Episode 997: Having versus Living Faith

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 997 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:06] Al Comeaux: I'm Al Comeaux. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, talent and treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to manage change is key. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this.

[00:00:27] The inspired stewardship podcast. With my friend, Scott Mader.

[00:00:31] Scott Maderer: because faith at the end of the day should always produce something. There should be fruits that come out of faith. There should be something visible. Not necessarily to other people, but visible to you and visible to God, there should be action that you're taking in some way. And usually that shows up in a way that other people can see.

[00:00:54] Usually it shows up in something that people can observe. [00:01:00] Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:01:16] Go learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you impact the world. And today's spiritual foundation episode about investing in yourself. I talk with you about James chapter two, verses 14 through 20. I share why this passage, isn't a statement that works saved, but an example of how faith results in works.

[00:01:40] And I also share how faith should always produce something. Talk before about James chapter two verses 14 through 20 at passage goes like this. What good is it? Dear brothers and sisters. If you say you have faith, but don't show it by your actions. Can that kind of faith [00:02:00] save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing and you say goodbye and have a good day, stay warm and eat well.

[00:02:09] But then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that? So you see faith by itself isn't enough unless it produces good deeds. It is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, some people have faith, others have good deeds, but I say, how can you show me your faith? If you don't have good deeds, I will show you my faith by my good deeds.

[00:02:32] You say you have faith for you. Believe there is one God. Good for you. Even the demons believe this and they tremble and terror. How foolish can you see that faith without good deeds is useless. It's interesting, but this passage comes up a lot and it was the one that I thought of whenever Barbie was talking about living faith versus having faith.

[00:02:57] Yeah, this idea that we can [00:03:00] have faith, we can have belief, but it doesn't show up in our life in any way. We don't take any actions based on. Is one that this passage in James is talking out against, and it's not contradicting the idea that Paul said we are saved by faith alone in a Feagins chapter two.

[00:03:22] And we'll talk about that later, but rather that they're arguing. It's two different things, Paul. Arguing against those who say I do something to earn salvation. And James is fighting against those who say I'm saved and therefore I don't have to do anything. There, there are two different examples of the same sort of problem of having faith, but not actually living your faith out.

[00:03:51] Whatever it is, you can see examples of this people who will claim to have faith. They will claim to be a Christian. They will claim to [00:04:00] be a believer, but then it never shows up in their life. It doesn't change anything that they do or that they say, or any action that they take that somehow just believing is enough by itself.

[00:04:16] And I would argue that this passage is an example of why that's not true because belief is included in salvation, but it by itself is not alone. Belief that doesn't change you, that doesn't transform your life is the dead faith that James is talking about. If they, Ephesians two that I referenced earlier says for, by grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

[00:04:44] It is the gift of God, not of works. Lest anyone should boast for, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. In other words, out of our faith, [00:05:00] even there, it talks about we are creating. For the purpose of good works. We are there to do some thing that these works are an integral part of showing our faith.

[00:05:14] There's something that comes out of our faith. Our love for God creates the action of good works. They're the effect, not the cause of salvia. There the effect, not the cause of belief. They're the effect, not the cause of faith. That is what living your faith is to me. Because faith at the end of the day should always produce something.

[00:05:45] There should be fruits that come out of faith. There should be something visible, not necessarily to other people, but visible to you and visible to God. There should be action that you're taking in some way. And usually that [00:06:00] shows up in a way that other people can see. Usually it shows up in something that people can observe.

[00:06:07] But again, the connection there is not that you're doing the face so that everyone else can see that you're good. It's that you're doing them just because you're called to do them. They come out of your own belief and your own relationship and your own feelings of love. You'll love and works. Go together.

[00:06:28] Faith in works, go together. Belief in works, go together, repentance and works, go together, salvation and works go together because the work comes from that. It's the evidence of the change in your life. And yet, I think we often struggle with that. We struggle with recognizing that out of our faith should come.

[00:06:52] Action. We struggle sometimes with doing the work because that we do it in a way [00:07:00] that we say this work depends on me. We don't recognize that even out of our works is actually coming because we are stewards for the blessings that God has given us. It's not ours to own either it's ours to do, but not ours to own, not ours to take the credit for.

[00:07:20] And that's a challenge. Every day, at least for me, it is because I always want to take on the responsibility of doing it myself. Let me take care of it. It's hard for me to recognize that my faith caused me to put that over to God sometimes. And to put that over to God all the time to let God know that he's got this, I don't have it.

[00:07:42] It's not on me today. And yet it is mine to do as well, because God has entrusted me with those works and those blessings to steward and take good care of on behalf of God and God's kingdom. It's a weird, both and [00:08:00] state I've talked before about having a, both and belief system instead of an either or beliefs.

[00:08:07] And that's what this passage from James meant to me. This is what I think we were talking about between having faith and living faith. Thanks for listening.

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