Sand Mountain Sermonette 59
James 2:26; Ephesians 2:8-9; Ephesians 2:10
“Hi Jesus-Bye Jesus!”
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:26
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”
Paul, Ephesians 2:8-9
In the 1970’s my father took on the position of custodian for our hometown church in Albertville, Alabama. It was a part-time job, but the work had to be done on a regular basis. I remember my mom, my brother, and I would often go and help my dad clean the church every Saturday because he worked as a U.S.P.S. city letter carrier during the week. And I remember my dad giving the cleaning of our church all that he had, even after a busy week as a mailman.
Are James and Paul contradicting themselves? The answer is, “No.” They are looking complimentarily at “faith and works” from different perspectives. Paul is emphasizing salvation via of grace thru faith whereas James is emphasizing the proof of saving faith in Christ via the Christian’s bearing fruit in his or her life.
I remember the Sunday long ago, when my dad stood up in church giving testimony of his life in Christ in which he shared his “laying down” of things not in keeping with the kingdom of God. Salvation is a gift of God, but after we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit enables us to let go of those things not keeping with God so that we can take on the “good works” Christ prepared for every Christian believer before he or she was born (See Ephesians 2:10).
You see, the Bible says a clean heart and a clean church (faith and works) go hand-in hand. A Christian is not saved by works, nor is authentic Christianity expressed by a “Hi Jesus-Bye Jesus” mental assent. The Bible says good works should be the natural outflow of a heart transformed by Christ whether menial tasks or tasks of a different degree.
Pastor Louie