Living Faith

August 16, 2020 Background Scripture: James 2:14 – 26 Lesson Passage: James 2:14 – 26 I have expounded on this passage of scripture many times. Yet, I have not felt a sense of sufficiency after I was finished. It’s difficult to talk about this passage without going back and forth between it and Paul’s dissertation in Romans. The difficulty is that Paul and James used the same words, but they were speaking from two very different perspectives. Paul, in his defense of the doctrine of grace, wrote about the sufficiency of faith alone for salvation. James, on the other hand, wrote about the need for works as proof of sincere faith—which, at least on the surface, appears to violate the doctrine of grace. Both writers used the same incident to illustrate their position: Abraham’s encounter with God when Abraham believed what God told him and was considered righteous by God because of it. Paul saw that justification of Abraham at the time he believed God as justification without works. James saw Abraham’s action with Isaac about thirty years later as the works that proved the genuineness of Abraham’s initial faith. Based on this example, James seems to have implied that genuine faith will eventually produce works of righteousness—provided the opportunity to do so will exist. Both Paul and James conclude that God is the one who justifies believers because of their faith in Him. I know that Paul and James are both right because of the absolute integrity of the Bible. Now, let’s consider the opportunity to do works of righteousness. The thief on the cross next to Jesus did not have an opportunity to do anything after his confession of faith. However, Jesus’ response to him makes it clear that he was justified because of his faith. I believe James is right in that if this thief could have survived his crucifixion, those around him would have seen a very different person. That’s the point of living faith. As we live, our confession of faith should be repeatedly demonstrated through our actions. A person cannot make a confession of faith and continue to live contrary to that confession with a clear conscience. Genuine faith produces an internal change in people. That internal change will manifest itself through actions that would have been peculiar for that person prior to faith. An example of this can be seen in what a person believes about the local church. If one believes (has faith) that the Bible teaches that a saved person should be connected to a local church (by membership in today’s lingo), then that person will not avoid local churches and say, “God understands.” That person’s faith in the word of God will not allow him to continue to live as though he were an island, separated from others. That’s what living faith does. James gives other examples of it in his letter. There are many more that could be considered. James’ conclusion is that faith without actions that follow, based on it, is a dead faith. This is the same as saying that what was called faith by the person was never faith. People can make confessions that are not based on something they sincerely believe about the word of God. Faith begins with the knowledge of God’s word. The person who comes into this knowledge must decide if they choose to believe it or not. If one believes the word of God and confesses it as the truth, then their faith in the word of God will come alive within them. Their actions after their confession will be the manifestation of living faith. Robert C. Hudson July 25, 2020

Hearing and Doing

August 9, 2020 Background Scripture: James 1:19 – 27 Lesson Passage: James 1:19 – 27 Christians are admonished to be swift to hear. Much of what we learn we learn by first listening to someone who already knows. That is one of the preferred teaching methods in Western culture. Whenever we are around someone knowledgeable, the more we listen the more we tend to learn. It is foolish to be around a knowledgeable person and talk so much that we don’t allow time for the person to share their knowledge which could be of benefit to us. Being swift to hear is an admonishment to always be prepared to listen when someone wants to speak. I have learned that there is something to be learned from both children and fools if one is willing to listen when they are speaking. We gain new insights when we listen to someone who views life from a different perspective than our own. Being ready, or willing, to listen at all times, keeps us in a learning mode. Being slow to speak is the corollary to being swift to hear. Sometimes we speak out of turn when we are not paying attention before we start speaking. Likewise, we can easily find ourselves answering the wrong question because we didn’t pause to reflect on the question we are attempting to answer. If others observe this and it embarrasses them, it might prevent them from speaking something that we could benefit from hearing. Many projects are not attempted until we are confident that we have all the resources we need to complete the job. We should treat speaking the same way. Emotional disposition plays a significant role in our interactions with others. Too often anger allows others to dictate our emotional response. Sometimes we are angry because anger is our emotional response to what someone has said or done. We don’t like the way we feel, and we attribute that feeling to someone else rather than how we have mentally processed the situation. That type of response gives others too much control over our emotional state. There are times when we take something personal that we don’t have to accept at all. We should be slow to allow someone to control our emotions. We are rarely at our best when we are angry. And besides that, anger does not reflect godliness in us. Christians should strive to have a godly disposition. Christians should also strive to be teachable. We grow when we learn. Christianity should be a continuous process of growth. We can never learn enough about God, faith, and holiness. When Paul declared “I die daily”, that only happens through daily growth in Christ. Our Christian character grows when we die more to the world and become more alive to the presence of Christ in us. Learning is part of character growth. To receive the word with meekness is to have a teachable spirit. This requires faith in God and the process He chooses to use in our lives. Faith is directed towards God, but religion is directed towards mankind. Our faith quantifies our trust and reliance on God. We demonstrate our faith by believing God, trusting God, and obeying God. Our religion can be quantified by our concern and love for mankind. We demonstrate our religion by meeting the needs of mankind. Some of the most vulnerable persons in the first century were widows and orphans. To look after the welfare of widows and orphans, was a great demonstration of religious love. To summarize this, let us not just hear the word of God, but let us be doers of the word as well. Robert C. Hudson July 24, 2020