"God’s Friend"

Christmas is over and New Year's is next week. Are you ready for the new year? Are you ready to make your resolutions? Are you ready to put faith into action? What made Abraham God's friend? Let's examine what faith really means.

God’s Friend

(James 2:14-26)

Introduction:

A.  There are some who dislike the teachings found in the letter of James.  Because of the teachings of the Catholic Church and reading the book of Romans, Martin Luther called the letter of James an “epistle of straw.”  Meaning, that it had no value when compared to other books, especially Romans.  Luther saw the legalism of the church and realized that grace was not a part of the salvation equation.  So as he read the passage that was read to you today, he simply could not accept that both this teaching of James and that of Paul in Romans could be right.

B.  But let me challenge the thought that James and Paul are opposite in the idea of salvation.  In fact, I think Paul gives us a combined point of view, not found in Romans, but in Eph. 2.  Can works alone, merit, save you?  No.  I cannot do enough good works for God to think I am good enough to be saved.  Yet, is all that I need to is say some magic formula, to simply believe something without any action resulting from that belief system and God say to me, “Well done good and faithful servant?” No.  Listen:  Eph. 2:8-10.

C.  James says that real faith is not something you say, it not something you feel, it not something you think.  Real faith, the Holy Spirit teaches us through James, is something you do.

D.  We just celebrated Christmas yesterday, and now we look to New Years where people see the new year as a time to make changes in their life, resolutions.  Let James set the tone of you this week as you get ready to begin anew.  Let James challenge you to not have a dead faith, a devilish faith, but a dynamic faith.

I.  Dead Faith

A.  Read James 2:14-17.  This first part is James putting a person’s faith on trial.  James examines the person who claims to have faith, but sees that faith as nothing more than words.  Kind words, empathic words, good Christian words, but words that are dead, just like their faith.  James pushes us to have a faith that is living, but when we simply talk, our faith is as dead as our actions.  Faith plus nothing equals nothing.

B.  Jesus faced this type of faith.  In Luke 10 an expert in the Law of Moses asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus asked him was does the Law read?  The man gave Jesus a good answer by loving God with all your being and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Here is a man who appears to have a deep faith, he surely believes the Law of Moses.  So Jesus simply said, “do this and you will live.”  But the man wanted to justify himself so he has “who is my neighbor?”  We get from Jesus the story of the Good Samaritan.

C.  The so-called “faith” of the Priest and the Levite was what James would have called DEAD faith. People with this kind of “faith” know all the right vocabulary to fit in at church — they can pray eloquently perhaps, they might know the teachings of the church, they might even be able to quote the Scriptures, BUT their WALK does not measure up to their TALK! Their works don’t measure us to their words.
D.  When we tell the hungry “Be warmed and filled” but do nothing, James says that is a dead faith.  So is that a “saving faith?”  No, a dead faith cannot save me.

II.  Devilish Faith

A.  Maybe to shock the people, James talks about the faith of demons and asks if that type of faith is a saving faith.  Read vs 18-19.

B.  There are many people in the word who will give credit that there is a God and that he is the creator of heaven and earth.  They believe in God, in the Holy Spirit, in the human incarnation of Jesus as the Christ.  They believe that Jesus went to the cross for the sin of mankind.  But let me ask you – is there any demon that would disagree with what I just said?  We know of demons that confronted Jesus and call him the Holy One of God.

C.  “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, thy God, is One.”  What a great statement of faith.  But to simply believe that great statement simply puts you on par with the demons.  I want more than a devilish faith.

D.  To simply believe in God but not let that faith influence my life and conduct is not real.  Like the dead faith of words, the faith devilish faith that admits a truth and has emotion with it, but still no action, can that faith save him?  I want a faith that saves.

III.  Dynamic Faith

A.  I want a type of that that would make me God’s friend.  I want a faith that walks with God, according to God, and lives.  A dynamic faith will touch the intellect, the emotions, and the will.  Listen to me:  “Faith is not determined by what we do, it is demonstrated by what we do.”  Understand the difference.  Abraham was not saved because he was willing to offer his son on an alter.  Rahab was not saved simply because hid spies.  These two total opposites were saved because their belief in an unseen God was so great that they had to demonstrate that faith in obedience.

B.  How did Abraham become God’s friend?  James says it happened, by taking that great strength of belief and putting it into action.  Read verse 22.

C.  I want to be God’s friend.  I want a relationship with God that is so close that God calls me his friend.  Jesus did that with his disciples just on that night he was going to be betrayed.  Why were they his friends?  Because relationship with Jesus was not about forced actions.  Jesus said, “I longer call you servants, but friends.” Do you know what he says to them right after that?  He calls them to “go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.”  It is action, but not forced, but one that flows from love.

Conclusion:

A.  New Year’s is just about here.  I want to start fresh, but with a purpose.  I want end this year better than I began it.  It is nice to know that I can be called a friend of God, a child of God.  What the Holy Spirit says through James, is put your faith into action and live.  Live like never before.  Don’t just give the lip service of the things you need to change, repent and walk in the pathways of God.

B.  Don’t just have a theology that knows God is real, live that reality by doing the very things you profess and see God hand flowing through you and experience the divine forgiveness as you forgive others.  The call is to arise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord.  Become God’s friend today as we stand and sing.