What we have to keep in mind as we study today's passage is that James is not teaching salvation by works. He's going to say that faith without good deeds is dead, but that's pretty much what he's been saying all along in various ways. He's warned us that our religion is worthless if it has not caused us to love our fellow man, and if it has not led us to treat others as we would want to be treated, and if it has not made us value the soul and the earthly welfare of every person equally. Do we really love the Lord if we don't love our fellow man? The Apostle John says no: "Whoever claims to love God but hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." (1 John 4:20) James agrees with John, as they are both talking about those who have deceived themselves into thinking they are living according to the will of God when in fact they are withholding love and mercy from those around them. We can never be in the will of God if we don't love our fellow man, for both God the Father (Leviticus 19:18) and God the Son (Mark 12:31) have commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Now the big question is: is the person lost if he has little love or compassion for those around him? James is writing this letter to Jewish Christians, to people who have accepted that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He's not speaking to unbelievers; he's providing believers with a list of things that they need to check their lives against to see whether they are living according to God's will. So I think a person can accept that Jesus is the Christ (and be saved) but not develop their relationship with Him much further. I think a person can believe in Christ without allowing Him to regenerate their hearts and minds in such a way that they are of use in building His kingdom. James isn't necessarily telling his readers that they are lost if they aren't performing good works, but he's asking them something like this, "If you have no deeds to back up your claims of faith, how can you prove you even have faith? What good has your faith done you if you don't allow it to bear fruit? Do you want to live lives where you are saved only by the skin of your teeth and have accomplished nothing for the One who gave Himself for you?" He intends for his readers to stop and think about how they're living their lives and to examine their hearts to see whether they really are saved and, if they are saved, to let the Lord have His way with their hearts. If they discover they are not really in Christ, they will be in a position to remedy the situation by truly repenting and turning to Him for salvation and help.
James speaks of works more than the Apostle Paul does because James is ministering to Jews who have been used to measuring their lives by the law. Paul ministers to Gentiles who don't even have the Mosaic law, so he doesn't have to spend as much time explaining to his readers that they can't be justified by works. James is speaking to people who have been brought up in a culture of rules and rituals and who might be in danger of thinking that as long as they obey the letter of the law they don't have to worry about observing the spirit of the law. There's nothing wrong with the law if it's observed in the right spirit, but we found Jesus chastising those who thought rules were more important than mercy. James doesn't want them to get caught up in legalism, for legalism causes us to focus on ourselves. He wants them to enjoy the law of liberty, as he called it yesterday, because salvation through grace by faith causes us to focus on Christ. And when we focus on Christ and on building a relationship with Him, we can't help but become more and more like Him.
It's going to take us a couple of days to study this section, but we will close with an example that James provides to show us whether or not we possess the love that ought to accompany faith. "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; be warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:14-17) James asks, "What use is a faith that has no love, no compassion? A person can say he believes in Christ, and perhaps in his mind he does, but apparently there is little love in his heart for Christ. For if a man loves Christ, he is going to obey Christ's command to love others. If a man loves Christ, Christ is going to teach him how to love his fellow man. Christ not only loved people, He ministered to them. His heart went out to them. He met their needs. He fed the hungry and healed the sick. He lovingly helped sinners to acknowledge and turn away from their sins. Are you sure you're one of His if you don't feel compelled to help those in need?"
I came to faith in Christ at the age of twenty-two, but I can't honestly say I had a huge amount of love and compassion for others until my late thirties. I believed wholeheartedly that Jesus is the Son of God. I had the Holy Spirit, the proof that I belonged to Christ. (Romans 8:16) But I had a hard shell around my heart. I've struggled with depression and anxiety since childhood and I had closed myself off from the emotions of others because I felt like I couldn't handle feeling their emotions along with my own. During a time of intense trial and very difficult personal issues, the Lord reached down one morning and popped that hard shell right off me. I felt Him do it. I wanted to scream, "No! Put it back!" At first the flood of emotions I felt was overwhelming, but gradually I learned that feeling love and compassion for others was supposed to be normal for a Christian and I learned how to deal with these emotions without feeling like I was falling apart. Christ was able to intensely feel the emotions and needs of others without falling apart; He will enable us to do the same.
I'd be in the grocery store and glance over at someone in the next line and suddenly be overcome with the knowledge of how much Christ loved that person. I'd begin to weep in the grocery line. I'd pass people on the sidewalk or drive by them on the highway and feel led to start praying for specific things for them. They were complete strangers to me, but the Holy Spirit revealed to me needs that they had. I began to care about giving to others, where before I'd held on tightly to every penny I had. I stopped feeling uncomfortable when people at church told me they loved me. I was often the one who spoke up first and told them I loved them. Last night at church following prayer for the sick I found myself hugging my fellow church members and unashamedly and with all my heart telling them I loved them. I'm saying these things to brag on Christ, not to brag on myself. I know who I used to be. I know how hard-hearted I was even after I came to the faith. I know that the only reason I love my fellow man and have compassion on others is because of the work Christ has done in me. So you see, I once had a faith that was dead. I had a faith that was accomplishing nothing. James would have said to me, "What good is it?"
James intends us to use his words to examine our lives. Have we really made Christ the Lord of our lives? If so, where is the proof? We might be saved by the skin of our teeth, but this isn't what the Lord wants for us. He wants us to live full and abundant lives of love. So if we are in Him, and we don't love others in the way He has commanded us, we need to get humbly on our knees before Him and repent of failing to obey Him. We need to let Him have His way with our hearts.
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