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and therefore deserve His
judgment. They see themselves as helpless and on the road to eternal damnation
unless a higher power steps in to save them. God sent that higher power in the
form of the Savior Jesus Christ and only faith and belief in Him can bring a
person to salvation. No one or nothing else can but Him.
In saying this, you can
see where it’s absolutely useless and foolish to invest your faith in anything
but Jesus. And yet, people misallocate their faith daily, sometimes to a fault.
But note that it’s just
not good enough in God’s sight to have faith in Jesus. We need to put our faith
to work and let our deeds show the evidence of our Christ-centered faith. This
is clear as we look at our scripture passage for today.
There we learn that
faith and deeds go hand and hand together. Our faith leads us to serve the
needs of other and to do good unto them and, in turn, those deeds help others
see the faith that is in us, especially since they open up doors for us to
testify about the goodness of our Lord who purposes and equips us to do good
works in accordance with His will.
Speaking to a
predominantly Jewish audience, we find James use two prominent Old Testament
examples to drive his point home regarding the inseparable relationship between
faith and deeds.
Abraham had great faith.
God commanded him to leave his country and everything behind to go to a land
unknown. Abraham didn’t question God. Instead he went and God blessed him for
his righteousness which was grounded in faith. Still, this wasn’t enough. God
put Abraham to the greatest test possible to see just how deep his faith ran,
ordering Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Think about that for a
minute. You have a child you love dearly, your own flesh and blood, and God
tells you to put them to death.
Could you do it? Would
you be willing to let your deeds show your faith?
It’s extremely difficult
and gut wrenchingly scary. But Abraham, unwilling to be obedient to God no
matter the cost, took his son, made a makeshift altar, and was just about to
sacrifice him as God commanded before the Lord stopped him and brought a ram
onto the scene as a substitutionary sacrifice. Isaac was spared from death and
Abraham was spared from carrying out the human sacrifice but only after he had
shown his faith by way of his deeds.
And then there was Rahab
the prostitute. You’ll remember that after Moses’ passing, Joshua became the
leader of the Israelites, the one chosen by God to lead His people into Canaan.
Before he led the
Israelites across the Jordan River, Joshua sent two spies to do surveillance on
the land and they found themselves in the home of Rahab. When the king of
Jericho got wind that the spies had entered his territory, he sent a message to
Rahab asking for her to hand the spies over. But Rahab didn’t do it. Instead,
she hid the two Israelites on the roof of her home and then reported that the
spies were no longer there, having seized an opportunity to flee. Believing her
story, the men sent by the king of Jericho went out of the city in pursuit of
the spies, unbeknownst they had not escaped at all.
The scriptures tell us
that Rahab went to the spies and professed her belief in God, knowing that His
presence was with the spies and the Israelites, and that the land she inhabited
was destined to be theirs. Before helping them to escape their pursuers by
dropping a rope out her window which just so happened to be located on the city
wall, all Rahab asked was that the Israelites would show kindness and mercy to
her family when they did invade and take over the land. And as we know from God’s
word, that’s exactly what happened.
Rahab believed in God.
She had faith that God could do whatever He wanted to include show grace to her
and her family after He had given her land over to the Israelites. But note she
didn’t just rest on her faith without deeds. Instead, she allowed herself to
serve God by protecting the men He had dispatched to survey the land before He
gave it to them.
Both Abraham and Rahab
showed faith that was alive and it was their deeds that provided the evidence
of this. In them, we see wonderful examples to follow in our own life. But as
great as these two Old Testament figures were, they pale in comparison to
Jesus, the only One who was perfect in His faith and therefore perfect in the
deeds He carried out in His Father’s name. Jesus’ world was never about
Himself. Rather, it always was about others as He carried out His Father’s
business.
Friends, if we are truly
to be considered wise and understanding, we need to show it through our
unwavering faith in Jesus Christ and the God who sent Him, reinforcing that
faith with our good deeds, deeds done through the guidance of our Lord with the
sole intent of bringing Him glory. Jesus showed us the way to this kind of
humble life that honors and glorifies our Lord.
All we need to do is
follow His lead.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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