Faith In Action.

It is easy to say we have faith on a Sunday morning. But what happens when we walk out the church doors?

A check that is signed but never cashed is just a useless piece of paper. It holds immense promise, but until it is put into action, it changes nothing. The same is true for our faith!

Join us as we look into James 2 for an encouraging message of "Faith In Action." 

We are going to look honestly at what real, living faith looks like in our daily lives.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Good morning. It's Blanc Crane the Preach Man on a wet Saturday morning. Thunderstorm rolled through Mahaya earlier this morning and dropped some really good rain on us. And being a West Texas Country Boy, I'm never going to complain about the rain. My apologies for not having this podcast up sooner. A lot of things happened the last couple of days that have been an answer to prayers, and I can't really go into it too much because I don't want to take away from the focus of what we're what the podcast is about. But I can say this without uh without any hesitation. The good Lord does answer prayers, and we got an answer to a prayer uh earlier this week, and I, for one, am eternally thankful and even more excited about what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks. But I will um talk about that further on toward the close of the podcast, if you will allow me. So last Sunday we covered the the subject of faith in action. We talked about some uh examples in James, where James refers to Abraham and Rahab. And I guess I wanted to make a feeble attempt. I know that there are theologies and there are churches, and there are people of faith who will try to do their best to split the hair and really try to have things both ways when it comes to what James says about faith and works and what Paul says, not only in Ephesians, but in other books, where we are saved by by grace or we are saved by grace through faith alone. And it for me it's I I've always had this and it's it's I guess maybe personal psychological thing is you can't move on. In order for us to move on past this, we we've got to we've got to come to an agreement on faith and action and and how it's not the it's not the the works that save us. I mean I will I will I will say that and and and and and and preach that because I am a I am I'm I land on the side of saved by grace through faith. But it's those works, those godly works, those things that God has prepared for us to do that James talks about that says if you don't i i if if you'd have if you have faith without works, then your faith is dead. And then you you you bring that subject over to the Hebrew writer and say, Hey, Hebrew writer, explain this. James just said that faith without works is dead, and you say faith is the substance or the certainty of things hoped for. What's the deal? And so I let me well let me and I'll just say this I do not think that it is uh fair for anybody to try to paint in broad strokes a description of faith and works and grace. Well, uh pretty much any saving matter. Any any any salvation issue matter is not something that you just gloss over, skim over. It's one of those things where you it's kind of like eating fish. You gotta get down and dig through the bones to get to the good meat. When it comes to salvation saved by grace through faith. Faith without works is dead. The essentialness of baptism and the list goes on you can't just have a statement and move on. No, you've got to be able to understand it yourself because in the end that's what's important. Not having witty sayings or PowerPoint presentations. Um I would even go as far as to say the the uh the concept of of uh being able to go to scripture in an instant to point out these things uh that just that justify yourself into explaining why you think this is right. It's got nothing to do with uh uh the fact that uh in order for a person to understand the full capacity of salvation, then you've got to dig down and you've got to get it to a point where you and the Holy Spirit can explain it and it makes sense to the person who wants to be saved. Do I think we're going to continue to have conversations about works and faith and the conflict that uh many people have said, you know, James conflicts with the rest of the Bible. No, he doesn't. Yes, I do believe we will have those conversations still. But hopefully after some of the things that we've talked about in this series on fix your faith, you will be able to be a part of that conversation and it be it and it will be positive and uplifting, which is the goal of any any person who is wanting to share their faith and share Jesus. There's there's good news, and it's it's called good news for a reason. And so let's go ahead and and and roll this sermon from last Sunday preached on the 31st. This is faith in action with the text used in this sermon was uh James two verses 14 through 26. And we'll be back afterwards for a few closing thoughts. Open your Bibles to James chapter two, please, or turn on your Bibles. Now we're gonna not gonna necessarily start there with my first line of scripture that I'm gonna uh put out there, but it is where we will be uh spending some time today as we continue our lessons of uh faith, how we are to fix our faith, and how we are to have a better understanding of what this sometimes can be considered confused, maybe even controversial, idea of faith and works. I know this may sound kind of I don't know how it's gonna sound, but I'm gonna say it anyway. It's 2026, y'all. We should we we should be moving past some of these hot topic conversations. We should have an understanding of what it means and move on. So anyway, we're gonna go, we're gonna look into this, and how we're gonna start is this probably something that we that all of us do um monthly, weekly, bi-weekly, and that is um some of you go to the bank and you are handed uh a paycheck. Maybe you sold some cattle, maybe you sold some things or you know, whatever, and someone writes you a check, puts your name on it, and you go to the bank. But before you can hand that check over to the teller with your deposit slip, if you continue, if you choose to do your banking on the inside, some of us go through the drive-thru, some of us even how many of you are doing your your check deposits by taking a picture of it front and back, and boy, it zips right in there, doesn't it? But before you can do anything with that check, before the deposits live or anything, you have to do something on the back of that check, and what is it? That's right, you got to put your name on it. When it comes to this idea of what James is talking about in James chapter 2, it seems to me that that would that is a really good analogy. Um the idea is that that um a check that is signed but never cashed is just a useless piece of paper. The check in itself can hold immense promise, especially depending on how many numbers you got behind you know behind that dollar sign. But until it is put into action, it changes nothing about your bank account. The exact same thing can be said on faith that is just merely spoken but never lived out completely. If you don't live it out, if you don't have your faith, if you're if if you're not working on your faith daily, if you're not fixing your faith, maintaining however you want to look at it, if you're not using it, if you're not putting it out there, demonstrating it, your bank account's gonna be completely bankrupt, and you and you have no excuse to be scratching your head wondering what went wrong. The idea here is that there is a lot of times we talk about it faith and works. I choose to talk about it faith in action. Faith in action is is a a well it it's it's it is hinted in many other passages of scriptures, but James does a very good job of just putting it out there. Putting it out there and trying to use the use the uh example of a of a debate between someone who is wanting to debate about faith and works. And and James is trying to play both sides of the argument, and he when he does that, he he kind of gives us the idea of what to think about as we go through this lesson. Here's what I want you to think about as we look at this. If someone were to follow you around all week long next week, and they did not know you were a Christian, what specific action would convince them that you are a faithful follower of Jesus? I would submit to you today that real biblical faith isn't something that should be considered invisible. It it remember when I first started talking about fixture faith and I brought up this the two uh the two cake mixes, and I said how the King James Version refers to faith as the substance of things hoped for. Uh NIV, New America State, other versions say the certainty of things hoped for. And I said that cake mix is the substance. And I've had one cake made out of that out of one cake mix, and that's the substance of things hoped for. Then I brought up another uh sample of a cake mix that I have never experienced. By the way, Michelle corrected me. She said, Yes, I have made a strawberry cake before, and you've had it and you've liked it. So that's beside the point. The point is that I don't recall it, but I have a certainty that if she made that cake mix, I would know exactly what it was. When you combine the substance, the certainty of faith, the assurance of things hoped for, and you combine that with the actions, it doesn't become invisible anymore. In fact, it goes from being something that could be considered invisible to something that should stick out like a fluorescent pink shirt. It is always it proves so biblical faith isn't never invisible, it always proves its existence through active obedience. And if you wanted to take active obedience and and put that in place of what some of your versions might refer to as works or some might refer to as actions, then yeah, go for it. Do it. Until you decide to get those boots resold, that is faith in action. You put those boots on every day, knowing that they're going to do the job that they have been designed to do and help you make it through the day. Real biblical faith is never invisible. And it starts out with this idea, and and and and I want to give you a more of a foundational way to think about this. Like I said, we're we're we're gonna be in James, but before we go to James, I want to go to Hebrews 11:6. And Hebrews 11:6 is a very simple verse. Hebrews 11.6 says this. This is a without faith, it is impossible to please him, him being God. For whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. You're not going to lean into or attach yourself to something that you really don't think is there. It would be like putting your hand, closing, walking your, it would be like walking in the dark, but you have a feeling that the direction of the light switch is over in this direction. No, that's not how this works. You know where the thing is. You believe that's where the light switch is, and so you're gonna go that direction, and hopefully you don't run into something in the in the meantime. Hebrew, the writer of Hebrews is telling us that faith is a mandatory thing in order to one, please God, but also to have a connection with him. And James is gonna show us exactly what pleasing faith looks like. It looks like a pair of worn boots, leather, put on every day, worked in every day. True faith believes God exists. True faith also acts on that belief, and through our acts, our actions, we are seeking Him. And he does a good job of this in James chapter two by starting out with a a he uses an example that should be that should be understood by anyone who uh is a faithful follower of Jesus and a faithful member of his church. James gives us uses a challenge basically. A challenge of benevolence. What does he say in verse 14? What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but has no works, can that faith save him? Now, we're gonna just just so you know, I'm covering all my bases here, we're gonna look, we're gonna spend some time in Ephesians. But this is the question: can that faith save him? If a brother or a sister is without clothing, without clothing, in need of daily food, and you say to them, Go in peace, be warmed and well fed, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead. Being by itself. If you like to mark in your Bible, mark that last part of that sentence. Being by itself. Faith is important. Obviously. I think we can understand. I mean, I've been pre I've been talking about this for a couple of months now. I mean for a couple of days, for a couple of Sundays now. I think we can understand the importance of understanding what the importance of having a good, a good faith, a fixed faith, a faith that is following Jesus. Doing good deeds, doing things in honor to glorify God, very important. And I think we're gonna get to the point where we can see I want what happens when you put those two things together. Faith, but but but faith also, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. James is challenging us here to understand the importance of well, benevolent work, helping those in need. Someone's cold or hungry or or sick or or whatever. And if all you do is offer them good wishes without doing something for them physically, then really are we are words empty? I think we can safely say here that true faith doesn't just feel sympathy. True faith will motivate your hands and your feet and your heart to do something. If it's putting a little extra in the plate, if it's going home and making an extra portion of whatever it is you're making, if it's just if it's if it's going over to the person's house and holding their hand while they deal with whatever it is they're dealing with, it it should motivate us physically to meet real needs. Now, what we're going to look at next is Sometimes a statement that I think sometimes we we kind of just kind of we acknowledge it because it's in the Bible, but I really don't know if we are taking it as seriously as we should. Because what we have here is an intellectual agreement, and an intellectual agreement is not a saving faith. It's entirely possible. It's entirely possible to have correct theology in your head while your heart remains completely unchanged. You can be biblically right, but if you have a hard heart or a heart that hasn't been softened, then you're kind of not really moving forward. You're kind of stuck. Look at verse 18 of James chapter 2. Someone says, Well, you have faith, I'm gonna have works. Show me your faith without works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. Kind of continuing a conversation that we've had we just got through having. You believe God is one. You do well. I think everyone here, if I had said show of hands, how many of you believe that God is one? We would have a majority of people raising their hands. I'd probably get some amens. I'd probably get some hand claps. Oh, yeah, that's a powerful statement. That's a right statement, that's a true statement, that's a pure statement of theology. Guess what? The demons also believe that. They don't listen, they're scared of it. It makes them nervous, it makes them shudder, according to James, but they believe it. They believe it, they believe it with all their heart. Here's the question, though. And probably one of the reasons why I love the gospel of the book of, not the gospel of James, the book of James so much is because he doesn't pull his punches, but he also knows exactly where to aim. Are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? Oh, yeah, we well, we've gotta have a we've gotta make a stand on this preacher. We gotta make sure that we we are very clear about our theology. We are saved by grace through faith and not of works. Like I said, it is 2026. There is no conflict with what James writes about here and what Paul writes about in Ephesians. When he talks about works, he's talking about good works, works that God has already planned for us to do. He's talking about action. He's talking about the motivation of the situation, not the combination of the two. If you are willing to so are you willing to acknowledge that faith without works is useless, then he says, if you want to try to um argue that question, then I'm gonna present you with two examples. Abraham, was uh was my father Abraham not justified by works when he did what? Offered his son Isaac upon the altar. You know, from that day forward, Isaac always walked in front of his, walked behind his dad, not in front of him. Last time I, you know, and and if Abraham said, hey Isaac, let's go hiking, Isaac, no. Well, I'm not going hiking with you. Now, if you want to go jump back, I mean I'm not I'm not saying to do this, but in your study time, go back and look at what the Hebrew writer says about about this whole situation. The Hebrew writers submit uh puts puts out puts into the case of Abraham and sacrificing Isaac. The Hebrew writer says, it could be it was it was entirely possible that Abraham believed and had the faith to believe that God could bring Isaac back from the dead. I'm a dad, I have two kids, my boys, my my boy's the the the youngest, my bab the the baby to have God ask me, tell me to take him and sacrifice him. Oh you want to add to that the icon the concept of God said that boy is going to be your inheritance, it's gonna be the it's gonna be the start of the whole family line. Then why why why am I killing him? But when it came down to it and the test and Abraham passed the test, it was it was the what does he say? He goes on to talk about how that he was justified through this. He was justified through this. Um Rahab, who heard of the the who heard the tales and the stories of what these former slaves of Egypt were doing as they were coming down to Jericho, how they were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, how this God of theirs was doing marvelous things ahead of them, how they were able to win battles when the odds were stacked against them. She saw that coming down the line and she made it a predetermined idea that, well, I'm gonna do something because I want to be on the side of right on this. So the examples of Abraham and Rahab, James points back through history. James points back through history to show that the right belief and the right action they go hand in hand. Abraham's faith was made complete when he willingly obeyed God on the mountain. True faith. True faith, if you want to think about it this way, true faith acts on the word of God. Even even if the cost can look incredibly high, and with that that which kind of goes into the next verse that we're gonna look that we need to look at in James, uh, verse 21. Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see, faith, you see that faith was working. Get this, faith was working with what? With his works. Abraham was doing stuff, his faith was working with the stuff that he was doing, and as a result of the works, what does it say? Faith was what, say at church, perfected. So and the scripture was fulfilled when it says Abraham believed God, and it was credited him with righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. I don't know too many people in our in in the text who earned that title. David was a man for God's own heart. There are many prophets who were named with God in their names. I think, I'm not sure, I mean I could be wrong. If I am, I know some of you will correct me on this, but I think there's only one person who's been called a friend of God. And it was because Abraham understood that you can have the strongest, biggest, large amount of faith out there. But if you don't allow it to play a part in the works, the good works that you're doing, no one's gonna know. It's useless, it's dead, he says. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, Rahab, the prostitute, not justified by works, but also when she received the messenger messengers and sent them out another way, she also too acted on her faith. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without works is dead. Now, I can probably try to answer as many questions as you could probably throw at me on this, but just to let you know, if if you if you you you're really gonna have to take it up with James. Because I can I I don't know how else to say this, I don't know how else to write this. I can't, I can't, I'm not that eloquent of a preacher to to get up here and try to do something extra when James puts it as clearly as I can. True faith acts on the word of God, even if the cost is incredibly high. So this morning, what can we go home with? Think about these things. James is teaching, and all the debate and all the confusion and all this stuff that that kind of and all the stuff that that James is teachings generates can be summarized kind of briefly. If you combined Ephesians, the verses in Ephesians, along with James, you can see that we are saved by grace through the substance or the certainty of faith, and that saving faith produces good works. Those who lack works proves they lack a saving faith. So if you want to kind of think about it this way, think about it this way, faith combine faith by itself will probably get you pretty far. Faith plus good works, Ephesians 2, 10, can lead you to justification. In the end, I think we can safely say that we don't that you don't just say you believe. If you are a Christian, if you are a follower of God, you are challenged and encouraged to show that you believe it's not a good thing. But I also believe that there are times and there are situations where you can you can have two really good things and they have equal partnership in making something incredibly better and more understanding. And when we look at that and we can see that there are that in many c in some cases, you can have two good things. And instead of them being or looking or reading as if they are divisive, they really kind of bookend one another. And so when you have two good things of equal value, what you're probably will see sometimes is that they are really bookends for the thing that is central. In this case, on one bookend, on one hand, we have we are saved by grace through faith. And on the other hand, the other bookend is this A saving faith produces good works. And in the middle, you have salvation, you have Christianity, you have the church. Just something to, I guess, put a put a cherry on top of this uh closing section of this podcast. So if I can, let me give you a little rundown of what's gonna be attempted to be taking place here in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to preach one more sermon, Lord willing, next Sunday, tomorrow, as it was recorded. This is recorded on Saturday. So tomorrow I'm going to preach the last of the series on fix your faith. And uh I'll get to that sermon title here in a minute. The next two Sundays, I will be out of town. My uh good, good uh preacher who has been filling in for me, uh, and his parents are members here at this congregation, will be filling in for me. Kate Andrews, who has his who he and his buddies have their own preaching podcast, and if I can, I'll try to find a way to put a link in so you can listen to Kate and his uh preaching team. Well, it's not really his preaching team, but it's a team of preachers who work in congregations that do not have uh full-time ministers, and so they kind of they they kind of travel about. They're traveling preachers, if you will. It's a really neat concept when you think about it. But the point is that Kate is going to be here to fill in for me for the next two Sundays. Um I'm gonna be out of town uh the Sunday after next, and then the next week, Father's Day Sunday, it will it will be a time for me to be a part of Central Texas Christian camps. I'm going to attempt to record the sermon that I preach there at camp, which I I will uh I'll I'll preach at camp, but I'm also um on the Bible class team. So I will have a Bible lesson that um I will post on here because this is the Preacher Man podcast sermons and lessons. So um there's uh there's gonna be, and I don't really know how long, but there's gonna be a gap. There's gonna be a gap where uh so what it will nor what will probably take place is that I will post the Sunday sermon from the week previous, next time, and then there will be a gap, and then uh there will be a week gap, and then when I come back from camp, I will do two podcasts with both of one being my sermon and one being my Bible lesson, and uh that's how I will get us caught up, and then after that, we're going to be jumping to a new uh uh Fix and 26 um topic, subject. And I will let you know what that is uh when the time comes. In the meantime, uh, Lord willing, next Sunday, uh the close, the wrapping up of our Fix Our Faith series will be a lesson entitled What Makes You Think You're Right With God? And it's really going to be about faith and justification and what we really, really need to come to grips with when it comes to what saves us or what being saved by grace through faith, what it really, really saves us from. As always, I would love to hear from you. Um I've gotten comments and and and accolades and attays and good jobs on social media. Um I do have a Facebook page, the Preacher Man Podcast is on Facebook, and um maybe I can find a way to get a link out. Of course, many of you already know it because you follow me. So there's there's the and you can contact me through through Facebook on the Preacher Man Podcast if you have any questions or comments or um want me to look into something that maybe would be interesting to a thing to talk about on the preacher on the podcast. But you can also email me uh preacherman1178 at gmail.com. That's preacherman1178 at gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. And as always, thank you for listening, thank you for downloading. Um I appreciate all the um the the good responses, but I'm always open to uh to critique, so you're not gonna hurt my feelings. Um I'm my own worst critic. But um I really appreciate it. Um I hope y'all have a really blessed week. I hope that uh the next couple of weeks will be good for you. Um like I said, I'm really, really thankful that the Lord has answered a really big prayer. Uh it's we're I'm I'm excited about this uh this coming weekend um for uh because it's gonna be a celebration of my daughter's birthday, but I'm also excited about uh Central Texas Christian camps and the theme that we're having uh this year at camp. So um I'm gonna let you have it back. Enjoy your rest of your Saturday. This is the Preacher Man signing off. And always remember who you are and whose you are.