Show me a faithful man, and I’ll show you a trail of sacrifice.
I have been meditating on James over the past few weeks as the Digerati team (my coworkers here at LifeChurch.tv), have been brown bagging it on Wednesday for lunch Bible Study over said book. It has been an awesome centering time for the team as we engage with James’ words and reflect on Jesus’ legacy.
There was a lot of dialogue over the connection between faith and works.1 My favorite verse in today’s text is found in James 2:22, “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.” (talking of Abraham when he offered up Isaac on the altar). This along with the example of Rahab, and the verbiage at the beginning of this chapter led to my questioning of works… specifically what constitutes works as defined by James and others in the Bible.
In order to define works, it might be easier to identify what does not constitute works. I would propose that daily prayer, daily meditation in the Bible and fellowshipping with believers – is not works. Rather these are disciplines that go hand in hand with a relationship with Jesus and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ… I would also surmise that works cannot be fully defined as abiding by the Law (the 10 commandments and other sacrificial laws found in the Halakha2), as Jesus came to abolish this Law, in effect usurping it with faith.3 This in my mind is a small synopsis of what works is not. Now back to faith…
James says, “faith is active in works and faith is completed by works,”4 and Paul says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.”5 So faith is based upon the unseen and proven through works, which are not easily defined in a set of disciplines or a collection of laws.
Now we are getting somewhere.
So what is works? If it is not defined outright within the text, we must dig to find examples of people acting in faith through works. Jesus gives some examples throughout the Gospels, one which comes to mind is the story of the women who washes Jesus’ feet with hers tears, dries them with her hair and then uses a jar of expensive perfume to anoint him.6 This woman’s actions cause an outcry from Judas, who throws a fit over the cost of the perfume7 and its apparent waste on Jesus’ feet. One could suppose that using this perfume in this way was a sacrifice for this woman… a sacrifice worth making, but a sacrifice nonetheless.
And then we see in Hebrews 11 a list of people that have been attributed righteousness through their faith. So what did their faith look like? Well they were all quite different – some built arks, some offered their untainted firstfruits, some moved to foriegn lands, some had babies in their old age and some left their Kingly riches for shepherds wages. Though different in application, they were similar in motivation – each one was attributed righteousness because they had faith to obey!8
And in each instance of obedience significant sacrifice was required.
In summation, I would propose that works does not complete faith unless something of significance is forfeited, and in surrendering our desires to God we find the faith to embrace the promise which lies ahead.
Your thoughts?
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1. [youversion]James 14-26[/youversion]
2. Halakha – the collective body of Jewish religious law, literally it means: to walk or to go. It is a combination of Biblical Law, Talmudic law, rabbinical law, as well as other customs and traditions.
3. [youversion]Galations 2:16[/youversion]
4. [youversion]James 2:22 [/youversion]
5. [youversion]Hebrews 11:1[/youversion]
6. [youversion]Luke 7:36-50[/youversion]
7. [youversion]John 12:3[/youversion] – perfume was valued at 300 denarii, where 1 denarii = a days wage
8. [youversion]Hebrews 11:8[/youversion]
No Comments on "faith and works…"
I'm choking on the meat here Sam. Give me a moment while I read it again in smaller bites and looking up the references in Scripture. Need a moment them to ruminate a bit. Looks sound, but I want to be sure I've understood correctly.
Good post Sam. I agree, but I do have some comments…: Luther called James an "epistle of straw." It wouldn't even be worth mentioning, because, most of us could agree that he was way off the mark on that one. But I think he that he looked around and saw a world full of people trying to reach heaven on their own merits…and he was sick of it. Humans have this unending urge to try to work for everything- because we want the credit. We want to deserve our eternity in front of the almighty glory of God. Our default setting is to work for things. But it is a problem if it doesn't come out of the natural overflow of one's own faith. And the Church has been dealing with that problem since its inception.
John 6:
28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
skolnick,
Yeah… that is a good reference from John 6, Jesus default answer when asked this age ole question was always along the lines of believe in God (have faith) and love your neighbor (do works). The thing that sticks most with me is the idea of sacrifice, and that faith was proven with sacrifice. I want to run from legalism here, for sure, but the golden thread throughout scripture seems to be 'Love & Sacrifice' or 'Grace and Mercy' not out of our own selfish desires but out of a pure heart fueled by the love of Christ.
Hope all is well with you… I have no idea where you are living now days.
To your own credit, I didn't think you were ignoring any of the points I brought up. I just kind of wanted to jump in with that Luther quote. (I just think its funny he hated James so much). I also wanted to keep you honest. Just because you haven't heard from me in a while doesn't mean you can slack…because when you least suspect it, I can jump in with a quasi-obscure quote that is only halfway relevant. You passed the test this time.
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. "
All is well with me- you can catch up on it here:
http://theskolnick.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-offic…
good to be corresponding with you.
ps Glad to hear you're working on a single speed and not a fixed gear. I would have been disappointed.