Show Me Your Faith

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 11th January service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

Jas 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

Jas 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Show Me Your Faith

James has been warning his brothers and sisters in Christ against exercising partiality in their gatherings. The reign of Christ in a believer’s heart converts the soul. It also transforms the conduct and influences the motives by which the believer lives. A converted man longs to live for Christ and to glorify God. James is speaking to men and women who by grace are free from the condemning law of sin and death. They desire to follow and emulate their Saviour according to the perfect law of liberty.

‘Follow thou me’

All who bear Christ’s yoke seek to follow their Saviour. It is not merely that they should, they do. The new creation with its new desires endeavours to find occasion to serve the Lord out of love for Him and out of gratitude for salvation. Those who have faith in Christ look for opportunities to honour the Lord in practical ways and here James teaches the church about the proper relationship between faith and works. True faith is living faith and living faith is exercised following the pattern of life left to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

James and Paul

James’ language is clear and precise. This apostle does not in any way contradict or even challenge Paul’s teaching on the unique role of faith in the method of a believer’s salvation. When Paul says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast’ (Ephesians 2:8, 9). He is emphasising the free, gracious justification of a sinner before God. When James says, ‘Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone’, he is speaking of the evidence of transforming grace in the believer’s life.

Faith and works

If a man is to be justified before God, if a man is to be made right with God, then justifying righteousness must be imputed to him by God. It is impossible for a man to make himself righteous in God’s sight by his own works. Every saved sinner is saved by God’s free grace. We are not saved ‘by works of righteousness which we have done’ (Titus 3:5) but by mercy, by the grace of God and the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. Thereafter, knowledge of free justification with God and full acceptance in Christ is enjoyed and experienced by faith alone.

Faith is God’s gift

Faith is the enabling gift of God by which individual sinners are first called, then empowered to see, understand and believe what has been effectually accomplished for them by Christ and in them by the Holy Spirit. Faith first convinces the new creature of his interest in Christ’s death. It communicates and conveys God’s spiritual blessings of love and mercy to the believer’s soul and personal experience. Then, the same gift of faith provokes a reaction and a response. Faith reacts to God with gratitude and worship. It responds to men by revealing a transformation of conduct and acts of love and kindness.

James’ message

James does not deny the uniqueness of faith for knowing and receiving Christ. He is explaining the attendant outworking of faith in serving Christ’s body. Joseph was called ‘a fruitful bough’ and Christ, the Vine, makes His church fruitful in good works and Christian service, one to another and to the world. Faith without works, particularly without works of mercy, is of no profit and advantage. For faith to profit the believer and advantage those around us it must be exercised.

A striking example

The apostle gives the striking example of a naked, hungry brother or sister being sent away empty with a mere shallow blessing. Every believer shares the commonwealth of spiritual good secured by Christ and freely given by God. It would be shameful indeed, for one who has received liberally from God’s spiritual store thereafter to deny practical assistance to a needy brother. There is no profit in such conduct. It is clearly inappropriate for one who received God’s spiritual riches when himself spiritually naked and hungry to withhold material help from a poor, needy brother or sister.

‘How should we then live?’

Once again we see the beauty of James’ practical emphasis coming to the fore. The apostle is teaching believers how we should live. It is certainly true that men and women of the world can and do many ‘good works’ and demonstrate charitable motives for their fellow creatures upon humanistic grounds. Such works of charity and kindness are to be encouraged and supported. James is not discussing the motives of unbelievers. He is, however, exposing the hypocrisy of an empty profession and a careless faith. True good works are works of faith, done for the glory of God, in love for the brethren and generally to care for those in need.

Amen

Hymn 851

Faith and Works. James 2. 17; Gal. 5. 6; 1 John. 3. 7

J. Hart       C.M.

1
When filthy passions or unjust
 Professors’ minds control;
 When men give up the reins to lust,
 And interest sways the whole;

2
Or when they seek themselves to please,
 Decline each thorny road,
 Indulge their sloth, consult their ease,
 And slight the fear of God;

3
The faith is vain such men profess;
 It comes not from above;
 The righteous man does righteousness,
 And true faith works by love.

4
Men’s actions with their minds will suit;
 By them the heart is viewed;
 A tree that bears corrupted fruit,
 Cannot be called good.

5
The Christian seeks his brother’s good,
 Sometimes beyond his own;
 Or, if self-interest will intrude,
 It does not reign alone.

6
Help us, dear Lord, to honour thee;
 Let our good works abound;
 Thou art that green, that fruitful tree;
 From thee our fruit is found.

Hymn 256

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.”  Prov. 8. 13

J. Hart                                      L.M.

1
In vain men talk of living faith,
When all their works exhibit death;
When they indulge some sinful view,
In all they say and all they do.

2
The true believer fears the Lord;
Obeys his precepts, keeps his word;
Commits his works to God alone,
And seeks his will before his own.

3
A barren tree that bears no fruit,
Brings no great glory to its root;
When on the boughs rich fruit we see,
’Tis then we cry, “A goodly tree.”

4
Never did men, by faith divine,
To selfishness and sloth incline;
The Christian works with all his power,
And grieves that he can work no more.

The beauty of James’ practical emphasis again comes to the fore. True good works before God are works of faith, done for the glory of God, in love for the brethren and generally to care for those in need.