“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26).
TEXT — James 2:14-26
Message
An incident in the life of John Wesley illustrates a cardinal truth. An associate of Wesley, Samuel Bradburn, was highly respected by his friends and used by God as an effective preacher. On one occasion he was in rather desperate financial need. When Wesley learned of his circumstances, he sent him a five-pound note (then worth about $10) with the following letter:
“Dear Sammy: ‘Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.’” Yours affectionately, John Wesley’.” Bradburn’s reply was prompt. “Rev. and Dear Sir: I have often been struck with the beauty of the passage of Scripture quoted in your letter, but I must confess that I never saw such a useful expository note on it before.”
This is certainly the voice of true, living and dynamic faith in the heart. James, in our text, practically drives home the unprofitability of faith without works and exemplifies it with the illustration of a poor brother or sister whom the rich folk merely wished well without any tangible alleviation or palliative to the sufferer. James condemned this and described that kind of faith without works as dead. Indisputably, our faith must be centred in the saving gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in His inerrant Word. Such faith will inevitably result in a changed life and good works, as well as a sound and growing confidence in the deity of Christ, His substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, and the assurance of one’s personal salvation.
That is the faith that saves. It, however, never abides alone. It must be lived out. Beyond believing, faith also “behaves”. Faith works. A workless faith is a worthless faith. The works and actions of Abraham and Rahab both articulate and screamed the faith in their hearts to the highest heavens.
And to you too, the Holy Spirit through James, purposed to prompt you to recognise and accept your need for a living, active faith and to challenge you to test your own faith by the basic criterion that “faith without works is worthless”. A saving faith is a working faith, proving its vitality by its production of works. Beware, lest your faith be dead.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
