Faith and Works

Good Morning!

When I was in the Group Underwriting department at Life of Georgia in the early 1970s, one of my co-workers was a fellow by the name of Roger Floren. I had recently accepted Jesus Christ – and I still had that “new Christian fervor” – you know, when you tell everybody about Jesus and haven’t yet been doused by the Cold Water Committee. Anyway, I was telling Roger that all one had to do was accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Roger then asked me to explain the passage below.

James 2:14-26 (English Standard Version)
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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? 17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18But 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23and 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. 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25And 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? 26For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

I was stumped … but only briefly. We tend to forget that the Christian is an example to the world. Having faith is great – and it is the only essential for salvation – BUT the faith one has is evidenced through the works that come out of the committed life. In other words, my faith redeems me and as a result, good works occur.

Take Abraham as the example – which James did. Abraham had faith in God. Sometimes it was a stretch for Abraham to have faith in God. Imagine not being able to sire a child for year after year – and then being told when you are almost one hundred that you will – and will through your spouse who is well past child bearing age. But Abraham believed – and Isaac was born (as well as Ishmael – but that’s another story). And then imagine God telling you to offer up that precious child (who was almost an adult) as a sacrifice. Abraham followed through – doing what God asked – trusting God and acting on that trust in God.

How about our faith today? Is our faith evidenced by the works that occur in our lives? Do we – the just – live by faith? I know that is a tough question to ask on a Thursday morning … but what better time to take stock. I want to know if my life produces the fruit that lets people know that Christ is alive in me? That is a rhetorical question – you do not need to answer for me – but I need to answer for myself.

Another point to make before I close, these “works” have to come from the right motivation. Let me see if I can explain. If I am sharing Christ with a friend but my motivation for sharing Christ is to get the proverbial feather in my cap – that is not a work of faith, in my opinion. Why? Because my motivation is not the salvation of my friend but the feather in my cap. On the other hand, if I am sharing Christ with my friend because I know the consequences of facing eternity without Christ – and I don’t want my friend to be in that situation – then the work I am doing has the motivation that is correct. Will I get the feather anyway? Probably – but that would not be the reason for sharing.

Well, old Roger left Life of Georgia before I could make the point. He was an interesting character – but one who helped me grow a little more in Christ. I thank God for folks like Roger who challenged me to dig a little deeper into God’s Word for His answer.

Agape’

Mr. Jim