FAITH AND WORKS
Wednesday – November 2, 2016
Greetings to the partners and friends of Eastern Gate Ministries International and The Three Minute Word publication. God is so very good. Today I am moving forward with a discussion of the union of faith and works. There is no such thing as real Bible faith, the God kind of faith, without works. There is a lot of Scripture supporting this particular teaching but who can say it better than God?
Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
James 2:26 (KJV)
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
The word work or works here means just what you think it does, I believe most of us are familiar with the concept of work. It means to do an act, a deed, to do, and to labor. The work isn’t always a physical thing as in digging a ditch, it may be in speaking, leading a project, and so on. Faith is to believe first that God is, to believe that He means and will do what He says, and that if we diligently pursue Him, His ways, those things will be a present and future reality for us individually and personally. First use of the word ‘works’ in the New Testament is by Jesus and in a context that clearly demonstrates that is something we do and is observed by others. When our light shines before others we are a living walking talking demonstration of the Word of God.
Matthew 5:16 (KJV)
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
For context and better illustration of the James 2:26 passage presented above in the King James Version I will now widen the scope of Scripture reviewed in the Message Translation. Not all works, even good works are done at the direction of God and may be a distraction from the real mission. Sometimes our works are Pastor directed, peer directed, pride directed, and I suppose a myriad of other motivations that have little to do with God and His direction for building the Kingdom of God.
James 2:17-26 (MSG)
17 Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?
18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.” Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
19 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?
20 Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
21 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar?
22 Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”?
23 The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.”
24 Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?
25 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God?
26 The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.
Notice in the preceding passage and in the one to follow that each one believed God and did something that resulted in a demonstration project for God. Now I will nail it down so that neither you nor I stumble over this again.
Hebrews 11:1-8 (KJV)
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
