Faith without Good Deeds Is Dead14 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? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or

clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and

eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What

good does that do?

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it

is dead and useless.

18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good

deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have

good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God.[f] Good for

you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How

foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

21 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? 22 You

see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith

complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham

believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his

faith.”[g] He was even called the friend of God.[h] 24 So you see, we are shown

to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

25 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.26 Just as the body is dead without breath,[i] so also

faith is dead without good works.

QUESTIONSWhat things about this passage make you uncertain? What does it seem to conflict with?

When the bible gives us things that don’t make sense, it’s always good to go to what we are certain is true. It’s not that the Bible is wrong, it’s that we aren’t understanding it in the way we should be. What do we know is certain about what saves us?

If it is faith in Jesus alone, what could James be getting at when he is saying that faith itself isn’t enough?

Faith is enough to save us. Works does nothing to change whether you’re in or out of God’s kingdom.

What does it mean “Faith by itself isn’t enough” then? What do you think James is talking about when he says ‘faith’? – difference between ‘faith’ as we use it (your faith in Jesus that directs your life) and ‘faith’ as in belief “real” faith isn’t just something you have in your head. Difference between a belief as an idea, and a faith that directs how you act.

What role does works have then?

Works are important because they prove that your faith is real. They don’t save you, but they’re a sign that it’s alive. It’s God who gives your body breath, and there’s nothing you can do to make yourself breathe, but breathing is an indicator that you are alive.

What kind of works are a sign that people have faith? Not “good works” so much as works that point to God.

You believe in a God? Good, even the demons do that and tremble lots of people “believe in God”. What distinguishes them is their opinion on Jesus – believing that He is God, and trusting him to deal with their sins. Not even enough to say “I pray to God’ – all about your faith in Jesus.

Rahab: shown to be right with God rather than made her right with God.

Your faith isn’t a “private faith”. What you believe and how you live are one thing, not two separate ideas. Video going around “I’m a Christian but…” – this list:

I’m Christian but I’m not homophobic;

I’m Christian and I’m definitely not perfect;

I’m Christian but I’m not close-minded;

but I’m not unaccepting;

but I’m not uneducated;

but I am not judgmental;

but I’m not conservative;

I’m not ignorant;

but I don’t place myself on a pedestal;

I’m Christian but I don’t have all the answers.

Text: “What are you?”

but I am accepting;

but I am queer;

I am gay;

but I am a feminist;

I’m a feminist;

definitely am a feminist;

but I do believe in science, in fact I think science makes God look

really cool;

I’m not afraid to talk about sex;

I love me some Beyonce;

but I love wine;

I do believe in monogamy before sex but I will give you sex advice

if you need it;

but I do go to church on Sundays;

I was a YoungLife camp counselor;

I do listen to Christian music, Christian rock, Christian rap, T-Mac,

all the cool kids;

I have friends from all walks of life and different religions, and I

love them all.

Text: What do you want people to know about Christianity?

I guess what I’d like people to know about Christianity today is

that we’re all kind of not crazy;

We shouldn’t be judged on just the people that you see in the

media, or just the people that you’ve met in everyday life. every

Christian is different, and we deserve a chance to explain

ourselves;

A lot of people think Christianity ruins people, but to me I think

it’s people that are ruining Christianity, you never really see the

good that happens, you only see the hypocrites, and the people

who put themselves on a higher pedestal;

But at its core it’s really about love and acceptance and being a

good neighbor;

Just because we prescribe [sic] to a faith that has some really

terrible people in it doesn’t make all of us terrible;

I don’t think that Christians should judge people for who they are

or what they do, I think everybody is in different part of life on

their own path to wherever they’re trying to go. we’re all people

and love is the most important thing.

No mention of Jesus. These aren’t works that prove a Christian (not saying these people don’t have faith!). Being a Christian is all about Jesus.

If you feel like your actions aren’t matching up with your faith, because your actions don’t save you it’s not about going through the actions to force your belief alive. That’s like trying to do CPR on a corpse and thinking that because the chest is moving up and down it’s alive. It needs to come from the heart. So instead of focusing on your actions, focus on your heart.

What’s stopping you from having actions that line up with your faith? If it’s fear of what people think, do you really believe that what Jesus says is true? Because if you believe it’s true, then it doesn’t matter what people think, why would you want to live in a way that you know isn’t the right way to live?If it’s because you don’t know if you can trust Jesus, then identify why that is. What is it about Jesus that you can’t trust?

Get to the heart of it.