Faith and Deeds
James 2:12 – 26
William Booth grew up in London, England in a poor family. In his youth, at thirteen years old, he was sent by his family into the world to help support the family as an apprentice to a Pawn Broker. There he saw people so desperate to make ends meet that they would hock any family heirloom, any valuable possession that they could find just to try and survive.
Sometime during his fifteenth year, William was invited by a Wesleyan couple to attend chapel with them, it was there that he would find the Spirit of Salvation and became a part of the Body of Christ. Through self-study, he eventually became an English Methodist minister. From that point on, Booth and a group of friends set out into the world to evangelize to and to serve the poor and needy.
Many years later, Booth was at home brushing his mane-like white hair when his son Bramwell stepped into the room. “Bramwell!” he cried. “Did you know that men sleep out all night on the bridges?” “Well, yes,” the son replied. “A lot of poor fellows I suppose do that.” “Then you ought to be ashamed of yourself to have known it and to have done nothing for them!” his father retorted. And when the son began to talk about the societal programs that support the poor, Booth waved a hand and said, “That is not enough, that misses the soul. Go and do something! We must do something!”
“What can we do?” “Get them a shelter!” “That will cost money,” replied Bramwell. “Well, that is your affair. Something must be done. Get hold of a warehouse and warm it and find something to cover them. But mind, Bramwell, no coddling, transform them!”
Oh, wait did I forget something important, did I tell you that William Booth started a faith-based organization, an organization that was based on the mutual reliance and interdependence of Faith and Deeds.
It was originally called the Church Mission and was empowered by an army of volunteers that believed in Faith and Deeds. Soon enough as the needs grew and as the focus on the Gospel story began to influence and transform those that they helped, the name was changed to what we know it as today, The Salvation Army. The conversation that I just detailed between William Booth and his oldest son Bramwell, was the beginning of Salvation Army shelters. William Booth knew the divine connection between Faith and Deeds!
As we read through our lesson today, at first blush it seems that James is making a contrast between having faith and having good deeds, but actually he is not drawing a contrast between faith and deeds but rather he is drawing a contrast between true faith and false faith. James is telling the listeners that true Faith is inseparably linked to righteous Deeds and faith which fails to be demonstrated in good deeds is barren and ineffective. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, James writes, if you say you have faith but do not have works?
He is saying that it is possible for someone to claim to have great faith and boast that they have a great knowledge, yet they show no good deeds to their credit. They are good with words but are vacant of good deeds. They might have much to say about how to treat others but in fact their lives are devoid of divine actions. They have belief without appropriate behavior. James is telling us that a claim to have faith will be hollow if it is not producing good deeds. Friends, we can be sincere in our claim of faith and still be lacking in faithful deeds.
Does merely talking about having faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? MSG
James underscores the useless nature of lonely and isolated faith when we consider the ineffectiveness of words that are devoid of good deeds. He says what good is that sort of faith when the poor man remains cold and hungry? The poor will not thank us for our good wishes and God will not reward us for the “appearance” of faithfulness only.
The old nursery rhyme goes “If wishes were horses then the beggar would ride” but wishes are not horses and our hollow wishes do not change the circumstances of the beggar. Our wishes do not give the needy and the lost anything more than they already had despite our supposed faith. So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. Faith by itself, lonely, orphaned faith is dead. It is not non-existent faith but it is ineffective, it is not alive and active.
Our call to display our faithfulness through our actions is found throughout the Gospel story. The underlying foundation of the Gospel is one of Jesus taking actions on our behalf and on the behalf of those that cannot do what they need to do for themselves.
Remember, we cannot by ourselves, without divine assistance, redeem our souls from our total depravity. We are saved because of the sacrificial works of Jesus on our behalf and for that reason, it is incumbent on the faithful soul to do for others that which they cannot do for themselves. Christ’s actions of true faith in the purpose of his Father sending him to dwell among us demands that we act out in faithful deeds when we see others in need.
It is incomprehensible that those who are redeemed by the compassionate actions of Jesus would not have a similar desire living within them for compassion toward the needs of others. Faith and Deeds must be irrevocably intertwined and equal in the measure to what is received and what is given. A life was given for us, so too then must a life be given by us!
If you have faith without deeds and I have deeds without faith in Christ then neither of us has true faithfulness. If we have one without the other then we are not complete Christians. James is telling us that Faith and Deeds cannot be separated one from the other if we are to exhibit true faithfulness.
James says you can show me someone that has faith alone but no deeds, but I will show you my faith by my deeds. We must not receive grace with one hand and yet not give grace in equal measure with the other. Ours is not to be a life of accumulation kept to ourselves, but rather a life exemplified by giving and doing for others in equal measure to the good fruit that we receive as the result of True Faithfulness through the Holy Spirit!
Hear the Good News my friends……….
In Ephesians 2:8 – 10 Paul write these words: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
These verses show is what salvation is intended for: to produce the good works that attest to the love of the Father for his children. While Deeds play no part at all in securing salvation, Christians will prove their faith by works.
You will never find true faith unattended by true acts of holiness; nor will you ever discover a truly holy life which does not have at its root a living faith based upon the righteousness of Christ. Faith and Deeds always work in cooperation, in coordination to help the Christian to faithfully traverse our sanctifying journey through life.
One more story. An old boatman painted the word “Faith” on one oar of his boat and “Deeds” on the other. He was asked his reason for this. In answer, he slipped the oar with “faith” into the water and rowed. The boat, of course, made a very tight circle. Returning to the dock, the boatman then said, “Now, let’s try ‘Deeds’ without ‘faith’ and see what happens. The oar marked “Deeds” was put in place and the boatman began rowing with just the “Deeds” oar. Again’ the boat went into a tight circle but in the opposite direction.
When the boatman again returned to the wharf, he interpreted his experiment in these strong and convincing words, “You see, to make a passage across the lake, one needs both oars working simultaneously in order to keep the boat in a straight and narrow way. If one does not have the use of both oars, he makes no progress either across the lake nor as a perfecting Christian.
In nature, lightning and thunder present a striking illustration of the relationship between Faith and Deeds. When lightning flashes across the sky, we know that the roar of thunder will follow. Without lightning, there would be no thunder, because the one is the cause of the other. Likewise, good Deeds always accompany saving Faith because one causes the other. One, Deeds, always perfects the other, Faith. Friends always be the lightning and the thunder in the world around you! Amen.