James: By Grace Through Faith Or Works and Performance?

Yeah, what a joy for 11 years that we've been able to give 10% of what you give to other ministries.

And that's because we get to support other ministries that are focusing on stuff that we don't get to do.

We don't get to focus on those things locally or internationally, but we get to support parachurch ministries that do focus on that.

So when you give to us, you're giving to us to help this church run, but you're also giving to different ministries around the world.

As well, I'm overjoyed to report back to you as we've been talking the last few months.

If you remember back in May, we bought the suite to the to the right of us on the other side of that wall, and it's gonna be our group room, and we're already using that, but another suite on the back of the building that we're leasing out, and we started to talk about like how do we how do we uh get those spaces up to what we want them to be, and then there's some other areas of our building need attention, and then we had to take out some debt to purchase that, and so how are we gonna deal with that debt?

And so we've been raising money for the past few months.

It's just my pleasure, joy to report back that we have pledged, that you have pledged$698,000 over the next 18 months, and that's that's a huge, huge number, and as well, what a joy to be a part of church that's leading in generosity to create spaces so that you can be here, and your family can be here, and the next family can be here.

And so the elders, the leadership board here, we're gonna get together and get some pricing on different things and try to chip away at some debt, try to chip away at some different key areas of our building that need attention for us to keep moving forward.

The prayer I've sent it out on email a couple times, but I want to pray the prayer that I've emailed out.

So let's pray together.

We're gonna pray this together.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, would you, as we sit here this morning as a church, would you grant us not a perfect building, not a perfect facility, but would you grant us a gospel movement that is possible because your Holy Spirit's at work?

Would you give us a sweet community of peace, of rest, and growth?

And God, we pray uh for this season, just has been true for 11 years.

We pray it for now that we would have the right amount of resources for this moment for this church to take the next step to continue our vision and our values.

And so, God, would you give us open hands and would you give us full hearts with your love for us?

Would we live in the lavishness of the gospel and would we exist to lavish that gospel on the next person?

And would we do this in your sovereignty?

As we open your word this morning, have mercy on us as we listen and have mercy on the one who speaks.

Amen.

Today we're finishing James chapter two, quite a passage if you are listening along.

You're like, oh, that was read, and then Steve said the sentence that were more broken, but more loved.

You're like, let's see how Russ is going to reconcile this.

The book of James is in the New Testament, and yet it can feel like a book of demand, of get your act together, perform for God.

This is how you're right with him.

It can feel like that for sure.

And so it's easy to read James, and especially this passage in James, and wonder how do we reconcile James with the lavishness of grace that we read in other places in the New Testament, especially in Paul.

But we have to remember we read any part of the Bible in light of the whole Bible.

We don't just read James.

When we read James, we're reading James in light of the entire biblical story of our rescue in Jesus alone.

And we need to ask, in all of James' bluntness, in all of that, what is his heart?

What is the heart behind this bluntness?

What is James's heart?

About 10 years ago, we were in our first year as a church.

I was at lunch with two of our amazing leaders, and one of them at this lunch, right in the middle of the lunch, out of nowhere, he looked at me and he said, I want to be candid with you.

And you're like, okay, here we go.

That's an opening phrase for whatever comes next.

I want to be candid with you.

And he said, You sound rude on text.

Me?

I'm rude?

But I just sort of nodded along and he explained, but inside I was all stirred up.

Me, I'm not rude on text, I'm efficient on text.

Is what I am.

And then I remembered something that the guy who told me this, the guy who told me this, this guy loves me.

It kind of changes everything else, doesn't it, about that corrective word?

Because then the question becomes, all right, what is the heart behind this corrective word?

See, this guy just wanted me to be a good leader who communicates well and doesn't upset people.

I'm still trying.

That's just what he wanted.

And now, of course, now I can't put enough cheesy emojis in my text.

If you've gotten a text from me, it's like triple thumbs up.

Like, was that really needed?

Smiley face, hard eyes.

It's a popular one for me.

Like, I've just chosen, I'd rather be cheesy than rude.

So that's what that's about.

But I had to ask, what is the heart behind the word?

What is the heart behind this?

And that's what we got to do here with James.

What is James's heart?

So this week I read a little bit of history through this book called Not by Paul Alone.

It's by David Nienhouse.

And Nienhouse says that James wrote his letter against Marsonian teaching.

There's Marcion.

Second century heretic.

So James is seeing what this guy is saying, what these followers of this saying, and that was that Paul was the only true voice of Christianity.

And those people were taking that lavishness of grace, and they were just living their lives however they want.

And James is going, uh, that's not Paul, that's not Christianity.

And so what Nienhaus proposes in this book is that we have James not as a correction to Paul, but we have James as a correction to the people who misread Paul.

That's a big difference.

So James' heart seems to be to help people, help us rightfully exercise the grace and the freedom that we already have in Jesus.

And James's heart over and over again in this letter is for our faith to actually matter, for it to mean something, for it not just to be empty words.

So James 2, verse 14, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

James 2:14

Can that faith save him?

Alright, can that faith, like not faith in Jesus, that faith, the faith that's empty, saying that?

Can that faith save him?

Verse 15, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Point number one, enlivened faith is the root of a flourishing life.

Faith that's alive leads to a flourishing life.

Faith that's alive creates works, obedience, godliness.

Now, two years ago, I was with some fishing buddies.

We were out in Wyoming, we woke up in the morning and we were gonna go fish at Crystal Creek.

So we stopped by the fly shop, we talked to our buddy Baker, we said, hey, we're gonna head out to Crystal Creek.

He said, Oh, great spot.

We've never been there before, so we need some intel.

And so he says, Hey, well, you head straight out of town, take a right on Grovaunt Road, drive 45 minutes on Grovaunt Road, it's gonna become a gravel road, just keep going.

45 minutes into the canyon, you'll see a campground on the left, right after the campground, there's a bridge, fish at the bridge, park right there.

We say, Great, what should we look for on the way?

He says, No, no, no, no, can't miss it.

Right on Grovaunt, 45 minutes, campground, bridge, can't miss it.

We say, okay, but you know, driving 45 minutes on a gravel road in one direction is quite a commitment for us.

So, like, is there a landmark?

He's like, no, no, no, no.

You can't miss it.

There's one road.

Drive until you get there, right?

He's thinking these moron city guys, they're stressed out, their GPS is not gonna work.

Like, they don't understand.

There's like two roads in the county.

Like, just get on Grovaunt Road and head, like that's it, only goes to one spot, it goes to the bridge.

So we turn on Grovaunt Road.

Sure enough, we do pass some stuff.

He could have told us about it.

Little town of Kelly, like two buildings, he didn't mention it.

Lower Slide Lake, beautiful, he didn't mention that.

And we drive into the canyon, sure enough, campground on the left, then the bridge.

Here's a picture from that bridge.

Actually, I took this, my buddy's down there on the left fishing.

Beautiful, isn't it?

That's where the road goes.

That's where it leads.

Doesn't go anywhere else.

That's where it leads.

It goes to one spot.

You can't miss it.

So Baker at the fly shop knows what James knows.

There's one road.

You can't miss it.

It's theirs, just the way it works, it's the way it goes.

Faith that's alive flourishes with fruit.

Not perfectly, but it does.

There's one road.

This will lead to that.

Now, in verse 14, James says that people can use religious words to voice faith, but they never actually have it.

That's not really saving faith in Jesus.

That's just religious words.

And then James says that works or fruit actually can bring peace to a believer because it can affirm the believer that the faith is real.

Now, that by itself could send us in all sorts of directions of being performative and then guilty and ashamed and insecure.

That's why it's so great.

We have Paul.

We have other New Testament.

We read this in light of the bigger story.

And Paul, at the end of his life, where you would assume he's more mature in Christ, he calls himself the worst sinner of all.

In Romans 7, he says he does stuff he shouldn't do, he's not doing stuff he should do.

So what we see is that this is not a call to perfection.

This is an ongoing walk in the gospel, the Holy Spirit working in us, a walk of imperfection and confession, but it's in a direction over time toward godliness and grace.

James 2, 18.

But someone will say, You have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from 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?

Alright, so point number two, it's an old point.

Stole it from a sermon a few weeks ago.

Great point.

No reason to not use it.

Let's just keep using good points.

Point number two.

It's an old preacher trick.

Point number two.

God's love is not a result of our transformed lives.

God's love is the source of our transforming lives.

See, our lives are transforming.

And God is at work in that.

Verses 18 through 20, James says that even demons believed.

They just don't care.

They don't want to submit to the creator.

They went their own way.

And because of that, they shudder.

Because there is a terror.

There's a terror in the inner self, a great insecurity when you're not settled in your belovedness to the Creator, to the Heavenly Father.

You just can't stop looking for something.

Looking for something else.

What else do I need to make me whole, worthy, forgiven, righteous?

Verse 21.

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

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works, and 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.

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

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

So James says, Abraham and Rahab were justified by works.

Yet we believe, Protestant faith, we believe that justification, your relationship with God being secure, and that you can rest at it, being free in it, that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Full stop.

Well, this is interesting, isn't it?

Seems like in the Bible we have these two different thoughts.

Because Paul says in Romans 3.28, Paul says, we're justified by faith apart from works of the law.

And then James says in James 2, 24, a person is not justified by faith alone.

Now remember, justification is like the endeavor, the pursuit.

We're all on it.

Middle school, high school, 80 years old.

We're all on it.

The pursuit to be worthy, forgiven, righteous, acceptable to God.

How do we know I'm right with God?

How can I be secure and at peace?

And so for James, it seems like, for James, justification is about the evidence that you're already justified.

James assumes the gospel and tells you its effects.

Remember, he's writing at a particular time to a particular people for a particular reason.

James assumes the gospel and tells you its effects.

Now, let's say you're at Max on the square for a dinner.

Blackened shrimp, beer battered, eight-ounce filet, some side items, red wine, warm white chocolate, bread pudding.

I mean, you went all out, spared no expense.

Great, oh, what a great meal.

Great meal, oh what a great night.

Great night, great meal.

Meal's over.

You know that the bill's gonna check's coming.

It's gonna be a good one, too.

It's gonna be a big one.

You're at max.

Good food.

Big check.

Check's coming.

And you know it.

You're just kind of preparing yourself for that.

Okay, here it comes.

And right about then the owner just comes by and says, Hey, I got you.

It's already paid for.

Now James says that you would say, Wow, thanks.

Amazing.

Owner, I will sing your praises.

Owner, I will use this extra money to buy someone at Blizzard this week.

Owner, I, what what can I do for you, owner?

That's what James says.

This is the focus of James.

The justification was free.

What are the effects?

James is like, what are the effects?

What are you gonna do?

What are the effects?

What are the effects of free justification?

That's James.

Now, justification for Paul is the focus on that radical free grace and freedom.

You finish your meal at max, owner comes by.

Hey, I got you.

It's already paid for.

And in Pauline theology, you would say, great, wow, amazing.

It's free.

I'm free.

And out the door you go singing and dancing, full stop, into the story.

That's very Paul.

But then Paul then teaches the effects of the gospel after that full stop.

How do we make sense of this?

I love this quote, I've read it before, C.

F.

W.

Walther, a 19th-century Lutheran.

I think this helps clarify this difference.

How does this work itself out in your heart and life?

The gospel does not require anything good that man must furnish.

Not a good heart, not a good disposition, no improvement of his condition, no godliness, no love either of God or men.

It issues no order, but changes a man.

It plants love into his heart and changes him capable, makes him capable of all good works.

It demands nothing, but it gives all.

Should this fact not make us leap for joy?

Grace wins, merit and performance are over, spiritual insecurity is over in Jesus.

Now, what might that freedom create?

Now I do wish James was clearer.

I do.

I can't change that.

I wish I just said, like, hey, James, add in a few more verses right here.

That would be really nice.

But he was writing at a particular time, particular people, particular reason.

The fuller context of the book doesn't let these verses mean what they seem to mean.

Because even in the last verse of the book, James declares the full forgiveness of sinners in Christ alone.

So he would not just be contradicting Paul, he'd be contradicting himself.

So he must mean something like works are evidence and therefore a fulfillment of the justification because it's an effect of the gospel.

If James is confusing, Paul seems to be more clear, and he does write about Abraham, Romans 4, 22.

Paul writing here about Abraham.

That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness, but the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.

It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

By faith, right?

That's what Paul said.

By faith, by the belief alone, you can be counted as righteous.

James says, look how the obedience is a fulfillment of that faith.

And Paul says, look how faith creates that obedience.

So our justification is free, nothing for you to add, and yet that free justification is seen over time in somebody's life.

Here's what this has to do with you.

2 Corinthians 5, 17 through 21.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

And then I love this verse 21.

For our sake, he, Jesus, God made him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

That's the great exchange.

Our sin put upon Jesus, his righteousness given to us by grace through faith.

At least Fitzpatrick, she writes about this justification.

What does it mean for you in her book, Because He Loves Me?

What does this mean for you?

What do you live in day in and day out in the gospel?

What is this lavishness that you exist in?

Here's what she writes.

Because God has accredited or imputed Jesus' perfect obedience to you, when God looks upon you, he sees you as a person who always does the things that are pleasing to him, is so focused on accomplishing his will and work that doing so is your daily food.

Doesn't seek your own will, but seeks his will instead, doesn't seek to receive glory, praise, respect, worship from others, has always kept all his commandments, lives in such a way that your life brings holiness to others, loves others and lays down your life on a consistent basis, lives in such a way that the people around you know that you love your Heavenly Father more than anything else, seeks to obey every command so that righteousness will be fulfilled.

In God's opinion, the only one that matters, that's your record today.

Man, you take that list out of grace, that is a burden.

That is an exhaustion of spirituality and pursuit.

But that has been accredited to us in Jesus, imputed, given to you.

That's how lavish this is.

Have y'all been keeping up?

Hit the mainstream this week, in the mainstream media.

We've been along for the right About five years we've been talking about Katman National Park, is where the fat bears come.

They show up in June just to catch you up to speed.

Here are the bears.

They come to Brooks Falls in Katman National Park.

And every year we celebrate Fat Bear Week.

How fat did the bears get from June to September?

And so Tuesday was Fat Bear Tuesday.

The Rangers set up a tournament.

So the last week, one bear against another, and all the bear community nerds, they all vote who got fatter.

It's a very serious tournament.

So last year, if you remember 747 won, Bear Force won.

Bear Force claimed the title.

That's the champion last year.

Now this year it was Chunk versus Grazer in the finals.

I'm sure you're already aware of all this.

I mean, just filling you in.

There's Grazer up top, and then Chunk.

And Grazer really dominated the entire tournament.

I mean, Grazer, she was just demolishing her opponent over and over again.

And yes, she is the queen fat bear grazer.

There she is.

She is our queen of the tournament.

She is the winner this year, 2023, fattest bear grazer.

Now look at the before and after of Grazer.

Quite the transformation.

I mean, you would have thought like that's like a cub, or that's like her like 15 years ago.

That was her in like, I think it says July 8th.

That was her just a few months ago.

What a transformation.

Look how fat she got.

That's unbelievable.

Isn't that incredible?

What an incredible transformation.

Grazer first started coming to Brooks Falls in 2005.

So she's been around a long time.

And the Rangers say that she has become an incredible, incredible fisher lady bear.

And then along the way, she had two cubs.

So she's a mama bear.

And she's fierce.

She is mean.

I mean, if any bear comes near her cubs, she charges them.

If any bear comes near her, she charges them.

Amen, mama bears.

Last night I tried a little something with Christy, and Christy charged me.

Mama bear stuff, fierce.

Wrong timing, not sure.

Grazer knows, here's what Grazer knows.

Our queen fat bear.

Here's what Grazer knows.

To flourish, to flourish, she will have to fight to stay in the lavish provision of those falls.

That's what she knows.

It's true over and over and over again.

Flourishing doesn't occur as a Christian as you leave God's grace to go to work for Him.

Flourishing works, fruit develops as we grow more astonished in the abundance of provision that we have in Christ.

Right?

The road leads there.

This will lead to that.

Not perfectly, but in God's grace, a growth in grace.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us.

Thank you that your grace not only saves us, but your grace transforms us and is at work in us.

God, would you help us to find our security in you, our meaning in you?

God, for so many of us, we have lived in an insecurity of faith when it comes to passages like this that have sent us on to performance, to scorecarding our good, bad, good work, bad work.

God, would we come into a piece of what it means to have free justification by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.

And with that fuel and transform our hearts in great ways.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.