Sermon(Jas 2:14-26): Faith and works leading to salvation

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252581

 

 

 

>> 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? .... 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? ... 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works. ... 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. ... 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. (Jas 2:14-26) <<

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People do not hesitate to misunderstand others unilaterally to prove their superiority. Catholicism did not ignore faith, nor did Protestantism ignore works (good deeds). Nevertheless, Protestantism criticized Catholicism as a legalistic religion that does not take account of faith, while Catholicism belittled the Protestant doctrine of 'salvation only by faith' as a frivolous thought. Catholicism required works from the saints under the prerequisite of faith in order to prove their faith. But they over-emphasized the works, and it became a legalism. From the Protestant point of view, it ignored the central points of the gospel. Most Protestant theologians think that man is saved by faith, however, that the faith must be proved to be true by the works. Both sides do not raise any objections to the life of believing in God, serving him only, obeying his words, and being a good neighbor to others. Because it is natural that we live so. Both sides emphasize the works of such kind. What really mattered was the works (good deeds) after the proclamation of the forgiveness of the sins. The works were a kind of penalty then. Catholicism imposes on the saints a duty of some deeds, that is, a kind of redemption (reparation or compensation for the sins), after the proclamation of the forgiveness of sins (that is, after the penance). But the problem is the doctrine that the compensation of sins is compulsory, and that the deeds imposed on an individual can be exempt by the works and merits of others who are very good and holy Christians. In Protestant, the imposition of such compensational deeds for the forgiveness of sins is a perverted soteriology (doctrine of salvation) and an unbiblical view. According to the Protestant doctrine, such a Catholic doctrine concerning the forgiveness of sins destroys Jesus' merits of crucifixion and is a poison pill that leads us to the worship of saints. Catholic believers complain that Protestantism teaches that we are saved only by faith. But they complain because they ignore the fact that the Protestant faith is the faith that is supported by the works. Some Protestants confess their faith only by mouth but have little interest in the good deeds, so they attract criticism from Catholicism. Such false Christians are criticised by Protestants, too. And yet, in connection with forgiveness, Protestantism flatly rejects the imposition of works in Catholicism. I think Protestantism is in a more biblical position on the forgiveness of sins than Catholicism. But it is better if a Christian who is forgiven his sins willingly makes a contribution to the church and serves God and church. If it is not compulsory, isn't it the best deed for the church?

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Paul, the author of the book of James, the Protestantism, and even the Catholicism - all of them emphasized both faith and works (deeds). But here, the compulsory religious deeds the Catholicism lays on the saints at the penitential times are excluded. My brethren, as Bible says, there must be both faith and works in order for us to be saved, for God is not so senseless as to acknowledge a false faith. If a real typhoon comes, it brings threatening winds and rain, because the typhoon is not a fake. A real bomb makes a tremendous sound and destroys all things round about, because it is a real bomb. So does the faith. A real faith cannot but accompany works. That's why the author of James says to a man of all faith and no deeds (a man of ‘faith all-aroundism’), "Show me your faith without deeds. I'll show you my faith by my deeds." The faith without works is a faith of deceiving oneself. The author of James says of Abraham for an example. "Abraham's faith worked with his deeds, and his faith became complete by his works." Abraham obeyed God without any words of complaint when God commanded him to offer his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. When Abraham tried to kill his only son, God recognized his faith and stopped him. God said at that time, "Now I know that you fear God, seeing you not withheld your son, your only son, from me. (Gen 22:12)" And the author of James put emphasis on both faith and works when he said that Rahab the harlot, who had faith in God, acted as God wanted, in accordance with her faith. "As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. (Jas 2:26)."

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You must believe in God, the Creator of all, to be saved. And you must believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, as your Lord. You must believe that you have obtained the eternal life by the forgiveness of your sins thanks to the merits (the accomplishments) of Jesus. You'll never be saved apart from this faith. And works connected to this faith must be done in your life in order that you might be saved. Because your faith is not a true faith apart from such works. What are the works?

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First, if you believe in God who created heaven and earth, you must reject all other gods, that is, vain idols, except the God Jehovah. You have a false faith in God if you, confessing the God to be your God, worship a stone Buddha, bow to a strange rock and to a big tree in the middle of the town (usually in Korea). Then you may confess that you believe in the God, but the god you believe in is but an idol you have made for yourself. How can you, serving an idol, expect the eternal life from the only God of Trinity? He who professes to be a Christian, yet respects the gods of other religions is not a man believing in the God of Christianity. He who is believing in the God of Christianity can't behave like that. He who does like that proves himself to have a false faith. You have a false faith in God if you confess to believe in God, yet are living in the fear of ghosts and dirty demons. You'll never be afraid of any demons or dirty spirits if you really believe in the Almighty God who created the world. If you really believe in the God who gives you the eternal life, you'll not carry a talisman against such evil demons. And if you really believe in the God, you will obey all commandments in the Bible, his words. Of course, man is a weak creature, so he can make mistakes and commit sins. But fundamentally, a God-fearing man tries to obey his words as much as possible. He who has not this basic mentality is not a Christian believing in God. And when we confess that we believe in God, we naturally confess that God is righteous and we are sinners. If you say you haven't committed any sins, you're fooling God who knows all your deeds. God created this world. God searched all of the world and proclaimed that all humans are sinners. If a man claims to that God that he is a righteous man who has never sinned, he is denying the God as the Judge of the last trial, which proves that he has a false faith. A man believing in God believes in his omnipotence and his authority to judge the world. Therefore if a man really believes that he is not a sinner even though he has committed sins, he can't stand before God who gives eternal life, permanently, for he believes God is a liar. Will God save him who believes God is a liar? No!

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Only when you believe in Jesus as your Savior will you have eternal life. God (the Father), who created heaven and earth, sent this begotten Son into the world, let him die on the cross, and raised him from death, in order to solve the problem of your and my sins, and to give us eternal life as gift. God promised that all humans believing in this only begotten Son Jesus would be given the power to become the children of God (Jn 1:12). When we believe this, we can obtain the eternal life. If you have this faith, how will your deeds have to be? You'll think you are a servant of Jesus, if you have such a faith. You'll think Jesus is the Savior of your life. You'll love Jesus more than the world, and even than yourself. You'll thank Jesus from the bottom of your heart. If there are not these deeds, your faith is a false faith. However, Jesus said something to us concerning 'our love of Jesus'. He said we must love those who believe in Jesus. This is a special commandment of Jesus. There are Christians among the poor, sick and marginalized people. If you love Jesus, you'll love them also, not disregarding them. Of course, you have to love non-Christians. He who believes in Jesus obeys only the words of Jesus, rejecting the words of the Devil. Jesus is a good shepherd and we are his sheep. The sheep hear the shepherd's voice and follow him. A Christian believing in Jesus is like a farmer who plows a field. He must not look away, glance sidewise, and look back. We must keep an eye only on the goal Jesus has set for us, and keep on walking forward to the goal. He who believes in Jesus as the Savior takes up his cross upon himself with a grateful heart. The worldly people belong to the Devil, so they may persecute the sheep of Jesus. You have to suffer much loss and pain when you keep the commandments of Jesus in the world of infinite competition. Christians believing in Jesus bear such a cross gladly. Believers of Jesus tell the world the good news of salvation. They introduce the Savior Jesus to the world. Those who preach the gospel with the real joy and conviction of the heart are believers who really believe in Jesus as the Savior. only believers with a living spirit can evangelize others and give them a new life. The Holy Spirit is in those who preach the gospel. You are a 100% Christian if you preached the gospel to the people by the power of the Holy Spirit and saved them. Then you have a genuine faith. Those in whom such deeds can be seen have a true faith in Jesus. We believed in Jesus and are saved, so we must hate sins and love righteousness as ones whose sins were forgiven. Those who love to sin love the Devil, and no one will believe them even if they say openly they believe in Jesus.

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You must believe God's promise of eternal life in order to be saved. You must believe the resurrection of the dead. You must believe that all human beings have to be present at the final judgement of Jesus. You must believe that God will give eternal life to them who, living in the world, believed in Jesus as the Savior, and whose faith turned out true by the deeds mentioned above. You must believe that sinners who are not saved will suffer torment in the hell permanently. If you have the faith in the eternal life, what must your deeds be? You'll always give thanks to God for all. You'll naturally be grateful to God when good things happen to you; however, if you believe that you have gained the eternal life, you'll give thanks to God for all things without any complaints even when bad things happen to you. In particular, if you give thanks to God even for a great misfortune seen from the point of view of the secular people, your faith can be recognized by God. Then, you can believe that you have gained eternal life already. If you have the faith in the eternal life, you won't be afraid of death. You have a proven faith if you show such attitude of life. You have a genuine effective faith then.

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Our true reactions to the attribute of God, his works and promises, which I explained above, are our works that confirm our faith, and these works are essential to our salvation. Other deeds that have nothing to do with that, for example, offering up 10 million won to God to be forgiven sins, doing 1,000 hours of community service to be forgiven sins, fasting for seven days to be forgiven sins, are simply nonsense. All our sins are forgiven without any further works immediately when we pray for forgiveness to the heavenly Father in the name of Jesus. If you are grateful for the forgiveness and do the works of love for God and others more than before, it's God's delight. All our good works can never be the means to rid ourselves of our sins. It is ridiculous for us to prove our righteousness by other works than were mentioned above to prove the true faith. How can a forgiven sinner claim his righteousness? It will offend God. All our good works are fruits of the Holy Spirit that we surely bear when live a life of obeying God's word. Therefore we must not boast of those fruits before God and man as if they were our own fruits. My brethren, do a lot of good works. But never praise yourself for those works. All glory must belong to God only.

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May your deeds prove your true faith. May God, your Savior, be greatly glorified by your good deeds. Amen!

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Chong Tack Kim

                                     - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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