James 2:14-22 (Fool’s Gold, part 2)

These are my notes from a sermon series. It has not been proofed for spelling or grammatical errors. I present it to you as-is.

We are in a series of lessons looking at the difference between real faith and imitation faith. God uses real faith to bring about your salvation and transformation, but imitation faith only sounds and feels like the real thing but does not bring about salvation or transformation. This is what James is wanting us to understand because this has an eternal consequence. Before we go any further let’s look at James has to say about this.

James 2:14 says, What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? ¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. ¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” ¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? ²¹ Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. ²³ And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. ²⁴ So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. ²⁵ Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. ²⁶ Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. (NLT)

If you casually read this you will think that it takes faith and good works to get to heaven, but with a closer examination you will discover that’s not what this is saying. What this is saying is that when a person places their faith in Christ they will show it by various good deeds. Their faith brings about a change in how they see and treat people.

Today we are going to focus on emotional faith and before we get into that let’s look at two things about real faith.

Two things about real faith

Real faith will produce a passion for God and people

First, real faith will produce a passion for God and people. Through James, God’s Word is laying down a truth that genuine faith will produces good deeds. Real faith, by nature, will create a changed life. Here James addresses an important argument that someone may have against this thought. James says, “Now someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’” This argument says there are two types of people: Those who focus on faith and those who focus on good deeds. This argument says there will be some people who will get to heaven because of their faith and there are some people who will get to heaven because of their good deeds. James is saying that it doesn’t work like that. So let’s break this down.

One side of this argument says there are “Some people” who “have faith” but no good deeds.

• What they have: This person has the kind of faith that focuses on knowledge. This is that intellectual faith that James has been talking about. This person will emphasize Biblical knowledge, doctrine, truth, and theology. This person will talk about the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of Jesus, the doctrine of salvation and the doctrine of end times. They may say they believe in the omniscience of God, the omnipresence of God, and the omnipotence of God. They may talk about how they believe the inerrancy and authority of God’s Word and a host of other very important truths.
• What they are missing: They may believe these passionately, but it’s only academic emotion when it comes to God’s Word, because their deeds (their actions, their behavior) is still selfish and uncaring. This person may defend with passion the truth of God’s Word but they are unkind to their spouse and children, they are selfish with their finances, they think others should be serving them, they are rude, argumentative, envious, divisive, and seek one pleasure after another. They may talk about their faith in God, but there are no actions to back that up. To them it’s more important that you love truth, rather than people.

The other side of this argument says there are “others” who “have good deeds,” but they have no faith or trust in God.

• What they have: This person is the kind of person who focuses on being good and doing the right things. They may sacrifice a lot. They may go on mission trips, serve the people in their family, show mercy, kindness and gentleness toward the less fortunate. Be patient with rude people and have compassion for others. It hurts them to see people hurting. They want to help. They want to bless. They want to be useful.
• What they are missing: This person may be very compassionate, but there is very little to no commitment to God’s Word. To them it’s more important that you love people more than you love truth.

What James is saying is that real faith is not either of these, it’s both of these together. By nature, real faith will cause you to have a passion for God and a passion for people. Jesus said we are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul and we are to love our neighbor as our self. There’s the balance and there is genuine faith. That’s what genuine faith will do. When you have real faith you will find overtime that both of these will be occurring in your life.

Real faith is proven by good deeds

This takes us to number two, real faith is proven by good deeds. James goes on to say, But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” Someone once said that genuine faith is like calories, you can’t see them but you can see their results.

When James says, “I will show you my faith by my good deeds” he is not saying that good deeds automatically proves that you have faith. Just because you help people and are nice, kind, and gentle does not mean you are a follower of Jesus. James’ point is not that the presence of deeds proves the presence of faith but rather the absence of good deeds proves the absence of faith. In other words, “I know I have genuine faith. I know that my faith is real and the way I prove that my faith is real is by my actions.”

So real faith is a combination of loving God and loving people. It’s knowing God and making Him known to others. It’s believing His Word and blessing others.

Once upon a time there were these two men who needed to get across a lake and there was this man who had a row boat that you could hire and he would take you across the lake. While in the boat these two men started talking about this very subject. About faith and good deeds and what’s real faith and what’s imitation faith. The man rowing the boat was a follower of Jesus and asked if he could join in the conversation. They said, Sure, why not.” So he said, “Let’s assume one of these oars is faith and the other is good deeds. We will take the good deeds oar out of the water and just use faith.” As a result the boat just began going in circles. After a while, he said, “Maybe we have the wrong one. Let’s put the faith oar in the boat and just use the good deeds oar.” After a while the boat started going in circles in the other direction. Finally, he put both oars in the water and headed straight for the shore. That’s how genuine faith is. Real faith produces both belief and behavior that honors God.  Intellectual faith has only one oar in the water. Emotional faith has only oar in the water. Whole faith, complete faith, real faith has both oars in the water. That’s the nature of faith. Good deeds will not produce faith, but real faith will produce good deeds. Belief and good deeds go together. They cannot be separated.

Four things about emotional faith

Let’s specifically talk about emotional faith, which is an imitation faith. It’s not the real thing, but its close. Emotional faith does not bring about salvation or transformation. Real quick, four things about emotional faith.

Emotional faith believes in God

Number one, emotional faith believes in God. James says in verse 19, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you!” This person truly believes “there is one God.” This does not mean they are saved, what it does mean is they believe in the existence of a God that was a part of creating everything. If you were to ask them if they believe in God they would say yes. Believing that God exist does not make one a Christian. Listen carefully, believing that God exist is one step toward becoming a Christian, but just because someone believes in the existence of God does not save them.  Hebrews 11:6 makes this clear when it says, “Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (NLT). Anyone who comes to God for salvation must first believe that God exist or they will never go to Him for salvation. When a person believes that God exist that is a good thing. That’s why James says, “Good for you!” He is not being sarcastic here, he is actually saying good for you.

Emotional faith believes in one God

Number two, emotional faith believes in one God.  Look closely at verse 19 again where James says, “You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God” (NLT). Emotional faith not only believes in the existence of God, but goes even further to believe there is only “one God.” This eliminates all other gods and religions. This not only eliminates all the other gods, but it also eliminates all other ways people think they can get saved and narrows it down to how this “one God” says you are saved. This one God said through Jesus, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NLT). This one God said through Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NLT). This one God says there is only one way to receive salvation and that is through Jesus Christ.

Emotional faith believes there is one God and one way for salvation, but emotional faith does not save. What makes this so dangerous is that it is close to the real thing, but it is not genuine faith it is an imitation faith. This takes us to number three.

Emotional faith has an emotional response to God

Number three, emotional faith has an emotional response to God. James goes on to say in verse 19, Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. This is an amazing statement. It includes both our thinking and feeling. Head knowledge and our emotions. This is as close to real faith as you can get without having the real faith.

James says that “even the demons believe this.” Let me give you some examples of what James is referring to when he says “demons believe this.”

• Matthew 9 tells us that one day Jesus was traveling and two men who were possessed by demons met him and they began screaming at Him saying, “Why are you interfering with us Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?” (Matthew 9:29, NLT). The demons know who Jesus is as the Son of God and they know what part of His mission is regarding them. They know Him as the Son of God and they believe that He is the Son of God and they believed this so strongly that when they say Him the began screaming at Him, probably in an emotional panic. The demons have emotional faith, but it does not change their eternity or their behavior.
• On another occasion Jesus was in a synagogue (having church) and Mark 1:23 says, “Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, ‘Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!’” (NLT). The demons know who Jesus is, they believe in who Jesus is, and they have an emotional response, but they are not saved. It’s an imitation faith.
• On another occasion Jesus had been healing many people of many things and there was this huge crowd of people gathering around Jesus and Mark says, “And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him shrieking, ‘You are the Son of God!’” (Mark 3:11, NLT). The demons know who Jesus is, they believe in who Jesus is, and they have an emotional response, but they are not saved. It’s an imitation faith. It does not change their eternity or their character.

James is saying that just like the demons, emotional faith believes the right things and will have an emotional response to it, but it is not real faith because there are no “good deeds” produced by it.  

Emotional faith is useless

Number four, emotional faith is useless.  James says in verse 20, How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? James is saying the demons know the truth and they have an emotional response to the truth but there are no “good deeds” that come from their emotional faith and their faith “is useless.” It’s useless because it doesn’t save anyone and it doesn’t change anyone. There is no real value to it.

Conclusion

Just like James, Paul had the same concern about a group of believers in Corinth. He was so concerned about this that he wrote them in 2 Corinthians 13:5 saying, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves” (NLT). Take a hard look at your life and what you believe. Is your faith in Jesus real, if it is you will see spiritual growth and the fruit of the Spirit being produced in your life and you will find yourself loving God’s people more and loving the people more?

• Prayer (Psalm 26:2)
• The Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16)
• Hunger for God’s Word (1 Peter 2:2)
• Obedience to God’s Word (1 John 2:3-6)
• Love believers (1 John 3:14-15)

Share it!

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google

Email

Print