Faith

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would move with gentle and deep power upon us this morning.

Father, your word told us that you want us to be not just hearers of your word, but doers of your word.

And so, Father, we ask that for us this morning, that you would help us to hear your word well and be doers of your word.

We ask that your word would come into our hearts and we give you, Father, full permission.

We invite and give you full permission for your word to speak into our hearts and rule in our hearts.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

I fell in love with my wife, but she didn't fall in love with me in the very early days of our relationship.

In fact, it was one of those situations where I sort of fell in love with Louise almost from the first moment I saw her, even though I didn't even know her name.

But she didn't have that same experience of me.

That's the stuff of romantic comedies and all that other stuff that happens all the time.

Eventually, I became her friend.

But Louise was in love with another man.

Nothing wrong with that.

We'll call him Bob.

And so I sort of became a bit of a friend of Louise and of Bob.

And there was this one particular night.

There used to be this thing in Ottawa, way, way, way, way back, called the Hoots.

It used to meet in Jack Purcell Community Center on Sunday evening.

Sort of a bit of a gathering for people like folk music and those who were sort of connected to the counterculture, as I guess it would have been called back then.

And so there's this one night I go to the Hoots and I happen to come in at the same time that Louise is coming in with Bob.

And they invite me to sit with them.

And so we take our coats off because I think it was either late, late, late fall or early, early, early spring.

And we take our coats off.

And Louise says she'll sit there while Bob and I go and get something from the little place.

They sold coffee and different types of things like that.

So I go up there and I order what I'm going to have.

And then it's Bob's turn.

And Bob orders what he wants to have.

And then he says this.

He says, I know what Louise would like.

She'd like this.

It was apple cider.

And I can't remember the thing that was tea.

But she says, I know what Louise would like.

She'd like this.

Now, that little phrase was like a dagger in my heart.

Because in those little words, I know what Louise would like,

it really brought home to me the vast gap between myself and Louise and Louise and this other fellow.

Because it dawned on me that I wouldn't have had the vaguest idea in the world what to buy Louise.

I didn't know what she would like.

And it was a very depressing evening for me.

I tell you this story.

And hopefully, if you just sort of remember it, and I'm going to say a few more comments about it.

But if you have this story in the back of your mind, as we read James 2, verses 14 to 26,

James 2:14–26

it'll help you to understand what James is saying and what he's talking about.

This desire that I had to be in a relationship with Louise,

the fact that I didn't know much about her, and all that type of stuff.

If you just keep that in your mind, it'll really help us as we read this text.

So if you have your Bibles, turn in them to James 2, verses 14 to 26.

James 2:14–26

If you're a guest here this morning, we're preaching through the book of James.

That's what we do most of the time here at Church of the Messiah.

And so we've come to this text, and that's what we're looking at.

And some of you might not know this, but this historically, at least for 500 years,

has been a very, very, very controversial text in at least certain circles of the Christian church.

In fact, Luther, one of the early reformers, thought that the book shouldn't be in the Bible

because it contradicted what the rest of the New Testament said.

So it's been a very controversial text, and actually it's because of this text

that Luther thought it shouldn't be in the Bible.

And so here's how the text goes.

It's James 2, verses 14 to 26.

James 2:14–26

And just by the way, it's just to move to the side here so the camera can see this for a moment.

Maybe you can see it or you can't.

Maybe my water's in the way.

But it says up there, grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

It's a very, very famous Christian saying.

Grace alone.

How am I made right with God?

I'm made right with God by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

And so it's very fortuitous that that sign is here because here's what verse 14 says.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?

And a bit of a grammar geek moment.

In the time of the text that this was written, there's a verbal form in the original language

where they use certain questions.

They always imply that the right answer is no.

It's not like a real question that they're going to discover.

It's just a way of speaking where they pose a question, but the answer is no.

And so basically what he's saying is,

what good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works,

can that faith save him?

And the answer is no.

So in other words, the question is,

should we take the sign down?

Because the sign is wrong.

That in fact, we're not saved by grace alone through faith alone.

We're saved by grace alone through faith and works.

And that's the way the text should actually go.

So what's going on here in the text?

Well, just as we're starting to get into it,

I didn't realize when I was preparing this sermon that the gospel text was going to be John 6.

But many, many, many years ago, in the early days of my being a Christian,

I had a very funny story connected with John 6.

And so every time I read the text, I smile inwardly when I read it.

So I became a Christian.

I was sort of connected to the counterculture,

more of a wannabe than an actual member of the counterculture.

I was a bit of a wannabe hippie, had long hair, a beard.

By long hair, I mean down to my belt, like not just sort of down past my ears, like down to my belt.

Anyway, we had this home fellowship, like sort of home church, home Bible study group.

And one day we invited somebody who really was very, very involved in the counterculture.

We had somebody, we'd been having talks with him,

and he'd gotten to know a little bit about the Christian faith,

and he came to one of our Bible studies.

And the Bible study was John 6.

And so we're going along, and we would get into a bit of a discussion about it.

And he was one of the very first people who said anything about it.

He said, George, that's a wonderful text.

Now I understand what happened.

And we were all a bit surprised.

He said, yeah, because it says that there was lots of grass in that place.

And in the 70s, grass was a way to refer to marijuana.

So he said, there's lots of grass in the place.

That just means they were all there with Jesus smoking marijuana.

Yeah.

And because they were smoking marijuana,

anyway, he went on and on with this whole thing.

But the fact of the matter is, I mean, the Bible just meant grass as the stuff you mow.

But he thought grass meant the stuff that you smoked.

And so he fundamentally misunderstood the text.

And so it's actually a very good segue into our text.

The text says, what good is it, my brothers and sisters,

if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him?

And the question is, well, what's going on here?

Works, by the way, is just a sort of a very simple word that refers to what you do.

Like, what do you actually do?

And not only what you do with your body physically,

but what do you do with your emotions?

What do you do with your mind?

What do you do with your lips?

Like, what do you do?

That's just what the word works means in this particular consequence, in this context.

But what does faith mean?

Actually, for a lot of people probably, and I was thinking about this,

that I was thinking a lot of my non-Christian friends would probably misunderstand the word faith

because the word faith is used in a very particular way in our culture.

It's usually used to mean in one of two senses.

It either means a type of emotional state or a type of personal power.

You'd hear people talk about how you have to have faith.

Faith, it's going to work out, you have to have faith.

And the idea there of having faith is that faith is like a type of power that we have.

Sort of, I'm not being derogatory, but I'm just trying to illustrate it.

It's almost those of you who remember the Care Bears,

when it came to the right time to try to deal with the issue,

and they sort of stuck out their chest and stuff.

Hearts came out from their chest to deal with the bad guy and shut the bad guy down.

And so for a lot of people in our culture, when they hear the word faith,

what they really think of is a type of power.

That there's a type of power within you that's called faith.

That if you just sort of garnish it and get it together and focus it and project it,

that you're able to change the world in a way that's good for you and good for others.

But always good for you, but good for you and good for others.

And you just have to have faith.

It's a type of power.

That's how a lot of people understand faith in our culture.

And on the other hand, and the other way that a lot of people understand faith

is that it's a type of emotional state where you'll hear people say,

well, I have faith this is going to work out.

And what they really mean is that they have a type of emotion connected to it.

An emotion of sort of tranquility or happiness or rest that it's all going to work out.

And that's what they mean by it.

They have a certain emotional state.

So is that what is going on here in the text?

Is the text saying that if you don't have this sort of personal power and works,

which doesn't really make sense,

or if you don't have this type of emotional state and this other stuff,

like what's going on there with the text?

Is that what the word faith means?

So some of you might be wondering, why are we even talking about this?

Well, one of the things that drives my wife nuts about me,

when I go to other churches on my holidays,

I make it like a personal goal to not criticize or complain about the sermon

because it's always easy to complain about other people and not complain about yourself.

It's a danger for ministers.

But it's probably the same for musicians or anybody who's good at anything,

to nitpick how other people do it and not look at yourself.

But, you know, at the end, after we go to the church, I don't say anything negative.

In fact, if I think the sermon's really bad,

this is a suggestion for you as well, by the way,

if you think this sermon's tanking,

that's an opportunity for you to pray for me in the congregation.

And that's what I try to do when I'm visiting another church.

If the sermon is really tanking, I think,

okay, now God brought me here today to pray for the pastor and pray for the congregation.

But one of the things that, it's amazing how often it happens,

that the person supposedly talks on the text,

but if he'd actually just read the few verses after the text,

he'd realize that everything he said about the text was wrong.

Like, it's astounding how often it happens.

Like, one of the preceding sins of Christians and non-Christians

when they look at the Bible is they just look at the Bible as if it's just that text.

And they go ahead and they talk about it.

But if you think about it, the text is part of a book.

It would be as if you watched one minute of a movie

and then went on and on and on about it.

But from the one minute in the movie,

you might not even know who the good guy or the bad guy is.

Like, you don't know how the movie ends.

You don't know how anything happens.

You just make this judgment and go on and on about the movie.

And if some of you have watched the whole movie and you'd listen to it,

you'd go, come on, that's crazy.

That doesn't make any sense.

Like, you can't just talk about that.

You need to know what happened before and what happened after.

So the same thing with reading the Bible.

You always have to look at what's going on before and after.

And in this particular case, when it says,

what good is it, my brothers and sisters,

if someone says he has faith but does not have works,

can that faith save him?

It's referring to a huge point in the book of James

that happened just immediately before it.

So I didn't ask people to put this on the screen.

It won't be on the screen.

If you have your Bibles, you can see it.

Or you just have to trust me that I'm reading it correctly.

And what is said immediately before this is this.

It's the last four words, the last four words of verse 13.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Mercy triumphs over judgment.

And it's a very, very, very powerful phrase.

It might not jump out of you.

Some of you might like the sound of it just hearing it.

But the more you understand this text,

the more you understand just how big and powerful a word is.

Because what James has done is he unearths something

that we all know and sometimes deeply troubles us,

but we don't really know what to do about it

other than to try harder.

And what James unearths just before this is very bad news

is that there's something fundamentally broken about human beings.

That even the best human being,

there's something that's a bit dark at different parts of their life.

That there's something a bit broken,

even in the best person, about different parts of their life.

And that if we're all really honest,

like really, really honest,

the type of honesty that can happen at 3 o'clock

or 4 o'clock in the morning

or when you're beating yourself up over something,

that to realize that there's just something,

there is something just broken.

Like, why is it to my best friend that I said that?

Why is it that to my boss I said that?

Why is it that that slipped out?

Like, why is it that rather than getting up and helping,

I did the opposite?

Like, why is it?

And every single human being,

if they're even remotely self-aware,

and by the way,

there was a wonderful line in the newspaper this week

talking about somebody.

Self-absorbed, self being,

there are many people today who are self-absorbed,

but not self-aware.

Isn't that a wonderful phrase?

Self-absorbed with zero self-awareness.

But if you aren't,

if you have any self-awareness,

you realize there's something broken.

And so what James is talking about

is this wonderful thing.

It's a four-word summary of what Jesus does for us on the cross.

That God's seen our great need,

that Jesus dies on the cross and rises from the dead.

And that the way to understand what Jesus does

as he's dying upon the cross for you,

as he tastes all there is to taste of death for you

over the three days,

and as he rises from death and defeats death,

having vanquished hell, so to speak,

is that what we see is mercy triumphing over judgment.

That the judgment that God has on you,

the judgment that other people have on you,

the judgment that you have on yourself,

those things you cannot deal with

and cannot, you can try to maybe drink it away

from your conscience

or distract yourself away from your conscience

or just pretend that it not happened

or isolate yourself from the people that remind you

or the situations that remind you

that there's these things in your conscience

that just cannot be dealt with,

that God knowing all,

Jesus as God knowing all there is to know,

that he had left the glory and splendor of heaven,

he takes on our human nature,

he lives the life that we could never live,

and he dies in your place.

That the judgment of God happens,

but there's this wonderful surprise

that God's mercy triumphs over that judgment

in a way that can make you right with him.

And it's this wonderful, powerful, powerful phrase.

In an age where we struggle with hopelessness,

this is the profound hope of the gospel.

In an age which struggles with anxiety,

this is the profound gospel hope

in the face of anxiety

that God knew every single thing about you

with nothing held back.

He knew you perfectly.

Still, he loved you,

and he loved you so much,

and Jesus loved you so much

that knowing you absolutely perfectly

from the moment of your conception

to the moment of your death,

still he was willing to die in your place.

In your place condemned he stood.

In my place condemned he stood.

And that in his death upon the cross

and in his resurrection,

what you are seeing is God's wonderful provision

of grace and mercy,

that mercy triumphs over judgment.

And that's what James has just shared.

So then the question is,

how does that,

how do I connect to that?

How do I get that?

How do I get into that?

How do I get included in that?

How do I receive it?

How does that get in me?

Like, what's even the right language?

Like, given who he is and what he's done,

like, how does that become mine?

How does that become me?

How do I get there that there gets to me?

And Christians historically have answered,

reading the Bible,

that the answer is that

it's all an act of grace,

God's grace alone,

that we get into it

and it gets into us through faith alone.

And who do you have the faith in?

You have the faith in Christ alone.

You have, that's who you connect with.

The person of Jesus,

who's also the promise of God,

the Lamb of God,

who takes away the sin of the world,

that you connect to Jesus with faith.

And James knows that that's the Christian answer.

But he knew that back in his time,

just as there is today,

there's lots of confusion about what faith is.

And that's what he's getting at.

So first of all,

he says something to shock everybody.

But after he shocked everybody by saying,

what good is it,

my brothers and sisters,

if someone says he has faith,

but does not have works,

can that faith save him?

What he does is he unearths

four different misconceptions

about what faith is

so that we can understand

what faith really is

and what it isn't.

And so that for those of us

who might have been very,

very confused,

can realize that maybe we aren't as,

maybe,

maybe what's going on in us

doesn't suck after all

and isn't as terrible

or missing the point as we thought.

Or otherwise,

say, you know what,

I just thought it was those other things.

And today's the day that you can say,

now that as James starts to give you

these examples of what it is

and what it isn't,

that you say,

I want that, Lord.

Jesus, be my Savior,

be my Lord.

Like, mercy triumphs over judgment,

yes.

Like, let that be in me

and let me be in that.

Yes, yes, yes.

So how does he do it?

Well, just actually,

I'm going to give you

the big idea of the text

before we get into the text

and read the rest of his things.

And I don't know

if it's going to be on the screen or not

because I sent it very late

to the poor tech team.

Faith is humbly connecting

to the triune God

from your heart

so that he changes

the real you

in your real life.

Faith is humbly connecting

to the triune God

from your heart

so that he changes

the real you

in your real life.

I'm going to say it

other times during the service.

And just to sort of

give you a bit of a high view

of what that means,

and I'll talk about it

a little bit more

in the words to come.

By saying that faith

is humbly connecting

the triune God

to the triune God

from your heart,

it's saying that it's personal.

That it's from your heart.

It's from the very center of you.

Like, if somebody,

if you met somebody

who had that type

of deep affection

and love

and personal connection

to their lawnmower,

you'd think they were weird.

And you'd be right.

If you had somebody

who didn't have

any type of warmth

or connection

to their husband

or their wife,

you'd think that's not right.

And so,

what it's saying is

that the faith

is something personal.

It comes from,

it involves your heart,

the very center

of who you are.

And I'm using the word heart

in the biblical way,

not the modern way.

In the biblical way,

the heart is the very center

of who you are.

And from your heart,

the heart,

like in modern world,

heart refers to emotions.

But in the biblical world,

and that's the way

I'm using the word,

the heart is the center

of who you are

and out of your heart

flows your imagination,

your mind,

your will,

your emotion,

your affections.

Like all of these things

that we sort of

have different words for

have one source,

which is the very center

of who we are.

So when I say

that faith is humbly connecting

to the triune God

from your heart,

sort of it changes

the real you

and your real life.

It's talking about,

it's a personal knowing

of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

You know Jesus

and the power

of the Holy Spirit

and Jesus is the one

who makes you know

the Father.

And it involves

the emotion,

the imagination,

the will,

the mind,

everything.

It's saying that

this is something

which is deeply human,

which I'll talk about

more in a moment.

It's human because

it's based on the Trinity

as well,

by the way.

I mean,

actually I'll say

something about this

right now.

You know,

from a long time

I've thought that

there's a lot of stuff

in evolutionary theory

that just doesn't

make any sense.

Because if Darwinian

theory is true

and it's all about

the survival

of the fittest,

the fittest thing

to survive

would be something

that it can just

propagate itself

and doesn't need

another person

and doesn't need

a community.

if you just

think about it

for a second,

like what a weird

way,

like how is it

better that for

the human being

to,

human race to

continue,

that there has

to be both

a husband and

a wife,

like a man and

a woman,

and that it even

takes more than

two people to

survive,

that,

you know,

like even the

earliest records

of any type of

human life,

there's always a

tribe.

It's not just

that you have

to have one

man and one

woman,

like not two

men,

like why?

Like really,

the best way,

if you really

want to have

ultimate survival,

it should just

be that I'm

like an amoeba

type blob,

and at the

right time I

just sort of

something oozes

out of me,

and another

human being

that doesn't

mean any

other human

beings just

goes on and

on and on.

It's a really

crazy way,

like that doesn't

really make any

sense in terms

of if it's all

about the survival

of the fittest,

it's all about

evolutionary development

that helps the

propagation of

species,

like that doesn't

make any sense,

but,

and it also

makes no sense

if you think

about it,

that personhood

comes out of

the impersonal,

I mean,

that's at the

heart of

evolutionary theory

as well,

is that somehow

or another the

impersonal,

an impersonal

world somehow

or another

creates persons,

well how can

that be?

Like we don't

see that ever

happening anywhere

around us,

we don't see

lawn mowers

developing into

persons,

we don't see

calculators turning

into persons,

persons,

so how could

that be?

But,

you know,

it makes

sense if

the one who

has ultimately

created all

things and

sustains all

things has

made human

beings in

particular to

be different

on one level

part of the

created order

but different

than everything

else in the

created order

because human

beings bear the

image of God

and from all

eternity the

real God,

and that's one

of the reasons

by the way I

use the word

triune God,

I use the

word triune

God because

I as a

Christian do

not believe in

the God that

most Canadians

believe in.

I believe in

the triune God

which is not

what most

Canadians believe

and in fact

one of the

funny moments

with an

atheist or

somebody who's

given up on

faith and

they no longer

believe in

God and if

you ask them

what do you

mean by God

and they tell

you and you

say well

actually you

and I are at

one,

I don't believe

that God

either,

I don't

believe that

God exists,

sort of

catches them by

surprise,

what like,

thought you

should be a

Christian,

yeah,

yeah,

I'm a

Christian but

I don't

believe in

that God,

like if I

were you I

wouldn't believe

in that God

either,

but if from

all eternity

there's the

person of

the Father

loving the

person of

the Son

and the

person of

the Holy

Spirit,

then the

idea that

we are

made for

a personal

connection and

personal

relationship

because we

are made

in God's

image makes

complete and

utter perfect

sense.

And I'll

say,

yeah,

and so,

you know,

it's personal,

it is of the

heart,

it is human,

it is

Trinitarian,

it has

boundaries in

terms of,

like faith has

boundaries or,

in other words,

it's connected to

the object.

Faith changes you

in all areas of

your life,

it moves towards

a particular

end,

and just as,

you see,

and this is where it

goes back to the

story that I had

with Louise.

you see,

at all times,

faith is a

type of

personal knowing

where you open

yourself up to

the other in

the hope that

the other opens

themselves up to

you.

That's at the

end of the day

what it is.

And that,

you know,

it's appropriate,

like if Louise

had gone on to

marry Bob,

and if by chance

we had been

friends,

I might continue

to know her,

but I could only

know her as a

friend,

obviously,

otherwise it

would transgress

the marital

relationship.

And you know

your wife or

your husband in

a different way

than you know

your friend,

and in a

different way

than you know

your child,

and in a

different way

that you know

somebody else.

The object is

important,

there's a type

of a fitness

between the

object and the

person where

you don't want

to transgress

it.

But in the

case of Louise,

I desire to

have a deeper

relationship,

a different

type of

relationship

with her.

I desired

that I

would know

how to

open myself

up to her

and have

her open

herself up

to me

in a way

that would

move to

a deeper

type of

relationship

and a

different

type of

relationship.

But at

the end

of the

day,

and as it

turned out

by the

providence

of God,

her and

Bob came

to an end

and I was

able to

marry her

and we'd

been married

a long

time and

I'm very,

very,

very,

very grateful

for it.

But the

fact of the

matter is,

is this ability

to connect in a

relationship with

another human

being doesn't

depend upon IQ,

doesn't depend

upon how much

you can know

in school,

it doesn't

depend upon how

powerful your

emotions is,

it's fundamentally

deeply human.

and that's

one of the

wonderful things

is that God

doesn't call us

to get into

what he's done

for us in the

person of Jesus

where mercy

triumphs over

judgment.

He doesn't do

something that

means that we

have to be

really,

really smart

and be able

to figure out

theology really

well or that

we have to

have the type

of willpower

that's described

in our culture

that we can

just sort of

really,

really use our

willpower to

connect to God

or he doesn't

call us to be

the type of

person who

always has lots

of really positive

types of emotions

so that we

have these

positive emotions

about God.

No,

the way we

connect is

through faith

and if you

think about it,

a little

baby,

a little

baby,

just nursing

with its

mother,

the baby

knows the

mother.

The mother

has a

relationship

with the

baby and

the baby

has a

relationship

with the

mother.

The baby

has a

different

relationship

with the

mother

than the

father

does.

But it's

just the

fundamental

nature of

the human

being that

human beings

can do that

connecting with

other human

beings in a

personal way.

It's how God

designed us.

It's fundamentally

human.

A handicapped,

a severely

handicapped adult

or child can

have a relationship

with another

human being.

A very,

very elderly

person,

just before they

get lost in

dementia,

can have

still a

personal

relationship

with somebody.

And that's

why God,

the way that

we connect

with Jesus

is something

which is

fundamentally

connected to

who we are

that does

not depend

upon us

having strength

of will,

strength of

mind,

extensive

education,

great verbal

dexterity

and clarity

or any of

these types

of things.

it's a

personal

connecting,

a personal

connecting

that can

grow with

knowledge about

the person.

Over time,

maybe now I

would know

how to go

up to the

thing.

Louise would

say I'm a

very slow

learner and

she would be

right.

I am a

very slow

learner when

it comes to

my relationship

with her.

But I know

how to order

for her,

like I would

have known

that a long

time ago.

I know

lots about

her and

about how

she is and

how she

works and

who she

is and

how I am

and the

knowledge

grows.

And that's

what faith

is.

You see,

it's because

mercy triumphs

over judgment

isn't just an

abstraction,

it's not just

a slogan,

it's a

summary of

what Jesus

does for

us with

his life,

his death

upon the

cross,

and his

resurrection,

and it's

a knowing

of him.

And just

as to know

any human

being,

you get

involved in

their life,

what they

say,

what they

don't say,

what they're

like,

what they've

done,

what they

haven't done,

what they

will do,

you get

involved in

all of

those types

of things.

But at

the same

when you

know Jesus,

you can't

know Jesus

without knowing

who he

is and

what he

says and

what he

doesn't say

and what

pleases him

and what

doesn't

please him

and what

he's

accomplished

for you

and what

he will

accomplish

for you

and what

he's

continuing

to accomplish

for you

and in

your life.

And that's

who you

know.

And it's

summarized

with this

profound

truth that

every moment

in your

Christian walk,

mercy triumphs

over judgment.

Struggling

with anxiety,

mercy triumphs

over judgment.

Struggling

with hopelessness,

mercy triumphs

over judgment.

Feeling you

are an

absolutely

crappy

Christian and

maybe you

are,

but you

know the

comfort?

Mercy

triumphs

over judgment.

That

describes

who he

is and

what he's

done.

Let's

just read

the text

very quickly.

I got

out of my

notes,

by the way.

We need

to read

the rest.

So how's

how you

unpack it?

Look at

verses 15,

16,

and 17.

For brother

or sister

is poorly

clothed

and lacking

in daily

food,

and one

of you

says to

them,

go in

peace,

be warm

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.

One of the

things that's

so wonderful

about James

is he tells

you what

he thinks.

What do

you think,

James?

It's dead.

It's

completely

worthless.

So what's

he describing?

He's describing

what the

normal way

is for

faith.

He's going

to describe

as wrong

the two

normal mistakes

that people

make about

faith.

You see,

what happens

to this

particular

person?

They're just

caught up

with themselves.

They're just

caught up

with their

own world.

What they're

concerned with

is making

a posture

type statement.

What they're

concerned with

is saying

the right

word.

What they're

concerned with

is having

the right

emotion

about the

person.

In terms

of virtue

signaling,

it might

even be

that they

leave and

they just

feel so

good about

themselves

that they've

said something

like this.

Don't I

really care

about the

poor?

It's just

like when

I saw

that Black

Lives Matter

demonstration,

all those

people,

I thought,

all you

folks,

I mean,

there's a

real problem.

I'm not

denying the

problem.

But gosh,

if you

wanted to

get a

whole range

of Pharisees

and virtue

signaling,

and if I've

offended you,

then that's

life.

That's what

it was.

Virtue

signaling.

Powerful

emotions that

did

nothing.

Did

nothing.

It's the

secular

equivalent of

go your

way,

do well.

you see

how it's

a problem

and we

don't even

necessarily

realize it?

And I

don't know,

maybe I'm

going to get

some angry

emails because

I compare

this text to

Black Lives Matter

demonstrations in

Canada.

I can't comment as

much about the

states.

But it's all

about emotion.

You know,

one of the big

things I had as a

problem in my

early Christian

days,

I became

Christians through

charismatics,

and I'd go to

these worship

services and all,

and everybody,

there'd be all

these times in

the service

closing their

eyes,

their arms are

up,

you can just

feel all the

emotion.

And I think to

myself,

gosh,

I'm a crappy

Christian.

I suck.

But then it's

so, you know,

and then you

realize after they

go right from

that to get

drunk.

And you go,

like some

people just

like emotional

displays.

Some people

just like to

mouth the right

words.

And what

James says,

is that

faith?

No,

it's dead.

Complete

dead end.

Now,

now that we

more reformed,

restrained,

Anglican types,

where very few

of us are much

in danger of

being in a

worship service

where we're

jumping up and

down and

waving our

arms,

so we can

say,

yeah,

I'm really

glad James

nailed those

persons.

Now he

nails us.

that's what

he does

next.

Look what he

says immediately

after that.

Verse 18,

but someone

will say,

you have

faith and I

have works.

Basically,

what's behind

that is it's

as if he

knows what's

going to be

written in

Romans 12

and 1

Corinthians 12

where there's

the gift of

faith and the

gift of works

of mercy and

compassion.

And it's

sort of as if

the person

said,

well,

you know,

there's

different strokes

for different

folks,

you know,

you know,

whatever.

And James

says,

show me your

faith apart

from your

works and I

will show you

my faith by

my works,

by what I

do.

You believe

that God

is one?

You do

well.

And then,

boom,

even the

demons believe

and shudder.

And that's

for us more

reformed or

evangelical types

who might be

able to recite

the entire

39 articles,

the entire

Westminster

Shorter

Catechism,

Luther's

Shorter

Catechism,

for Roman

Catholics who

can quote

verbatim

the entire

big fat

book of

the Catholic

Catechism

of the

Christian

faith.

But that's

just mere

not,

it's just

things in

your head.

And if it

isn't that

personal

relationship

that involves

a change

in your

life,

what does

James say

it is?

It's

like demons

who know

perfect,

I mean,

what he's

saying here

is,

this is

so crazy,

every demon

has a

better,

a more

pure

theology

than every

single,

any one

of us

here in

the room.

And so

if it's

just a

matter of

the Christian

faith is

all about

perfecting

your

theology,

it's going

to be hard

to beat a

demon,

human,

but it's

completely

useless.

It would

be as if

I merely

studied

Louise from

a distance

and got

to know

her perfectly

and perfectly

and perfectly,

but never

actually said

hello to

her.

And not

only hello,

but then

talk to her

for an extra

couple of

moments and

then maybe

have coffee

with her

and then

have it

develop.

And those

are the

classic

two big

mistakes.

And then

he points

us in a

better

direction.

Remember

I said

that faith

is humbly

connecting

to the

triune

God

from your

heart

so that

he changes

the real

you

in your

real life.

That's the

heart of

all relationships.

Having a

child

changes you.

If it

doesn't

change you,

there's

something

wrong.

Having a

friend

changes you.

If it

doesn't

change you,

there's

something

wrong.

Being

married

changes

you.

If it

doesn't

change

you,

there's

something

wrong.

That's

how

relationships

work.

And so

James now

points us

in terms

of a

more

positive

direction.

Verses

20 to

24.

Do you

want to

be

shown,

you

foolish

person,

that faith

apart from

works,

in other

words,

faith apart

from your

life being

changed,

faith apart

from your

life being

changed is

useless.

Was not

Abraham our

father justified

by works when

he offered

up his

son on

Isaac on

the altar.

You see

that faith

was active

along with

his works

and faith

was completed

by his

works and

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.

You see that a

person is

justified by

works and

not by faith

alone.

What he's just

saying here is

is that faith

is active.

It was active

in terms of

Abraham,

that it's

active,

that it

involves such

things as

it grows.

What he

actually does

here is he

connects,

if you go

back and you

read it,

he connects

the life of

Abraham from

Genesis 15 to

Genesis 22.

So there's

eight chapters

there and

he texts

something from

the beginning

of Abraham's

walk with

God and

towards the

end of

Abraham's

walk with

God.

And he

takes a

25 year

span of

Abraham's

life and

he connects

it.

He shows

that there

was this

active

aspect and

growing

aspect and

developmental

aspect of

Abraham's

faith in

the personal

God.

Remember,

faith is

humbly

connecting to

the triune

God from

your heart

so that it

changes the

real you in

your real

life.

And it

culminates in

this particular

story,

which I don't

have time to

go into right

now.

Which has

to do with

his son

Isaac.

That in a

sense there's

always a type

of a

fulfillment.

There's always

a moving

towards something

greater, a

goal.

That a better

friendship, a

better marriage, a

better relationship

with your kids, a

better relationship

with your boss, a

better relationship.

That there's always

this sense that

there's always

something more

that you can

do.

Not in a way

that crushes

you or kills

you, but in a

sense that you

know that it's

just natural, that

bothers you if

your relationship

with your child

or your spouse

or your friend

is going in the

wrong direction.

Wrong direction

means that you

have a basic

idea that there's

an end, a

telos, something

that should be

going towards, that

you're off track

and you want to

get back to it.

And once again, if

we understand that

faith is humbly

connecting to the

triune God from

your heart so that

it changes the real

you and your real

life, then you

realize that there's

this direction that

that connection will

continue to go,

which is continue to

get you closer and

closer to God.

And when it says

that faith is

active, what it is

there in the

original language, it

says faith is active

and works, and the

images of a boss and

co-workers doing

something together,

that's the image in

the original language.

In other words, what

happens first and

foremost is the boss

making the decision,

but then the boss

makes a decision and

everything works

towards it.

You know, it would

be the same thing

that, in a sense,

what really begins

a relationship with

me and Louise is

entering into a

relationship, and

then certain actions

follow.

The actions don't

go before or

separate from a

relationship.

I mean, that would