An Exposition on the Book of James Part 9
If you haven’t yet, please check out part 1 of this series, The ideas of James are all centered around the idea of a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect.
“Faith untested can’t be trusted.” A simple but wise quote. I cant believe that I can fly in a boat, but if that theory never takes flight the belief that I have should not be trusted. God is not interested in us following an untested belief.
There are times when God does want us to trust him without understanding. This is not so that God can see how we will obey or not, he already knows. It for us to see and sometimes for others to see our faith being tested. Why? So that our faith can be trusted by us more effectively. A faith that has been tested by the trials fire is a sure foundation on which to stand. A person who is double minded about their doctrine is a person who has not had his faith pass the testing. He is still lacking and therefore will falter.
We should be doing things in life that align with our beliefs. Why should a Christian celebrate Halloween. It is misaligned with the Christian faith. A saved person should live like it. A work of faith is a work that aligns with the belief. Because I believe winter is coming I cut firewood. It is a work in alignment with my faith. I know winter is coming based on past experiences. Why don’t I let my kids dress up for halloween? Because I believe it is a holy day for Satan and to observe the day is against Jeremiah 10’s admonition not to learn the way of the heathen. My faith is based on study, my study is based on sources that I have found trustworthy based on experience. It would be inconsistent if I said I believe Halloween is a wicked holiday for Satan and wickedness is rampant on this day but I don’t see anything wrong with observing it. That would be a work contrary to faith.
The entire book of James is to show us that God wants us to have a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect, but that an untried faith is a vain faith and a faith that does not produce a work in alignment with that faith is also vain.
Christ desires for us to reach a point where are faith produces a foundation on which our works will stand. I could give you countless stories of men and Women who had an unwavering faith in the saving power of God’s grace alone to save them from Hell’s fire and were motivated by the scriptures to live out a bold stance for their believe that eventually cost them their life. I also know of people who have been so unsure of their salvation that they cannot stand.
Do you know why you cannot share the gospel with a stranger at the pump? Do you know why you cannot resist the sins that so easily beset you? Do you know why you cannot obey Christ’s command to give no thought for the things of tomorrow, but to seek God and his kingdom first? It is simply because a lack of faith or an untested faith.
I can look at a bred recipe and gather all the ingredients for it and say, I have the ability to follow this recipe and make bred. But if I never bake the bred I may not be very sure of that ability or I may soon (based on the waves of life) loose my confidence in myself or in the recipe to make the bred. But after I follow the recipe and the bred turns out I now have a tested recipe, and a tasted faith. The more often I use that recipe and the bred turns out the more faith I will have in it. If I go a long stretch of time without making bred I may loose a measure of my faith to make the bred. The answer is not get another recipe, but try it again. Soon everything with come back and it will be there faster than the first time.
This is the way it is with our faith in God. He has promised to save us, but the longer we go from experiencing his goodness and grace the more trouble we have believing his word. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing the Word of God, it is not a one and done, it is a continual seeking and understanding. The salvation is once for all, but the assurance can come ago. When we sin we have illustrated infidelity or lack of faith and if we have a decreased faith we have a decreased assurance. To have a perfectly forged faith that makes us perfect it must often be whet upon the iron of the word and we should often sharpen our brothers in Christ with our fellowship of faith.
S. T.
Acts 20:24
" But none of these things move me..."
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