Living faith
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 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.
James 2:1–10, 14–17 (ESV)
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we continue in the Book of James with (for Lutherans, at least) one of the more controversial chapters in the whole of Scripture. A statement like, “Faith without works is dead,” is very dangerous if it is misunderstood. We’re going to spend some time on that this morning.
We’re going to first think about where faith comes from in the first place. Then, we’ll listen to James on the errors we can make with our faith. Finally, we’ll look at what a living and active faith looks like.
Faith is a gift from God
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:17–18 (ESV)
Last week, we heard from James 1. Here, he teaches that God is the one who makes us His people, His chosen ones, His firstfruits, through Baptism. In another verse, James describes this “word of truth” that is “implanted” in us by the Holy Spirit. The Word of God enters us from the outside—it is not something we conjure up or create ourselves. Remember: God is Giver and Creator.
I don’t think any part of Scripture puts this as clearly as Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV): “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Faith is a gift, not a work on our part.
Our Lutheran Confessions (which I know you keep by your bedside for some light reading before sleep) very clearly describe where faith comes from. They teach that we are justified before God by faith alone, not by anything we can do (our works). Then, in article V of the Augsburg Confession, we read:
To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel.
Augsburg Confession, Article V: The Office of Preaching
The main reason God gives the Holy Spirit to His people is to give them the gift of faith. It is this Spirit that points us to Christ and brings us into a relationship with Him. He does this in two specific ways: the Word (implanted in us, as James puts it), and the sacraments, both of which communicate the gospel.
When you sit to listen to a sermon or hear the Bible readings read, what do you expect to happen? Maybe I’ll hear something in the Word that I haven’t thought of before. Maybe I’ll get some advice on how to be a better person. Maybe I’ll just feel guilty that I’m not meeting the standard. Maybe I’ll just enjoy fifteen minutes of not having to say anything or think about anything in particular.
Although any one or all of these things might be true, there is something far more powerful that happens when the Word of God is read, when the Gospel is preached, and when the words of forgiveness are spoken to you. The Spirit is producing faith in you. He is implanting faith in you through the Word.
So, if you feel like you need help to have your faith strengthened, find ways to expose yourself to the Word and receive the Sacrament—these are the means God uses to produce faith in us. That’s why we make them both available so often in this local church.
In fact, that’s why this church exists at all. That’s what a church is: a community that gathers to hear the Word and receive the sacraments. How that happens depends on where that church is and what people are part of it, but that’s the core of what we do—indeed, what any church does.
So, faith is not something we create. It’s not something we can generate in people. It’s not even something we strengthen or sustain ourselves.
Faith is a gift from God and He sustains it by His Holy Spirit through the means He has instituted.
Faith without works is dead
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 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.
James 2:14–17 (ESV)
James is helping us to distinguish dead faith and living faith. Faith that is dead will not save you—only a living faith, implanted in you by the Spirit, will save you.
So, the question is: is my faith dead or alive? How do I know? The answer: you know whether faith is dead or alive by the evidence.
Here, James describes the evidence of a dead faith: kind wishes and good intentions without any kind of follow-through or genuine desire to serve people. This is easier to fall into than you might think.
A simple, everyday example: email signatures. We might say things like, “kind regards,” or “best wishes.” Sure, that’s lovely to say, but it doesn’t actually do anything. We’re just trying to give the impression that we are loving and caring and hoping that the person on the other end thinks well of us.
But there are much deeper and more real examples of empty promises and dead faith. Have you ever said to someone, “You’ll be in my prayers,” but then forgotten to actually pray? Have you ever told someone, “Just sing out if you need anything,” and then they never sung out? Sure, you’ve put the ball in their court, but if you genuinely wanted to help, why would you wait for an invitation?
Last week, in James 1, we heard that genuine religion is about the whole self: heart, mind, mouth, and hands. Any time these things are not in sync with each other is when our faith is dead and needs reviving.
This example: we wish people well, but don’t follow through with any practical help. Our heart and mouth are working together, but not our hands.
Or, we could do all kinds of things with our hands, running around and doing lovely things for people, but we can do them without a heart that has a true desire to serve. Instead, we do it to keep busy and feel good about it.
James 3, which we’ll hear next week, goes into more detail about what our words reveal about our hearts.
So, faith alone saves, but not when it is dead.
A living faith is an active faith
God produces faith in us by His Holy Spirit through the specific means of Word and the sacraments. That faith, just like anything that is living, needs to be sustained and kept alive.
Thankfully for us, the same Spirit that produces faith also sustains it. The same Word and the same sacraments that produced faith in you can (and must) be returned to time and time again. This is why we do what we do, gathering every week to hear the preached Word and to receive the Sacrament most weeks. Many of you don’t just save it for Sundays though, meeting together in small groups or as a family to hear the Word read and study it together.
How do we know if we’re on the right track? We might have services every week, but how do we know if our services are run in the right way? How do we know if our small group is using the right studies or have the right balance of biblical learning and social time?
Just as dead faith has evidence, living faith has even clearer evidence. A living faith is an active faith. When God produces faith in us, we are moved to do things that He would have us. They key is to not overthink it.
Theologian CJ Armstrong has this to say:
Saints do not think about their works, because they come naturally, and are credited to them by the Lord who works in them and through them as moms and sons and daughters and dads and princes and priests and friends and students and plumbers and farmers and every other vocation He calls you to. And if you do have to think about these things, like James’ congregation, it is a good clue that it is a symptom of something going wonky with one or the other, and Doctor James is putting his surgical knife on his hearers’ faith.
CJ Armstrong
When God produces faith in us, His goal is to save people from sin and death. The goal of faith is not about getting more people to church. It’s not to have more programs or raise more money. It’s not to be more comfortable in our building. It’s not to be a more friendly and polite community.
The goal of faith, and therefore, this community of faith, is to save people. God’s goal is to rescue us. Having a more comfortable building, more programs, more money, or being a lovely community are not the goals, but they serve the goal. Everything we do is directed towards putting people into contact with God’s means of grace where He forgives sin, gives life, and produces a living faith in His people.
We thank God today for giving us His Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies His Church. May He make us His instruments for calling others into His kingdom, His mouthpiece for proclaiming His grace. May He produce faith in us that is living and active, serving one another without distinction.
As we live and work according to the faith He has implanted in us, may the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
