SPEAKER_00 0:02

In today's passage, we are confronted with a troubling question. Is it possible to have a faith in God that is useless and does not save? What kind of faith is this? And how do we know what sort of faith we possess? Pastor Wei E shares the word.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Actions speak in non-verbal ways, and they are important because they demonstrate and confirm the things we say. If we are like no action, taoni, then our words are empty. And that is at the crux of today's passage that we have just heard. It is about faith and works. More pointedly, it is about how works confirm the faith we profess to have. And so to PDA as a question, it's our faith demonstrated by our deeds. There are two kinds of faith, James tells us, one that saves and one that doesn't. And this may be shocking to hear, but there is a kind of faith that, in some sense, can be defined as faith, but is nonetheless useless to us because it does not save us. And so let that sink in. We can have a faith that does not save. What kind of faith is that? James does not beat around the bush when he pointedly asks in verse 14, what good is it, my brothers? If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? Right? It's clearly rhetorical. Of course, that faith is no good. Why is it not good? James illustrates this point with what is probably a real example happening in his church in his time. He says this in verses 15 to 17. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to him, 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. If I can just have the next slide up. Just saying those words without giving the needy anything does not warm or fill the person. The words are meaningless and useless. The lack of action shows that he never really cared. This is nothing, this means nothing to the person drowning him. And so James presses the point right in the next two verses. 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. Right? This is a kind of faith that is mere intellectual ascent. Just believing in your head that there is a God. And you may even have orthodox belief. Right? The Lord our God, the Lord is one. James says, Well done. But even the demons believe that. We can try and show our faith with our lips, with our knowledge, with right beliefs about God. But without works to demonstrate that faith, it is no better than the beliefs of the demons, James tells us. They can also tell you right things about God, and if anything, theirs might be a tiny bit better, because at least they respond in fear. And so this is the first kind of faith, a dead and useless faith that is without works. And I'm sure we know where this is going. The other kind of faith, one that saves us, is a faith that is accompanied with works. And we are coming to a point in the passage where there is an apparent contradiction with Paul. In verses 20 and 21 and then 24, I'll just read it out quickly. Do you not want to show, sorry, 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. Verse 24, you see the troubling part, a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. That seems to fly directly against what Paul says in Romans chapter 3, verse 28. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. So what is going on? Is that a contradiction between the two apostles? Are they in disagreement on this? Right? To put it simply, Paul and James were using the same words, but they meant different things and were actually addressing different issues. Paul was primarily challenging a view that we can earn our salvation, that we deserve salvation because we perform the works of the law. Right? If you take the Bible as a rule book, we we've we finish all the rules, then we'll be saved, right? Paul says no. That is not how it works. When God declares us righteous, it is not based on our works, it is not based on our merit, how much of the law we have kept, but solely on his grace that we receive through faith. Paul is actually answering a question. How are we saved? And the answer is by grace, through faith, not by works. Now, on the other hand, James is answering a different question. James is saying, asking, um, answering this question how do I show that I am indeed saved? If you are saved, where is the evidence? So James says he's not talking about the works of the law, right? Not about the observing Sabbath, not about circumcision, dietary restrictions and so on. Right? But the works that flow from the faith, which show that the faith is real and alive. And actually on that point, Paul is in agreement. In Galatians 5, verse 6, he says this for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. He's basically saying, follow the laws or don't follow the laws is really not the point. That doesn't matter. What counts is that we have a faith that works through love. Jesus himself uses the imagery of trees and fruits to illustrate this same point, and I think that's a helpful imagery for us. He says in uh Matthew chapter 7, verses 17 to 20 so every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Verse 20 is Kitas, you will recognize them by their fruits. You will recognize them by their fruits. You recognize someone's faith by their fruits, by their works. And so, in that vein, what does bearing good fruit look like? What kind of works are considered the fruits of the faith? Earlier we we read that James offered an example in clothing and in feeding the one who is in need. As we continue with the rest of the passage, we see that he provides two other examples, uh, two figures in the Old Testament. One is the patriarch Abraham, and the other is Rahab, the prostitute. Two people from very different backgrounds, but both exhibit true faith by their actions. Let me quickly read uh the verses 21 to 26. 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 a 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. Now, from these two examples that James offers us, we see that works of faith is it cannot be reduced to just helping people out, even though that is key for us, that's important for us. Abraham was obedient to God to the point of offering up his precious son Isaac. Rahab risked her life to hide the two Israelite spies in a house, saving their lives. They were driven by a faith that was alive. A faith that pervaded their lives and informed their decisions. And friends, that is really the key. A faith that pervades our lives and informs our decisions. We have been talking about faith evidenced by works. And at this point, I think it's helpful to ask a more foundational question. What do we mean when we say we have faith in Jesus? What do we mean when we say we believe in Christ? Is it just thinking and saying that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Or is it just doing the religious things we come to church, attend a cell group, attend a connect group, or go for a prayer meeting? And then beyond that, as long as we keep to ourselves, as long as we don't do anything bad, right, that is good enough for us. Jesus invites us to a deeper level in our faith. Faith is believing in Jesus to the point that we trust that he really is the Lord over our lives. That he actually is the way, the truth, and the light. And the right response is to surrender our lives and to follow him, to live like him and for him. Imagine with me, if you will, uh maybe you love, really love a country, right? For me, I really love uh going to Thailand. Um you love the place so much that you want to visit uh every year. Yeah. But you visit it year after year with tour guides. Uh you go to all the touristy places, you're and you're just a visitor there, right? You don't really eat the local food, you don't really interact with the local people much, right? Um and that's fine if you just want to be a tourist. But if you love the country to the point that you want to be a part of it, then there are more things that we need to do, right? We need to go beyond visitation to learn the language, the culture, the ethos, and maybe even eventually become a citizen in that particular country. And in the Christian faith, when we accept Jesus into our lives, when we say we believe in Christ, we are, in a sense, holding dual citizenship.

unknown 11:25

Right?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

We are citizens of this world, but we are also citizens of the kingdom of God. And having faith, believing in Jesus, means living in such a way on earth that our words and our ways proclaim and demonstrate that heavenly kingdom. And so here we're talking about a faith that orientates our lives to the way of Christ, a faith that pervades our lives and informs our decisions, right? Through the lens of that faith, everything James is saying in his epistles immediately makes sense. Why bridle our tongue? Why be impartial in church? Why help the poor and needy? Simple. These are all the ethos of the kingdom of God, the fruits and the evidence of our faith. In Jesus Christ, when we do them, when we do them in Christ, we demonstrate that our faith is real and alive. So when we now come back to the passage, we see that these are not the only works that we are called to do. James is not offering something that's exhaustive for us, but they show us what it means to live faithfully unto the Lord. We are still called to help the poor and needy. Whether serving the poor in our community or through organizations like World Vision, where they help the poorer communities outside of Singapore. Recently we have gotten a request from Cathedral, if you remember, to fetch a member from Sri Naryana, which is just three minutes' walk away, to fetch a member over to our church on communion Sunday so that she can partake in communion. And that is also part of the ethos of the kingdom, right? To help a fellow sister so that she may partake in the communion together. I share this story due to my embarrassment, really. A few weeks ago, I was walking towards the train station and I was kind of in a hurry, right? So I just kind of walked, I walked really, really fast. And before I know it, I see someone who is on the ground selling tissue paper. And from the looks of his legs, you can very clearly tell that there are mobility issues and all. And in that split second, I think I made the wrong decision. In my mind, I'm just thinking, ah, I'm in a rush. I need to go and catch the train. I don't really have time to slowly take out my wallet, you know, and all that. Maybe next time, maybe next time. So I just moved off. And the moment I moved off, I knew I made the wrong decision. Funnily enough, just a few days later, I was in another part of Issu. It's not uh not an area I frequent. And lo and behold, the same person was there, right outside the fair price, uh at I think Street 41. Um and I got I got a bit taken aback and I felt the Lord conflicting me. This time you have to do the right thing. You know. And no, I offer a little bit of money, and and and really not much, but that really taught me the lesson that we need to open our eyes and really take opportunities to help people. Because that is really what Jesus has called us to do. That is really the evidence of our faith. And I think importantly, you know, I won't be the first to admit that I don't do it perfectly. And that is why I thank God that he spoke to me that day. And and I think we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us, to prompt us, to lead us, to lead, to live uh our life according to the faith. Of course, there are also examples of people that James gives us, right? Um the examples of Abraham and Rahab. And there's really something to be said about them. Um they were willing to either sacrifice something or someone precious to them, or they were willing to risk their lives because of the faith they have. Um I I can be 100% sure that God will not ask any one of us to bring our child up to Bukitima and to sacrifice our child. Right? I'm very sure God will never do that. Yeah? But one question that came as I was reflecting on this passage is this yeah, we may not physically offer up our child to God. But will we dare to raise and set our children apart for the Lord? To help them not to get so caught up with the world, chase after the things of the world, but also to help them get caught up in the things of God, to teach them the values of the kingdom, to live it out and show them what it looks like at home, to guard their Sunday mornings so that they don't go for tuition, they don't go for arrangement. They come for Sunday service, they come to church, or even to expose them to the ministries of the church or to the mission work we have. Maybe even explore full-time ministry. We have all these plans for our children. We want them to go through the best education we can provide for them, get the best career they have, they can have, and so on, right? But what about exploring or exposing them to the ministries of the church? And talking about sacrifice, will we present our bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God? As Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, to let go of things in our lives that are we know obviously they are not in accordance with the will of God. And to let them go, no matter how dear they are to us. Will we risk being mocked by our friends and by our colleagues when we stand firm in our faith? Uh, we choose not to participate in some of the unsavoury activities that they may uh like to partake in, right? Will you risk that radicule? Will you risk even that that uh being ostracized by people? If I can end our uh with this question, how is God calling you to demonstrate your faith today in in the areas of your family, your work, your your school, or when you if you go out with your friends, right? How is God asking you, calling you to demonstrate your faith today? May the Lord help us all to increase in our faith and works as we seek to live in obedience to His Word.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

We pray that you've administered to the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about the Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at ycccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.