James 2:14-19
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.
Years ago, during my seminary days, I took a class on evangelism. The focus of the class, obviously, was what it meant to share the good news of the gospel with the world.
One of our class assignments involved a field trip to Chicago during which we were to attempt to engage a total stranger in a spiritual conversation. Now, while I was all for evangelism, that was completely outside my comfort zone! While those conversations are never easy to initiate, they are much easier in the context of some kind of pre-existing relationship instead of “cold turkey!”
So a group of us were driven to Chicago, dropped off on the street, and given a couple of hours to complete the assignment. I walked along looking for some kind of opportunity when a homeless man leaning against a building caught my attention.
“Can you help a guy out?” he said, or something very much like that.
I really hadn’t planned on having my “spiritual conversation” with a homeless guy, but I figured that maybe he was the one God had chosen for my assignment. So I approached the man and said, “Can I get you a burger or something?” and motioned to a “Burger King” restaurant right across the street.
He said, “Sure, man, I’m hungry.”
I bought a couple of burgers and soft drinks and struck up a conversation with the man, whose name was John. He told me a bit about his life, which had obviously fallen on some hard times. When he asked about my life I told him I was a seminary student and I told him about my class assignment. He talked of growing up in the church and knowing Jesus, but also of straying far from the faith of his youth.
We talked about the ups and downs and pains of life, and about Jesus, for about an hour. When time came for me to had back to meet the others from my class, John thanked me for the burger and then asked me if I had a couple-a-bucks to spare. Then he said, “I’m not going to lie to you; I’m a wino and I’m going to use the money to buy a drink.”
His honesty caught me by surprise so I just said, “I hope you won’t John, but I appreciate your honesty. All I can say is that Jesus loves you and I will pray for you.”
As I gave him a $5 bill, he reached for my hand and said, “You’re gonna be a he__ of a priest.”
I never saw John again, but I never forgot him or what he said.
James says it this way:
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes or daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
I believe James is saying that faith; the gospel; was never intended to be simply a “personal benefit.” Sure, we absolutely are to experience the grace of Christ personally! We are granted peace with God through the forgiveness of sins accomplished by Jesus on the cross. We are to know the hope that comes with the promise of eternal life. God wants us to experience the joy that is ours through the presence of the Holy Spirit. But the gospel is also much more than personal blessing! The gospel is to be shared! The gospel is to explode out of us in the form of love, compassion and grace expressed to others.
In other words: if the gospel is not being expressed outwardly in our words and deeds, it has not been experienced in our hearts and minds.
James puts it more bluntly:
…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
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