Faith Alive

Both poverty and riches can be a curse. Proverbs 30:8 says, Give me neither of them. What then is God’s solution to the problem of poverty?

God’s war on poverty and riches does not march under the banner of the dollar, where millions are appropriated for relief. This is a war against class.

Money and class divided the church in James’ day. Don’t say you love Jesus Christ and be a spiritual snob, he says. All believers are your family in the body of Christ, whatever their denomination. There is a fellowship of believers—the rich, the poor, the common people, the high, the low, the bond and free, the Jew and the Gentile, the Greek and the barbarian, male and female. We are one when the Lord Jesus Christ is the common denominator. We all stand at the foot of the cross.

Some people walk into church in fine clothes and lots of bling. They look like peacocks strutting their stuff. Others come in with torn, shabby clothing. Be careful not to tell the poor man to stand up in the rear and put the peacock down in front. Who knows if the poor believer may be that church's most spiritually rich person?

If you want to please God and obey Him, and act responsibly, James makes it very clear what you are to do: “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

In addition to how we treat each other, God also tests us through our works and actions. For generations, Bible teachers have argued that James’ discussion of good works contradicts the apostle Paul’s assertion that faith alone can save you (Galatians 2:16).

In that day, some religious people said you had to come to the Law to be saved. Paul answered that by saying only faith in Christ can save you. Saving faith—a faith that is genuine and real—will transform a person’s life. If it doesn’t, it was just an empty faith. James says the faith which saves you will produce works of faith. The faith that doesn’t produce good works is phony. Doing follows believing.

You can tell when faith is genuine; just look at someone’s life. James gives the practical illustration of a phony Christian who meets someone in need—whether it be for food or clothing. They bless the needy person with flowery words but send them on their way, still naked and hungry. What good is that? There must be a vocation to go along with the vocabulary. You can say pious words and sound very spiritual, but it means nothing unless you follow through with action. A living faith produces something—you can identify it.

You cannot say you are a child of God and live completely unto yourself. Let your actions speak for you. You are telling by your life whether your faith is genuine or not. Lip service is not evidence of saving faith—even the demons believe. Saving faith produces living faith. Without evidence of a changed life, your faith is empty and futile as far as the world is concerned.

Faith is the root, and the root produces the kind of fruit that the root itself is. If you have the root of a plum tree, it will grow and produce plums. If you have a living faith in God, you will produce godly fruit in your life. Faith without works is like a dead body in a morgue. But faith alive shows us in whom you believe.

Next: What our words say about us.