Living a Faithful Live (Part 3)
a commentary on James 2 (Application)
Thank you, Lord, for this day. May it be used for your glory!
Good morning everyone and welcome to this week’s Biblit part 3!
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Alright! Today we are jumping into our final Biblit for James chapter 2, which means we’re going to walk away with some application points.
Let’s just jump right in!
Application
James likes to end each of his mini-lessons with some gut-punchy one-liners. I don’t know if I’m skilled enough for that, but I will do my best to stay on topic and make each application point as clear and concise as possible :)
Show No Favoritism
The important takeaway on this one is that when we choose favorites, we choose judgment.
Whether we favor a wealthy friend over a poor friend, or a friendly stranger over an enemy, that is judgment.
I’ve recently read a book called Bandersnatch, which is a lovely book. It is all about an author’s club back in the day called the Inklings. This is the group that CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien (and many others) were a part of. Out of this group came amazing stories like Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.
The group itself would meet at least once a week, drink tea, smoke, share writing, and critique each other’s work.
You know what really stands out to me, though?
These men would get together many times and literally just argue.
CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were great friends, but had some extremely different viewpoints. Did you know Tolkien couldn’t stand the Narnia books?
Why do I say this?
Well, in our society today, I feel like people have twisted the idea of unity.
Today, people view unity as any community that shares the exact same opinions and morals as you.
People don’t disagree with friends, they just dismiss them as friends and move on.
I would argue that is the definition of favoritism and judgment, and those people are lawbreakers.
I would also argue that we tend to do this because it’s more comfortable. It’s awkward to talk with people you know disagree with you.
But that’s how we grow.
And more importantly, that’s what God called us to do.
Don’t show favoritism, learn to listen to opposing views, and perhaps you will learn something.
Faith vs Works
We ended our interpretation saying that true faith comes when we have a relationship with Christ, and it’s through that relationship that we are fueled and empowered to do good works.
That’s the only direction it can go. We can’t do good works to earn a relationship with Christ. That relationship is free through the gift of grace.
So all in all, what can we take away?
A Hypothetical Example
The next time you pray for someone, maybe ask God if you are the answer to that prayer.
We should always continue to pray, but remember that God’s power dwells in you now. If you truly have faith in that, then take the action necessary to help the needy.
A Harsh Reality
What makes us different from demons?
Well, those of us with true faith know that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. That we have God’s power, protection, and promise.
We have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we love Him, and He loves us.
And if that is all true, then our actions and fruits will be for the glory of God and the furthering of His kingdom.
I’ll remind us all again, however, we will all still sin.
Being different from demons is not about us and whether we sin or not. It’s all about Christ. And if we truly believe in Christ’s power, then the fruit will appear.
So when we read passages of scripture like Ephesians 5 or the fruits of the spirit in Galatians, these are not checklists so we can be perfect Christians.
I think of these passages more as a thermometer. If you are not producing any fruits for Christ, your actions are not the problem. Your faith is the problem.
Don’t frantically write down everything you should be doing and try and do it yourself.
First, go to Christ. Because only in His power and in a relationship with Him can we be different from demons.
A Historical Example
The example of Abraham and Rahab highlight this truth for us: our actions are fueled by our faith.
Think about it.
Let’s take a very simple example.
Think about a chair. You have faith that if you were to sit in a chair, it will support you.
You won’t fall to the floor.
So when you sit down in the chair, do you hold onto something just in case? Do you sit down slowly checking if it’ll hold? No! You just sit. You don’t even think about it.
Your faith in the chair fueled your actions.
The same is true of our faith in God. The stronger our faith, the more confident we’ll be in doing His will.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think both of these truths James lays out make pretty logical sense when you think about it.
Showing people favoritism is selfish, seeks comfort, divides people into cliques and groups, and ultimately leads to a dysfunctioning society.
The idea that “faith without works is dead” makes sense too. Think about the chair example again. If everyone was sitting around in a circle and you kept standing, refusing to sit, do you really have faith in the chair?
You might tell people you believe the chair will support you, but if you don’t sit, do you?
I really love Jesus’s example in yesterday’s Biblit. Those who act on their faith are like a house built on rock. Those who just “profess faith” without action, is like a house built on sand.
When life comes knocking, the house on the rock will stand.
Even from a worldly sense, this makes sense too, right? We just had the Superbowl a month ago.
A lot of people have their favorite team (this time favorites is ok if it’s all in good fun).
There are some people in the world who have this one team that they root for year after year. I think in football people make fun of Browns fans. Because they always do poorly. However, the fans always cheer, year after year.
Why? Because they took action.
They bought the gear, they cheered for the team, they became fully committed. And when the wind came, they stayed hardcore fans. The relationship was there, they weren’t leaving.
But what about someone who was born in Cleveland and raised a Browns fan, but never really committed themselves. Well, when they grow up, it would be a lot easier to switch to some other team, wouldn’t it?
Because they never committed, they never built a relationship.
The same is true of our faith in God. Without that relationship, without action, that faith is worthless.
With that, we’ll call it a week! I hope you enjoyed it, please share this around, and we’ll talk again next week as we jump into James chapter 3!