James 2:19-20 (NKJV) You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
The Apostle James was dealing with dead religion or dead faith and challenged the audience to be fired up for God by living out the saving faith actively. There is a huge difference between a dead faith and the saving faith. We are not the judge regarding who has a dead faith or saving faith because that judgment belongs to God. What we need to do is to ensure that we are truly believers of Jesus Christ and choose to live out our convictions in our hearts.
We do live in an age where there is a lot of indifference in church. There are those who are not interested in the things of God because their minds and hearts are filled with other priorities. When one just purely accepts a Christian creed, an intellectual assent of who Jesus is, or even being born into a Christian family can turn out to be a dead faith. Mental assent is not sufficient. It is true that demons know who Jesus is and have a knowledge of God. They acknowledge that God exists and tremble in His presence. But they do not have the saving relationship with God.
One can be a lecturer in world religion including Christianity, but still have a dead faith.
One can come from a Christian nation, attending church since childhood and have a knowledge of God but may not have a relationship with God. One might acknowledge that there is a God but keeps on drinking, smoking, womanizing, gambling, cheating etc. It’s a dead faith! There is a knowledge about God but refusal to know God and make Him known. It’s a dead faith.
The imperfect knowledge of God can bring Christians into problems. There are many who are not secured in God’s love and never truly experience peace with God. There is a constant nagging thoughts in their minds that God is not happy nor satisfied with them. They have this thinking that God is waiting to discipline them by striking them with something evil.
We are a product of our thought life. We have heard a saying like “there is no free lunch.” We think that there must be a catch because it is too good to be true. We rather think of another saying “no pain, no gain” because if you want something good then you need to work hard for it. We might find it very difficult to accept the unconditional love of God and the gift of righteousness. It is just too good to be true. Very often we are defined by our doing rather than our being and our identity is very much in our doing. But the deeds do not come before but rather follow the saving faith!
Romans 4:1-3 (NKJV) What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Abraham responded in obedience by offering Isaac on the altar. A sacrifice is admirable and commendable in the eyes of men but there is nothing to boast before God. Whatever men do in order to gain justification will never be acceptable by Him. There is nothing in terms of works that will gain us a right standing before God. The wrath of God towards sin can only be appeased by blood. In our case, the blood of Christ who is the ultimate unblemished lamb of God. He has redeemed us from our sins and lawlessness. We rest in God’s presence and have permanent access to Him because of the unmerited favor.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
James is not teaching something that’s contrary to the teaching of Paul because nobody is able to boast about their works before God. The same principle applies to us that there is absolutely nothing that we can boast about before God regarding our works. We are the blessed ones upon whom God has imputed righteousness apart from our works. We maintain the permanent elite status in the eyes of God thanks to His unmerited grace!
Sermon Series: An Active Faith
不配而得的救恩
雅各书 2:19-20 你信神只有一位，你信的不错；鬼魔也信，却是战惊。 虚浮的人哪，你愿意知道没有行为的信心是死的吗？
使徒雅各在讨论的是死的宗教或死的信心，他呼吁百姓要为神积极活出救恩的信心。死的信心与救恩信心之间存在着巨大差异。我们不能论断谁有死的信心或救恩的信心，因为论断的权柄属于神。我们需要做的是确保我们是耶稣基督的真正信徒，并在心中活出我们的确据。
我们的确生活在一个充满冷漠的教会的时代。有些人对神的事不感兴趣，因为他们的思想和心中充满了他们视为更重要的事。仅仅接受基督教信条，理智上知晓耶稣是谁，或出生在基督徒家庭，也有可能结果还是种死的信心。思想上的认可是不够的。确实，魔鬼也知道耶稣是谁，也了解神。它们承认神存在并在祂面前战惊。但它们与神没有救恩的关系。
一个人可以成为包括基督教在内的世界宗教的讲师，但仍会有死信。一个人可以来自基督教国家，从小就读教会学校，并且有神的知识，但可能与神没有关系。有人可能会承认有一个神，但却一直在酗酒、抽烟、淫乱、赌博和欺骗等。这是一种死信！有关于神的知识，但拒绝认识神和让别人知道神。这是一种死信。
对神不完美的认识会使基督徒陷入困境。有许多人没有得到神的爱，也没有真正经历到与神的和平。在他们心中有一个不断纠结的想法，那就是神不喜悦或满意他们。他们有这样一种想法，神正准备用恶毒的东西打击管教他们。
我们是思辨生活的产物。我们听到有人说“没有免费的午餐”，就认为这肯定是个陷阱，因为这好得不可能是真的。我们宁可接受另一种说法：“没有付出就没有收获”，因为如果你想要好的东西，那么你必须努力工作。我们可能会对神的无条件的爱和公义的恩赐觉得很难接受。这简直好得令人难以置信。我们常常被我们的行为所定义，而不是我们的存在，而我们的身份通常也因着我们的行为而定。但是，行为非在信心之前，乃是源于信心！
罗马书 4:1-3 如此说来，我们的祖宗亚伯拉罕凭着肉体得了什么呢？倘若亚伯拉罕是因行为称义，就有可夸的，只是在神面前并无可夸。经上说什么呢？说：“亚伯拉罕信神，这就算为他的义。”
亚伯拉罕通过在祭坛上献上以撒而顺服神。在世人的眼中献祭是令人敬佩和值得夸奖的，但在神面前没有什么可夸的。人为了称义无论做什么都不会被神接受。无论我们做什么都不能让我们在神面前称义。神对罪的愤怒只能靠血来平息。就我们来说，唯有神完全无瑕疵的羔羊基督的宝血才能平息神的愤怒。祂将我们从罪和律法的过犯中救赎出来。因着不配的恩惠，我们得以与神同在，并且永远与祂亲近。
以弗所书 2:8-9 你们得救是本乎恩，也因着信。这并不是出于自己，乃是神所赐的；也不是出于行为，免得有人自夸。
雅各的教导与保罗教导并非相悖，因为没有人能够因着自己的行为而在神的面前自夸。同样的原则适用于我们，在神的面前我们的行为也完全没有可以自夸的。神将公义归于我们，让我们蒙福，并非因着我们的行为，乃是出乎祂所赐给我们不配而得的救恩，让我们在祂眼中保持了永久宝贵的地位！
讲章系列：活泼的信心
Image Source: pixabay.com