James: Authentic Faith - Week 6: Authentic Faith is Actionable | James 2:14-26

It's Pastor Jonathan, and thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast.

In today's sermon, we look at the second half of James chapter 2 as we identify two categories of actions that define a person who has an authentic faith.

James 2 · chapter mention

We're going to look at the idea of serve and surrender.

Several years ago, uh a man visited the Dairy Queen in Danville, Kentucky.

And I don't know about you, but if I go to Dairy Queen, I've got one thing on my mind, and I guess this guy had one thing on my mind, on his mind.

He needed a serving of ice cream.

And I can't tell you if the man got the ice cream in a cup or if it was in a cone.

I don't know if it had uh sprinkles on it or if it was uh covered in my favorite topping hot fudge.

All I know is that that serving of ice cream cost$2, and the man paid for it with a$200 bill.

Yeah, you heard right.

Not a$2 bill, but a$200 bill.

And in the front of that$200 bill, it had a picture of the then president uh George W.

Bush with a gigantic smirk across his face.

And the back of the bill, while it did have a picture of the White House, um, on either side of the White House were oil derricks with two kind of playful yard signs in front of that White House.

Now, this um$200 bill is the definition of funny money.

The only characteristic it shares with legitimate actual currency is the color green, uh, which is why what happened next is so surprising.

The cashier at the Dairy Queen accepted that$200 bill as payment and then gave the man$198 in change.

No one discovered the counterfeit bill until the manager was preparing the deposit for that day, and immediately the manager called the police because that counterfeit bill is just a scrap of paper.

It has absolutely no value.

It may appear to be authentic at a passing glance, but under close inspection it is shown to be a fake, a fraud, a counterfeit.

Of course, it's not only the manager of the Dairy Queen who takes issue with counterfeits.

Jesus, our Lord and Savior, he too takes issue with counterfeit.

But it's not counterfeit bills that are uh draw Jesus' ire, but those who pass off a counterfeit faith.

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven.

Watch out for false prophets.

They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

By their fruit you will recognize them.

Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.

With those words, Jesus sets his focus on a specific group of counterfeits.

He calls them false prophets.

They are men who claim to speak for God, but the words that come out of their mouth are nothing but lies.

Jesus says that these men are ferocious wolves.

That means they eat and devour anything that was within their grasp.

They are prophets, they are men who look to take advantage and leverage any situation for their benefit.

Ferocious wolves, they are prophets who are selfish and self-centered to the core.

They never give the needs of anyone else a second thought.

And then Jesus says, these same false prophets, they are also bad trees with bad fruit.

Maybe the reason the fruit is bad is because it's soured.

It's soured by anger that easily erupts.

Or maybe the bad fruit tastes bitter.

It's the bitterness that comes when lies and gossip are spoken.

Or maybe the bad fruit is just downright poisonous.

It heaps the coals and the words of shame and guilt on the on the heads of those who don't check all of those religious boxes.

Is it clear to you why Jesus levels that indictment against false counterfeit prophets?

But this is where we actually discover the true power of Scripture, where we uh begin to see what it means to say that Scripture is sharper than any two-edged sword.

Because the words that Jesus speaks, they not only speak against counterfeit prophets, they also just more generally speak against counterfeit people.

They cut to the marrow of a person who claims to know God, but when their life is carefully considered, when their life is put under the microscope, it doesn't pass the test.

Those counterfeit people possess a counterfeit faith.

They too are ferocious.

They look out for themselves and themselves alone.

They too are bad trees with bad fruit, fruit that tastes sour and bitter and downright poisonous.

Sadly, counterfeit people, those who say, I know Jesus Christ, or that famous statement of Jesus, Lord, Lord.

But their faith is counterfeit.

Sadly, those people, listen, they are wasting their life.

They are not taking advantage of the opportunities that God puts in their way.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

We can reject a counterfeit faith and accept an authentic faith.

A faith that under close inspection passes the test.

A faith that when it's put under the microscope, it reveals true prophets, the true people of God in the world.

At the beginning of May, we began our study of the book of James.

And week after week, James has challenged and James has confronted us to reject any sort of counterfeit faith and to lay claim to an authentic faith.

Since week one, we've defined authentic faith this way: authentic faith is actionable.

Authentic faith is actionable.

And this morning, as we move forward in our study of James, we're going to identify two classes or two categories of action that encapsulate authentic faith.

In these two classes and categories of action, what you're going to notice is this they stand in stark contrast to the selfish, sour, bitter, poisonous action of false prophets.

Because the two categories of faith that James identifies that encapsulate what authentic faith actually is.

Well, first, it's the word serve, and second, it's the word surrender.

Or maybe you would say it this way: authentic faith serves others and is surrendered to God.

Authentic faith serves others and is surrendered to God.

This is the sort of faith that when it is put to the test, when it's given a close inspection, it passes with flying colors because this is the sort of faith, a faith that serves and is surrendered, declares the truth of the gospel.

It bears witness to a life that's been radically transformed, a life that now lives as a citizen of the kingdom of God.

And this morning already, through the words of Jesus and now through the words of James, the Holy Spirit is calling you, calling me to embrace and to live out an authentic faith.

To live out and to embrace a faith that serves others and is surrendered to God.

Listen to what James writes.

I'm just going to begin by reading James chapter 2, verse 14.

James 2:14

James says this, he says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?

Can such faith save them?

In verse 14, James asks two rhetorical questions.

A rhetorical question, that's a question that doesn't anticipate an answer.

James doesn't anticipate an answer because, well, the answer's so obvious.

You don't even need to give an answer to his question.

It's obvious that if faith is divorced from deeds, it's no good.

It has no value.

It's a fake, it's a fraud, it's counterfeit.

Then James, by way of a second rhetorical question, he asks a very makes a very audacious claim.

If your faith has no deeds, then you've never started a relationship with Jesus.

If your faith never has a deed attached to it, you've never been filled with the Holy Spirit, you've never been born again, you've never been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Now listen carefully.

James isn't suggesting that you earn your salvation through works.

Remember what James says in James chapter 1?

James 1 · chapter mention

He says, God chose to give us birth through the word of truth.

God chose to give us birth.

God is the agent of salvation.

Salvation is a gift of God to us.

It is by grace through faith that we are saved.

James is in agreement with the remainder of Scripture.

So what then is his point?

I would kind of summarize it this way.

The truth of the gospel yields a life truly transformed by the gospel.

The truth of the gospel yields a life truly transformed by the gospel.

So James' invitation at the beginning of our passage today is to just take a moment and have a moment of self-reflection, of self-inventory, where if you call yourself a Christian, if you identify as a follower of Jesus Christ, do you see any glimmer of transformation in your life?

Do you see any signs of the Holy Spirit at work in your life through the actions you live out on a daily basis?

James isn't suggesting that you've got it all together.

He's not demanding that you've arrived at your destination.

He's just asking you to reflect for a moment.

Is there any glimmer of transformation?

And then if there's no sign of transformation, I think you have to reflect on that second question.

When James tells us, can such a faith save them?

If there's no sign of transformation, was your decision just that?

Like a decision of empty words?

Not the beginning of a relationship to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

And if you don't see signs of transformation, today do you need to trust Jesus?

Do you need to give your life to him?

Because Jesus doesn't just want empty words, he wants all of your life.

He wants to transform you.

He wants you to know that the truth of the gospel yields a life truly transformed by the gospel.

Because the life that's being transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's the beginnings of authentic faith.

That's a life that's set up and a life that's prepared to serve others.

Listen to what James says next.

Verse 15, he says, Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

If one of you says to them, Go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

With those verses, James, I think, describes what was probably a common occurrence in that Jerusalem church of which he was a leader.

Remember, a few weeks ago we we talked about the situation of the Jerusalem church.

Famine had ravaged the land, which means that poverty had begun to devastate the people.

And so when James says, suppose a brother or sister, I have to imagine that most everyone who heard him first write and say those words, they thought of a specific brother or sister.

Many, if not most of them, knew someone in that situation of life who didn't have clothes to wear, who didn't have food to eat, or maybe they were that person.

And here's James' point.

When you see that person who doesn't have clothes to wear, and they saw plenty of people who didn't have clothes to wear, or you see that person who doesn't have food to eat, and they saw plenty of people who didn't have food to eat, and you call them a brother, or you call them a sister, it's not enough to uh express your faith through words of encouragement.

That's not enough.

It's not enough to say, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

I'll see you tomorrow.

If you truly believe and call that person your brother and sister, it requires more of you.

You have to express your faith through action.

You have to serve this person who is in need.

Because if you just express your faith through words, that's something that's counterfeit.

Like you don't say that to your brother or sister.

Then you're just saying something that's empty and meaningless towards them.

But they're really your brother or sister.

You'll do something about it.

And what James describes in those verses is a very specific form of service, something we call compassion.

Compassion means to suffer together.

Compassion begins as a feeling that arises within us when we are confronted with another person who is suffering.

And then we seek to alleviate that suffering by entering into it, by coming alongside of them, by standing with them in that moment.

I don't have to tell you, though, that we live in a world where compassion is in short supply.

And maybe here's the reason why.

I love this quote by an author named Craig Dennison.

He says this he says, most people don't possess the level of selflessness that compassion requires.

Hear that one more time.

Most people don't possess the level of selflessness that compassion requires.

Or maybe in the words of Jesus, we would put it this way: most people are ferocious wolves.

Most people are bad trees that produce bad fruit.

Most people look out for themselves.

Most people are so bitter and sour and poisonous, they can't think about anybody else.

Yeah, here's the good news.

If you are a friend and follower of Jesus Christ, if you've been truly transformed by the gospel, you possess something that the world lacks.

We possess the capacity for compassion because we have seen the face of Jesus Christ.

We are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

Our Christ, the Jesus we meet in Scripture, is a Christ of compassion.

Remember how Matthew describes Jesus?

Matthew 9, he says, when he saw the crowds, that's Jesus.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them.

Because they were harassed and helpless.

Like sheep without a shepherd.

Or maybe to kind of blend together those two teachings of Jesus.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were surrounded by ferocious wolves.

Jesus had compassion on them because there was an orchard of bad trees blocking them in.

And he showed compassion towards them.

Out of compassion, Jesus fed the 5,000.

He healed the blind man named Bartimaeus.

Out of compassion, he uh delivered that woman named Mary from the demons who lived within her.

It was out of compassion that Jesus gave life to the daughter of Jairus and healed lepers.

It was out of compassion that Jesus went to the cross because Jesus saw what we were suffering under the weight of our sin.

And when he went to the cross, he sought to relieve that suffering, that weight from our back.

And as followers of a compassionate Christ, we must be a compassionate church.

And here's the beauty of what God does through his church.

When we serve other people through acts of compassion, we continue the ministry of Jesus on the earth until he comes again.

I love this quote by Max Lucato.

He says this there's something about compassion that causes society to say, we're going to take this person seriously.

Compassion causes the world to take the church seriously, the gospel seriously.

Because they see the power of the gospel to begin to transform lives in the here and now.

That the compassion expressed through the gospel can make our world.

A more just, a more beautiful, a more hope-filled world until Christ comes again.

That's our first action that authentic faith serves others.

And now here's our second one.

Authentic faith is surrendered to God.

Here's what's next in James 2, verses 21 and 22.

James 2:21

Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

With that reference to a story in the Old Testament, James reminds his first readers and he reminds this church of a very familiar story.

The story of Abraham, Isaac, and the journey to Mount Moriah.

Remember, Isaac, the son of Abraham, is the child of the promise.

He is God's promise fulfilled to Abraham.

And then God, in this surprising moment, asked Abraham to surrender Isaac, to give him up, to sacrifice him on an altar.

In effect, God is asking Abraham to take his future and to put it in God's hands.

God is asking Abraham, just how much do you trust me?

And on that morning, as Abraham and Isaac gather that bundle of sticks, and as they make that journey together, maybe Abraham was the first one to ever sing that familiar hymn, I surrender all.

If you know the story, you know that at the last moment, God provides a ram for the sacrifice.

God calls out, Abraham lifts his eyes, he sees the ram caught in the thicket.

But God's sacrifice, the sacrifice provided in that moment, doesn't negate Abraham's call to be surrendered.

And then many years later, God provides the greater ram, Jesus Christ, the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus.

Listen, it doesn't negate God calling you and I to be surrendered to him.

But what exactly is surrender?

What's it mean?

Maybe to describe it, let me tell you and remind you of someone who struggled with it.

That prophet in the Old Testament named Jonah.

One day Jonah is called by God to travel to the city of Nineveh, the wicked city of Nineveh.

Jonah checks his travel itinerary and says, that's not where I had planned on going.

So Jonah travels in the opposite direction.

He sells for Tarshus.

In that moment, Jonah has his own plans.

He's not available to God.

Jonah, he only reluctantly surrenders to God after spending some quality time in the belly of a fish.

And then being vomited up.

Sounds disgusting.

So to be surrendered to God means that you trust God and His plan for your life.

And you realize that God's plan for my life and what he may call me to do is better than anything I could have planned on my own.

A surrendered life wakes up every morning and echoes those words of Jesus.

Not my will, but yours be done.

A surrendered life that's a life that lives every day with this availability given to God.

God, I am available to be used by you at this hour, in this moment.

And surrender is absolutely critical because James says, surrender, this act of surrender is what made Abraham's faith complete.

Or maybe said differently, surrender, that's what proves your faith is authentic.

I've mentioned before several times that for a couple of summers when I was home from Washita, I worked at a department store in downtown Benton called Jingles.

It wasn't just like a Christmas department store.

We sold all sorts of clothes and items.

So this one summer, um my boss comes up and he tells he gathers up all of the employees and he says, Well, someone's out in downtown Benton running amok.

They're passing off these fake$20 and$100 bills to merchants in downtown.

So I want you guys to be on the lookout.

And then he handed each of us one of those counterfeit markers, you know?

Um, and so anytime anyone paid with a$20 bill or a$100 bill, we were to take out the marker and to, you know, mark down it.

And if the mark was amber, it was authentic.

And if it was uh black, if it turned black, you knew like it was not authentic.

It was counterfeit.

You really make people mad when you begin to use a marker on their currency, just so you know.

But that was what I was told to do, so I had to explain it to the to these customers who a lot of them were faithful, like no one got an exemption.

Everybody, if you gave a$20 or$100 bill, we use the marker.

And luckily, um, we received no counterfeit bills that summer.

All of the bills passed the test.

But this summer, will you pass the test?

If the marker that proves a counterfeit is put on your life, will it remain black or will it turn amber?

Will it be transformed because you have been truly transformed by the gospel?

If you've never put your trust in Jesus, if you don't see a glimmer of transformation in your life, then maybe today is the day to put your faith in him, to follow him, to admit that you're a sinner, believe that Jesus is God's Son, and just confess that Jesus is the Savior and Lord of your life and of all creation.

You don't have to leave here today with something that's counterfeit.

You can receive something that is authentic.

And if you do see glimmers of transformation in your life, praise God.

That's the power of the gospel at work.

Proof that the gospel is real and active and powerful in this world.

And if you're seeing those glimmers of transformation, my encouragement, my challenge to you is to continue to focus and keep your eyes on Jesus.

Continue to ask Jesus to give you the strength that you would be faithful to him, that you would serve others and live a life that is surrendered to God.

Because that's the authentic faith that Jesus and his Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit who is among us calls you to have, calls you to live out every single day.

Let's stand together and pray.

Almighty God and everlasting Father, we thank you for your word and how it speaks to this very day.

Holy Spirit, we invite you to move in our midst on this morning.

And I pray for that person who maybe through your goodness and mercy in their life realizes that the faith they thought they had, they had isn't real.

That is just a counterfeit.

Bring them to a place to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

May they not be shy, may they be bold and courageous.

They want something authentic and real.

They want a relationship with you.

I pray, God, that we would become people filled with compassion, that we would be defined by that mark of our Lord and Savior Jesus.

Every opportunity to serve someone else.

May we not speak words merely, may we do something about it.

God, surrender.

What a hard word to even speak.

We all have our own plans for our life.

And your word reminds us that your plans are better than our plans.

We give our plans over to you, we give our future to you.

When you say go, when you say do, when you say give us direction in life, God, may we just say, Yes, Lord, your servant is here, your servant is obedient, your servant hears you.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.