WORD From The Woods
James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
This is a pretty familiar passage to a lot of professing Christians, but many times it isn’t looked at in it’s complete context. Most likely, you've heard the phrase "faith without works is dead" or "even the demons believe and shudder.” Faith by itself is really just empty faith, and simply believing in your mind that God exists doesn't save anyone. The demons know for a fact that God exists, they once dwelt in His presence before they were cast down with Satan in rebellion. Christians like to quote these phrases but seldom like to apply this passage to their own life. Some people take this passage completely out of context and teach that we are saved by doing good works. When James is speaking of being "justified by works," he is talking about our faith being proven by works. Our salvation is accomplished by Christ’s work of redemption on the cross alone, "not by works, lest any man should boast." James is telling us that if there is no evidence of good works in our life, then our faith is dead. He's pretty blunt about it, but this is something that we all need to take seriously. We do a lot of commercial thinning. My main objective in a thinning is selecting the healthiest trees as leave trees and removing the suppressed and dead trees. When I see a dead tree in a stand, it's clearly dead. A dead tree can have all the faith in the world but it's still dead. I know that a tree is alive when I see green limbs and active growth. In the same way, a genuine, actively growing faith is proven by good works. As you go out this week, I hope that this passage from James will challenge you to take a real honest look at your heart. Ask God to reveal the areas where your faith may be suppressed or even dead. Unlike a dead tree that can only stay dead, God can bring even the most dead hearts back to life! We have to decide if we're going to just say we're Christians or if we're really going to follow Christ!
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-
James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
This is a pretty familiar passage to a lot of professing Christians, but many times it isn’t looked at in it’s complete context. Most likely, you've heard the phrase "faith without works is dead" or "even the demons believe and shudder.” Faith by itself is really just empty faith, and simply believing in your mind that God exists doesn't save anyone. The demons know for a fact that God exists, they once dwelt in His presence before they were cast down with Satan in rebellion. Christians like to quote these phrases but seldom like to apply this passage to their own life. Some people take this passage completely out of context and teach that we are saved by doing good works. When James is speaking of being "justified by works," he is talking about our faith being proven by works. Our salvation is accomplished by Christ’s work of redemption on the cross alone, "not by works, lest any man should boast." James is telling us that if there is no evidence of good works in our life, then our faith is dead. He's pretty blunt about it, but this is something that we all need to take seriously. We do a lot of commercial thinning. My main objective in a thinning is selecting the healthiest trees as leave trees and removing the suppressed and dead trees. When I see a dead tree in a stand, it's clearly dead. A dead tree can have all the faith in the world but it's still dead. I know that a tree is alive when I see green limbs and active growth. In the same way, a genuine, actively growing faith is proven by good works. As you go out this week, I hope that this passage from James will challenge you to take a real honest look at your heart. Ask God to reveal the areas where your faith may be suppressed or even dead. Unlike a dead tree that can only stay dead, God can bring even the most dead hearts back to life! We have to decide if we're going to just say we're Christians or if we're really going to follow Christ!
God bless and have a great week! -Terry-