- Jun 29, 2019
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There is a tendency among some to downplay works. Some may even imply that faith is more important, but this is absurd. It’s like saying that in producing water, oxygen is more important than hydrogen or vice versa, when the fact is that both are needed. Just as it is pointless to argue whether oxygen or hydrogen is more important in water, there’s no point in saying that either faith or works is more important---you need both in order for God to judge you as loving Him.
Faith in God is your allegiance to Him. But it isn’t enough to hear talk of God and then say, ‘Amen,’ ‘Yes I see the light,’ ‘Hallelujah.’ It is not enough to dance in rapture in church aisles and sprawl yourself on the floor, if you are inclined to do so, to show your faith in God. There is a condition of faith that you must abide by. It demands that you examine your relationship with God and with others, and to love Him and others the way He wants you to.
For some this comes naturally. Some will never be subject to the lure of evil in the world, having been isolated by their own mental capacity. You show them love, they will show you love in return. They show their love for God, even though for them God may be just a word spoken by others and having no meaning for them. They are free of sin as Adam was before he knew evil.
For the rest of us, our superior mental capacity puts us at a disadvantage, as Adam was when he was lured by the serpent to defy God by eating from the forbidden Tree. And so, for us, there is the Law. What Law, you ask? There are two ways to abide by the Law. You can either comply with all 500 some-odd Laws in the Old Testament, or you can go by two simple commandments that Lord Jesus put forth as summarizing all those Laws. The first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Your neighbor is anyone who can help you.
If you want to comply with all 500-plus Laws of the Old Testament, you are faced with a challenge. As James 2:10 says, “...whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it,” if you fail in just one law, it’s like not clicking on a number of a combination lock to get into a safe. Just as you need all numbers to get into a safe, you would need to abide by all the Laws to open God’s love to you in the way that you would want. How much easier it is to abide by the two commandments of Lord Jesus!
But to abide by these commandments requires you to perform works. As James 2:14-26 says, faith without works is dead; just as if in making water, hydrogen without oxygen is dead. And it isn’t just James who emphasizes that works must be performed. Jesus in Luke 11:28 says “Blessed...are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
To those who go to a House of Worship every week to hear God’s Word, responsively saying ‘Amen,’ believing that’s all they have to do to show their faith in God, James 1:22 says “...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” And Jesus in Luke 6:46 says “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
So look to God, and look at those around you, near and far, and show your faith in God by doing what He wants.
Faith in God is your allegiance to Him. But it isn’t enough to hear talk of God and then say, ‘Amen,’ ‘Yes I see the light,’ ‘Hallelujah.’ It is not enough to dance in rapture in church aisles and sprawl yourself on the floor, if you are inclined to do so, to show your faith in God. There is a condition of faith that you must abide by. It demands that you examine your relationship with God and with others, and to love Him and others the way He wants you to.
For some this comes naturally. Some will never be subject to the lure of evil in the world, having been isolated by their own mental capacity. You show them love, they will show you love in return. They show their love for God, even though for them God may be just a word spoken by others and having no meaning for them. They are free of sin as Adam was before he knew evil.
For the rest of us, our superior mental capacity puts us at a disadvantage, as Adam was when he was lured by the serpent to defy God by eating from the forbidden Tree. And so, for us, there is the Law. What Law, you ask? There are two ways to abide by the Law. You can either comply with all 500 some-odd Laws in the Old Testament, or you can go by two simple commandments that Lord Jesus put forth as summarizing all those Laws. The first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Your neighbor is anyone who can help you.
If you want to comply with all 500-plus Laws of the Old Testament, you are faced with a challenge. As James 2:10 says, “...whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it,” if you fail in just one law, it’s like not clicking on a number of a combination lock to get into a safe. Just as you need all numbers to get into a safe, you would need to abide by all the Laws to open God’s love to you in the way that you would want. How much easier it is to abide by the two commandments of Lord Jesus!
But to abide by these commandments requires you to perform works. As James 2:14-26 says, faith without works is dead; just as if in making water, hydrogen without oxygen is dead. And it isn’t just James who emphasizes that works must be performed. Jesus in Luke 11:28 says “Blessed...are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
To those who go to a House of Worship every week to hear God’s Word, responsively saying ‘Amen,’ believing that’s all they have to do to show their faith in God, James 1:22 says “...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” And Jesus in Luke 6:46 says “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
So look to God, and look at those around you, near and far, and show your faith in God by doing what He wants.
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