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Oct 07, 2018

Everyday faith lets no man tear it asunder from love

Everyday faith lets no man tear it asunder from love

Passage: James 2:14-26

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Everyday Faith: A study in the book of James

In living by faith in the grace of God, where does love figure in? James makes some of his most direct statements in this passage about the call for tangible care and concern as an evidence of faith. But is James squaring off with Paul about the place of good works--of love in action--in the life of faith? Or is he, so to speak, taking the baton from Paul, and elaborating upon him when Paul speaks of “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6)?

Order of Worship

Pre-Service Text: 1 Corinthians 13:2
Call To Worship: Psalm 67:1-5
Confession of Sin: Isaiah 55:6-7
Assurance of Pardon: Titus 3:3-7
Sermon Title: Everyday faith lets no man tear it asunder from love
Central Text: James 2:14-26
Benediction: Lamentations 3:21-24
Post-Service Text: Matthew 5:14-16

Sermon Notes 10.07.18

Illustration

Tylenol - How We Care

Readings & Scripture

Pre-Service Text: 1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Call To Worship: Psalm 67:1-5
LEADER: 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
2 that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.

ALL: 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

LEADER: 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.

ALL: 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

Confession of Sin: from Isaiah 55:6-7
LEADER: Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Most merciful Father, We have sinned against and are guilty before You. Forgive us for the sins of our tongues:

ALL: for deception and untruthfulness in our dealings with others; for resentment, coldness, impatience, and tempers out of control.

LEADER: Forgive us for the sins of our eyes:

ALL: for impurity in our glances and imagination, for pining after more beauty,
comfort, status, and wealth than You have already given us.

LEADER: Forgive us for the sins of our hearts:

ALL: for hard-heartedness toward You and our neighbors;
for pride, self-absorption, self-pity; and above all
for rebelling against Your Lordship and doubting Your love.
Holy Father, kill our envy, remove our pride, melt our hearts.
Give us grace to be holy, kind, gentle, and pure, to live for You and not for ourselves, to be transformed into Your likeness. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Titus 3:3-7
LEADER: 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Central Text: James 2:14-26
James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Benediction: Lamentations 3:21-24
LEADER: 21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

ALL: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

Post-Service Text: Matthew 5:14-16
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Related Scripture

  • Genesis 2:7
  • Genesis 15:6
  • Deuteronomy 5:29
  • Proverbs 3:1
  • Matthew 5:14-16
  • Matthew 20:1-16
  • Luke 7:36-50
  • John 14:12-21
  • Galatians 5:6
  • Philippians 2:12
  • Hebrews 11:8-10
  • 1 John 5:1-4

Discussion Questions

  1. Think back to the earliest days of a friendship, or, if you’re married, to your dating/courtship. Can you remember when you first knew they had regard for you? What was the sign of their trust in you as a friend? How could you tell you’d made an impression on them?
  2. Since James addresses the recipients of his letter as “brethren” (15 times!) we can rightly infer he believes them to be those who already believe in the salvation of God in Jesus. How might that help you interpret everything James says--especially in this passage--about the relationship between faith and works that manifest trust and love?
  3. What might be the position James is out to refute in this passage? What is his argument against that position? What do you think about his argument? How does that connect with (or depart from) how you’ve thought of our salvation in Jesus before?
  4. Why is the mercy we’re called to show to those in need a natural response to the mercy shown us in Jesus?
  5. How can you tell the difference between an improper guilt over thinking your works are a substitute for Jesus’s work, and a proper struggle with learning to follow in Jesus’s way? How do you respond to each kind of scenario in light of the gospel?

Creedal/Confessional Statements:

72. What is justifying faith? WLC 72
Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.

73. How does faith justify a sinner in the sight of God? 7 WLC 73
Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it, nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification; but only as it is an instrument by which he receives and applies Christ and his righteousness.

Quotes

  • We can sit for days, with you memorizing knots, technique, and rope handling, but in the first hour of climbing you’ll learn more than anyone can tell you in a month--because your life will depend on the knots, the way you place a piton, and how you run the rope.  - Mark Helprin, A Soldier of a Great War
  • Man in himself, the absolute man possesses neither dignity, nor rights, nor duties. - Friedrich Nietzsche
  • O, it is a living, busy, active mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly. - Martin Luther
  • . . .faith can be no more separated from works than the sun from his heat. - John Calvin
  • When we say that believing is not working, but a ceasing from work, we do not mean that the believing man is not to work, but that he is not to work for pardon, but to take it freely, and that he is to believe before he works, for works done before believing are not pleasing to God. - Horatius Bonar
  • To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you. - C.S. Lewis,  Mere Christianity
  • The message of Jesus Christ, in sum, is this: Salvation is not in your hands. . . .Therefore be bold. . . .- Fleming Rutledge

Sermons/resources

Related Media

InView Media - Album 10.07.18

Followup LiveStream: Wednesday, October 10

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