|
FAITH OR WORKS
James 2:10-17
10] For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
[11] For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
[12] So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
[13] For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
[14] What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
[15] If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
[16] And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
[17] Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone .
St. James writes, “Faith without works is dead.” St. Paul writes: “therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law.” Now who is right? Do works save us or does faith save us? It almost seems as if the apostles are contradicting each other. This much is clear! St. James, as a holy apostle of the Lord, would in no way contradict the foundation of Christian faith, namely, salvation by grace. The marvellous truth of the Gospel, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, is so important to our faith that we repeat it Sunday after Sunday. This is the grand fundamental truth of Scripture that has the promise of heaven. Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one jot or tittle of this truth change will.
Actually, if works could save us, then we would have to keep every one of the 10 Commandments perfectly, and that is something that no descendent of Adam has ever been able to do. We can’t keep the Commandments. To make this point St. James quotes two of them; actually, he needed only one. Take the fifth Commandment for example. We know that to hate someone or to speak badly about him or even to put him down is a type of murder. Or consider the sixth. We know that merely to lust after a woman is a type of adultery. You see, sin begins in the heart, and whose heart is so pure that it is immune to anger or lust. It takes only one violation of God’s holy law to make us guilty of all of it. whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jesus carried this one-step further when he said; when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. If anyone is self-righteous enough to think that God will reward him because he tries hard to keep the Commandments, and millions of people feel that way, they are only fooling themselves. God doesn’t reward anyone for trying; it is either, or. Either you keep the Commandment or you don’t. Moreover, should someone actually think that he can really keep the commandments; he still doesn’t have a reward coming. Jesus describes that kind of person as an unprofitable servant who is only doing that which is he is supposed to do.
Based on our works, none of us can stand before God. We are guilty of all and have earned eternal death. Just as the apostles agree on the law, so they also agree on the Gospel. St. James never intended for a moment, nor do any of his words lead us into such a belief, that there can be any merit whatever in any good works of ours. Our only hope on Judgment Day is in the meritorious life, death and resurrection of God’s Son. Scriptures repeatedly assure us of that: He that believeth on him is not condemned, and again There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
St. James confirms this teaching when he tells us that we should speak and act as people who shall be judged by the law of liberty. This is the law on the basis of which Jesus will judge mankind on the last day. St. James calls it a law of liberty because this is the law that sets us free. This is really another name for the Gospel. It may seem strange at first that the Gospel should be called a law. Even in the Old Testament the prophet Jeremiah referred to the Gospel that way: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and in the next verse adds: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. It is a law, not in the sense of something we have to do to be saved, but in the sense that is immutable. This a promise of God Almighty that can never be changed and upon which we can place our whole hearts.
This law of liberty is in contrast to the 10 Commandments, which are a law of slavery. The 10 Commandments give no one any comfort. We don’t rejoice in knowing that it is a sin to put someone else down or say something evil about our neighbor. We don’t rejoice to learn that by nature we are a very proud and self-centered people. The 10 Commandments can, by no stretch of the imagination, be called a law of liberty. If anything, they are a law of guilt. The wages of sin, says the Scripture, is not liberty but death! It is the law that makes sin more sinful. Only the Gospel gives us liberty, freedom from sin and death, and the power of the devil. The result is a heart that is at peace with God and is free to serve him and each other in everything we say and do.
Think about that for a moment. The law of liberty sets you free to be kind and loving and considerate. The child of God is not forced to be that way; a husband and wife aren’t forced to love each other. No one forces us to be honest and faithful in our work. No one forces us to give God’s word priority in our lives. We live and act that way because we want to, not because we have to. Our God is not pleased with works of love and kindness that are forced out of us, works that we don’t really mean because they don’t come from the heart. He wants us to love Him because He first loved us. He wants us to love Him because He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He sent His holy Son not only to free us from our sins, but also to free us from our natural selves so that with good and honest hearts, having heard the word, we might bring forth fruit with patience.
Did you note the word, “fruit?” The New Testament throughout speaks of the works of the child of God as fruit. The comparison is between two fruit trees, one that bares fruit and one that simply has leaves. Both trees look healthy enough, but only one is of value to the owner of the orchard. What good is a fruit tree that doesn’t bare fruit? In the parable of the fig tree Jesus quotes the caretaker of the vineyard as saying, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why does it cumber it the ground? And John the Baptist said to the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees with their pretended religion: And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
A fruit tree that does not bear fruit isn’t worth anything as a tree. That is precisely the comparison that St. James makes. A person, who says he has faith, but who can ignore the welfare of his brother or sister with pious platitudes like Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, and not lift a finger to help, doesn’t really have much faith. It is all a show. For every tree is known by his own fruit, says our Savior. It is faith that saves; fruit is the evidence of faith. If we lived in a perfect world, and our faith were greater than that of a mustard seed, our lives would be filled with perfect fruit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness and goodness would be hanging from every branch.
However, our inner nature doesn’t let that happen. Anger easily takes the place of love; unhappiness easily takes the place of joy; and irritability easily takes the place of gentleness. We may deplore the lack of godly fruit in our lives, but thinking about it won’t help. The answer, says St. James, is to go to the root of the problem which is not our lack of fruit but our lack of faith. It all starts with faith. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, says Jesus. And then he quickly adds, for without me ye can do nothing. We’re helpless, says Jesus, without His word. We need God’s word to remind us that our faith is nothing to brag about. We need His word to strike down our proud hearts; we need His word to assure us of His love toward us in the sacrifice of His only Son. Finally, we need His word to work in our hearts that thankfulness that bears the fruit of righteousness unto everlasting life.
This sermon was preached by Pastor Robert Dommer on September 30, 2007 |