Bring It! - James 2:14-26

This summer at Nettleton Baptist Church, our Youth theme has been "Bring It!", as our theme book of the Bible has been James. It is a phrase that we have heard over and over all summer - "Don't sing it; bring it!". But tonight, I was reading from The Message translation and just love the way it is written:

"14-17 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21-24 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse."


Wow! It is like a slap in the face! I believe the problem with American Christianity today is summed up in the verses above: we have a lot of people professing, but not a lot of people doing. A lot of people claim to be Christians, but it ends there - they no more follow Christ than an unbeliever.

Look at verse 19-20 again. The demons believe in God, "but what good does it do them"?! It doesn't. What counts with God is a faith combined with action. Do the actions save you? Absolutely not. The only way a person is saved is through a trust and faith in Jesus Christ. Period. But if you say that you are saved, and there is no change in actions, then you need to check yourself. James is telling us here that a faith without actions is a corpse! It's dead!

You see, a lot of people have a hard time separating a "belief" in Christ with a "faith" in Christ. They are two completely different things. A belief is just a head-knowledge of knowing that God is real, and even that Christ died for your sins. Anyone can know that - including the demons; but it does NOT give them salvation. Salvation comes through faith alone. A "faith" in Christ is giving Him your life, and letting Him be the boss of it - running your life for you! It is saying that His ways are better that yours. It is saying that you are going to trust in what He says, and are going to do what He says, because you truly believe that is the best way. It is also, and very importantly, saying that you are going to trust that He has forgiven you of all of your sins, and that is all that you need for salvation - nothing more!

There is quite a bit of difference there. You see, because a person that just "believes" in Christ can still live for themselves without any problem. They can go out into the world and do whatever they want. They can live it up, party hard, and have fun. But the person that has put their faith in Christ can't exactly do that, because that person believe that the ways of God are better than their own. That person has the Holy Spirit that will guide them in and out throughout the days. The person who has their faith in Christ is not of the world anymore. They are of God. They do actions of faith simply by living. They are truly saved.

Are you going to be just another person in America who falls through the crack of "just believing" in God? Thinking that just because you know that Christ died for you that you are going to heaven, that you are really forgive of your sins? Or are you going to whole-heartedly put your faith in Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, trust that His ways are best, and let Him be the boss of your life? Are you going to give Him all of you, and put your money where your mouth is (so to speak) by living what you are professing? Are you truly going to live for God? Well if you are, don't sing it - bring it!

Our Sufferings; Our Comfort - 2 Cor. 1:3-7

I haven't forgotten about the Romans meditations, I just haven't had a chance to upload them yet. However, this reading has really stood out to me today, so I felt like sharing.

I love how Paul starts off this section: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,". What an amazing statement, and a glorious praise to God! He truly is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort; I mean, He is the one who sent His only Son to die just so we could live. He is able to forgive us of the sins that put His own Son on the cross! If that is not compassion I don't know what is.

However, it is the next verse (v. 4) that stood out so much: "who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Paul tells us, and answers to the question, to why good people sometimes go through bad things! I have this argument so many times from unbelievers, but here is the answer right here in the Bible! God allows things to happen to us, so that we can help others in their time of need. It is a sort of I'll-help-you-so-you-can-help-them deal.

He explains how this happens in the next verse, "For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." What a powerful statement! I can't believe I have never noticed this before. The sufferings of Christ actually overflow into our lives! I think we sometimes forget that when we become Christians, we actually become a part of the Body of Christ, and that was the same body that was mutilated on the cross. When the body of Christ is hurt - we are hurt! I can't explain it, but there it is in writing! If Christ suffered, why do we think we should not?

But the good news is in the second half of the same verse: "so also through Christ our comfort overflows." This goes back to the fact above that the comfort we receive from God is so powerful and so much that it actually flows from us into other people. People notice someone who is at peace, and being around that person is a peaceful experience in itself. Somehow, supernaturally, the comfort we get during our hard times can actually help others - even unbelievers - in their hard times! It is an amazing thing that can only come from the Father of Compassion.

So, remember this the next time hard times fall. It is inevitable that it is going to happen. Just know that God will lead you through, and that through the hard times you will learn things that will allow you to be able to "overflow" the compassion that God gave you.