Accountability to active works

Transcript (Auto-generated)

Good morning church. So good to see you all here this morning. I'm just going to move this over here. Don't forget I put that there. Everyone will be looking for the mic that I moved, sorry. If you go to your Bible there, can I invite you to open up to James chapter two? So excited. Today is week two. We're going through our series in the book of James. And this morning we're looking at the topic, the overarching topic of accountability to active works. And so this is where we're going. This is what we're doing this morning. I'll give you some time to get that open. But before we begin, I think it's important for us to stop and recognize just where we are this morning. Let's try and situate ourselves. Let's do a little bit of self-reflection. So I want to ask you a question. As you sit here and now, how is your faith this morning? How is your relationship with Jesus? As you sit here and now, how is your relationship with Jesus? If you had to rank it between one and ten, okay, one being Dylan, I have no faith at all. I'm here because someone dragged me here or I'm still feeling it out. I'm about a one. And ten being Dylan, my walk with Jesus is as solid as they come. I am completely submitted to him in everything I do. And when he asked me to do something, I'd go without hesitation. Take a moment. I'm not going to ask for hands. I'm not going to ask for numbers between you and God. Honestly, how is your faith? How's your relationship with Jesus this morning? What's your number? How is your faith this morning church? Before we dive into Scripture, would you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are God. We thank you for your word, for the fact that you reveal who you are, who we are as your creation, how you've created us to live through it. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity we have this morning to gather together, to read from Scripture together, to seek you. Our prayer is that in this time, you would lead us and guide us by your Holy Spirit, that each and every one of us would hear what it is that you have to say, and that each and every one of us would respond accordingly. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. James chapter two, we'll read the first 13 verses. I'm reading from the ESV, but I'm just going to change one word. You'll notice the ESV is up there as well. It uses the word partiality for anyone who's a little bit younger. I'm going to borrow from the NIV version and say favoritism, okay? Just full disclosure. Verse one, my brothers, show no favoritism 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 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 amongst yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 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 ones 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 Scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. But if you show favoritism, 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. For he who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder. If you do not commit adultery but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. How's your faith this morning, church? Maybe you're sitting here and when I ask that question, you're pretty confident. You might even be as confident as to say a 10. But maybe the reasoning for that 10 is a little bit of a bat pack, a pat on the back, sorry. Maybe as I ask that question, you go, well, in the last week, the last two weeks, I really haven't broken any of the big commandments. You know, I haven't murdered anyone, go me. I've served sacrificially. I've been involved in this ministry and that ministry. I've been doing good works left, right and center. I've been doing so much. I've just been on fire and I'm confident that my faith, my relationship with Jesus is good. Maybe on the other hand, you're a little bit discouraged. Maybe your ranks lower. Maybe when I ask this question, hey, how's your faith, your focus, your mind, your thoughts turn immediately to that temptation that you've been battling with, wrestling with all week. That sin that you return to again and again. Maybe when I ask this question of, hey, how's your faith? You feel a little bit hopeless. Feel like you're actually never going to be able to make yourself right with God. And if you relate to either of these, either the confident 10 for those reasons, or maybe you're a bit discouraged for these reasons, I need you to hear this, these opening verses of James two tell us very, very, very, very clearly salvation by works is impossible. Salvation by works is impossible. Why James two, eight to 11, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. And if you show favoritism, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in just one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not murder. If you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you've become a transgressor of the law. Very truly salvation by works is impossible. Why? Because each and every one of us have sinned, at least once in our life. The Bible tells us that God is a good God, that he is holy, that he is set apart, that he is just, that he hates sin. By his nature, God judges sin. And the Bible tells us very clearly that the penalty for our sin is death. And so take this 10 and this one. I've been going really good, I've been tracking along, I've been keeping all God's commandments as best I can, or helplessly, I just can't do it. The only way scripture tells us, the only way that you or I can ever earn our way to heaven, we can ever work our way to heaven, is to keep God's law completely. That's 100%, not 80%, not 90%, not 99.9999% of the law. Even that 0.0001% sin means that we have transgressed. Very truly, we cannot work our way to heaven. We're sinful. So if you feel like you just can't do enough, you can't get good enough for God, no. You can't save yourself. If you feel like, yeah, I've got this, I'm on track, I'm floating good, I'm good with the big man upstairs, because I'm doing good works, no. There's more to the story. If you're serving in different church ministries, doing good works, attending different church services with the mindset of trying to earn a ticket to eternity, you need to know that we cannot serve our way to safety, we cannot earn salvation by works. Because very truly, James tells us in these opening verses of chapter 2, that works without faith is dead. Continue with me, James 2, 14 to 17. 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, be 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. How's your faith this morning, church? Maybe when I ask that question, you'll hear this morning, and you know all the right things to say. You've been around churches for a little while, maybe you've grown up in a Christian family, you've mastered the art of Christianese. You know the right things to say, when to say them, how to say them. Perhaps you're even comfortable going through the motions of church. You might even attend a Bible study or a church ministry. Maybe when we go out for morning tea and you ask someone about their week, and they tell you the things that are going on, maybe you very fervently say, hey, I'll pray for you this week, and then you go off and you forget about it, because that doesn't need to affect my life. James 2, 15 and 16 says, 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 they need for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Maybe you're here this morning, you're wrestling or you have wrestled with the question of God. Is God real? Is he important? What's the purpose of life? Maybe you've heard the good news of the gospel many times. Maybe you've wrestled with it, and to be honest, if push came to shove, if this is real, if I had to choose between an eternity in heaven or eternity in hell, well, intellectually, in my head, it makes sense to go with the one where things are not so bad, right? I'll take that option, and so then that means if I go that option, I have to attend church services, I have to go to Bible studies, I have to serve in different ministries and do this stuff, but it's all here, it's all an act, it's all a show, because your life is no different. The Bible tells us it's scary church. Maybe there's some among us who know how to look and sound like they have a genuine faith with Jesus. They're a genuine disciple of Jesus, but really beyond the ministry settings, beyond church on a Sunday, beyond this circle, their life is no different than if they hadn't accepted Jesus at all because it hasn't happened here. James tells us that faith without works is dead. And so salvation by lip service is impossible. And so that leaves us with two lies, two things that don't work. We've got salvation by works, which is impossible, because if we sin even once, we're guilty, which means that works without faith is dead. And we've got the lie of salvation by lip service, which is also impossible. And so very truly, faith without works is dead. These are lies that either discourage us or lull us into a false sense of security. And church, I need to warn each and every one of us this morning that Satan loves to try and deceive us with these lies. He loves to make us think, if I just work that little bit harder, if I serve more sacrificially, if I just burn myself out for church ministries, then maybe I'll be closer to God. Satan loves that lie. I'm older now, I'm retired, I've done my time. I've served in the ways that God wants me to serve. It's on to the next generation, I don't need to do anything. I'm good. Anyone else will pick up that slack. Church Satan loves these lies. He loves these extremes of the pendulum, because works without faith is dead, and faith without works is dead. And so that leaves you and I with a question, what should our faith look like? If we truly accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if we truly believe this, what should our faith look like? James 2, 18 to 26. 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, intellectually you understand that, you believe that God is one, you do well, even the demons believe, and shut up. Do you want to be shown, O foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Does 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. If faith without works is dead, if works without faith is dead, then how are we to live? Church, true faith produces transformed lives, which produces good and active works for the kingdom of God. To demonstrate this, I want to adopt a model from the 1990s, David Orr introduced the head, heart and hands model for holistic education. We're going to take those three things, head being knowledge, heart and hands being action. And we're going to use that to help us understand what we should be doing here. See very truly, these opposites have truth to them. True faith begins with head knowledge. True faith begins with head knowledge. We become aware of our sinfulness. We look around the world and go, something isn't right. We look at our lives and go, something isn't right. There has to be more to life than this. True faith begins with head knowledge. We become aware of our sinfulness and of our need to be saved and reconciled with God. We hear the good news of Jesus preached, taught. We've received that gospel, but this head knowledge alone is not faith. And it's a trap. Some people fall into the trap. They think that this head knowledge alone is faith, but it's not. They think only rationally and go, well, heaven or hell, if I had to choose one, this guy's getting intense. If I had to choose one, I'll go this way. And that means, well, logically, I have to accept Jesus and He's my Lord and Savior, but it's all lip service. It's all just, this is what I think the right answer is. There it is, but nothing changes. And this kind of inadverted commas, faith, this lip service, this head knowledge alone does not produce works, thus it is dead. The salvation by lip service is impossible, and faith without works is dead. So if true faith begins with head knowledge, then it becomes active when our head knowledge penetrates into the depths of our heart, and rather than just knowledge, rather than just information, it becomes something that we truly grasp, we truly believe. This isn't just information that maybe some people would choose to accept, no, this is something that I believe. This is something that will radically change my perspective, my life, my actions from this point forward. And it's at this point of belief, when that head knowledge penetrates, comes into heart belief that our lives are transformed radically. There's a notable difference. Amuse me for a moment, let's walk through the gospel, let's put this to the test. Let's say I'm not a Christian. I truly am seeking. And in conversation, as I reflect on life, I truly understand that I am sinful, but more than that, as things are on, I truly believe that I am a sinful human being. I am broken, I am fallen, I am flawed. I recognize that no matter how hard I try, again and again and again and again, I will fail to keep God's law perfectly. I can't do it. When we let the weight of that sit with us, we become aware of the enormity of our sin. Just how far we rebel against God. We start crying out, we realize that we are hopeless. We realize that we cannot have a future that is long lasting by ourselves. We cry out for someone to save us. Someone to reconcile us to God, our Creator. Why? Because we believe this. We don't just think it. We believe it. We believe it in our lives. And then we hear the gospel and the backdrop of the enormity of our sin. We hear good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was a human here on earth, lived a fully human, fully God here on earth. During his early ministry, he lived a perfect, sinless life. And yet despite that, despite being guilty of anything, despite not being guilty of anything, Jesus Christ, his Son of God, was beaten, mocked and crucified on a cross, hung their nails piercing his arms and legs in order that he could pay the full debt of my sin. This sin, this weight that's making me helpless, Jesus paid for it. This is the same Jesus who says in Scripture, I am the way, the truth and the life. The same Jesus who says, whoever believes in me should not, but will have eternal life. The same Jesus who has overcome sin and death was resurrected on the third day and is currently seated at the right hand of God awaiting his return. That's good news. In church, I don't think there's any possible way for us to truly believe all of that and not have our lives completely and radically transformed. We go from being sinful, hopeless and lost to being restored, redeemed, a child of God. The two aren't even comparable and I want to suggest that this kind of genuine heart belief automatically provokes a hands response and I want to suggest that the first true work of a transformed life happens at the moment that our faith becomes active and it's that initial action of repenting. We decide, we know this, we believe it, but we then decide to act on it. We turn away from our sinful old ways. We repent. We turn away from sin. We turn to Jesus. We accept his free gift of grace, of salvation and in doing so, we submit to Jesus Christ. We declare him as Lord and savior of our lives and this action, this hands action of submitting to God as we receive this free gift is a declaration in our lives that God's will, God's good, perfect, amazing will, not my sinful, broken, hopeless, wicked will be done in my life. That's that first action and if we know this, if we believe this, if we've made that step, if we've repented, if we've used our hands as that first action, if we are submitted to God our Father, there is no way that we can be disciples of Jesus who don't continue to do good and active works as God leads us by his Holy Spirit. There is no way that while we're here on this earth, we won't be obediently doing whatever God puts in front of us. There is no way that we won't use the giftings, we won't get involved in the ministries, we won't do all the things that he calls us to and there is no way that we would do that for our own glory because we recognize that we are saved by grace and yet even if you're a Christian here this morning, you would know it's true until Jesus comes again, we still battle with sin, we're still going to pendulum to one of the two sides, we may know this, we may believe this, we may have done that initial hands act, we may then be involved in ministry and lose some of our fervor. We might go, oh I'm just sacrificially giving because this is what God wants me to do, I'm just doing this stuff because I sinned really bad and I just need to make it up to God but when the Holy Spirit convicts us of that, we go back to that first action, we repent, we thank Jesus that he's paid it all, that those works they're not necessary, they're a joy of our faith, they're not something that our salvation is dependent upon, they're a natural product of our faith. And so very truly salvation by works is impossible and if we've got this faith, if we've got this belief there's no way that we can sit on the sidelines and go, God send the rest of the army, I'm so glad that you saved me, I'm so glad that you've redeemed me, that I'm a child of you, that I'm a son and a daughter of you my God but send someone else, I'm just, I'm not up to it today, you know, you sacrificed everything but no, there's no way and so salvation by works is impossible, works without faith is dead, salvation from the service is impossible, we can't just say we're a Christian and not believe it, not live it out because faith without works is dead but true faith produces transformed lives which produces true works and so church how's your faith this morning, the band's gonna come up for me and they're gonna play through a final song and you're welcome to stand and join them but I'd encourage you in this time, don't let it slip away, how's your faith this morning, if you need to do business with God, do business with God, take this opportunity, pray, seek Him, if you want prayer, if you want to chat, I'll be up the front, come see me, Dave, Doug, we're happy to have this conversation but church true faith produces transformed lives which produces true works for the kingdom of God, would you pray with me? Heavenly Father we thank you for the good news of the Gospel, we thank you for Jesus Christ, we thank you that even though we don't deserve it, even though we continually fall short of the way in which you've created and called us to live, that you've made it possible for our debt, our sin to be forgiven, thank you for Jesus Christ, Lord thank you for the free gift of salvation, Lord thank you that this gift when received doesn't leave us where we're at but radically transforms our lives, we become children of God, Lord thank you that you don't need us to do good works, you don't need us to do active works for the kingdom, Lord you invite us to do good works, you invite us to participate in the work that you are already doing, Lord thank you for the ways in which you grow us and teach us as we obediently serve, as we respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit when you prompt us, Lord thank you that you choose to allow us to work alongside you, our God that you grow us in our faith, we pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Though the nations rage, kingdoms rise and fall, there is still one king raining over all, so I will not fear, for this truth remains, that my job is the ancient of faith. None above him, not before him, all of time in his hands, for his own is shall remain and never stand. All the power, all the glory, I will trust in his name, for my God is the ancient of faith. Though the dread of night, all the realms my soul, he is here with me, I am not alone. For his power is sure, but he knows my name, for my God is the ancient of faith. None above him, not before him, all of time in his hands, for his own is shall remain and never stand. All the power, all the glory, I will trust in his name, for my God is the ancient of faith. Though I may not see what the future brings, I will watch and wait for the Savior clean, may my joy complete, standing face to face in the presence of the ancient of faith. None above him, not before him, all of time in his hands, for his own is shall remain and never stand. All the power, all the glory, I will trust in his name, for my God is the ancient of faith. For his power is sure, but he knows my name, for my God is the ancient of faith. Thanks.