Don’t just go to Church…Be the Church Session 2

James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

G.K. Chesterton “Just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.” “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”

James 2:14-19 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

Martin Luther commenting on the spurious saying: Faith without works justifies, Faith without works is dead, therefore, dead faith justifies. ….We say that justification is effective without works, not that faith is without works. For that faith which lacks fruit is not an efficacious (saving) but a feigned faith. ‘Without works’ is ambiguous, then. For that reason this argument settles nothing. It is one thing that faith justifies without works; it is another thing that faith exists without works.

Romans 12:3-8 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Dr. Michael Eaton, Romans: A Practical Exposition. “When God saves a person the faith that is the channel of their salvation is also a key in their serving God. A person’s faith is not only faith for salvation; it is also faith for ministry among God’s people. And with regard to ministry each person’s faith is ‘measured’ to him with a certain quantity and a certain character. Paul is saying that each Christian has some kind of giftedness which enables him to serve God’s people.”