Welcome to the house. My name is Greg. I'm one
of the pastors here. If we have never met before,
I would love the chance to meet you, maybe buy
a coffee or a soda or something like that, hear
your story, and I get to know you just a little
bit. We're in the fourth week of our series through
the book of James, and I wanted to draw attention
just really quickly to the graphics. Sometimes,
like you learned in the last series, that sometimes
there's things in the graphics that maybe you
don't notice. at first glance. And so if you
look at this graphic, this is actually a form
of art. It's called hitomiashi. Hitomiashi. Hitomiashi.
Hitomiashi. And this last year, Cindy was teaching
arts every day at the local Christian high school.
And this is something that she started doing
even on her own time. And what's that? You did
it in one of your classes? I did it. Yeah, you
did it on your own time. And so it's actually
based on the number of letters there are in something.
So the top row is based off of the phrase, the
letter of James, and the side row is based off
the brother of Jesus. And every letter gets a
certain number of spaces, and then you connect
them all, and it creates this cool pattern. And
so I hadn't mentioned that before, so I just
wanted to draw attention. Cindy made that. And
I just wanted to thank her for all of her creativity.
And the hard work that she puts into that stuff.
All right, so I'm going to say the first thing,
and you guys say the combination, okay? So we'll
start with the easy one. Peanut butter and? Jello.
Salt and? Pepper. Peaches and? Green. Yeah, bacon
in it. Yes. Green eggs and? Ham. Macaroni and?
Cheese. Biscuits and? Gravy. Yeah, all right,
how about names? Tom and? Terry. Yeah, Bert and?
Ernie. Paul and? Goose. Yeah, Bonnie and? Five.
Little Diddy. About Jack and Diane. How about
pen and? Oh, I was going to say paper. Pen and
paper. Yin and? Lock and? See, they start to
change. There's a lot of ones that I think exactly
what should be said, but then it starts to change.
What about thunder and? Yeah, okay. Any that
I missed? What did you guys come up with that
I missed? Fish and chips. Mario and Luigi. Chips
and salsa. What about faith and works? Faith
and works. A few weeks ago, I started this series
saying that James is a book of practical theology.
He's action -oriented. He's not trying to pontificate.
He's trying to communicate clearly without the
pomp and circumstances. And today, he gets straight
to the point. He wants to make it clear that
faith and works aren't just a great combination.
They are primary partners. They run together.
They're like best friends. I thought I'd sing
my buddy. Sometimes that friendship forms quickly,
easily, seamlessly. But sometimes, maybe some
of us have experienced it, sometimes forming
that relationship between faith and works is
a little bumpy. But here's the thing. James wants
to make it clear that they belong together. So
with that, let's open up our Bibles to the book
of James. We're going to be in chapter 2. James
is closer to the back of the Bible. It goes Hebrews.
James, and then you'll see 1 and 2 Peter, 1 and
2 John. So if you see any of those, you know
that you're in the right neighborhood. If you
don't have your own Bible, feel free to take
one of the blue Bibles that are on the table
at home, or there's Bibles on the bookshelf out
in the lobby, or you can download a Bible from
any of the digital app stores. We like to give
the scriptures our full attention when they are
read in the context of the sermon. One of the
ways that you can do that is by standing with
me if you are able or so desired. Otherwise,
let's just give the scriptures our full attention.
I'm going to be reading James 2, starting in
verse 14. It says this. What good is it, my brothers
and sisters, if someone claims to have faith
but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot
save, can it? If a brother or sister is naked
and lacks daily food, and one of you says to
them, go in peace, keep warm, and eat your fill,
and yet you do not supply their bodily needs,
what is the good of that? So faith by itself.
If it has no works, it's dead. But someone will
say, you have faith and I have works. Show me
your faith apart from works and I, by my works,
will show you faith. You believe that God is
one. You do well. Even the demons believe and
shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless
person, that faith apart from works is worthless?
Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works
when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You
see that faith was active along with his works.
And by works, faith was brought to completion.
Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God. You see
that a person is justified by works and not by
faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute
also justified by works when she welcomed the
messengers and sent them out by another road?
For just as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is also. Let us pray.
God of every tribe, every tongue, every color,
and every nation, we thank you for the scriptures
that we have them to read, to consider, to learn
from. I pray that whatever you have to teach
us today, I pray that it would stick, that it
would become a part of the framework of our faith,
that our faith would become stronger as we become
more like your son, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thanks,
y 'all. I can't see. All right, so the first
thing that he says in this passage is, what good
is it? What good is it? You've heard that phrase.
I imagine some of us have used that phrase before.
What good is that? You just did that for me after
I already needed this other thing. What good
is it now? One commentary wanted to make it perfectly
clear that James is being purposefully confrontational
with this passage. He's being intentionally argumentative,
almost short, because James wants us to feel
like it is ridiculous to say that we have faith,
but we don't have any works that go along with
it. Now, James is not looking for perfection,
but he is saying, if you have the one, the other
should follow. He's saying, what good is it to
have... a car without gas, or a phone with no
battery. What good is it to have faith with no
actions? Think about it like this. I was actually
really tempted to go buy like 50 bandanas because
anyone ever been in a three -legged race? The
dreaded three -legged race where you have to
tie your ankle to someone else? And I thought,
oh, wouldn't it be fun to just like see who is
actually willing to try and race across the front?
But we know that what often happens is that people
fall down in three -legged races because you
tie your ankle to someone else and then you try,
even though you have never done this before in
your life, suddenly you're supposed to know how
to run together. Now, when you have faith in
Jesus, you tie your ankle of faith to an ankle
of need. And then you try to run the race as
best as you can together. And at least... In
this passage, James is saying, if you have faith
in Jesus, you're meant to be tied to the needs
of the people around you. It doesn't make sense
to James, because it didn't make sense to Jesus
that someone would follow him but not move. Say
it again. It does not make sense to James because
it would not have made sense to Jesus for someone
to say, I'm following you, but not move. Sometimes
faith and works, they get framed as a contradiction.
But I don't think that they're actually a contradiction.
I coined a word. You guys can use it, popularize
it if you want. I call it a nontradiction. You
know, oohs and ahs. Oh, what a great word you
came up with, Greg. I know, it's silly. But it's
not a contradiction. I call it a nontradiction.
Because, yes, Paul says that we are saved by
grace, through faith, not by works that no one
can boast. And then James... It is true that
James and Paul are both using the same word to
talk about faith. So you would say, well, now
James is suddenly saying, you have to have works.
And he says, you don't have to have works. You
just need faith. But when Paul talks about faith
and he uses that word, he's talking about a faith
that opens our eyes so that we can see that Jesus
is the one that saves us. Faith is what causes
us to know that we can be in relationship with
God. Faith is what flips the switch in our hearts
so that we can say yes to following Jesus and
no to leading ourselves. James. James knows all
that. James knows that definition. But he also
knows that many of the people that will read
his book do not think of faith that way. James
is talking about how we are consistently inclined
to substitute. That kind of faith that Paul is
talking about with a set of beliefs that we call
our faith. We do it to this day. If you go to
the website of almost any Christian organization,
you will find a page that is the statement of
what? Faith. And most of that statement will
not be a statement of faith as Paul is describing
it. It will be a statement of beliefs. There's
nothing wrong with having a statement of beliefs.
And I know that for some of us it would be like,
well, this is just semantics. But James knows
that a set of beliefs is not what actually leads
us to provide for the needs of our neighbors.
Faith in Jesus. The kind of faith that is, oh,
it's the switch that's flipped that makes me
see that I can be in right relationship. That
is the kind of faith that causes there to be
following and causes us to have movement. And
James is confronting what we turn faith into.
Because faith in Jesus motivates movement. Jesus
said, let your light so shine before others that
they may see your good works and give glory to
your Father who is in heaven. Jesus said, truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will
also do the works that I do, and greater works
than those will he do, because I am going to
the Father. Jesus said, I was naked, and you
clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I
was in prison, and you came to me. Jesus had
plenty to say about how if you follow him, movement
will follow. There will be good works. And that
is why this much seems clear to James. Someone
among us is naked or hungry. They cannot wear
our set of beliefs. They cannot eat our set of
beliefs. They need us to set the table. to give
them a set of clothes. James wants us to intentionally
tie our ankle of faith to the ankle of need that
is near to us. Now, I get it. For some of us,
the resistance to the concept of works isn't
Really even about thinking that we don't need
works. We all think that doing good things is
a great idea. For some of us, the resistance
isn't that we don't think we need them or even
that we don't want to do good things. For some
of us, it's more about the past experiences and
how those attempts at doing good things worked
out. Some of us have attempted to serve. to help
to live in active faith and we have face planted.
And maybe not even because of what we did. Sometimes
we feel like we tied our ankle of faith to the
ankle of need and we got pushed down. And it
hurts. The reality is that when we tie our ankle
to someone else's needs, we risk getting hurt.
I've experienced that firsthand. I'm sure you
have too. But this is where we need to be reminded,
and this is important. How someone receives our
good work almost never has anything to do with
us. They have their own wounds. They have their
own hurts. They have their own past. They have
their own set of experiences. They have their
own reasons for not responding, not running,
ankle tied, arms around right waist in the same
direction with you. Maybe it's important to hear
this part as well, that God is not worried about
the results of your work. As much as God cares
that you are willing to do the work. I've said
it for years that God isn't looking for your
abilities. He's looking for your willingness.
Because God knows that you can't make someone
accept your help. God knows that you can't make
someone... respond a specific way. God knows
that you aren't in control of what someone else
does or whether they run with you in lockstep.
You are not responsible for the outcome. Now,
I do not mean that that gives us permission to
be jerks in the way that we work because the
outcome isn't up to us. It does matter how we
treat people. What I am saying is that God knows
that the only thing you are really in control
of is whether you will get up and try. Whether
you will follow Jesus into the movement, into
the motion of serving. So whoever it is in the
room that needs to hear it, you have permission
to let go. To let go of the outcome. I don't
think that the point is that we're supposed to
win the race. I think it's that we need to be
in it. So what do we do with any of this? How
do we participate with it? How do we practice
this? I just got a few quick things, okay? I
think the first thing, I got three different
questions. First thing is this, that we can ask
ourselves, who needs something? That I have.
This is a great way to start thinking about what
is the need, what is the ankle of need that I
need to tie my ankle of faith to? Who needs something
that I have? Now, this might be something small.
Who needs a meal? Who needs a phone call? Who
needs a second chance? Danny and Liz, raise your
hand. Who needs a ride to a traveling table tonight?
Right? A really simple way to get active in your
faith is just to meet the need of someone that's
close to you by saying, who needs something I
have? I have a car that works. Oh, can I? Oh,
they live in East Moline. Oh, is it okay if I
go out of my way? 10 minutes to go pick someone
up so they can experience more of what the community
is being and doing because they're part of the
community. So I'm wondering if someone in this
room, before you leave here, needs to go tell
Danny and Liz, yeah, I'll come pick you up tonight
for traveling table. We can all ask ourselves,
who needs something that I have? The second thing
is this. Ask yourself, is my faith in motion?
Newton's first law of motion says that an object
in motion will remain in motion. What is it that
slows things down? It's friction. Friction is
what actually causes things to slow down and
stop. And all of our lives have some level of
friction directly related to our faith. Doing
something small today. It can be something that
can move your faith a little, get it moving just
a little bit. But here's the thing. There's still
going to be friction in your life that's going
to try and slow your faith down and stop it again.
To overcome friction, we need to keep moving.
I'm not talking about working and never resting.
That's not what I mean. But I am talking about
being intentional. about staying in motion. Let's
be proactive about our faith. Start making a
plan for how you are going to keep your faith
in motion. Things like coming to church, traveling
tables, friendship, all of these things are great,
but few things keep our faith in motion, like
finding a way to serve someone else. Because
we see Jesus constantly and consistently serving
others. And then last, And I don't know if this
is for everybody, but I felt like it was important
to say here, some of us need to ask ourselves,
what's my marathon? For some of us, God has been
nudging our hearts about the future. Maybe the
Holy Spirit's been reminding you that you used
to love to run. God might be saying, listen,
you didn't burn out from running. You burned
out because you didn't know that there was a
finish line. This time, like I said, I don't
know who this is for, but I think that God wants
you to start running again. I'm not talking about
physically. Talking about spiritually. Think
that God wants you to run with an end in mind.
He has a specific race, a specific marathon that
he's calling you back into. And this time it
will be healthy because you know that there's
a finish line. But you have to ask what it is.
I think that doing any of these things, that
there can be some fear involved, that it can
feel scary to step out, it can feel scary to
volunteer, it can be scary to ask someone if
you can be the person to help meet their need,
it can be scary to dream about the future and
wonder if there is a race that you're meant to
be in and where it might finish. James, really
Jesus, asking us to move forward not just with
beliefs about him but faith in him because our
faith does not come from the results our faith
does not come from the people that we serve our
faith is in Jesus So today I hope that you leave
with this idea that faith and works is not a
scary concept. It's as simple as a three -legged
race. Just look around for someone's ankle and
then tie yours to it. Amen? Let's pray. Father,
we thank you for silliness. We thank you for
three -legged raises. We thank you for the little
things that we did as children that are so full
of imagery that teach us what you're like. We
confess that it is very difficult to feel like
we are in lockstep with you sometimes, like we
are. running the race very well. But I ask that
your Holy Spirit would come and be a comforter
and then an encourager. That the race is still
there. There's still so much that you have for
us to be, to do, to run alongside you with. I
pray that our hearts would be open to what that
work is, that it would be healthy. Help us to
care about each other, because what good is it
to say that we have faith, but then not love
our neighbor as ourselves, and to serve them
as you would serve? We love you. We love you.
Amen.