Letters from the Pastor
June 20, 2009
Faith without works doesn't work!
Greetings in the Name of our wonderful Savior Jesus.
John Wimber, a founder of the Vineyard movement, once asked a leader in the church he was attending, "When do we get to do the stuff?" "What stuff?" the leader replied. "You know, the stuff Jesus did: pray for the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead." "Oh, we don't do that stuff," the leader told John, "we just sing about it!"
I for one don't want to be a Christian who just sings about my faith. I want to be - and I want us to be -a church that has a living faith, not a dead faith. A living faith evidences itself by costly, risk-taking action. Living faith sacrifices time to visit someone in the hospital; living faith sacrifices finances to help people without fresh water get fresh water; living faith takes a risk and listens to God's voice when He says pray for that person; living faith leaves a fishing business and follows Jesus; living faith trusts and obeys the living God, even when it costs. My challenge to us as a church is that we would listen to James when he says:
"14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." -James 2
James is challenging us to look at our faith and make sure it is real saving faith. The one thing we don't want to be mistaken about is the genuineness of our faith. Real faith evidences itself by its actions. In fact, James says that our actions complete our faith.
"You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 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. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” -James 2
James is not saying we are saved by our works, but he is saying real saving faith, works.
My challenge to us as a church is to put our action where our talk is. We have many opportunities to put our faith into action. Just the other day, one of my wife's co-workers came up to her with a personal issue that was really bothering her. Teresa, my wife, asked her if she could pray with her for the situation, she said yes and Teresa prayed for her right then and there. Her co-worker said, wow, I feel better already. As a church we have many opportunities to put our faith into action: in children's ministry, with our youth, in hospital visitation, through giving, by praying for people after the service, or through our outreaches such as the food bank or city mission. One of the simple prayers I often pray is "God, help me to see what you want me to do today and help me to do it". That's a prayer God always says "yes" to. Let's be a church that has a complete faith.
Brent
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