Works vs Faith

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:17-26 ESV)

So as a Lutheran this passage made me squirm in my seat. And a lot of my friends commented lately and I was taught if a passage of scripture makes you uneasy, you have to dig in deeper…

So Luther and Paul taught us “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV) Ok actually it probably wasn’t Paul but somebody writing saying they were Paul, but in the epistle to the Ephesians we are told we are not saved by works. It is by faith. James tells us “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” So which one is it?

Both Ephesians and James are a part of the cannon, and are scripture that are good for reproof and teaching, so is is faith alone, or is it works, with faith?

Now I know some of my friends would read the above and be squirming in their seats. But you left out Ephesians 2:10 as any good Lutheran would do. As Lutherans we are quick to pull the faith alone card and say we are saved by faith, and not by works so there is nothing I can do. We use this to get out of doing any kind of work for the Lord. But that is a misuse of scripture, because the verse after Ephesians 2:9 is Ephesians 2:10 which says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” You see we are saved by grace through faith not by our works, but we were created to do the works of God. We need to do works.

James is right that a faith without works or action is not doing so well, it may not be dead yet, but it will be taking a ride on the cart very shortly. We have to show our faith through the life we live.

The thing that makes me squirm more than James saying our works justify us, is the other side of the coin. You see we are saved by grace through faith, and then we tell others what they must do to achieve heaven… We tell them how bad they are and our actions of exclusion keep them away from the relationship that saves them. We do not allow people access to God, by the actions we do. So when our actions get in the way of people coming to God, how do those works impact us?

We are quick to say we want to see faith in action, but the world sees our faith in action and they wonder why they want to be a part of it…

How can our works, our actions actually show the love we have been given?

What do you do by faith?

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. (Hebrews 11:17-22 ESV)

Hebrews 11 is the champions of faith chapter… The author tells us about the people of the past who had faith and by that faith they did wonderful things.

They over saw the odds when everything was against them.

They held out under circumstances that would make a normal person buckle and run screaming.

But how are they different from you? What do you do by faith?

Now if you are like me, you are scratching your head and wondering if there really is anything you do by faith. We know how our schedules work, and even with bumps in the road we can manage everything that comes. We have planned out our finances and without any unexpected things we will be ok and that is planned there is not faith to life…

Or is there…

Every day is something lived out in faith. You get in your car and some of us more than others hope it will start but by faith we know it will (unless of course your car needs to be replaced then there is probably a lot of prayer as you turn that key…). We hope that our kids will make it to and fro school on the bus ok, we have faith in the transportation department to get them around safely. We have faith we will not be fired…

We have faith that God will keep his promises… I seriously doubt that any of our lives will be tested by God as much as Abraham was, with the offering of his own son. But that does not mean that our faith is not working and tested every day. We have to allow our children to grow up and be the women and men that God has created them to be, and in that we have to have faith that we did all we could to help them learn and grow into the people God created them to be. God may not ask you to sacrifice your child on an altar, but He does ask you to let them go as they grow and have faith that because of the love He has for you He has that same love for them and will protect them like He protects you….

Life is best lived in faith control, that is give up the control and let God be the one that leads you. Follow where He leads and let the faith He has given you guide you through life. Live by faith!

And I still say if you have a bumper sticker that says God is my co pilot, you better rethink that and switch seats fast!

Useless…

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:14-20 ESV)

Have you ever felt useless? Like you couldn’t do anything right?

Have you studied something under the guidance of a master for several years and still unable to do what seems to be a simple task for the master?

You see this boy was held by a demon and it should be something easy for the disciples to remove from him, but they are unable to get the demon to leave. Why?

Well if we read the rest of the text Jesus seems to say that their faith is not big enough. If you had the faith the size of a mustard seed you would be able to tell this mountain to move from here to there and it would obey. The mustard seed being the smallest of all seeds during Jesus’ day… So their faith is smaller than the smallest seed, and they are unable to do the simple tasks… Yet the above translation has a foot note after verse 20, because the reading for the day is Matthew 17:14-21, that some manuscripts add the verse “But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting” So maybe the disciples were not praying or fasting…

So what does this say about our abilities to do ministry? Are we useless because we do not pray or fast? Or if we do pray and fats, do we do it for the right reasons? Or maybe our faith is just too small…

I do not agree our faith is too small. It is a gift, faith, so how can what we have been given too small? We have the faith that was given to us and is nurtured in us… We have the faith that God used to draw us to Him, as He feeds and nurtures that.

I mean if we take the text for today to heart, we all should be able to say to the mountains to move and they should move. But I don’t know about you, but I have never made a mountain move. So maybe the faith we have is enough…

The faith we have is enough for us to do what God needs for us to do. So you are not useless… None of us are useless. God will use you to do His mission if you will allow Him to.

Do not grow weary…

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:3-13 ESV)

Are you ready to give up?

Throw in the towel?

I understand. I really do understand. It seems like everything you are doing is hurting and not helping your struggles. You see your loved ones doing more than their fair share of the work and you fell like everyone is catering to you. Like you are letting those same loved ones down…

But listen to the words guoted here in Hebrews from Proverbs 3:11-12 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Did you hear that? Did you see what you were called?

My son… My daughter… My chosen one. You are mine and the things I do for you are for your betterment. How many of us as parents would love to give our children everything they ask for? And do all of their laundry and chores, so they can play and be kids? We would love to allow our children to do what ever they want, but good parents know that saying no is the best thing for their kids, and denying some of their wants is helping them more than hurting them. We are helping to shape them into constructive active participants in this thing we call life, and that is exactly what God is doing for each of us.

We sometimes have to go through those periods of not understanding and not getting what we want, of looking and wondering, but never wondering if God is there or does He care. He loves us and claims us as His own…

My child you are my beloved, and I have claimed you as my own, know that the reproof and testing you are undergoing is for your betterment, and to prepare you for things that are to come. I have never and will never leave you or forsake you. Trust in me and do not grow weary in your path ahead.

Cross Eyed!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV)

 Fix your eyes upon Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Or as Peder Eide shows us on the coffee mug to the left, Keep your i i on the cross…

If we can focus on the cross and let the other details be handled by the one who use t reside on the cross handle them, our lives will work out much easier than we could handle them on our own.

You see only Jesus really understands this place and what we are going through, because He has been here and he walked in shoes like yours, maybe not dealing with exactly the same things you are right now, but He understands your pains and sorrows. He understands the ups and downs of life and He has been through the emotional and physical dealing that life brings us. He knows. And He can help you with the details if you will focus on Him.

So focus on the cross, on Jesus and life will not be easy, but He will handle the details…