February 20th - Exodus 4; James 2:14-26

Scripture: James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Observation: This is one of the passages that made Martin Luther dislike the book of James (with his focus on Grace). Luther saw a conflict between this set of passages and the theology of Paul (who wrote most of the NT books). With careful study and understanding of who the book of James was written for we can see there really is no conflict. Notice in vs. 14 that James never says the person actually has saving faith, but rather just makes that claim.

Application: Christianity is different from the other religions of the world because we are not a works righteousness faith - we cannot earn our entrance into heaven. Our salvation is a gift from God, He chose us before there was time. As believers though, we then are called to serve. Our service wells up from within us as a result of saving grace, not for saving grace. We should count it as a pleasure and joy to have the opportunity to serve in the name of Jesus!


Prayer: Sovereign God, thank you for your grace to save a sinner like me. I praise you that you allow me to work in your name, to serve others, to be the hands and feet of Christ to the world! Amen.