James Chapter 2 - 4.11.22
First B Jackson
2022-04-11

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Hey, everybody. How are you? Welcome to Monday night. On a scale of one to five, how was your day? One was terrible and five was great.

Got some threes, a five, a 10. Man. Good. Good. Well, I'm glad to be together.

And if you were away on spring break, welcome back. And can we give Naomi a hand and also Scotty just for all their hard work back there Thank in the you so much. Yeah. Everything was like from scratch. Everything.

Cookies and bread and the Stromboli. Just thank you so much, Naomi. Yeah. Yep. And we're always looking for cooks.

So and and it doesn't have to be very complicated or complex. So I just we'd love some help with the the meal on Monday night, and I can help you. I can I can help get it rolling for you too? So there there was another announcement that I wanted to this is it right here. So we we we had the privilege of talking to Paco this morning.

You know Paco? Paco and Didi and Elisha? And and so here's the deal. As of right now, Paco, Didi, and Elisha are planning to move to Malaga, Spain. And and so it looks yeah.

He's texting right now. And would you tell him we're praying for him? And I'd love to pray. Just like to pray for him. Lord, we love this family, and they have surrendered their will and their lives to you in service to you.

And it's been it could be a very bumpy road, but they are yielded and ready and willing to go where you would have them. And so, Lord, we pray that you would direct their steps as they plan to move to Spain, that everything would fall in order you'd bring the right people at the the right place at the right time. And we trust, God, that you're gonna do a great work through Paco and Didi and Elisha, and we're grateful for them. God, help us as a church in our support of them to lift them up in prayer, to do what we can when we can. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Love those guys. What do you say we stand and we'll sing together?

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and see the brunt and feel the gentle And when I think that God is some not sparing, send him to die. I scarce can take it in. That on the cross,

God, we could never never sing enough to to to just declare your greatness and and who you are and what you've made. We can just look around and see just the the how marvelous, how beautiful, intricate intricate the creation that we're we're living is just your fingerprints are all over the place, and and we're just grateful. You just Looking around this room. Each each one here is a miracle for me. I'm just grateful.

Thank you. Amen. Amen. Alright. Romans, if God is for us, who can never be against us?

And I think we need to hear that message tonight. We we call ourselves all kind of things. We there are things that other people assume about us, but what really matters is what what you think about us. Amen. And when you call us your children through faith, we we are.

And and nothing can change that. Thank you, God, that you call us into your family, that we can be be sons and daughters in the most high. Amen. Amen. Amen.

You can have a a seat here for a moment. So we've been having gospel conversations. We were in John. Now we're in James. Don't let it freak you out at the end.

I'll I'll open it up for conversation, but I'll feel like you have to say anything. But if something grabbed ahold of you from the scripture and you're like, I I need to share that, we would love to hear it. But, yeah, we're in James. And thank you to Nick over here because he covered the the last two weeks, and he did a fantastic job, and he's doing great as hell. So we're up to chapter two fourteen through 26.

Heading in my Bible is faith without beads is dead. And this is a visual. Oops. Let's see if I can if I can get this going. It's on now, and I'm gonna point it, and it works.

So this is the visual that comes to mind when I when I think of tonight's scripture. I just I couldn't get away from it. All of this begins with a relationship. Without a relationship with God, don't even worry about all this stuff. It begins with a relationship.

And as we draw near to God and draw and God nears and God draws near to us, he gives us this gift of faith. And then as we yield our will to his will, that faith grows. It gets bigger and bigger. And then it works itself into good deeds toward one another, and then it brings glory back to to God. But I just I I I see a like a cycle here.

Faith is given by God. It it leads toward good deeds toward one another, and it gives glory back to God. And I just think it's really important. Something to pay attention to. Yeah.

Faith, good deeds, glory to God. Like, this is how it's supposed to work. This is God's design here. But, again, the motivation the motivation behind all of this is a relationship with God. Getting getting to know him, walking with him day by day.

This is where it starts. First John four nineteen. We love why? Because God first loved us. It wouldn't even be possible to first love God.

He first loved us. And because he first loved us, then we can love him. And his love is what compels us to do good deeds. It compels us to. And it's not because we're trying to earn God's love and because we're trying to earn his favor.

We already have that. We already have that. It's not because God is trying to twist our arms. That's not why we do good deeds. It's because God has grabbed ahold of our hearts.

Are you with me, church? Because I've really believed this with conviction that this is how it's supposed to happen. It's a compelling one. And I think the early church, James is writing here, is a great example. James is writing a church.

It's persecuted, and it's scattered. They're really going through it. And we've gotta ask ourselves, when we're reading James, what motivated them to faith and endurance and action? What motivates them? Why didn't they just shut down and say, forget it.

We're not doing this anymore. It's too hard. Why did they keep going? And I'm a 100% convinced God's love's so real and so compelling. They had to put their faith in action.

They couldn't not put their faith in action. Just a natural outflow of that relationship. I I feel like that's the way it is exactly the way it's supposed to work. We have a relationship with God, and the natural outflow of that relationship with God is good deeds. So tonight, James is telling us faith and deeds work together, hand in hand, in God's eyes.

They're inseparable. As God gives us faith, faith then leads to action. And James is throwing some caution our way, and he's going, faith without good deeds is a dead faith. He goes so far to say, it's a dead faith if we don't put that faith in action. Have you ever had a car that like a junker?

It doesn't I'm looking at it right now. It just don't drive. It's no good. You know? Or have you ever changed the light bulb just to find out that the light bulb didn't even work?

They're like, forget it. You know? It's like these things, they they in order for them to to to have any value, they gotta work. You know? They gotta run.

So that being said, let's take a look at where I'm not making this stuff up. This is James two fourteen through 26. It'll be on the screen. I wanna read it. I'll share a few comments of my own and then open it up if there's some more that you wanna to add to it.

But let's read it. Here's what it says. What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, goodbye.

Have a good day. Stay warm. Heat well, but you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn't enough.

Unless it produces good deeds, it's dead and useless. Now some may argue, some people have faith. Other people have good deeds. But I say, how can you show me your faith if you don't have good deeds? I'll show you my faith by my good deeds.

You say you have faith for you believe that there's one God. Good for you. Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish. Can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Verse 21. Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions work together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened, just as the scriptures say, Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.

He was even called the friend of God. 24. So you see, we're shown to be right God with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Rahab, the prostitute, is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.

Verse 26. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. I wanna stop there for tonight. Pray first, and then talk about it some more. God, this is a a clear and compelling message.

Thank you. I pray that it would sink in. God, right, would you start with with me? I I I wanna preach this to myself. We all need to hear this, God.

And it all starts with a relationship with you. So let's start there. Getting to know you. Getting to know you. Hearing you through your Holy Spirit, through your word, and prayer.

I pray that this would stir us toward love and good deeds as we yield our will to your will. God, may our faith increase, and those deeds toward one another increase, and glory back to you increase in Jesus' name. James is a he's a street shooter, isn't he? I he starts by asking the question, what good is it? If we say we have faith but don't show it by our actions, can that kind of faith save anyone?

Great question. If we say we believe, but we don't show it in the way that we act and live live it out, does it truly reflect here's a question. Does it truly reflect that we've saved that we've been saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ? Example one. He's gonna give us some examples here.

Suppose you see a brother or sister, no food, no clothes. You say goodbye. Have a great day. Stay warm and well, but you don't give that person any food or clothing. You don't do anything.

What good does that do? I think did anybody who was a Bar Jay fan? Do you remember Tim Hysons line from the Bar J and and they do the bid about anybody from Rhode Island and Tim would say, you know, we do this every night, and it's never done us a lick of good. And I that's what I think of. Like, when we know what we ought to do but do nothing about it, it doesn't do us a lick of good.

Not a lick of good. James says earlier, don't just listen to God's word. Do what it says. Otherwise, we're fooling ourselves. So in other words, we can we can deceive ourselves into thinking that listening to God's word is our only obligation.

I showed up. I listened to God. Wasn't that enough? And he's going, no. It wasn't.

You're supposed to do something with this. Because when we when we think that it's just alright to just only listen and do nothing about it, we that's distorted reasoning. James says, unless faith produces good deeds, it's dead and useless. Wow. Ouch.

Right? You know, Carl, how many times have you heard God's word and done nothing about it? Yeah. More times than I'd like to even count. The warning is don't fool ourselves into thinking that we don't need to act on what we hear.

He goes on to say, now somebody may argue, well, some people have faith and other people have good deeds. But I say, how can you show me your faith? If you don't have good deeds, I'll show you my faith by my my good deeds, by what I do. He's saying the argument of, well, some have faith and others have deeds. Some have one, some have the other.

It's not a legitimate argument because faith always does something. It is motivated to action. Amen. Yes. But I'm and I wanna encourage you because I I get to see this.

You know? We're we're we're here. You know? We're we're on the front lines. We get to see from you and hear from you, and we can see you loving and caring and serving and sacrificing and being just and fair and representing Christ.

We get to see this. And a lot of it, it's it's behind the scenes. Nobody else you know, it's not all public. You know, not everybody knows all the things that you're doing from day to day. But my point is you're putting your faith in action.

I wanna encourage you to continue to put your faith in action, and it looks different for different people, and it ought to. It has to. We are a body with many parts. Alright. Some right now are compelled to work with children down the hall at Awana.

Wonderful. Some should not be quirky with kids at all.

They they got another gift.

You know what I'm saying? No. Right? It's like, oh, you are bad with kids. Don't do that.

But you know what? I you know what I'm trying to say, though? Like, we have different gifts, and we're meant to put those those gifts. Some just a couple of examples. Some people love seniors.

They they they put their their faith in action by by just being and loving and caring for for seniors. Some put their faith in action by writing. By the way, has anybody been reading the first b in the the Bible? You get those emails? They are so good.

The depth here in this church is incredible. I'm like, wow. Why are these people why what am I doing up here talking? These people should be over here sharing. You know?

And, Joni, I think of you writing poetry for years and years. It's just it's a beautiful gift. Or I think of, like, immigrant hope. They meet right down here. Actually, right below where I'm I'm standing here, acting justly, loving mercy, walking walking humbly with God.

I mean, there's a we've got a mission team here. They're relentlessly keeping the great commission on the forefront of our thinking. And then there's the untold stories, the things that we do not hear from day to day of how you carry out your faith. I just I just wanna encourage this church. I I really do.

To keep putting our faith in action. And if you're not sure where to start, I think for us to humbly ask the Lord, God, you've given me gifts. Where do you want me to use them? How can I put my faith in action right now? And don't think that you don't have them because you do.

Every one of you have gifts that have that God has specifically given you to be the body of Christ, to love God and to love people like you commanded us to do. And if you're not sure, try something. Just try something. Something that you're interested in. And if it doesn't work, try something else.

But you'll see. You will see because it'll be confirmed in the people around you. They'll go, wow. You know what? You're really good at that.

And before you know it, you you you found your place. It's a it's a beautiful thing. I love it when I see it. Remember James says, if we lack wisdom, ask. We'll give it generously without finding fault for going, I don't know where to start.

God, what would you have me do? And it could be that you're doing it right now too. They'll let you know. But getting back to this little visual here, it starts with relationship. It's it's just so key.

Through relationship, yielding our will to his will, he increases our faith. That faith motivates us toward good deeds toward one another, and in turn, it builds up the body and it gives glory to God. It's just it's a beautiful thing. And I I wanna encourage us to keep on. The work is far from over.

It is far from over. Every single day, all we gotta do is look around and go, here's another day, God. Here's another opportunity. Show me. Show me what you would have for me today.

Help me to put my faith in action. Here's another argument from verse 19 about going beyond belief to action. A person that says, well, I believe in God. I believe in one God. James says, okay.

Even demons believe that. Wow. Woah, James. And they tremble because of it. Consider that for a moment.

Only believing that there's one God, it puts us on par with Satan and demons. He's going, there's more. There's more here. It's what we do with our belief that's most important. James gives the example of Abraham.

He's asked to offer his only son as a sacrifice. Can you imagine what kind of faith it took forward to to move forward in that? Like, what am I doing here? And when his son asked, well, dad, where's the sacrifice? In that moment, not knowing how God would provide, Abraham says, God himself is gonna provide that lamb for that burnt offering, my son.

And he does. God does. Verse 22. His faith and his action worked together. His action made his faith complete.

Catch that. His action made his faith complete, finished, perfected. Without actions, we have an incomplete faith. This is my daughter, Abby. This was, like, years ago.

She's a lot bigger now. But this was we do puzzles together, and this was one we did a while. And occasionally, we'll get to an end of a puzzle, and there's a missing piece. Have you ever done that? It is so frustrating.

I hate that. I need to fix that. And and that's just it. It it's frustrating because we don't wanna just start a puzzle. We wanna finish it.

You know, we wanna complete it in in a similar way. We want our faith to become complete. We don't want to be lacking an action. That's the way to make it happen, to do, to act on it. Verse 24.

So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. For some, that raises the question. Well, does that mean that I need to earn my way to God? No. No.

No. No. No. Let's be clear about that. Ephesians two, it's by grace you've been saved.

It's through faith. It's not it's not from yourselves. It's not from the work you do. It's a gift of God so no one can boast. Okay.

We're clear about that. We're saved by grace through faith. It just means that those works are living proof of our faith. They come after faith. They're a result of our faith.

They're the proof that we are saved by grace through faith. Example. Think about that thief on the cross. Right? Saved at the at the moment of belief.

There's no question about it. Did he do anything to deserve it? No. No. No.

He probably lived a pretty rotten life. He didn't do anything, but I can't help but think. He missed out. You know, he yes. Saved 100%, but he missed out early on in his life of all the things that he could have done.

Are you with me? That that's what I think of as the thief on the crosses. You know, that's wonderful that he was saved at the eleventh hour right at the moment, you know, before his death, after living a probably pretty rotten life. But he missed out he missed out on the gift of what what God could have done through Rahab, she's another example of faith in James. No squeaky clean record there.

None of us do. None of us do. God reached out to her. She reached back in faith. That faith turned to obedience, and she proved her faith to be real by her actions.

You get the point. Faith without deeds is a dead faith. Like a car that does not drive, it's not going anywhere. And my encouragement is, let's make the most of it. By the grace of God and by the power of God and by the spirit of God, let's make the most of it by putting our faith into action to whomever and to wherever God is leading.

John fifteen five is another great visual of this truth. He's the vine. We're the branches. As we remain in him and he in he in us, that's when we produce fruit. That's where the actions, the good deeds, that's where they happen.

But it only happens when we remain in him. Apart from him, forget it. It's just manpower, and it wears out quickly. Again, relationship with God is the umbrella over all of this. It's where our motivation comes from in the first place.

He gives faith. Faith produces good deeds toward another, and God's glorified through it. So I'm gonna stop talking for a while. And I I'd like to for for you to be able to share if there was something from James two fourteen through 26 that just grabbed ahold of you, a testimony of it or, you know, of a verse. Please share.

If not, that's okay too. But I do have a microphone, and and the only reason we have it is so people that are are watching online can hear it. But would anybody have any any comments from me? Or you know what else too? Was it just a prayer?

One day, Florian, you just you just prayed. You said, I don't wanna talk. I just I just wanna pray. I really appreciated that. I can I can break ice?

Alright. Thanks, Gary. Gary's gonna break the ice.

Alright. Nice and close. That relationship with God that produces fruit for me was a journey. And I came a port a part of my life where I said, alright, God. I wanna do something big for you.

I wanted to produce fruit. And I was doing the study that that there was a part of it hit me right between the eyes. And the study this section of it said, God can't give a large assignment to a small character. And and I remember thinking, you know, God has my heart to wanna do something to to to bear fruit, but I never gave him myself that he can mold and shape me into the image he wanted to use me. And that's what I would encourage you is that a lot of us say, I wanna do I wanna do something for God.

I wanna I wanna have I wanna have fruit with my faith. But in that journey, we have to let God mold us to be usable. Amen. And for me, you know, that that journey was it took a little while. But once God started working in my heart, it went quick.

It went quick. And I and I sensed the call and what he had for me to do, the good works. So that's what I would encourage. You know, if you struggle with maybe you know, I want to do something, but I I don't know what quite what. I would just say, just come close to God.

Allow him to mold you and shape you in the interest in the image that he wants to use you as. Amen. I remember I'll be quick here. I remember opening up my Bible as God would would press his word on my heart and underline it. And it it was it was very quickly where I I understood that my Bible fitted me.

The things I underline, the things were unique, not not only to me, but each spot in that Bible. And I'd open up somebody else's Bible, and I was, you know, I ain't this underlined. And why you know? It kinda reminds me. Has anybody ever played ball?

And you had a mitt? Yeah. And that mitt fit your hand and you put somebody else's mitt on? I said, this ain't right. That's what God does for your heart.

His word fits you uniquely.

Yeah. Great point, Gary. And I I love to it's it's such a fun thing to witness. When somebody finds their they they find that place. Place.

They They find find out out how God has gifted, and they begin to to use it and just exercise it. So good. Yeah. You're good. You're good.

Go ahead.

Well and line with what Gary was saying. Thirty years ago or so, there was a study experiencing God, and the whole thrust of that was if you don't know where to begin to serve the Lord, see where God is working, and join him. And then see where he leads you from there. Yeah. Yeah.

I that that has always been great. I I love that. And you mentioned that a few times, Gary, and hearing that again. It's true. Where is God working?

You know? Can you can you see right now you think in your mind, where is God moving right now? Where where do I see God, and how can I join him? Not God what how about my agenda here? But what are you doing, and how can I join you in that work?

I think that's a great place to start. Anybody else? Elsa?

Green mic. Go on a Roman.

So I I'm going off of Gary about what he said about when God molds us. Sometimes it's not what we want. Sometimes it definitely doesn't look like we thought it would. Right? Sometimes it has to.

It means changing, and it means changing for him. And sometimes it's hard. And through that is the part where we have to have faith and say, okay. He's got it. He knows what it is.

It doesn't look like I wanted it to look. My plans like I always say, my plans are like a caveman compared to somebody that's, like, totally way advanced. So so yeah, the molding part is very hard. And with that comes decisions that you have to make that are very hard. Through that comes faith, which comes blessings after that, and and the good deeds that you do over the way.

But, yes, I definitely can relate with what Gary said about the molding. He's he's he's the potter. I'm the clay. Do what you want with me. And even if it that doesn't look like the way that I want it, even if that means that there's gonna be a lot of pain along the way, I trust you.

And your wings are much better than mine. If that means, like, go of certain things, then that's okay. I trust you. And and and, yeah, it's just it's that's what I got from you. I

like this bolding thing that's going

on. So

I'll just pose a question. Who do you wanna change for? Another human being or God? Anybody else that's being handed to me?

Yep. You wanna wrap you wanna wrap it up, Greg? Put a nice little bow on it.

This is something that I hope it doesn't sound trite. It's kind of a short little bumper sticker sort of saying, but it's faith alone that saves, but saving faith is never alone. So I think that it might be modesty or might be humility, it might be just ignorance really. You know that, well, I do believe. I do believe in Jesus.

And you might be a, I do believe, but help me with my unbelief. You're still at that place. But if you get that inkling, just a little inkling, a nudge from, I don't know, some still small voice that says, go help them out.

And go help them out.

You know, and it can be a kind word. It can be lots of different things. But I I think that we're reluctant sometimes to just act on that little, still small voice. Do you believe that God speaks today? Do you believe that He moves by His Spirit?

Jesus said to Nicodemus in John three, He said that the wind blows wherever it listeth. You don't really know where the Holy Spirit is directing next. It just is like the wind. You can't really see where it's coming from or where it's going, but you can see the effect that it has. If we would be willing to not brace ourselves against that wind of the spirit, but allow it to carry us along and get the gentle nudge and go for it, it's amazing.

The voice becomes more clear, grow in confidence, and you're saving faith at that point is is working. Amen.

Well said. And I'll say. Thank you. Thank you. One more.

Well, as we're we're talking about our faith in God and letting him do things through us, I was reminded of hearing of a missionary who was in a Muslim country and he went to the market one day and while he was there a woman obviously Muslim came racing up towards him and of course that was during the time when the women were actually exposing themselves and blowing people up and whatnot so he wasn't quite too sure what was happening. Anyway so he went through and she came up to him and said you're the one you're the one. And so he said well he didn't know what that meant. Then she said last night in my dreams Jesus came to me and said I want you to go to the market the same market that he was at right then and there and you will recognize a man there and I want you to go to him and he will tell you what you need to know about Jesus. So here he was not knowing really what was taking place or how it took place but he just went along with it and sure enough he was able to lead this woman to Jesus not because of anything he did, but because of what Jesus had done.

Should we stand? Sing one more. I'd I'd like to pray, Lord. God, thank you again for this message. Thanks for this word to us tonight.

This was not an accident. This is exactly what you would have for us. And I pray that you would impress on us just how your design is is that our faith and our deeds, they would work together hand in hand. Show us the way to go to go, God. Show us your will that we'd walk in it.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So I wanna just leave you with one more verse. This one's just been grabbing ahold of me because I we need wisdom every single day. We need the wisdom of God to carry us carry us through.

And it says, if we lack wisdom, ask ask. If you will give generously without finding fault, it'll be given to us. Amen.