Faith Works (James #5) - Bible Baptist Church

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Faith works

Text: James 2

James is a meaty letter. Some may think that speculating about the future with Revelation and Daniel is where the meat is. It’s not. Others think being able to find obscure mysteries are the meaty stuff of the scriptures. They’re not. The meat is in the behavior. Paul said if I understood all mysteries but didn’t have charity, I’m nothing. There is no substance to my life.

James 1 ends saying God’s mercy is shown, not professed.
James 2 ends saying faith without works is dead.
James 3 ends saying wisdom is found in fruitful works of righteousness, not the professor of wisdom.
James 4 ends saying real faith is doing good, not just knowing what is good to do.
James 5 ends saying the saint is the one who converts the sinner from the error of his way.

God’s children are rich in faith (vss 1-7)

James is talking about the faith of our LORD Jesus Christ: that’s Christianity. For those who think James is talking to Jews in a tribulation time about keeping the law, he’s not. He’s talking about the faith of Jesus Christ which is also called Christianity.
First of all, a Christian walks by faith, not by sight.
The just who live by faith make righteous judgments, not judgments on appearance.
James uses the illustration of rich man versus poor man.
Favoritism isn’t faith.
Discriminating against people because they appear helpless is poor judgment. Showing preference for people because of their access to money and people isn’t faith.
The hypocrites are religious people who do things to be seen of men and they have their reward. (Matthew 6:5, 23:5) They hobnob with bureaucrats because their religion is fame. They distinguish themselves by their religious clothing, they sit in influential seats because their religion is fame.
(Galatians 1:10) Paul said if I please men I would not be the servant of Christ.
You can’t serve God and money.
- God doesn’t choose people for his kingdom based on their position or their wealth. Therefore God’s people don’t choose people for fellowship based on position or wealth.
- James is very critical of the rich as the oppressors.
- He says these are the people taking you to court. It’s the men whose wealth depends on the sin of the people. When the gospel changes people’s lives, their business suffers.
- You can’t serve God and money. The love of money is the root of all evil. Some have erred from the faith trusting in uncertain riches. Erred from the faith means they don’t have eternal life.

You’ll know you have God’s mercy when you’re able to distribute God’s mercy (vss 8-13)

The law of loving your neighbor is royal because it is the head of everything else.
- If you don’t obey this law, it makes you a lawbreaker just like breaking any other law makes you a lawbreaker.
- In fact, it is like treason in God’s kingdom because it is in opposition to the royal law.
- In James’ explanation loving your neighbor looks like not discriminating against things that have nothing to do with God’s kingdom. It looks like accepting people who can’t do anything for you.
So practice the law of mercy, don’t just talk about having mercy according to verse 12.
You might say, but it’s not by work. James isn’t saying salvation comes from self-righteous works. But he is saying faith is a behavior.
- Those who claim the mercy of God for themselves without showing the mercy of God are only kidding themselves. He’s saying what Paul and the author of Hebrews 11 said about faith being substantive and evidence.
- James isn’t dealing with the same kind of work that Paul was talking about. Paul dealt with self-righteous work like Isaiah did when he contrasted faithfulness to self-righteous works. But neither Paul nor James nor Jesus believe that faith is a passive knowledge or an empty confession.
The merciless are judged without mercy in verse 13 because they chose to deceive themselves about God’s mercy in their own lives.
- David said this in the Psalms. Solomon said this in Proverbs. The prophets preached this.
- Jesus said this multiple times and even gave a couple of parables about showing mercy to the merciful. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
- Paul gave an example of something similar when he wrote to Timothy. He said the household of Onesiphorous showed him mercy when he was in prison and he prayed that God would show them mercy as well. That’s 2 Timothy 1:16-18.
Do you know how you received God’s mercy? When you’re able to show God’s mercy. Not when you’re able to claim it for yourself, but when you possess it and are able to distribute it to others.

If your faith won’t cross the street, it certainly won’t cross into God’s kingdom (vss 14-26)

If your faith won’t work, then your faith doesn’t work.
Talk is cheap, but faithfulness is pleasing to God.
If you’re faith won’t help a brother or sister in need, there is no way your faith has taken hold on eternal life.
William Tyndale said, “God has promised all mercy to the merciful. Now, if anyone is not merciful but believes himself to have the mercy of God, he deceives himself because God’s word isn’t in him. For God’s promise pertains to the merciful only, and true faith is know by her deeds. You’ll know when you have God’s blessing when you’re able to distribute it. You’ll know when you have God’s mercy when you’re able to distribute it.
Now, you know that James isn’t talking about works of the law because he uses two examples of people who were proven by their works, but neither were under the law. Paul says not of works, but he’s talking about self-righteousness. James isn’t talking about self-righteousness. James is talking about faithful works which are the EVIDENCE of the hope you have. If there is no work or EVIDENCE, as Hebrews 11 puts it, you’re just kidding yourself about whatever faith you think you have.
The devils profess God, but they aren’t changed. The difference between the belief of a Christian and the belief of a devil is a devil believes in God but is not changed. He’s still a devil.
Verse 20 says O vain man. Don’t you understand this?
Examples of proven faith (vss 21-26)
- Consider Abraham
- Consider Rahab