Faith that Works

All right.

Let's pray, and then we'll we'll get into it this morning.

Lord Jesus, we just, God, we're so grateful we get to be here, Lord, in this house, worshiping you, Lord, declaring your Lordship in our lives.

Father, I just pray as we come into your word this morning, God, that it would be you who speaks to us, God, and that it's your word that reveals to us the calling you've placed upon us.

And Lord, in whatever way you need to convict us, may your spirit convict us this morning.

Any way you need to grow us, would you grow us this morning?

Father, we are your humble servants here to learn, here to be equipped so we can go out and do the work of the ministry you've called us to do.

And we pray this in your name.

Amen.

Have you ever seen one of those AED machines on a wall?

If you've ever gone to an airport, there's these little boxes on a wall, and they're all over the place.

They're not just in airports.

Now they're in stores, they're in churches.

Actually, we have some that we're going to be putting up in our church.

And if you're like, what is an AED?

It's an automated external defibulator.

So these are these amazing little devices that were created to be dummy-proof.

So what they do is they are little pads that stick to the person's chest and they will defibulate a heart that has been stopped or gone into cardiac arrest.

And so what's nice is these machines will literally walk you step by step.

And you can't go to the next step until you've done the first step.

They really are dummy-proof.

If you put the pads in the wrong spot, it knows and will not continue.

Um, and so these things are amazing.

They're wonderful inventions that have saved lives.

And I've actually got to witness that at one of the churches I was at.

We had two services.

We had a traditional service and a contemporary service.

And as you might imagine, our traditional service had some more elderly people attending that service.

And one of our members who was uh now advanced in years came one Sunday morning and just collapsed in our foyer.

And our team was was trained and ready, and they ran over to that AED, they put it on the person, they went through all the steps and poof, started the heart up.

And so the ambulance came and she lived.

It was amazing to watch this work.

Um, so let's imagine, if you would, if someone was in the hallway and they collapse, their heart's in distress, right?

They're in cardiac arrest, and all of a sudden people start gathering around, and someone points and says, Hey, there's an AED on the wall.

That machine, this can save lives.

And someone else says, I have always believed in AEDs.

Another person says, Hey, guess what?

I actually took a class, I got trained on the AED.

And then someone else says, Um, hey, to the person in cardiac arrest, I hope you're okay.

Go in peace today, be warm and filled.

And imagine nobody, nobody opens the box, no one touches the machine, nobody follows the instructions, nobody acts.

Here's the point: you may say that you believe in the AED, and you may believe that it can help save somebody in cardiac arrest, but how real is that belief if there's no action to actually use it?

And that is the kind of tension that James is going to bring us today in his word.

James is not impressed with a faith that only makes claims.

He's not impressed in a faith that says the right words.

He's not impressed with a faith that only believes the right facts.

James wants to know does your faith act?

Does it show up when someone is hungry?

Does it obey when obeying is costly?

Does it become visible in mercy, love, and faithfulness?

And this is going to be the heart of the message this morning as we dive into what is really a challenging passage of scripture here.

Living faith will always have visible actions.

Or another way to say it is faith that is alive, it moves.

So we are continuing our series called Kingdom Work.

And so for the month of August, we have continued in our annual thing of kingdom, and we're specifically looking at kingdom work.

What does it mean to be workers in this kingdom?

And we've looked at um Deuteronomy, we've looked at now James and how our words matter, how we're supposed to pass our faith on.

And now we're getting to this part in James where he's going to be talking about what does it look like to have faith that is active, that is alive.

Now James is writing to the 12 tribes in uh dispersion.

And so this is just the Christians who have been dispersed because of persecution.

So they've fled Jerusalem, and now they're in all these different areas, and James is writing to them in their varying churches, trying to encourage them not to live in fear, but to stay committed to the call, to the faith that they've committed to.

And he understands that these communities, they have real tensions.

There is real poverty, there's real favoritism happening and wealth and suffering, and there is a temptation to keep your faith hidden and only in words.

Because you can imagine if you were a professing Christian in that time, but in that time to be a Christian meant that you could be arrested, your family could be arrested, you could be thrown into a Roman Coliseum only to be slaughtered by gladiators or wild beasts or to be martyred in some horrific way.

And so you're just thinking, like, I really love this message of Jesus.

Like it's different than anything else I've ever heard.

It kind of changes me on the inside a little bit.

I feel different, and yet it's costly.

Like there's a real consequence to living out these beliefs I'm claiming to have.

And so James is saying, listen, you cannot by word alone be associated with this faith.

It has to be something that drives you uh into action.

And so that is what James is addressing in his letter.

And so this morning, as we open up, James, would you stand as we read the word together?

James chapter 2, beginning in verse 14 through 26, and it'll also be on the screens, says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

James 2 · chapter mention

Can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lack in daily food, and one of you says to him, 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.

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.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Was not Abraham, our our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active long 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 the friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone.

And in the same way was not Rahab of 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.

Amen.

You may be seated.

You're like, I didn't know it was gonna be this passage.

Here we go.

Now we're now we're jumping straight into James chapter two here.

We haven't spent weeks in James chapter one, but James has actually been building to this message.

He's he says in James 1, receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul.

So up front in the letter of James, he's acknowledging that salvation is not earned.

It is something that God gives us.

And a few verses later in James 1, he will say, Be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

So James is not saying, work hard enough and maybe God will save you.

That's not the message of James.

He is saying, if God's word has truly taken root in you, it will bear fruit through you.

In James 2, he confronts favoritism.

A rich person walks in and is honored, a poor person walks in and is humiliated.

And James says that this does not fit the kingdom of God that Jesus preached.

In James 2.8, he says, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

In James 2, 13, he says, mercy triumphs over judgment.

And now, a few verses later, he gives us an example of someone without proper clothing and daily food.

So James is trying to help us understand what he's talking about when he speaks of works here.

It's not about trying to earn salvation through religious performance.

He is trying to give us these examples of works that are not concerned with mercy.

And so he gives us this example of a brother or sister in physical need.

And then he asks a question What good is faith when it sees suffering and needs and does nothing?

So today we're going to walk through this passage in three points.

Faith that only talks is dead, faith that only knows is not enough, and living faith will always have visible actions.

So let's start in verse 14.

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

That can that faith save him?

So let's notice the wording here, because this is important.

James does not begin by saying, if someone has faith.

He says, if someone says he has faith.

This is claimed faith.

So these are religious words spoken.

But James asks whether that kind of faith can save.

So he's not asking, can faith save?

James already believes that faith can save.

And the New Testament is very clear on that exact point.

We are saved by grace through faith.

James himself has already said that God gives new birth by the word of truth that we have received and that has been implanted in us, so we're able to be saved.

So James is not attacking faith here.

He's addressing those who claim faith with words alone.

So, a faith that only talks, a faith that claims Jesus but does not follow Jesus, a faith that uses spiritual language but refuses practical obedience.

Now the word for faith here in the Greek is pistis.

Now, pistis can mean faith, belief, trust, confidence, or faithfulness.

And having these kind of interpretations of the word, they matter for us because James is asking, what kind of faith are we talking about?

Is it merely believing that certain things about God are true?

Or is it personal trust in God that changes the way we live?

Right?

Because you can have an idea of who God is.

Many people do.

Even if they never went to church, people can get to the concept of a greater being, a God, if you will, and they can have that idea.

And we would say that is true.

There is a God.

But is having the knowledge of that God alone enough?

So biblical faith is more than agreeing that something is something about God is true.

Biblical faith is entrusting yourself to the God who is truth.

And that's what James is saying.

And then he gives us this example in verse 15 and 16.

He says, If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to him, uh says to them, Go in peace, be warm and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

So James doesn't waste any time here.

He gives a very clear example.

And he says, All right, here's the illustration here.

A person walks in and they don't have enough food to eat and they don't have clothes on their body.

And if you do nothing for them, and then what what good is that faith?

And this isn't just a stranger, by the way.

He says this is a brother and sister, meaning that this is a fellow believer in the faith.

So this is not a random person.

This is someone who is part of the body of Christ.

So if that person has a very real need and another Christian says to them, Hey, go in peace, be warmed and filled, but does nothing, then James says, You've missed it.

Those are nice words, by the way, right?

I mean, go in peace.

Oh, be warmed.

It's almost like the Southern version of Bless Your Heart.

Nice words.

They sound spiritual, they sound compassionate, and they may even sound like a blessing.

But James says, if you have the ability to help and you do nothing, what good is that?

It's like standing beside someone in cardiac arrest, pointing at the AED on the wall, saying, I believe that machine can help you, and then leaving it in the box.

Words that never become mercy expose a heart that is still unchanged by God.

First John 3, 17 and 18 puts it like this: But if anyone has the world, the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.

John sounds exactly like James does right here.

He says, Do not love in words only.

Love in your deeds, love in truth.

And I get it, it's hard, but they're not saying do things outside your capacity.

They're saying if you have the ability to do it, do it.

And James is pressing on the gap here between what we say and what we do.

Because we can say I care, we can say I believe, we can say I will pray or God bless you.

And those are good words, but they are only as meaningful as the actions that follow through.

So if I use religious words to avoid costly love, James says there is something wrong, and I need to evaluate my heart.

And that's a hard message to receive.

Now I think the temptation is to take this beyond where James is taking it, making a salvation issue.

But James is really pressing this point here.

He's saying, Man, we cannot just not do things and say, Oh, well, we're great.

We're good, we're good in the eyes of the Lord, we've been saved.

James is like, man, that if you've been truly changed and transformed by what God has done in your life, then there will be a change in your own life.

He continues in verse 17 and says, So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

The Greek word here for works is ergon, and ergon means works, deeds, action, task, or something done.

So for James, these works are not primarily uh ceremonial performances.

It is our faith displayed in physical form.

So James is trying to help the church understand your faith lived out is practical.

It's not like doing these religious ordinances.

So he's not saying that, oh, your faith is only complete when you lead communion.

Oh, your faith is only complete when you perform this ceremony.

He's saying your faith is lived out when you're doing it on the practical level every day.

When you feed someone who's hungry, when you clothe someone who's in need, when you obey God, when you know it's going to cost you something, when you protect someone who's vulnerable, especially when they cannot protect themselves.

He says, all these are ways that your faith is lived out.

What James is not saying is faith plus enough good works equals salvation.

He is saying living faith will lead to action.

And that's so good for us.

The works do not make faith alive, the works show us that faith is alive.

Amen.

I love this.

Man, if that doesn't speak life in our church, I don't know what is.

So do not feel bad.

You have fun.

And hey.

Amen.

You know, I was the kid who was invited to a youth group who was crawling under chairs, and now I'm a pastor, so who knows what God has on your life.

But we love that here.

I'll tell you, because it shows that families are welcome this place, kids are welcome this place.

This is not an adults-only service.

Everyone is here who can receive the word of God.

So again, James is saying the works do not make faith alive.

The works show us that faith is alive.

Fruit does not make a tree alive, right?

But it reveals that the tree is alive.

And that's James' point.

Faith without works is not weak faith, it's dead faith.

And unfortunately, dead faith, it can talk.

Dead faith can say I believe.

Dead faith can say go in peace.

Dead faith can sound Christian, but dead faith does not move toward meeting the need.

So the first question James puts before us, it's not complicated.

He says, What do I say I believe, does it change the way I live?

So what I say I believe, does it change the way I live?

Does my faith move my hands?

Does my faith move my wallet?

Does my faith move my compassion?

Because faith that only talks is dead.

Faith that only knows is not enough.

In verse 18, James introduces this imaginary objector.

And he says, 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.

In other words, maybe your faith is your thing and works are my thing.

Maybe some Christians are belief people and others are like serve people.

They're action people.

Maybe we just have different spiritual personalities.

James will not allow for that division.

Notice how he said, Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Faith itself is invisible, right?

You can't see faith.

You cannot simply see trust.

You can't simply see hope.

You can't physically see love.

You see those things when what?

When they're expressed.

When they're expressed or lived out.

So if I say I trust this chair right here, now that's a claim.

I can say I trust the chair.

You guys can say you trust the chair.

But when you sit down in the chair, that's when the trust becomes visible.

Sitting in the chair did not create the trust, by the way.

It revealed the trust you already had in it.

Works are faith becoming visible.

So then James gives one of the most unsettling examples in the New Testament, verse 19.

He says, You believe that God is one, you do well, even the demons believe and shudder.

Now James is revert referring here to Israel's uh confession of Deuteronomy 6, 4, the Shema, which we talked about a few weeks ago, that says, Hear, O Israel, our Lord, our God is one.

And so uh the Shema is a daily confession of the people of Israel and their faith in one God.

And so James is saying, Hey, you pray this prayer every day as part of your confession.

He says, Guess what?

You believe God is one?

Good.

It's true.

That's an orthodox statement.

It is biblical.

But then he says, even the demons believe that.

And they shudder.

These are the hard verses that we sometimes don't want to hear, but we need to, because James is telling his audience, demons have accurate theology too.

Look at the gospels.

Demons know who Jesus is.

Mark 1.24, a demon cries out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us?

I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

Matthew 8.29, demons know judgment is coming.

And behold, they cried out, What have you to do with us, O Son of God?

Have you come here to torment us before the time?

So the demon's problem here is not a lack of information.

Their problem is rebellion.

They know the truth about God, but they do not love God.

They believe True things, but they do not entrust themselves to him.

They shudder, they do not surrender.

That is James' warning.

Faith that only knows is not enough.

It is possible to believe the Bible is true and still resist the God of the Bible.

It is possible to believe that Jesus died and rose again and refuse to follow him with your whole life.

Knowing the truth about God is not the same as entrusting your life to God.

And this is where James challenges us on a very practical level.

Many people confuse familiarity with faith.

They grew up around church.

They know Bible stories.

They know Christian words.

They believe generally in God.

They agree with Christian morality.

They can affirm true statements.

But James asks, has that truth changed the way you live?

Has it moved you to repentance?

Has it moved you to obedience?

Has it moved you to make your life look more like Jesus?

Verse 20, he continues, do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

And that your word useless here means idle, ineffective, or unproductive.

Dead faith can say the right things, and demonic faith knows the right things, but living faith, man, that moves, that changes us, transforms us.

It's why Paul says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not by your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

That is good news, that is gospel.

We are not saved by our works.

Amen for that.

But Paul continues in verse 10 and says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Do you see the connection?

Works are not the root of our salvation, but they are the fruit of our salvation.

Faith that only knows is not enough.

And living faith will always have visible actions.

Now, James gives two examples from scriptures.

The two examples could hardly be more different, right?

He gives us Abraham and Rahab.

Abraham is a patriarch of the Hebrews, Rahab is a Canaanite harlot or prostitute.

Abraham was honored.

Rahab had a morally complicated past.

Abraham was the father of Israel.

Rahab lived in Jericho, a city under judgment.

Abraham is the expected example.

Rahab is the surprising one.

And James uses both to show us that living faith is visible faith.

Verse 21, he says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

Now the Greek word translated for justified here is diacio.

I messed that one up, but we're just going to pretend like it was right.

That's what they say with Greek, Greek 101.

Just say it confidently, and no one will know the difference except those who speak Greek.

So this Greek word here, diacio, uh, can mean to justify, declare righteous, regard as righteous, vindicate, or demonstrate to be in the right.

That's why if you were to read this verse in different translations, you would get different interpretations of that word justified in a way that makes sense contextually here in James.

So this word matters because James can sound like he's contradicting Paul, right?

You can read that verse and be like, him and Paul are not on the same page.

Paul says in Romans 3.28, for we hold that no one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

And James says in verse 24, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

That sounds like a contradiction right there.

We are seeing two different things said, but they are addressing different problems.

Paul is asking, how can guilty sinners be made righteous with a perfect holy God?

And his answer is clear: not by earning salvation, not by law keeping, not by human boasting.

You on your own merits cannot achieve the holiness and righteousness needed to get to salvation.

Only faith, through grace, can you receive the gift of righteousness from Jesus over your life?

We are justified by grace through faith in Jesus.

James is asking a different question.

He's saying, What is the fruit of faith that actually saves?

So James is saying, What is it?

What should come out of the life of someone who's been redeemed?

What should be the difference?

Someone who is living a life burdened and shackled by the sin nature of their life for however many years, now found free in the redemptive gift of grace through the blood of Jesus Christ over their life.

When you get that, more than just know it, when you believe it, when you surrender to that and you say, Lord, you're telling me that I could do everything great my whole life, and it would not be good enough to earn the holiness that is required to be in heaven with you.

So instead, you gave everything up for me so that I could live, even though I was unworthy.

And you recognize that and you surrender that something changes in you.

You begin to see the world differently, to see people differently.

And so James is saying, where's the fruit that comes from that acknowledgement?

And his answer is also clear.

He says it's not going to come through words alone, and it won't come through intellectual agreement, because saving faith will produce action in your life.

There will be visible transformation.

So James is not saying works replaces faith as the basis of salvation.

He is saying that faith in God is counted as righteous because it's visible through obedience.

And Abraham supports this point.

Genesis 15, 6 says he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Now Abraham is counted righteous by faith.

Years later, in Genesis 22, Abraham is called to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

Now that was no small obedience.

Isaac was the child of promise.

Everything God had promised him, right there, he's now asking him to sacrifice.

Oh, God, no, you can't ask me to give him up.

Sarah's pushing a hundred now.

She's not having any more kids.

You can't do this, God.

You said I was gonna be the father of many nations.

How am I gonna be the father of anything if you take my son away?

This was not small obedience.

Hebrews 11 says Abraham obeyed because he believed God could even raise Isaac from the dead.

So Abraham's obedience did not create his faith, it revealed his faith.

Abraham took Isaac because he believed in the God he was bringing him to.

He already knew this God can do anything.

Man, if I sacrifice my son, I believe my God can bring him back.

He was faithful, it was there.

His obedience again did not create his faith, it revealed it.

James says in verse 22, you see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.

And this may be the key verse in the passage.

Faith was active with his works.

Abraham did not move beyond faith into works.

His faith was working through his works.

His trust in God became visible through this costly obedience.

And James says his faith was completed by his works.

In other words, his faith came to mature expression.

Trust matures when trust leads to obedience.

How do you learn trust?

By trusting.

How do you learn generosity?

By giving.

How do you learn forgiveness?

By forgiving.

How do you learn obedience?

You learn obedience by obeying.

Faith grows when it's put into action.

God is going to give us opportunities to grow into our faith.

See, a lot of us love to give those prayers to God.

God help me be more patient.

Lord, help me be more kind.

And God's like, all right.

But you know the best way to learn through opportunity.

And all of a sudden we're just like, whoa, this jerk cut me off.

You know, get off the road.

Someone take their license.

Can you believe that?

Oh my God, all those Californians ruining our roads.

And God's like, I thought you just prayed for kindness and gentleness and patience.

And I guess God is going to give us opportunities to grow in it.

We just tend to miss them.

And James is saying, we have to be aware, church, if we are only Christians by our words, then we have to really check our hearts and see, are we truly believers?

Because believers who have been transformed by the sacrifice of a holy God who gave everything for them, they won't just remain word-only Christians.

They will live it out.

Then he gives the example of Rahab, verse 25.

And in the same way, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Rahab's story comes from Joshua 2.

She hears what God has done.

She confesses in Joshua 2, 11, the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens and above and on the earth and beneath.

So Rahab has, she has this theological belief, but she does not stop there.

She receives the Israelite spies.

She protects them.

She risks her own life to protect them.

Her faith becomes visible through her actions.

James puts Abraham and Rahab side by side.

So Abraham shows that faith through costly obedience to God, and Rahab shows faith through costly protection of others.

So one is a respected insider, one is a surprising outsider, one is a patriarch, one is a prostitute, one places Isaac in God's hands, and one places her own life in God's hands.

And James says, that is what living faith does.

It moves, it acts, it obeys, it takes risk, it loves, it becomes visible.

And he ends with this in verse 26 for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

A body without breath is a corpse.

It may have eyes, hands, feet, skin, organs, but there's no life.

James says professed faith without works is like that.

It may have Christian vocabulary, correct theology, religious theory, church attendance, biblical knowledge.

But James asks, where is the life?

Where are the works that are there?

Where is the breath in the body?

They are the evidence of life.

So here's the question: Where is your trust in Jesus becoming visible?

Where has your faith made you generous?

Where has your faith cost you something?

Where has faith changed the way you use your time, your money, your energy, your home, your words, your gifts, your calendar?

Not because, again, works earn salvation, but because living faith will have visible actions.

So let's bring this home.

This passage is incredibly practical for a series called Kingdom Work.

Because James asks, what does kingdom faith actually do?

It acts when nobody's impressed, it serves when someone needs help.

It obeys when obedience is costly.

It gives when there's uh other things to spend your money on.

It risks because God can be trusted.

It makes the invisible reality of faith visible in ordinary life.

And that's what kingdom work is.

It's faith made visible.

So do not hear today's sermon and walk out being like, oh, I have to do more.

I have to do more, I'm not saved.

Then you've missed it.

Here's the invitation: bring your whole life to Jesus and say, Lord, where do you want my faith to be lived out?

You and God, you need to ask that.

Jesus, where do I need to see my faith lived out?

Bring that before Him.

James is not calling us to perform for God, He's calling us to stop pretending that faith can remain motionless because living faith has visible actions.

Now we can't end this morning with just, hey, go and do more good things.

Go serving the youth, go serving kids.

That's that's those are good things, and we do need to do those things.

But if we were just to end there, we would miss the gospel, the good news.

James has already told us where life begins.

Of his own will, he brought us forth by word of truth.

God gives life, God implants his word within us, God gives us grace to all who would receive him.

So again, just to beat this point home, the gospel is not that we work our way into salvation or earn God's love.

The gospel is that Jesus came to us.

Jesus lived the perfect, faithful life that we have failed to live.

His faithfulness was embody.

He did not just say, I love you.

Romans 5 8 says this.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So God's love acted, it moved, it sacrificed.

Jesus did not stand at a distance and spirit and look at us spiritually poor people and go, Hope you all do well.

No, he came near, he took on flesh, he healed the lepers, he fed hungry people, he welcomed sinners, he carried the cross and he gave himself.

He died for our dead faith.

Our empty words, our loveless acts, our disobedience, our lack of mercy, our greatest sin, Jesus died for all of that.

And then he rose again to make dead sinners alive.

So if you're here today and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, maybe you've heard a lot about Jesus, but you've never given your life fully to him.

Today this invitation is for you.

Come to Jesus, receive his grace, trust his death and resurrection, confess him as Lord and Savior.

And what will happen if those things, if you choose to act on those things today, you will be born again, a new creation, a redeemed son or daughter of a holy king.

But only you can make that choice.

Your husband, your wife, they can't make that choice for you.

Your son, your daughter, they can't make that choice for you.

Your mom or dad, they can't make that choice for you.

Only you can decide to say yes to Jesus today.

And it's not because you're good enough, it's because he loves you unconditionally as you are, and he wants you to have that right relationship with him.

Now, for the rest of us here who have made that confession, who've committed to worshiping Jesus with all that we are, let's get back to a faith that lives.

Let's not try to manufacture goodness on our own accord.

Don't try to just be like, all right, I'm gonna be a better Christian today because Pastor Ryan taught on James chapter two.

No.

Let's abide in Christ.

Let's come back to the grace that transformed our hearts in the first place and say, Lord, how do you want this faith to be lived out today?

And then tomorrow when you wake up, Lord, how do you want my faith to move today?

And then the next day, and the next until we're standing before him, going, Thank God I'm home.

Church, our work is never done.

And I get it.

We live in the West where we like the idea of retirement, sitting back, enjoying the last years, enjoying the fruits of our labor.

But that is not the Christian call.

Our mission field is vast.

The Bible says the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Church, we have a mission.

And we are on mission.

Let's go out, let's share the gospel, let's disciple those who confess, and let's help the next generation be more in love with Jesus than the generation before them.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Jesus, thank you for who you are, God.

Lord, every Sunday I get the privilege of standing here and sharing your word and convicted myself by the word that you've you've put upon my life, Lord.

And yet, God, I pray that all of us, Father, would receive this, not because I've said it, God, but because you have said it.

And Lord, I pray that we would be transformed, that we would not just hear empty words, but Lord, we would be moved by the power of your spirit to go out and act in obedience, Lord, to love the way you've called us to love, to be merciful in the ways that you've shown us mercy, to be filled with grace and an abundance of your character, God.

And we know we cannot do it on our own because we do it on our own all the time and we fail.

And yet, Lord, we need you desperately to live through us.

And so, Lord, I just pray your immense blessing on every person in this place, Lord, every person watching online, Lord, would you just bless them today?

Would you draw them in?

Would you comfort them with your presence?

And Lord, would you help us become the sons and daughters you've created us to be, men and women filled with the power of your spirit, called to a mission that will never end until the day we are all before your throne.

And we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.