It's an old conversation. Faith and Works. Strangely the two concepts are too often set off against each other as if they were rivals vying for the same position that only one of them can occupy. The assumption has at times led students of the scriptures to try to set Bible writers at odds with each other over the issue.
It's not hard to understand how this kind of thing happens. If you assume that your standing before God is based on your performance, rather than being grounded in grace (the unmerited favor of God extended to us through Christ), and that the central issue in salvation has to do with how well one measures up, then it is not difficult to see how faith (relying on God's grace) and works (relying on our performance) can be set at odds with each other.
While the scriptures do contrast the difference between relying upon our performance and resting in God's grace as the basis for our assurance of our standing with God, it does not see the two as opposed to each other, anymore than seeing fruit on an apple tree is a odds with tending the life of the tree. What we do, even if we do it imperfectly, always reflects what we value. It is something that happens because of, not in order to.
Strangely, when either side of the equation is distorted (as long as you believe, your behavior doesn't matter in any way - or, the only thing that matters in the end is what you do), we tend to live our lives in reaction to, rather than out of.
Is it possible to think of a Christian way of life that does not make a difference in the way we live and treat each other? It is possible to think of a Christian way of life that is not grounded in trusting the kind of God we see revealed in Jesus? Why do you think we have such a hard time putting these two together? What is the greatest hazard, underestimating grace, or underestimating behavior? Is it possible for a person who still holds to legalistic presuppositions to fully understand this? Is it possible for someone who thinks behavior is irrelevant to fully understand this? Why? Something more to think about . . .
To Listen to Pastor Chris's sermon, click here.
As you reflect on the passages to the right,
do you hear them as being in tension with each other,
or as different aspects of the same reality?
How do you put these together?
Where do you continue to struggle?
Things to think about:
Can we take the name of Christian without also being serious about living the kind of life that Jesus modeled?
Can we spend so much time worrying about heaven's entrance requirements (because we don't fully grasp grace) that we don't have the energy to actually embody what it means to live out of the assurance of our salvation which overflows in loving others?
What might it look like to spend less time bogged down in religious anxiety over our standing with God, and more time caring for those around us?
What might it look like to nurture our own spiritual life, not so we can be good enough, but so we can live with greater integrity, from the inside out, as we care for others?
What other questions do you think are worth reflecting upon?
James 2:14-26 (TNIV)
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.16 If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
18 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. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24 You see that people are justified by what they do and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Romans 3:20, 27-28; 4:1-5 (TNIV)
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. . .
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the "law" that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, the forefather of us Jews, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
4 Now to anyone who works, their wages are not credited to them as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to anyone who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.