Show Your Faith by Your Works

February 16, 2014 Background Scripture: James 2:14 – 26 Lesson Passage: James 2:14 – 26 Action speaks louder than words. That’s the overarching theme of the Epistle of James. Your actions portray what motivates you. We act and react according to what’s on the inside. Sometimes our actions and our words don’t agree. Whenever that happens, people will most likely believe our actions. For example, if you say you love me but you won’t stop willfully and knowingly hurting me, then your actions are not lining up with your words. I will believe your actions and disregard your words. Sometimes our actions will drown out our words. James challenged the Jewish Christians to stop talking about faith and to start demonstrating their faith through their actions. As is typical of James’ exposition in this letter, he gave practical examples of the message he conveyed. He gave the example of a brother or sister—that is to say, a fellow Christian, who has a physical need. When someone is naked or hungry, they don’t care how religious you are. They want to know if you are going to clothe or feed them. If a Christian merely talks about clothing and feeding the needy, the needy will be just as naked and just as hungry if nothing happens but talk. Even praying about the individual’s situation when we have been given the capacity to act shows a lack of faith in and of itself. If we don’t believe God will use us to help others when we have the means to do so, then why would we believe that God will use someone else to help them if we truly have faith? This is the dilemma James places Christians in through the logic presented in his letter. Mere intellectual agreement with truth is not true faith. True faith trusts God. Believing only does not require any faith. Demons believe the truth. The demons are even frightened by the truth of God’s word yet they do not have faith. Demons will burn in the Lake of Fire even with their faithless belief. Abraham and Rahab are given as examples of persons of faith. They believed God so they took action accordingly. As one reflects on James’ writing, it is important to note that James is not writing about a saving faith. Christians are saved by grace through faith and not by works or activities. James is writing about the life of a Christian and not the path a sinner must take. Therefore, James is writing about sanctification as a continuous spiritual growth in the life of a Christian. Believing faith brings salvation that a person confesses because of the change that has occurred on the inside. From that point forward the person is saved and lives the life of sanctification. It is during this sanctification stage of the person’s life that James challenges Christians to demonstrate their faith through actions and not religious talk. It should be noted that acting without faith is just as spiritually vain as talking without acting. For Christians, we should be capable of both talking faith and demonstrating it through our actions. When we must choose to do one and not both, James says that the only one that matters is action. Through our actions we can show our faith. Robert C. Hudson February 5, 2013

Treat Everyone Equally

February 9, 2014 Background Scripture: James 2:1 – 13 Lesson Passage: James 2:1 – 13 Today’s lesson can be summed up in one statement: Treat everybody fair. Please note that this is different from treating everybody the same. If we treat everybody the same, we will likely be unfair to most people because of our individuality. When we treat everybody fairly, we cater to individuals based on their needs, likes and dislikes. It is clear that we will like some folk’s personality and actions and absolutely hate the actions of others. Yet we must be careful to distinguish between hating actions and despising people. We must tread lightly when it comes to attempting to assess someone’s personality. As individuals, we all have unique personalities but how a person’s personality is perceived does not necessarily translate into expected behavior. We think some people are nice but their actions indicate that they are mean and hateful. Others may appear to be aloof or unconcerned and yet display the fruit of the Spirit in their living. So James is clear in warning Christians; don’t judge people by appearance. As it was with human nature then, so it is today. We still tend to judge the book by its cover. This lesson is a reminder that there are some things that time does not diminish in society. Too often, we still believe that people who are rich in the things of this world are better than those who are materially poor. We are not always careful to delineate between people being better off and people being better. James admonishes us to observe the actions of God so that we may benefit from His example. God’s choices are opposite our natural choices. God chooses the materially poor who have faith in Him and make them heir of all things that are spiritual. It means much more for us to do this for the sake of living righteously rather than mimicking God for the sake of appearing religious or spiritual. The bottom line is that we sin when we disrespect people because of perceived financial status. This sin is not a small matter although we may act as though it is. We cannot violate part of the Law without offending God in all of it. We have no right to look down on others or their plight in life. We must be careful what we think about a person’s sin as though it is more wretched than our own. We are indebted to the whole Law of God whenever we attempt to justify ourselves with part of it. Christians have a liberty from the Law of sin and death. Because of the atoning death of Jesus on the cross, we have been freed from the cycle of sin and death that is the very operation of the Law. However, we must be careful how we walk in this liberty because our deeds will be judged according to how we use this freedom. The greatest warnings revolve around how we treat others. We receive in proportion to what we give. We are forgiven even as we forgive. Likewise, even mercy is received in proportion to how we extend mercy to others. If for no other reason, for mercy’s sake, treat everyone equally. Robert C. Hudson January 31, 2013