Wednesday, August 21, 2019

James the Just - Part 8 - Patriarchs and Prostitutes

Thursday, August 22, 2019

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? 

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?  You see, his faith and his actions worked together.  His actions made his faith complete.  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.  So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.  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.   Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.    James 2:14, 21-26

How can I know I have a genuine faith, and not a mirage?  How can I be sure?  Look at the examples James gives: 
Abraham was justified... (that means God accepted him) based on his faithfulness.  God asked Abraham to burn the bridge behind him, leave his home and follow God out to the wilderness.  Abraham said, Alright, I'll go.  That was faith.  But it was the loading of the camels, the endless ridicule he endured that was works. 
I can picture the scene: Abraham and Sarah packing up the family stuff, and the neighborhood wag leaning over the fence; 

Hey, Abe...Don't you know there's snakes out there in that sand?  I know another fool that went out there without a map.  He never came back.  Abe, maybe you'd better reconsider this. 

But he went.  Faith came alive in deeds. 
The other example James gives was Rahab the harlot who burned her bridges behind her.  When the children of Israel were marching towards her city, Jericho, she made the decision to throw in with God's people, and she helped by hiding the reconnaissance team Joshua had sent. 
Think of the scene inside the walls of Jericho that night.  

Sister Rahab, are you nuts, girl?  Here we are inside the most fortified city in Canaan.  Those silly Jews don't know how to fight; all they can do is walk around the outside.  You'd better reconsider this; the city fathers aren't going to like it when they hear you've been helping those spies.

But Rahab hung in there, and those silly Jews kept on marching seven days around the walls of Jericho.  And then 7 times on the 7th day....and the walls came down.  The faith of Rahab, a common streetwalker, is chronicled in Matthew's gospel (Ch 1).  Rahab's grandson was named Jesse who had a son named David, King David.  And out of the lineage of David was born a king in a manger... Jesus. 
Rahab had faith.  She put it all on the line in deeds.
For You Today
How can you know for sure that your faith is alive?  You can begin to take your spiritual pulse by throwing yourself wholeheartedly into deeds of loving service to others.  I guarantee you will know inside of a month what is genuine and what is mirage. 
Where do you start?  Begin with forgiving your neighbors, and fellow church members. 
Ø  Start to give OF yourself, instead of concentrating ON your own needs.  That is the model Jesus gave us. 
Ø  Start to depend on the Father to supply what needs to be given.... Don’t concentrate on what you don't have to give. 
Ø  But, most of all...Do Start!
Occasionally a person will get involved in a church, and there’s no change.  There’s no joyful satisfaction to being involved in the things of God.  The problem there was the “cart before the horse.”  You cannot work yourself into having faith. 
Faith is a gift from God.  I invite you today to make a commitment in your heart to the Author of faith, Jesus Christ.  Then the works – the good deeds you do – will be a matter of joy, not a matter of trying to work your way into heaven.  It can’t be done!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

 
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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons     Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

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