Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
Sunday Morning 8/17

      • Hebrews 12:1–2NIV2011

  • Good Morning. I am glad that we can be here together.
    The Other day I was driving up to Spencer with Brian to go to a board meeting for the Spencer Wesleyan Church. I couldn’t help but notice that as I drove along the beans and the Corn have done very well this year.
    I even commented to Brian how the Beans look more like shrubs around the house than beans because they are so full and large.
    Let’s be honest though this has been a varied year for growing and farming. I hear all the time from many of you about the struggles of getting the Hay cut.
    I have struggled with our own plants.
    Isaac and I prioritized Pepper plants. They typically do well in pots and they don’t require crazy amounts of water.
    In fact, many of the tips out there for watering pepper plants says to only do it every few days even when they are in pots. If they are in the ground they can go for even longer.
    You all know where this is going. It hasn’t exactly been dry most of this summer. It is not the best conditions for growing peppers around here.
    We enjoyed though our expensive peppers in the salsa I made a couple weeks ago. That’s about all i got out of it though. The plants just aren’t bearing the fruit that they should.
    I have to say its tough to want to hang on to the plants that still show signs of having more peppers coming because they are struggling but I keep holding out hope we might get some more peppers.
    Let’s dig into the word this morning though as we continue our study of James
    James 2:14–26 NIV
    14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
    What a powerful passage of Practical theology for us to examine this morning. We have to begin though with dealing with a problem that comes from the first couple versions.

    Dealing with Nakedness

    Now before some of us get to distracted by the fact that the Pastor used the word Naked in church let’s talk for a minute about this problem.
    This problem comes from v. 15
    James 2:15 NIV
    15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
    Now I know you might be saying that passage doesn’t say naked.
    What do you think without clothes means.
    Imagine for a moment anyone of you had some kind of tragedy befall you and you came to anyone in this room and you lost everything. What would be the first thing many of us would do. Clean clothes and basic needs right?
    Would anyone here really say to someone else sorry you lost all your clothes and you are walking around the way God made you but I just can’t help.
    Yet, does this happen?
    Okay maybe not in the extreme situations like someone losing everything, but do we say to people even fellow believers sorry I just can’t help but have a good day. If we want to add even more insult to injury we say something like.
    “Go in Peace; Keep warm and well fed”
    There are challenges here because there is an element of knowing when we should be helping and when there are times that the best help we can give is to say no or not right now.
    Yet, let’s face the truth if we are in relationship with others we will know that balance. The real issue isn’t about how much or what kind of help we provide but will our Actions match our faith.

    What is Faith?

    Faith for many is simply belief. If I was forced to give it a simple definition this would be what it would be.
    The Intellectual decision to agree and to commit to the divine truth and influence of God by his grace.
    The problem is that doesn’t really encompass all that is what faith means.
    If faith is simply belief then all I should have to do is make the choice.
    Yes...and No
    That is why this is such a hard term to define.
    Faith can also be seen as trust and confidence in who God is.
    Faith can also be seen in the context of promise and fullfilment from God.
    Faith is also found in Action.
    Faith is not something that is easy to fully wrap up in one neat little word or idea.
    Faith though is essential for our salvation.
    A little homework for you if you want to see this more deeply read Romans 4 and all that Paul writes on Faith.
    Faith in all its complicatedness though be thought of as only one aspect.
    James reminds us f this with this debate about the importance of works when it comes to faith.
    James 2:18–19 NIV
    18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

    Faith and Action

    The challenge that James presents is that belief is only one component of our faith. The last part of that passage we just read is a powerful reminder of that for me.
    The demons of the world, the things that we avoid and are evil believe in who God is. Yet, their actions do not show a true element of faith in God.
    You can believe there is a God and that he is real but you can also not believe in Him and follow after him. Even Jesus talked about this.
    Matthew 7:21 NIV
    21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
    It forces us to ask the question can we look at Faith without understanding the results of what belief in God means.

    Faith and Action

    The deep connection of faith and Action is that Action become the result of our faith.
    Show me a faith without deeds and I will show you a faith that is dead.
    Not that different than the plants we talked about earlier.
    What good is a tree that bears no fruit. Does a farmer keep it around when it is unproductive.
    I could go and poor time and money into my pepper plants trying to revive them but it may not produce results. At the end of it that pepper plant will be seen for its results and its fruit that it bears.
    Throughout scripture we are reminded that the fruit we bear is essential to who we are as believers and how we live is essential.
    James reminds us of this with the examples he points to in both Abraham and Rahab.
    I always find this interesting too because James points to the Father of our faith and one of the least expected examples of faith.
    Abraham the one who was promised by God. Rahab the woman who hid the spies so that they would be safe because she recognized God for who he was.
    It is a reminder that God works and moves in people’s lives in amazing ways but it all begins with Him.

    Faith and Deeds

    James presents to us a masterclass of the idea of practical theology. Reminding us that Faith is the beginning point. That faith though goes deeper than just believing it is played out in the fruit that it produces and the actions that follow.
    Do we want to be someone who is known for their fruit?
    Do we want to be known as a people who live out their faith and show the world the love of God?
    How is God working on you to share your faith with the world in a tangible way?
    Let’s Pray

      • James 2:14–26NIV2011

      • James 2:15NIV2011

      • James 2:18–19NIV2011

      • Matthew 7:21NIV2011

Sylvania Wesleyan Church 1
1 member • 1 follower