James 2:21-24

NIV: Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

The Message: Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

To be honest, I read this first sentence here in verse 21 and it definitely read to me as if Abraham was justified by his works, not by faith. This contradicts what I know Paul has taught, and what I think James is teaching here so it is kind of confusing. But I think the thing here is that you can't take one verse at a time, you have to take the whole passage to get the gist of what James is saying.

It’s a bit like when my husband does the grocery shopping and I ask him what he bought and what I really mean is that I'm curious and want to know if he got anything nice (i.e., chocolate!). I also want to have an idea of what we have in in case I fancy baking or something, and have an idea of the meals he is going to be cooking (he does the cooking in our house. It’s tough on me, a real hardship letting him do all the cooking, but I make the sacrifice and struggle on anyway ;)!!) . He, however, takes that as an inquisition into whether or not he got the right stuff and starts justifying everything and explaining how this has gone up in price, we needed such and such as we had run out and so on. He takes my first question and reads into it far more than there is in there.

In these verses, I reckon it is exactly the same. The first sentence tells me that Abraham is justified by his works. Which brings me to a complete stand still because the whole point is that we are saved by grace, not be our works as who could possibly be good enough to get into heaven by their actions? But like the shopping question, I need to read on because it is not just a case of Abraham doing something here and being made right with God because of it. He actually went to sacrifice his own son, the son that God had told him would make him the father of nations, with children as numerous as the stars, because he believed in God. He believed the promises God had made him, and he trusted God that those promises would be kept.

Abraham's belief, his faith, was evidenced when he obeyed God. It was not a case of his actions getting him there. No, he had to believe first and his actions came about because of his belief. So it is exactly the same for each one of us. It is our faith that puts us right with God, our faith justifies us. Once we receive Jesus Christ as the Son of God, accept him as Saviour, then God sees each one of us as washed clean, righteous before Him, able to freely approach His throne of grace. Then our faith, if it is real and genuine, will produce good works.

Good works on their own will not do it. Abraham's obedience was not enough. He had to believe in God, to have faith, just as we have to believe on God and to have faith. All the good deeds on earth would not be enough to get one of us into heaven because of the weight of sin on each one of us. It is only be our faith we are saved, by the grace of God, and real, genuine faith, is evidenced by the things we do.

That doesn't mean we automatically turn into Mother Theresa as soon as we become a Christian though. But take a look at the things you have been doing since you became a Christian, a good long hard independent look (if that is possible). Yes, I know there will be the times when you have messed up, when you pushed God away, did what you wanted not what He wanted. We've all got times, days, weeks, months, years even, when we do that. But what about the things you do because you now believe and you just know that you should be doing them? You may not even notice, but others do. What about your kindness to your elderly next door neighbour? Or the helping out at children and youth events? Teaching Sunday school, helping with tea and coffee at church, not gossiping, putting others first, being mindful of how others are feeling, not putting others down, refraining from using bad language, putting into practice what the bible teaches?

Some of this is a case of not doing something rather than doing something, but it is all a part of our faith, who we are and what we believe. Just like Abraham, our faith is evidenced by the things we do and a lot of the time, it will be so instinctive that we will not even know we are doing something that proves we have a faith!

You may not think you do much, you may feel that your whole life is one big let down to both you and God, that no one looking at you could possibly know you were a Christian because you struggle so each and every day. But God knows and not only that, others notice too, although they may never say anything. What each one of us does, how we behave, the things we do when we are struggling, when times are hard, reflects on us and our faith, what we really believe. Do we really, truly trust God when he says he has plans for us, plans to give us a hope and a future , not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11 paraphased) when we can't even see how we are going to make it to tomorrow, let alone next week, next year?

We prove our faith in our behaviour, our speech, our way of life and the things we do. You can't have a genuine faith and not change. You can't have a genuine faith and not do good works, small as they may be.