James 2:18-20

NLT: 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.” You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

The Message: I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

It is not a case of picking and choosing: you either have faith or you do good works. James is making it perfectly clear here that you cannot have the one without the other. They fit together like a hand in a glove and both are an essential part of being a Christian.

I love the way The Message puts this, telling us that if we try and split faith and works, we will end up a corpse. Because the thing is, we are saved by grace and our works, our deeds, are the evidence of that grace at work in our loves. Before we were saved, before we came to faith, we were as good as dead. If we try to separate our faith from our works, if we try to deny the very natural desire to please God, to obey Him and to let others know about Him, to demonstrate through the things we do the love God has for each and every one of us, then we effectively put ourselves back in the same position we were before we became believers.

You can't mix and match. You can’t claim that because you have a deep abiding faith, you do not need to do "good works" to demonstrate you are a Christian. Similarly, you cannot say that your works will get you into heaven when clearly you have no faith in God. It is not a case of doing good to prove you are a believer, but your belief, your faith, the changes the Holy Spirit makes in each one of use when we become believers, should result in you behaving differently anyway and those changes will have the end result of you carrying out works even if you don't even realise it.

I am probably not explaining this very well. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to say but the words all come out jumbled up! So apologies if this is sounding somewhat garbled.

God is at work in each one of us. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit when we become believers, and He is at work in each one of us, changing us daily from within to become more Christ like. The changes may be gradual, something that happens over weeks, months, even years, or they may be instantaneous. Just because your changes are gradual, does not mean you are a worse person than someone who changes immediately, or vice versa. We are all different, and God knows each one of us intimately, knows our faults, our weaknesses, our good points. He knows how quickly or slowly we need to change in order for that change to become ingrained in us.

My husband suffers from depression, and there are times when I find it very difficult to cope. I have to literally bite my tongue sometimes to stop the first thing coming out of my mouth when he says something that is totally uncalled for but is because of his depression. God is teaching me patience through my husband's depression and believe you me, it is a long hard slog for Him! It is far easier to give a quick retort than it is to stay quiet, but I am slowly learning patience. This is something that has been happening over months, years even. I reckon the growing patience in me is evidence of how God has been changing me although before you think I sound "holier than thou", I would just point out that if you catch me on a morning when I have overslept or am too busy for words, and you complain about the breakfast I have made, moan that you can't find your school bag or tie, you don't want this, that or the other, we get half way to dropping you off at work and then have to go back home because you have left your phone, glasses or security card behind, then you are liable to appreciate all too quickly how little patience I have!

In the same way, God is at work in each one of us, changing us, maybe gradually, maybe immediately, and those changes, whilst not apparent to us, can be seen by others. The changes God works in us result in us naturally, almost without thinking at times, doing the things God would have us do. So our faith in God, our belief in Jesus, our trust in the Holy Spirit, is demonstrated outwardly by our behaviour, the things we do, our "works".

We can't get into heaven by our works, because we are saved by grace, but our works are evidence of our faith. You cannot have the one without the other.