Sermon – “Faith vs. Works”

2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 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? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 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. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[e] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 25 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? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

This morning my message out titled faith vs works so if you know the Scriptures a little you probably know by going back to the Book of James because James speaks of faith and works we begin less go ahead and go to the wooden prayer Heavenly Father we do thank you and praise you for your love and your mercy and father got we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ that name which is above every name the name of Jesus we know that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord and fathers we sang in another song revive us Father may your spirit revivalist revive our hearts today oh lord revive us that we would long for you that we would serve you father that we would just desire you more than anything that this world has to offer by the just make that be what’s in our hearts we did desire your presence today we invite your presence here today to be among us to speak to us Father to speak through your servant and father just open our ears that we receive what you have force and follow God May we glorify you with our lives were May our hands and feet glorify you father that is the message today that we are to do Lord help us to glorify you with our actions with all that we do and we just sank you again we thank you for your word we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ we thank you for your Holy Spirit that is in our midst today and we ask all this in Jesus name Amen. Be reading from James again chapter two and again I’m going to break it into do two different readings we’re going to read first verses one through thirteen here the word of the Lord. My brother and I do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with partiality for if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him you said here in a good place and say to the poor man you stand there or sit here at my foot still have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts listen my beloved brother and has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has property promise to those who love him but you have dishonored the poor man do not the rich of pressure you and drag you into the courts do they not blasting that noble name by which you are called if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself you do well but if you show partiality you commit sin and are convicted by the law of transgressors for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point he is guilty of all for he who said Do not commit adultery also said Do not murder now if you do not commit adultery but you do murder you have become a transgressor of the law so speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy mercy triumphs over judgment there’s another passage in Matthew or says we will be judged with the same major that we judge so if we are unwilling to show mercy that we will not receive mercy so with the same weight the same measure that you judge others is how you will be judged what does it mean to ship or sea ality Well Webster says it is biased to one party or biasness towards one party it’s inclined to favor one party or one cause over another it is not indifferent it is being not indifferent it is also favoring something or someone over someone else you know we’ve probably all at some point in our lives experienced some biasness towards us or favor tism against us or we may have been guilty ourselves of it one point or another in our lives as showing favoritism towards someone else when we shouldn’t have we had may may have been the giver of showing favoritism against some undeserving soul I mean favoritism to someone else against another undeserving soul you know the practice of sewing favoritism begins early on in life I mean when we’re just children just kids. We have been taught that tendency to show favoritism you know I can remember as a kid in school you know you’re going to form a couple teams and you’re going to have a softball game or a game of kickball and how does that usually go down Gary’s kind of grin and what use it goes down like this the two most talented among these are going to say OK we’re going to be the captains of the team and they begin to pick from the group of kids and what do they do they pick the tallest the strongest the most talented and work their way down don’t they I mean that’s just I’m just being honest they work their way down to the run of the literature you will write why would you do that usually the run of the litter the last one picked whatever is an odd numbers like oh I don’t want to you take them. Right now he’s just going to sit the bench you just go and take them so we’ve been taught that from the time we was kids to pick the the wealthiest the richest the strongest the tallest the best looking we’ve been taught that in the time we was youngsters it’s been ingrained into our minds but the problem is we often carry that into adulthood with us also don’t we did not grow that where we should have we should not show favoritism based on ones we kind of talked about this in Sabbath school we shouldn’t serve favoritism or bias because of someone’s race or nationality or because of their wealth through their strength of their power we should not show favoritism I found a story that I’m going to share and they did not have the author of this story so I’m just going to share it as this as if I’m that the one telling the story on the one that had this happen span says he got up one morning to go to church and he showered he shaved he adjusted now I’m just going to design never mind I’m back I got up one morning to go to church I’m just going to go away from those I might do better I just had my ta ya got already know hopped in the car and I rushed off to church and I got there just in the nick of time and I slid into a pew next to God that I’ve not seen before but I got in or just as the pastor was about to have the prayer and I sat down and as a pastor said Let us pray now about my head as I look down on noticed that that man’s shoe was touching my shoes and I thought to myself with all that room down there why is it necessary that his suit touch was necessary that his soul touch my soul he says and in a passion just like. Our Heavenly Father we thank you and he goes on pray because but I but I WERE wasn’t paying much attention to the pastor because as I looked at that shoe again I noticed that it was dusty and dirty and it had scratches all over it and in even to boot it even had holes in it so the pastor goes on praying he says were we we thank you for the blessings and the gentleman with the two says how Amen amen quite Amen but I really wasn’t paying much attention to the to the prayer because I was thinking man as I look at that shoe you know should we come through those doors it or very best you know our finest clothes and but he goes apparently that’s not it because look at those shoes they’ve got holes in them so the pastor finished the prayer and it’s then you know the sermon today was really kind of boring I mean it really kind of bored me to tears and it literally it literally bored the gentleman the shoe man to tears because there was tears coming down his eyes out of his eyes so the pastor disco’s on and preachin and but I kept looking down at the shoes and thinking we should have our very best so the pastor found me. We get to the songs we get to the song Dan and and I stand up and I’m singing but the guy with the shoes I mean he is singing to the top of his voice I mean he is shouting to heaven and I know the god’s here and him clean up in heaven but I sang but he really he was really loud the man in the shoes so finally when the pastor got done that day is the custom in our church that we greet the people that are visiting and I don’t know why I don’t know why that I felt led to to greet that man with the dirty dusty holes in his shoes but I felt led to greet him so I went over and I greeted them shook his hand and said Welcome into tears was running down his eyes he said you know I’ve been coming here for months you’re the very first person to say hi to me he says let me explain he says My name’s Charlie by the way he said on know that I must look a mess and surely his hair was a mess apparently didn’t call me hair either but he says you know he says when I get up in the morning to come to church he said I polish my shoes every week he says but by the time I make that long journey to get here he says there are dusty like chalk he said but I try my best but I realize I must look like a mess he says but thank you so much for shaking my hand and reading me today he says you don’t know how much it mean to me means to me and you know. I knew that anything I said was going to pale in comparison to what he just shared with me because he also said you know I just thought if our souls could touch this somehow we might connect so all I could say is you don’t know how much difference you have made in my soul today not speaking of the souls of my shoes but the soul my heart because he truly truly came in worship the Lord changed his heart because it first all I could do was think about how proper on proudly he was or undeserving he was because of the condition of his shoes or his hair we should not show favoritism especially by the outward appearance in the church we should definitely not show favoritism Everybody needs a friend everybody needs to hear the love of Christ if we show favoritism to those who would come through our doors by their appearance Well they appear to be more wealthy or rich not only is that it unjust thing to do to the poor man it’s an unjust thing to do to those that we think are wealthy and well to do because we are showing favoritism for them because of our selfishness they can vote we could do for them they could do for us so it’s unjust to both whenever we show favoritism so let us not show favoritism one commentator states that the act of showing favoritism is inconsistent with the Christian faith because Christ died for all. The rich the poor red yellow black and white we all remember that song they’re all precious in His sight. His doctrine consistently stresses the spiritual equality of believers in unity of the brotherhood of believers those prefer in one person over another because of wealth status introduces the element of wickedness. In Acts chapter of ten versus thirty four through thirty six then Peter opened his mouth and said In truth this service. To support the ality but in every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness as accepted by him the word which God sent to the children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ he is lord of all if God does not show partiality then neither should we we should not show partiality to no man it should make any difference to us the color of their skin it should make any difference to us the quality of the apparel that they wear when they come to church it should make any difference to us what nation they come from it should make any difference to us how good looking they are or how shabby their hair may look it should make no difference because they are a child of God created in the image of God and they have a heart and I have a soul we should all of each and every one of them there is another point I want to take out of this first passage but I want to wait to read a second pass part of James to after two verses fourteen through twenty six what does it profit my brother if someone says he has faith but does not have works can faith save him can faith save him if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace be warmed and filled but you do not give them the things that are needed for the body what does it profit I mean think about that a minute all brother I know I see your hungry but will pray for you yet will pray that though we should provide the for them thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith I have works show me your faith without your works and I would show you my faith by my works you believe that there is one God You do well even the demons believe in tremble. But do you want to know a foolish man that faith without works is dead was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son to the altar do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for whiteness n’est and he was called the friend of God You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only likewise was not Rahab The Harnett also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way for the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also you know we just preached about Abraham few weeks back if Abraham would have said Yes Lord I believe you I trust in you I know that you’re God and I believe all that you say but had not loaded the don’t be with the would and gathered to serve it and took his son Isaac and went it would not have been true faith it would not have demonstrated that he truly believed in trusting God faith required the action of loading that donkey gather in him and going to the mountain where God was going to show him that demonstrated his faith faith results in action is a verb it’s an action the theme for the general converses year is less talk more action. Less talk and more action that’s what we should be doing less to on what I should be doing less talk more actions can faith alone save you that’s the question James says faith without works is dead so can faith alone save you can just say well I believe in God That’s enough that’s all it takes what he say even the demons believe in Trumbull in Romans four verses one through five when they shelves Yeah what then shall we say that Abraham our father has. Has found according to the flesh for of Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast about but not before God for what does the Scripture say Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness now to Him who works the wages are not counted as Grace but as debt but the him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the young godly his faith is accounted for righteousness James on the other hand is writing about how the saved person proves that he or see her salvation proves that before others they prove it by what they do how many times we said we are his hands and feet true saving faith leads to works I don’t like the word works actions it leads to actions that leads to fruit Slimmy times on over the years I’ve used to feed to eight nine For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God Not of works less anyone should boast and not know and we all understand that we are absolutely not saved by our works we are saved by grace alone not by works it is a gift of God Salvation is a gift we have to receive it but verse ten which we have often left off says for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that follows the grace we are courageous. In Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them see we are to walk in it not just profess it with our mouth not to say yes I believe but we’re to walk out our faith we are to put it to action it’s not just saying it with our lips but it’s what we do with our life it’s our hands and feet there’s a challenge in verse eighteen of our passage show me your faith without your works it’s impossible wouldn’t the only way faith can be expressed in a Christian life is by practical loving obedience to the Word of God practical loving of our neighbor loving our neighbor helping our neighbor. First John two verses three through six says he says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in Him By this we know that we are in him he says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked James said that the believer should keep the royal law and he very plainly tells us what this warrior law is so you might know you question that you read through in like what is this royal law we follow that up the world law is that you shall love your neighbor as yourself he says if you love your neighbor as you do yourself you do well that is what the royal law is Jesus explained the world all in the parable the Good Samaritan in Luke Chapter ten we know the parable the Good Samaritan we’ve probably read it many times you have the Fair see that it’s coming down the street and he sees the man that had been beaten robbed stripped of his clothes all these money stripped of his clothes laying there wounded in the fair city walk by on the other side of the street he didn’t want to go dirty himself he didn’t have to be bothered with taking care of that man then you got described it comes down does the same thing walks by on the other side of the street then you have a Samaritan those who are despised by the Jews but he went to the man bandage his wounds put him on his own donkey took him to the end gave money to take care of the man because he had to go on a journey the Good Samaritan he’s the one it’s true faith by his actions he stopped to help that man that was in need James view on the subject is not that faith is unnecessary worthless nor is he saying that one could be saved by his works but what he is saying that after the act of justification by faith if faith does not lead to good works it is dead. It is dead it has no value therefore the evidence of justification is to be found in good living and with this is not manifest all of man’s professed religion is worth nothing it is absolutely dead you know as I pondered this message all week and I got you know as I just said earlier I don’t like the word works I think it can develop a wrong idea in the debate between faith and works you know there’s an old saying choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life I’m sure most of us have heard that she has a job that you truly love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life that statement has been attributed to an ancient Chinese sage Confucius though quote Investigators have found that there is no evidence to support that he is the one who came up with this quote The earliest strong match to this quote by this these quote investigators is that was published in the Princeton alumni weekly in one thousand nine hundred two and it was a quoted by professor author this merry but he however says that some old timers shared it with him so wherever it came from it has some truth to it that if you find something to do that you really love then is it really work and I know that most everybody out there working in the Living Word do it because of the Ceci most people I mean because face it we like to eat so if we want to eat you gotta earn a living to buy food and those kids they like to eat this you know we got to feed those kids I mean it’s just the natural thing to do and we do kind of like to have a roof overhead some of us like our air conditioning we like our heat in winter time right we’d like to have a car to be able to get him to come to church so that and take us three hours to get here we can get here fifteen twenty minutes right so for many the work is a necessity. But if you’ve been so blessed to find something that you do that you love absolutely love I know an author that loves to write do you consider that hard work is hard work but you love it so if you love it can you really call it work that’s where I’m going with this and you know I have grown to not dislike my job a lot. Is that that makes sense. You know when I first hired out more than thirty eight years ago I was a painter and let me tell you how many here love the paint I don’t see any hands going up none most people don’t like it but it’s on the Ceci but my job has evolved into different some different things over the years if I would have still only been able to do nothing but paint for the last thirty eight years I had a probably quit long time ago because it does get old and it gets boring and it’s like. There were some aspects of it that I despised I’ll just be honest because that’s how to do but it evolved into being able to do some carpentry work and some masonry work and just remodeling and building and that kind of stuff I like somebody that I work with thinks I’m crazy because I love the work so is it really work because I love the do it but is and then even involved more into the job that I have now so I’m not going to stand up and say all I absolutely love my job I just can’t wait to get up in the morning go to work but I do really like my job but so let’s bring this back to faith so if you do have a job that you love and you do enjoy getting up and going is it really work is it work because sometimes I think we have the aspect of work at something that’s the dreaded. So but when it comes back to faith then Faith without works is dead if we truly love our neighbor truly love that one that comes in and sets down beside it’s truly love that one that we meet on a street that may not be dressed right. Looks poor if we truly love them and help them is it work no it’s not work it is love is love for that soul which love for that person so that’s why I say I don’t like the word works so then that debate that I said faith versus works don’t even apply if we do it out of love if we fulfill the Royal Law I hope that all brought that around where it makes sense if we truly love God if we fulfill the royal law we are going to put faith in the action and the say produce fruits because I don’t like the word works we’re going to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God we’re going to feed that person it’s hungry we’re going to help close that person that needs clothes we’re not going to care if they got holes in the sides of the shoes but we’re going to love them because they are child of God created an image of God So in the debate faith vs works yes you need to do both you need to love let’s just say faith must be joined with love for one another love for our brothers and sisters and not show partiality Amen.