Transcript

In elementary school, children are often invited to take turns bringing to class something they can show their classmates—something special or important to them. When I was growing up, we simply called it “Show-and-Tell.” You were not just going to talk about something; you were going to show your classmates something as well.

The little girl who took a vacation with her family to Hawaii brought in her little garland of flowers. The boy whose older brother made the high school football team brought in his brother’s helmet. The child who loved bugs brought in his ant colony. They had something to show and tell.

I will never forget our neighbor coming over one afternoon to our home. Her son was in kindergarten, and so was our youngest daughter. They often played together in the neighborhood. This boy’s class was going to have show-and-tell the next day, and he wanted to take our daughter to class as his show-and-tell. This mother and my wife thought that was the sweetest thing they had ever heard. I was thinking, Not on your life! You’re not going to take my little girl into your class and show her off. I don’t care if you are neighborhood friends. Of course, my wife and the neighbor woman won the argument, and our little girl went over the next day as this little boy’s show-and-tell—and life has never been the same.

Have you ever stopped to think that Christianity is supposed to be a “show-and-tell” proposition? We do not just tell people what Christianity is; we show them what it is all about. We do not just talk about our faith; we demonstrate our faith to others.

As we set sail back into James 2, the author is going to make that very point by contrasting genuine faith with false faith.

First, James describes what we could call dead faith. He writes here in verse 14, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

James goes on to illustrate this kind of empty or “dead faith” in verses 15 and 16:

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

In other words, if your Christianity does not cause you to genuinely care about people, you might not be a genuine Christian.

Now do not misunderstand. You are not saved by faith plus works. But James is making clear this point: Indifference to others is an indication that you lack true faith. To callously cast off someone in need by saying, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” might make you sound like Christ, but it does not reflect the character of Christ or demonstrate true faith in Christ.

Words without works are empty. “Faith” that is mere words is dead faith. James says that in verse 17: “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

He continues his argument in verse 18: “Someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’” James replies, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” The author is saying, “Try to show me your faith without doing anything—that is impossible. But I can prove my faith to you without saying anything.”

James is simply making the point that while good works do not save you, they are intended by God to show the world that you have been saved. The word James uses here in verse 18 for “show” means “to bring to light, to exhibit, to display.”[1] There is that idea of show and tell again. Do not just tell me about Christianity; show me Christianity.

Another illustration reinforces James’s point. He writes in verse 19, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

The early readers of this letter from James would have been Jewish believers. They correctly believed there was only one true and living God. But James effectively announces here, “So what! The demons believe that too. They even shudder in horror at the truth of God’s existence.” No demon is sitting around wondering if Jesus is the Son of God, or if Jesus rose from the dead, or if there are more gods than one! Demons are good theologians—they know the truth. But they remain demons, for they have rejected the truth they know.

What, then, makes your faith different from demonic faith? Clearly, it is more than what you say you believe. After all, the demons believe, in that they acknowledge the truth about God. The difference is that, as a Christian, you have admitted your sin and given your life to Christ. A demon will never do that.

James then begins to contrast this dead faith with true faith, which is living faith. Once again, he has a question for us all:

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? (verses 20-21)

This might sound a bit shocking at first, especially when the apostle Paul used Abraham to illustrate that justification is by faith alone—that Abraham’s trust in God’s word was counted to him as righteousness. Paul wrote in Romans 3:28, “One is justified by faith apart from works.” And here James writes, “Was not Abraham … justified by works?”

So, does James contradict Paul? Not at all, and here is why: Paul and James are emphasizing different perspectives.

Paul emphasizes Abraham’s justification in the eyes of God, which is produced by faith alone (Romans 4:3). James, on the other hand, is talking about justification in the eyes of man. God can see our faith, but people cannot. They can only see our good works.

Someone once wrote that faith is like calories. They are invisible, but you can see the results.[2]

Paul wants to define our justification—it is through faith. James wants us to demonstrate our justification—and that is through good works.

James concludes with this illustration in verse 26: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” A body without the spirit is dead. Likewise, a faith without works is dead—it is not true faith.

I remember when our twins were delivered years ago. When our first twin son was delivered, he immediately cried—it was loud, and he did not stop for two years. It seemed like it anyway. But we were rather concerned about our second son. Every contraction was causing his heart rate to become erratic. And then, when he was delivered, he was quiet; he did not cry out at all. But then the doctor gave him a little smack on his bottom, and his little body twisted in disapproval and he let out a wail. We all breathed a sigh of relief.  If he was crying, he was breathing. And I must say, it was the only time his crying brought us relief.

His crying did not give him life. It simply revealed he was alive. Wailing at the top of his lungs did not produce life; it proved life.

And that is James’s point here:

• Faith in Christ produces spiritual life.
• Spiritual life produces works.

Good works are like the cry of our newborn sons. It does not produce life; it proves to the world around us that spiritual life does indeed exist in us.

So, let us go prove to our world that we have genuine faith by demonstrating good works. Let us show and tell Christianity to our world today.