And Pastor James:
And Pastor James:
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:17)
I think some are of the opinion that Paul is correct in saying we only have to believe in Christ, and James is not as much of God because he preached works.
Do you know of any Christians who are of the opinion that Paul's Epistles are more of God than the Book of James?
But this cannot be. "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead" is just as much the Word of Christ as is "For by grace are you saved through faith, and not by works lest any man should boast."
"Brother Thompson, you can't be serious. Everyone knows we are saved by faith alone."
I do know one thing: the "faith alone" doctrine is as destructive as any other error that has entered Christian thinking!
When Paul spoke of "grace" he was referring to freedom from the statutes of Moses, not freedom from godly behavior.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
When Paul spoke of works which God "prepared in advance for us to do," I believe he was referring to the prophecy concerning the New Covenant.
"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Jeremiah 31:33)
When Paul spoke of belief in Jesus Christ he meant not only believing "about" Christ but believing that Christ is our Lord as well as our Savior and must be obeyed diligently, promptly, and cheerfully.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:11-13)
When reading the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans, one can come to the conclusion that Paul was reacting to those in his day who were teaching "let us do evil that grace may abound."
The passage above is another one that the missionaries could have given to the natives, when asked what to do after being baptized in water.
To say we believe in Christ and then do not obey His commands or the commands of His Apostles is ridiculous, to say the least! It reveals that we really do not believe Jesus is our Lord.
Having been a disciple of our Lord for seventy years, I have pondered the issues of grace, and "faith alone," when it is obvious the New Testament is filled with teaching on how to live a godly life.
Today, as I arose from a nap, the answer hit me: the key to the mystery is "obedience."
The issue is not whether we are doing works or refraining from doing works but whether we are obeying God!
There are times when to obey God we must work hard. There are other occasions when God indicates He wants us to rest and wait on Him.
The Law of Moses simply is not that sensitive to our day by day needs.
The Lord Jesus directed Audrey and me to leave the Bay Area of California and move to the city of Poway in Southern California. That was forty years ago. As part of the motivation for making this move, I actually saw a large angel pointing south.
When we arrived in the City of Poway, the Foursquare Denomination handed a church to us that had just been closed because of lack of membership. They had heard from a mutual friend that we were coming into the area.
I was a Bible teacher, not a pastor, so this role was new to me.
Audrey and I were resolved to do nothing except that which we felt Christ was prompting us to do.
Although the church, Mount Zion Fellowship, is not large, during this year (2014) we have had more than five and one-half million hits on our Internet site. Many thousands of pages have been read, according to Google Analytics. Five hundred four thousand pages to be exact, as of December 15.
All of my writings are recorded in the Kindle Library. Several electronic tablets can receive the Kindle format. I do not know how many hundreds of tapes have been made that can be listened to on the Audio page of our site (www.wor.org).
There is a free E-mail page that goes out every day to those who subscribe. In addition, many hundreds of books and booklets have been sent free of charge to third-world countries.
And we still are resolved to do nothing except as Christ directs us!
You might say we have produced "works." But all of this was performed in obedience to Jesus Christ. The texts I have written come close to being dictated by the Spirit of the Lord. They are not intellectual efforts. Freely I have received, and freely I give as well as I can.
Can you see what I mean by the difference between the "works" Paul and the Book of Hebrews refer to, and the "works" that every Christian is to perform as the Lord leads, according to the individual's "talents"?
The fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews speaks of the rest of God, of ceasing from our works just as God did from His.
For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)
Yet, the Lord Jesus told us we cannot be His disciple unless we deny ourselves, turn away from our old life and relationships, suffer the denial of our most intense desires, take up our cross of affliction, set our treasures in Heaven, and follow Him at all times.
Well, which is it? Do we stop doing anything and just believe, or do we put off the old nature and start building a new life in Christ?
The key is "obedience" as the source of our motivations. If we just decide to do something, even if it is religious or Christian in some manner, it is not acceptable. It could be missionary work, or feeding and clothing the poor. It still is not what God is after.
God wants all of our thinking, speaking, and acting to come from Him, not from our own ideas. Whether or not a thought we think, a word we say, or a deed we do is coming from God or our own ideas marks the difference between that which is of the rest of God and that which is the "works," of which Paul speaks and concerning which we can boast.
Think about our Lord. How did He think, speak, and act? Everything Christ did came as He prayed and sought the Father's will. He literally lived by the Father. As He said, "I can do nothing of Myself, only what I see the Father do. The Words I speak are not mine but the Father's who sent me."
Can you believe this? Christ wants us to live by Him as He lives by the Father.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:56,57)
"The one who feeds on Me will live because of Me."
How do we learn to live by Christ as He lives by the Father?
Each day and night we are faced with numerous decisions, most of them trivial, some important. What we eat, how we dress, who we talk to, what we say, where we go, how we spend our money, and so forth.
We can answer each of these demands based on our experience, ability, and what we desire. Or, we can pause for a moment and ask the Lord Jesus to guide us.
It is just as easy to keep asking the Lord what we should think, say, and do, as it is to go by our own desires. Try it and see if I am correct.
Of course, this way of living has to be learned. So just go at it a little bit at a time. Pretty soon it will be natural to you and you will wonder how you had lived previously.
Can you see that the issue is obedience to Christ?
For example, we might get up in the morning and decide we are going out to "witness for Christ." In the old days we would just go out do what we planned.
Now, in our new way of living, we stop and ask Jesus if this is what we should do.
I know people say "our work is God's work," and so forth. That will not do any longer. We must be praying about everything we think, say, and do.
Have you ever blurted out something and then wished you had not spoken? Most of us have done that. Well, in this new way of living you will not do that. You will pray before you say something. This is a really good idea, isn't it.
Do you know, if Christian leaders prayed and talked to the Lord, and listened to Him, before they did something, we would not have a thousand competing denominations.
Just because there may not be much missionary work in some part of the world is not our call to go there. We must learn to curb our enthusiasm and assumptions and wait until we hear from the Lord.
It requires discipline to wait on the Lord rather than to go forth to do some good work. To rush about in our desire to please God is not wise. Remember how the distinguished leaders of Israel murdered the living Word of God when He worked among them? He was hearing from His Father. They were hearing from their own religious zeal.
What a world this would be if everyone did God's will. Well, that day is coming. It will be installed and maintained by people whom God is training today. It is called, "The Kingdom of God." God's will is of primary importance in His Kingdom.
If I am correct, God's will is not done in most Christian circles. I think this is because we are filled with our own ideas and want to accomplish them.
Next Part How do we find out what God's will is?