Your Actions are a result of your faith
One of the first churches I attended as a new Christian had a message that was heavy on grace; how you cannot do anything to earn grace; how it is given to you as a result of your faith. Without learning the rest of the Bible, you will eventually come to the conclusion that once saved you are free to live like a rock star and are covered by Jesus death. I heard the words you are covered so many times that eventually I had no problem justifying straying from the path from time to time I’m covered! I did my part and accepted Jesus and now it’s party time! Whoohoo show me the mosh pit!
And now God has given me the Biblical smack in the head that I so often deserve. Through this essay on James 2:25, he made me study the part of the Bible that I had not spent much time in. I found out that there is more to this than believing; there is also a requirement to act like you have faith! Faith without deeds is dead. Sin will ultimately destroy our lives if we don’t work out our faith.
Does this mean you should be out there doing everything the Bible tells you to in the exact order on the exact day and time? Nope, that was tried by a bunch of people and it didn’t work out. Rahab’s life was a testament to this. She was not a very Godly woman, working a job that was not in the Christian top 20, but when it came time to make the hard decision, Rahab did what God wanted and God saved her.
Do you think that the easy choice for Rahab was to hide the spies? No way. The easy choice would have been to turn them over to the authorities and collect the rewards. Rahab would have been the toast of the town. She would have saved them from doom. She would have had a concert thrown in her name and gone crowd surfing. She probably would have had a statue put up in her honor (everybody loves a statue). Rahab had faith that the God who was watching over the spies was the one true God. She proved her faith by hiding the spies and her life was saved. Without her deeds Rahab would have perished with the rest of the town, faith or not. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Your actions are a result of your faith.
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Devils believe that God exists, but they will not be saved. What’s the difference between the devils faith and yours? They believe God is the one true God; they tremble at the thought of God. It takes a pretty strong faith to make you tremble at the thought of something. Where do you think they will be when the end comes? Crowd surfing in heaven with you? Not at my concert they won’t!
Not at my concert either!
Thanks Brian for such a biblically truthful, witty, awesome message. Jesus is doing a mighty, marvelous work in you…new Christian or not. Keep at it my Christian friend!
Thank Brian this is so well stated. It helps me have such a clear understanding of the fulness of grace and the great responsibility we have to live a life of faith.