Developing A Dynamic Faith James 2:14-26 Adapted from a Tim Bond sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/developing-a-dynamic-faith-tim-bond-sermon-on-faith-49446.asp

1. Developing
A Dynamic Faith
James 2:14-26
Adapted from a Tim Bond sermon
http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/developing-
a-dynamic-faith-tim-bond-sermon-on-faith-49446.asp

2. James 2:14 NET What good is it, my
brothers and sisters, if someone claims to
have faith but does not have works? Can
this kind of faith save him? 15 If a brother or
sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Go in
peace, keep warm and eat well," but you do
not give them what the body needs, what
good is it?

3. 17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is
dead being by itself. 18 But someone will
say, "You have faith and I have works."
Show me your faith without works and I will
show you faith by my works. 19 You believe
that God is one; well and good. Even the
demons believe that — and tremble with
fear.

4. 20 But would you like evidence, you empty
fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by
works when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? 22 You see that his faith was working
together with his works and his faith was
perfected by works. 23 And the scripture
was fulfilled that says, "Now Abraham
believed God and it was counted to him
for righteousness," (Genesis 15:6) and he
was called God's friend.

5. 24 You see that a person is justified by
works and not by faith alone. 25 And
similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also
justified by works when she welcomed the
messengers and sent them out by another
way? 26 For just as the body without the
spirit is dead, so also faith without works is
dead.

6. Over the centuries, the human race has
passed along a lot of wisdom from
generation to generation. “Wise old
sayings” are a part of everyday life, and we
use them without thinking. “A bird in the
hand is worth 2 in the bush.” Lots of great
insights into life have passed through the
centuries this way.

7. Now I want to ask you a question. Which
old adage offers the best council about life
in general?
A. “Look before you leap.”
B. “He who hesitates is lost.”
Do you think A. is in general the best choice
for a philosophy to live your life by? Do you
think B. is in general the best choice for a
philosophy to live your life by? I’m sure we
have some division among the group.
Wouldn’t you say, “It depends.”

8. It is interesting, isn’t it. Two exactly opposite
adages, yet it really does depend. If you
were speaking to a group of cliff divers, you
might want to remind them of the adage
“Look before you leap.” If you were talking
to a farmer whose harvesting equipment is
broken at planting time, you might need to
remind him, “He who hesitates is lost.”
There is some tension between these two
ideals.

9. In the Bible there are also opposing
concepts that have a tension between
them. It doesn’t make either of them not
true, it simply means they are speaking to
different situations.
Proverbs 26:4 NET Do not answer a fool
according to his folly, lest you yourself also
be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his
folly, lest he be wise in his own estimation.
Two statements that seem to contradict but
are both true, depending on their
application.

10. Now it’s not too hard to overlook the tension
between old adages and even a proverb
about how to answer a foolish person, but it
is not always so easy to overlook the
situation when it strikes at the core of the
faith. You cannot ignore the issue when it is
something as fundamental as salvation.

11. But some have tried to say that there is the
same kind of tension between whether we
are saved by faith or we are saved by what
we do (works). They say that there is some
disagreement between Paul who wrote
Romans and James who wrote the letter we
are studying. Paul writes For we consider
that a person is declared righteous by faith
apart from the works of the law.
Romans 3:28 NET

12. Paul says that a person is made right with
God, by faith. It is a cornerstone of
Christianity that if we are to have a
relationship with God, it must be based on
faith and trust in Him. Then we read in
James 2:24, “You see that a person is
justified by works and not by faith alone.”
Now over the years some people have said
that what Paul wrote and what James wrote
contradict one another and they can’t both
be true.

13. Martin Luther found a solution to the
problem. When he read Romans 3:28 he
wrote in the margin of his Bible “Sola Fide”
which means “Faith Only.” (Latin: by faith
alone) On the other side he said that James
shouldn’t be part of the Bible. There are
many Christians who have followed Martin
Luther, not by throwing James out of the
Bible, but by saying we are saved by “Faith
Only.”

14. Much of Christianity believes Paul and
ignores James, when in reality both James
and Paul are looking at the same thing from
two different sides of the coin.
Paul is saying “You can’t work your way to
heaven, it takes faith to please God.” James
is saying, “You have to have faith to please
God, but the only faith that is pleasing to
God is faith that does something.” God
wants you to have a dynamic faith, not a
dead faith!

15. Did you notice Paul adds 3 words in
Romans 3:28 that lets us see it in a different
light. “works of the law” Let’s get a
clarification on just what Paul is writing
about here.
Romans 3:19 NET Now we know that
whatever the law says, it says to those who
are under the law, so that every mouth may
be silenced and the whole world may be
held accountable to God.

16. 20 For no one is declared righteous before
him by the works of the law, for through the
law comes the knowledge of sin. In looking
at the rest of this chapter in Romans it
becomes clear Paul is teaching that in
Jesus, we gentiles & all mankind, are not
bound to the law, but faith in Christ.

17. He ends that chapter with this statement:
Do we then nullify the law through faith?
Absolutely not! Instead we uphold the law.
Romans 3:31 NET
Our faith should drive us to do good works
& have proper interaction with God &
mankind just as the law commanded.
Do you realize on the great judgment day
we will be judged by what we’ve done?

18. Matthew 16:27 NET For the Son of Man will
come with his angels in the glory of his
Father, and then he will reward each person
according to what he has done.
2 Corinthians 5:10 NET For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each one may be paid back
according to what he has done while in the
body, whether good or evil.

19. Revelation 20:12 NET And I saw the dead,
the great and the small, standing before the
throne. Then books were opened, and
another book was opened — the book of
life. So the dead were judged by what was
written in the books, according to their
deeds. 13 The sea gave up the dead that
were in it, and Death and Hades gave up
the dead that were in them, and each one
was judged according to his deeds.

20. Does this fact not make you pause &
reflect? If Christ were to return today how
will you be judged? Has your faith in Him
driven you to actively do good works? Let’s
spend a little bit of time digging into what
James has to say.
The passage breaks down like this:
-vv. 14-18 James describes
Dead Faith
- v. 19 James explains Demonic Faith
- vv. 20-26 James points to
Dynamic Faith

21. Dead Faith
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone claims to have faith but does not
have works? Can this kind of faith save
him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly
clothed and lacks daily food, 16 and one of
you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm
and eat well," but you do not give them
what the body needs, what good is it?

22. 17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is
dead being by itself. 18 But someone will
say, "You have faith and I have works."
Show me your faith without works and I will
show you faith by my works.
When James is defining the different types
of faith, the easiest one to define is the
dead faith. It is a faith that thinks
“everything’s okay.”

23. It is faith that says, “I believe in God,” but
never thinks about how that might affect the
way I live. He didn’t have to look far to find
an example of dead faith. You notice what is
going on here. A Christian is standing arm
in arm with another Christian. They are
talking. The one Christian doesn’t have any
clothes and is starving. The other Christian
gives a standard good bye. “Go in peace,
keep warm and eat well.”

24. It’s kind of like one of those “What’s wrong
with this picture” illustrations. Everybody
can see it.
Everybody knows that Christians are
supposed to take care of others, especially
other Christians.
Everybody understands that you aren’t
supposed to say something with your mouth
that you don’t mean, or that you have no
intention of doing something about.

25. What has happened is that the one who
ignores the need of others has taken the
name of Christ, but failed to adopt the
character of Christ. Often they have said, “I
want the benefits of being a Christian, but I
don’t want any responsibility that comes
with it.” James says, “It doesn’t work that
way. If you have faith, it changes you
through and through.”

26. Dead faith is the kind that is nothing more
than words on your lips. It is a statement of
faith without a lifestyle of faith. What James
is warning us about here is this kind of faith
is no faith at all.
Don’t be content with dead faith.

27. Demonic Faith
Just to shock his readers, James really
throws them a curve ball in v. 19 You
believe that God is one; well and good.
Even the demons believe that — and
tremble with fear. He says “You have the
right belief about God, well isn’t that great.
You are in the same ballpark with the
demons except they are one notch better
than you. Their belief affects them. At least
they tremble with fear.”

28. Have you ever gotten scared just by
thinking about something? Have you ever
been sitting around the campfire when
someone was telling a scary story. Just as
the story was getting good and the
storyteller’s voice gets real soft, then
BOOO! They send a shudder down your
spine and you jump. What do you think
makes for a scary story to demons? It is
something about God. Read the book of
Revelation to them.

29. Revelation 20:7 NET Now when the
thousand years are finished, Satan will be
released from his prison 8 and will go out to
deceive the nations at the four corners of
the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them
together for the battle. They are as
numerous as the grains of sand in the sea.
9 They went up on the broad plain of the
earth and encircled the camp of the saints
and the beloved city, but fire came down
from heaven and devoured them
completely.

30. 10 And the devil who deceived them was
thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where
the beast and the false prophet are too, and
they will be tormented there day and night
forever and ever.
As Christians we are going to cheer as God
triumphs over evil when Satan and the
demons are thrown into the lake of fire to
suffer for eternity. But that is not a good
story for demons.

31. When you read through the gospel
accounts of Jesus time on earth, whenever
he encountered demons they screamed out
who he was. Jesus always told them to shut
up, he didn’t need their testimony but they
knew Him, they obeyed his command.
Demonic faith is the faith that believes in
the existence of God, and that belief affects
the emotions but not the will.

32. James says if you have dead faith, even the
demons are one up on you. They
believe…and tremble with fear. If your faith
is dead, quite honestly you ought to be
scared to death that the ones whose eternal
destiny is hell are affected more by their
belief in God than you are.

33. Dynamic faith
James gives two illustrations of people of
faith that lived their life according to what
they believed about God.
The Odd Couple
Abraham
&
Rahab

34. Abraham
20 But would you like evidence, you empty
fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by
works when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? 22 You see that his faith was working
together with his works and his faith was
perfected by works.

35. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says,
"Now Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness,"
(Genesis 15:6) and he was called God's
friend. 24 You see that a person is justified
by works and not by faith alone.
You’re familiar with the story. God promised
Abram and Sarai that if they followed Him
they would have a child that would be the
father of a great nation.

36. Abram waited and waited and waited until
he was 100 and Sarai was 90 for the
promised child. Finally amidst laughter and
I’m sure a few tears, the child of promise
comes. It was a miracle of God for those
two Senior Saints to have a child born to
them. But an incredible thing happens. Now
that they have traded in their walkers for a
baby carriage and put away the Ben Gay
for diaper rash ointment, God tells Abraham
to do something outrageous.

37. God speaks to Abraham and tells him to
sacrifice Isaac on the altar. Literally that
meant to offer him up like a bull or a sheep
in that sacrificial system. To kill him on a
stone altar. Abraham loads up the stuff,
travels with his only son to the place God
shows him to build the altar and with every
ounce of energy he can muster he raises
the knife to be obedient to God.

38. God stops the sacrifice and provides a ram
for an offering. Abraham proves he is totally
submissive to God “and it was counted to
him for righteousness.” In other words,
Abraham was justified by his willingness to
trust God implicitly. The book of Hebrews
says that Abraham had enough faith in God
that he was sure that God would raise Isaac
from the dead if that was necessary. His
faith resulted in obedient actions.

39. Rahab
25 And similarly, was not Rahab the
prostitute also justified by works when she
welcomed the messengers and sent them
out by another way?
On the opposite end of the social scale was
Rahab. Abraham is the most respected
person in all the history of Israel. Rahab is
not very high on the scale.

40. She was not an Israelite, but a member of a
pagan nation that God commanded Israel to
wipe out. She wasn’t even wealthy like
Abraham. She was a prostitute, financially
and morally she was a poor person. But
when the spies went into the land to scope
out what they would face when they were
going to try to conquer it, Rahab was there
to help them, to hide them from their
enemies.

41. In the end, Rahab was saved from the
destruction of the city. James says that in
God’s eyes, Rahab was justified by what
she did.
As James concludes his discussion about
faith, he ends with an image that he wants
to plant in your mind. 26 For just as the
body without the spirit is dead, so also faith
without works is dead. James wants you
looking at a dead body when you are
thinking about a dead faith.

42. Some years back the Chinese dictator Mao
Zedong died. After he died some of the
Chinese leadership was afraid of what
would happen to this nation without their
legendary leader. They called in his
personal doctor to do an impossible task.
They wanted the chairman’s body
permanently preserved. The doctor didn’t
want to do it.

43. He had seen the dried up shrunken remains
of Lenin & Stalin in USSR. He was a doctor.
He knew that a body with no life in it is
doomed to rot.
But he had his commands. Twenty-two liters
of formaldehyde were pumped into the
dead chairman’s body. The result was
horrifying. Mao’s face swelled up like a ball,
and his neck was as thick as his head.

44. The pressure of the fluid in his body caused
his ears to stick out at right angles and the
chemical oozed from his pores.
A team of embalmers worked 5 hours with
towels and cotton balls to force the liquids
down into the body. Finally the face looked
normal, but the chest was so swollen that
the jacket had to be slit in the back and his
swollen body was covered with the red
Communist Party flag. It’s pretty sickening,
isn’t it?

45. There is absolutely nothing natural about a
dead body. I have been to a lot of funerals
and I have seen many dead bodies. You
can put make-up on them. You can fix their
hair and dress them up in the best clothes
money can buy, but there is something
unnatural about a body with no life.

46. There are people who have dead faith & try
to give the appearance of life. They go to
church a few times. Sometimes they will
place a Bible on the coffee table and dust it
off every once in a while. There's one guy
who carries one around in his car as a kind
of “good luck charm.”

47. Some people if they are asked about their
faith will pull out their baptismal certificate
as if that is their “Get out of hell free” card.
But there is nothing natural about a faith
that doesn’t affect the way you live.
Is your faith better described as dead or
dynamic? Let me give you a few ways to
check your spiritual vital signs.

48. 1. How do you feel about worship? Is it
something that is a priority with you,
or is it an insignificant ritual that you
just go through because you know
you should?
2. What kind of thoughts and goals do you
have for life? When you think about
the things you would like to do for the
next year, 5, 10, are you at the center,
or are other people and God in the
middle?

49. 3. How do you feel about giving? Is it a
painful experience, or are you the cheerful
giver Paul talks about in
1 Corinthians?
4. How often do you study the Bible? Is it
something that gets no attention in your life,
or are you actively pursuing a greater
knowledge of God and his will for your life?

50. 5. Lyrics of a song by the Christian music
group Acappella makes me think.
Everybody said that anybody could do. The
important things somebody should do.
Everybody knows that anybody could do. All
the good things that nobody did.
Everybody knows of a task, service,
ministry, things God needs Somebody to
do, things Anybody could do, but Nobody
does. Are you Somebody, Anybody, or
Nobody?

51. Billy Graham had this to say about faith and
works and their relationship to each other:
There really is no conflict between faith and
works. In the Christian life they go together
like inhaling and exhaling. Faith is taking
the Gospel in; works is taking the Gospel
out. Actually, what James is saying is: you
can't have one without the other.

52. The church is too often populated with
Spiritual Zombies, people who think they
are living by faith, but who know nothing
about what it means to be excited and
challenged by the joy of dynamic faith.
People outside the church recognize that
and it keeps them from wanting to become
a part of what they view as a sanctified
costume party where people dress up and
talk like they have faith, but they don’t do
anything that looks like trusting Jesus.

53. When Jesus called out to the men that he
had chosen to be his disciples, he said,
“Come, follow me.” At that point the choice
whether to follow Jesus or not rested on the
disciples’ decision whether they trusted
Jesus or not. If they hadn’t trusted him fully,
they might have said, “Sure Jesus, I’ll follow
you!” and then gone about their daily
routine, completely unchanged. If that had
been the case, that kind of lip service would
have been what James terms “dead faith.”

54. But instead of that kind of empty profession
of faith, the disciples walked with Jesus
daily, wherever he went. They learned from
Him, grew in their knowledge of Him, and
sought to obey Him every day. As a result of
their faith they were even willing to die
instead of renounce Him.

55. They did that because they trusted that
even if somebody took their physical life
away, Jesus would hold for them a life that
nobody could take away. He gives us that
opportunity for life by sacrificing His life on a
cross. He accepted the punishment for our
sin, and then He called out to us, “Come,
follow me.” Now the question rests with you.
Do you trust Him?