Faith Without Works is Dead

James 2:22-24
"You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,' and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."

The point James was trying to establish is that faith without works is an empty faith. It is not a true faith in Jesus Christ that is coupled with obedience. True faith submits by trust. If we truly trust in Jesus, then we will do what He says for such a trust admits that Christ knows what is best.

We are to have faith that submits unto Christ so that He can freely work in us. If Jesus is truly working inside of us, then His Spirit in us should produce fruit. We should produce fruit in the way of works. The works we do, then, are not our own but are the works of God through us. God is working in us so that He is the reason behind all we do.

Paul also emphasized this in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." And in Colossians 1:10, Paul said, "...bearing fruit in every good work."

Therefore, the works are not our own, but instead are fruit. In the above scripture, when Abraham was justified by works, it was not his "own" works, but the "works" of God in him. James tries to establish this point by following the above scripture with a quote from the old testament saying that the righteous works of Abraham were credited by way of believing. This is such an important thing because Jesus said plainly in
Matthew 3:10 "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

At first, you might think that we need to rush out and do a bunch of good works. However, we cannot do anything on our own. Our works are nothing unless they are the fruit of God. In the book of John, Jesus was quoted as saying, (John 15:5,6) "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned."

And so, "working" or "works" are important, but they are not achieved by "working" by our own accord. Our works are only good when we abide in Christ. When we truly abide in Christ, and Christ in us, we are made one with Christ. When this happens, we produce fruit naturally. We do good works because we are one with Christ. Often times, these good works are not even recognizable by us, but only by God who knows all things and sees all things. We often judge by what we can see, but God judges differently.

And so, the important thing for us is to allow God to work in us. How do we do that? In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." This means we need to die daily to the world and self, and give ourselves to Jesus. Every day, we need to give ourselves to Jesus and ask Him to come into us.

In John 6:41, Jesus said He was the bread of Heaven. In the model prayer (Matthew 6:11), Jesus said we should ask for our daily bread. Everyday, we need to ask for Jesus and accept Him into our heart. We should confess our sins before God, ask Jesus to remove them, and then abide in Christ. When this happens, our faith becomes true. When our faith is true, it produces good works.

Romans also emphasizes this daily renewal stating that this is our spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1-2 says, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." We need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Upon our salvation, God gave us a new heart with a desire to obey Him (Ezekiel 36:25-38 ). Our heart desires Him. However, our thoughts need to be renewed daily. We need to focus on God in prayer offering our complete devotion. Only then will we know God's will to do God's will.

Otherwise, according to James, if we are not producing works, then our faith is dead (James 2:26). The Spirit is not in us producting works through us. This means we have faith in something other than Christ or that our faith is not sincere. We say that we believe, but inwardly we do not. Rather than follow Christ, we follow ourselves. We hypocritically say that Jesus Christ is our Lord, but we do not do as He says.

Matthew 7:21-23
"Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"