If we are indeed living at a point in human history where you can sit on a dock and watch another man drown, that means that Christians have the opportunity of a lifetime to demonstrate the uniqueness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? It is a gospel that cares. It is a gospel that interacts. It is a gospel that moves you off your chair and into the water. It is a gospel that risks everything. It is a gospel that saves.
Hello and welcome to Wisdom for the Heart. You know, the message of the Bible is that the gospel is free and available to everyone as the gift of God. But responding to the gospel brings change to your life. There's nothing you can do to earn salvation, but once you have it, there's a lot you can do to please God with your life. With this lesson, Stephen begins a very practical series entitled, Faith Works. In this series, Christians learn how to live out their faith effectively.
Stephen's calling today's lesson, Show and Tell. The state of Massachusetts faced a unique, rather agonizing court case several years ago. The case involved the family of a man who drowned. Evidently, according to court evidence, the deceased and his friends were at the lake for the afternoon and he was walking along the dock that stretched out across the water and his foot snagged on a rope by accident and he tripped, fell into the water. He surfaced, he flailed his arms, he cried for help, and he couldn't swim, didn't know how. He sank beneath the water and a few moments later he resurfaced again, crying out and sputtering for help and then he sank for the last time into the dark waters of that lake.
His friends were one dock over at the time and saw what was happening. Even though they ran as fast as they could to reach him and dove in, found him, pulled him out. By the time they pulled him out, he wasn't breathing and they were unable to resuscitate him. The tragedy was only compounded because of the fact that just a few yards away from where that man fell in, on that same dock, was a young man sunbathing in his beach chair. Even though he heard the splash of the man falling into the water, even though he heard him crying for help, even though he saw him flailing with his arms trying to keep his head above water, even though it would be proven later that he was an excellent swimmer, in spite of all of that, he never got out of his chair to save this man's life. He simply watched as this man drowned. As you can imagine, the family of the deceased was so crushed and hurt.
They were beyond belief. At such an incredible display of indifference, they decided to sue this young man and make him pay for his crime of apathy. The case reached the state Supreme Court where arguments were heard from both sides. Eventually, the court wrapped up its deliberation and the family of the deceased lost their case. Although reluctant, the court ruled as following. The young man on the dock had no legal responsibility to try and save the other man's life. He had the right to choose for himself whether or not he would involve himself in the dying man's distress and he chose not to.
Case closed. Frankly, that ruling resonates around our world and it certainly thrives on the human heart that is filled with self-centeredness. I mean, come on, you work hard for yourself and you take care of maybe your family if you have one and your friends perhaps might get a little bit here and there, but the golden rule is every man for himself. The living has no responsibility for the dying, certainly not for the suffering, and I'm sure not for the hurting.
Just look out for number one. So what does that mean for the Christian? What does that mean for the church? I'll tell you what it means, what I believe it means.
I believe it means incredible opportunity. If we are indeed living at a point in human history where you can sit on a dock and watch another man drown, where you can live your life openly and unashamedly with self-centered individuality, where you can live so totally for yourself alone, that means then that Christians have the opportunity of a lifetime to demonstrate the uniqueness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? It is a gospel that cares. It is a gospel that interacts. It is a gospel that moves you off your chair and into the water. It is a gospel that risks everything. It is a gospel that saves. See, Christianity is not simply a gospel of words. It is a gospel of works. And we have been given more than a redeemed attitude.
We've been given a call to redemptive action. Jesus Christ said from his mountainside sermon, let your light shine before men in such a way that they might see your good works and glorify your God, your Father who is in heaven. You see, they have to see your works and they know that for you to do that, for you to come off your chair or for you to care or for you to give things away that you might need yourself, God must be involved in that and they ultimately glorify God whether it's a moment of silence for a God they know must exist or maybe even the receiving of the gospel truth for themselves. See, he would be the half brother of Jesus Christ, the apostle James. He will deliver that in this letter to dispersed Jews in the first century. His letter, of course, would be written to believers. We've already made that clear and it would be about believers' behavior. And in this letter, he's going to define genuine Christianity, genuine faith as a faith that works. Now as James works through this particular theme, he's going to define for us in chapter 2 three different kinds of faith, dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith.
We have time today to explore the first one, which I'm sure shocks you to no end, all right? Take your Bibles and turn to chapter 2 and let's pick it up where we left off with verse 14. You might underline this first phrase because this is his string on the fiddle, so to speak, that he's going to play. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? James begins now with asking two rhetorical questions and he expects both of them to receive a negative answer. He's anticipating them to say no. He says in the first question, if someone says he has faith, and I'll amplify it without works, that is he says he has faith but he does not live like it, is his faith useful? The answer he expects, no. In his second question, he asks, and I'll amplify it again, well if someone says he has faith but doesn't live like it, should he assume that he is a genuine believer?
James again is expecting the response, no. It's important that you translate the second question and you translate that Greek article before the word faith so that it reads, can that kind of faith save him? He's not asking does faith save? He's saying does that kind of faith reveal the genuine item of Christianity?
And the answer, he says, is no. In other words, if you don't demonstrate your faith, as far as the world's concerned, it's useless and you might even be deceived yourself and at best, your faith is fruitless. Now immediately for us to begin this kind of discussion, for those of you who are older in the faith, you tend to want to circle the wagons here because we know what Paul has to say in Romans and in Ephesians about the subject of faith and we know, we believe, that Reformation cries sola fidei, faith alone and frankly, the fundamental church of the 20s, 30s, 40s and on into the conservative evangelical church that defended and still does this core doctrine, sola fidei, faith alone. You hear James talking about works and this language and we want to pull back and we want to sort of distance ourselves from it because it is the liberal church that works and we know they lack faith. We're defending faith.
The trouble is we don't work. We're going to see a little later in this paragraph, not today, where James says something that sounds absolutely, it just flatly contradicts Paul and what I want you to know for today is that James and Paul do not contradict one another. They are both under the influence of the Holy Spirit, so to speak, as they write and it isn't one or the other.
It is both. In Romans, Paul is writing to unbelievers on how to define salvation and that is by faith alone. James is writing to believers on how to demonstrate your faith and that's by works alone because nobody can see faith. Paul is writing in theological terms.
James is writing in practical terms. Paul is focusing on a faith that leads to salvation. James is focusing on a faith that ought to follow salvation. See, Paul is talking about being justified before God and since God can see faith, he can emphasize the fact that it is justification by faith alone. James is talking about being justified before men who cannot see our faith and we are justified before men by works, which they can see. You see, Paul wants the unbeliever to get into the faith. James wants the believer to grow up in the faith.
Paul is writing then that it is faith alone that justifies, but James is saying faith which justifies is never alone. So it is little surprise that James is interested in getting the believer to engage in what came to my mind as I was studying this show and tell. Don't be all show and no tell. Don't be all tell and no show.
Take your faith out there and let it become show and tell. You remember that in kindergarten? Those were great times, weren't they?
I loved it. A little girl comes back. She had been to Hawaii with her family. She brings a little garland of flowers and we are just thinking, wow, that had to be the best vacation on the planet. And the kid whose older brother made the football team, he brought in his brother's football helmet and we thought that was the coolest thing we had ever seen. And the kid who loved bugs brought in his aunt colony and we thought, wow, this kid has got the life. He has those aunts he gets to keep in his room. I will never forget our neighbor's mother and son. He was five.
Our charity, Last Born, was five. He came over with his mother with a rather unusual request. And his mother explained it to my wife when she opened the door.
I was right around the corner in my study and overheard the request. She said, my son wants to take charity to show and tell. She is going to be his show and tell.
And my wife and this woman thought this was the most wonderful thing in the world. And I am going, uh-uh. You are not taking my daughter to show her to anybody, son. I will show you the door. I will keep my eye on you. Of course my wife and this neighbor woman won.
And they went and life has never been the same since. Actually I thought it was kind of cute too, sort of, kind of. The trouble is we outgrow that anticipation. And we think it is just good enough.
Well, we will tell somebody. But we don't have to show anything. But this is James' announcement. Get your faith out in the open. It is show and tell time for the Christian. What that court case in Massachusetts tells me is if there was ever a time when Christianity needed to go public, it is today.
What a great idea of opportunity. In fact, the key phrase in this entire discussion, if you look down at verse 18, you might underline these words where James spells out this rather distinctive phrase with the words, at least in my translation, show me. Show me.
Show me your faith. You see, Christianity is a show and tell proposition. And James is immediately contrasting that with the individual back in verse 14 who is nothing but words.
Go back and look there. He says, what use is it, my brethren, if someone says, if somebody says, verse 16, and one of you says. This is the descriptive phrase of dead, useless, fruitless faith.
It has replaced works entirely with words. It is all tell and no show. And that's what people with dead faith do. They know the correct vocabulary. They can quote a verse or two.
They can sing along. And they've come to the conclusion that they can go out there and live any way they want to live so long as they know the words. There are churches that will meet and their words will be correct, but their church is dead. And those who believe they are living or deceive their faith, James would say, is dead. So while James is really trying to get the believer not to act like the unbeliever, rather than trying to get the unbeliever to understand he's an unbeliever, really isn't his intention. It becomes a challenge to us.
Are we just words? In fact, it was interesting to read Alexander McLaren's comment on this text. He pastored in the 1800s, a contemporary with Spurgeon there in London.
The church is about 1,500 people. He pastored for 45 years. And he wrote with a little bit of humor, sarcastic humor. He said this, the people who least live out their creeds are the same people who shout them the loudest.
For some reason, the paralysis which affects their hands does not seem to interfere with their mouths. See, this is the one thing that James is passionate about. He can't stand the idea, the thought of a profession of faith without the practice of faith because he knows it's useless.
It's like sitting on a dock in a chair. What use is it? He asks in verse one at the at the end of verse 16.
What use is that? Again at the end of verse 20. That kind of faith is useless. It's true, isn't it? Even if the world wants to see a living, genuine profession of Christianity, they will never ever examine your faith. They don't know how, but they will examine your life.
And oh, do they know how to do that, don't they? It isn't what you say, it's what they see. And so John writes to the believers in 1 John chapter 3, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Why is he writing that to Christians? Because it is possible for Christians to have useless faith.
And then he goes on and he adds this interesting phrase. We will know by this, that is that we're loving in deed and truth, that we are of the truth and will assure our heart before him. In other words, faith that works not only gives the world an assurance that we really do have a credible Christianity, that it's more than just words, it also gives us assurance by the way we live, doesn't it? So if we want to outline James as he describes dead faith, the first word we could use from verse 14 that came to my mind as I outlined it is the word inactive. That's one of three words I'll give you today.
The word inactive. The person, this person is someone who says but never does. He never takes his faith into the open.
He as it were sits in the chair. It is a show and tell Christianity but for him there is no show, it's only tell. His Christianity never gets past the stained glass experience. What he says in here, what he quotes in here, how he prays in here, how he goes along in here, how he puts something in the plate in here, how he says hello in here, never makes it out of here into Monday, stays on Sunday.
That's what James is after. There really shouldn't be anything different about our vocabulary in here as it is out there. Now the second word that describes dead faith is the word indifferent. It is not only inactive, it's indifferent and James again loves using illustrations. I think he's a wonderful homiletical example for men who are going to be preaching and teaching and it's a wonderful thing to study with men in the seminary classroom.
Certainly with all the teachers who are in this auditorium in this hour. Many people believe again that the letter of James is actually a sermon that was transcribed and there's good argument for that. He'll deliver some truth and then he'll illustrate. He'll deliver some more truth and illustrate and that's what he does now. He's rattled everybody's cage and he says okay let's stop and let me give you an illustration verse 15.
Look there. If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says, note that, one of you says to them go in peace, be warmed and be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body, what use is that, even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself. Again James is saying the truth faith never travels alone.
It always has the traveling companion of works. Now James describes a scene here. If you've been with us at any time in our earlier studies he's already done this in the assembly. He had a rich man come in and we called him Mr. what?
Mr. Bling. If you remember that I just want to say the word one more time. Okay he came in and the poor man came in. He describes the scenario and the activity that happened in there by the deacon who served as the usher. Now he's going to take us into an assembly and the implication is the assembly and he's going to show us he describes as a brother and a sister. Now what he's using is these terms.
He's using these terms in the broader metaphorical sense. He's saying these are believers. The rich man and the poor man were unbelievers. They came in late.
They wanted to check out Christianity. These two come in. They're a brother. They're one of the brothers so to speak. They're one of the sisters.
They're part of the assembly and that will be important as we'll note later and they come in and James describes them in verse 15. The first thing he says about them is they are without clothing. Now that word is often translated naked. The word is also used in the context of someone poorly clad which is obviously the reference here. This brother or this sister comes to church wearing clothing that has become so threadbare and so tattered and so useless that it doesn't do anything for them.
It doesn't help. In fact it's as if they don't have anything on and James even uses a verb tense that tells us this is the consistent condition of the brother of the sister. It isn't like their other suit was down at the dry cleaners and this is the only one they had. No this is the only one they have and it's so threadbare it's useless.
It's unable to keep them warm or protect them from the elements so it's obvious they have a need. James then adds in verse 15 that these two church members are also in need of daily food. This is the only time this exact expression is used in the New Testament. It's a little different than the disciples prayer where the Lord taught us to pray for our daily bread.
This is a little different. In fact most believe that this is a reference to that particular day that current day's supply. In other words they don't have anything to eat and it's Sunday. They didn't have anything to eat before they came to church. They don't have anything to eat after they leave church and they don't have anything to eat before they go to bed on that Lord's Day. That's obvious and everybody knows that I mean everybody else is going to go go to Olive Garden after church or Taco Bell or Cookout or Red Lobster.
These are commercials I want payback afterward if you work for any of those organizations. Or you're going to go home and you're going to fry up some pancakes or you're going to grill some chicken out on the grill or you're going to go see what's been simmering in the oven or maybe in the crock pot or maybe some of you kids are going to love this. You get a bowl and you get your cereal and you make some toast and that's the ultimate. The point is we all have somewhere to go and there's going to be a little problem as far as I can tell for all of us and if that's different let me know immediately after that we've got food waiting. We've got the ability to eat. So we're going to take care of our hunger. The idea here that James is describing is that these people are going to leave the assembly and they have nowhere to go. They have no food waiting. They have no daily supply for that day. So you see what James is doing and again James so clearly illustrates he leaves no potential for a loophole. He is so clear so obvious.
Here it is. They are they are needy and this is a double need. They need clothing and they need food.
They are facing severe absolute destitution. And the point is the church knows it. They know it. Now watch what happens for 16 and one of you says to them go in peace be warned and be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body.
What use is that. That's another way of saying are you kidding or what. Go in peace. The common way for the believer in the early century would have been to say something like that that's tantamount to us saying God bless you. It is the peace of God which we want to have bestowed upon you.
We say similar things. God bless you which has been contracted down to from God bless or be with thee to God be ye to goodbye. So here the assembly it's wrapping up. Finally I might add everybody's really hungry now and you will be even hungrier before this one wraps up. They're at the front door and they're going out and it's cold out there.
And here's what James is saying. Somebody says God bless you. Be warm. And another one says God bless you. Go get you something to eat.
You need to eat. How utterly ridiculous. This is absolute crass indifference.
It is shameless apathy and it's couched in the hypocrisy of sanctified words like words I know I'm all too quick to say and maybe you too and that is well God bless you. He's going to have to because we won't. Faith in Christ changes us.
It removes the apathy Stephen was describing. As you can imagine there's much more for us to learn from this passage of God's Word. We're going to stop this lesson right here.
We'll bring you the second half on our next broadcast. This is Wisdom for the Heart. I'm Scott Wiley. I'm sure glad you took a few moments to be with us today. I hope God uses this time in His Word to encourage you. Stephen Davey is the pastor of the Shepherd's Church in Cary, North Carolina. You can learn more about Stephen and his Bible teaching resources if you visit our website which is wisdomonline.org. That site contains the library of Stephen's 35 years of Bible teaching. You can listen to each message or you can read the manuscript of the message. You can access it anytime at wisdomonline.org. Thanks again for being with us today. Join us tomorrow for the conclusion to this lesson right here on Wisdom for the Heart.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-03-10 13:19:08 / 2023-03-10 13:28:48 / 10