SUMMARY
In this sermon from James 2-3, Karl Ihfe challenges believers to examine whether their faith is truly integrated — visible in their actions and audible in their words. Drawing on the examples of Abraham and Rahab, Karl reminds us that resilient faith isn't just about what we believe, but about trusting Jesus enough to let those beliefs change how we live and how we speak. The goal, he says, isn't to become better-behaved people, but to become more like Jesus.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, if you have your Bible with you today, I invite you to turn over to James, chapter two. We've been walking through the Book of James together these last few weeks, thinking about what it means to build a resilient faith. We started in chapter one, thinking about how we build a resilient faith through our trials. And we kind of followed that up, as James does, with how building a resilient faith happens through obedience, through practicing and not letting what we hear just end there, but that we actually put it into practice into our lives. A couple of weeks ago, we thought some about how we build a resilient faith through how we treat one another and learning to see them through the eyes of Jesus.
How we treat them might be shaped by how God has treated us. Today, James brings us to another important dimension of a resilient faith, and that's integrity. I know we often think of integrity as honesty. We hear that word integrity means to tell the truth, to do the right thing, even when no one's around to watch. But it also, I think the way that James will unpack it for us this morning is it invites this idea of wholeness, of completeness, something that's undivided and held together.
We think of it maybe like the structural integrity of a building that though the outside may look beautifully adorned, if the foundation isn't solid and if there are cracks, then it can't stand up under the pressure. Then it really doesn't matter how great the outside looks if the foundation isn't sure. And so integrity is something I think that James is going to talk to us about this morning and how we build a resilient faith. Because we, as followers of Jesus, we can know all kinds of things about Jesus. In fact, we can know a lot of the things that he says and even say them ourselves.
But what happens when the pressure rises in our life? What happens when we come under some pressure, when obedience we recognize is going to start to cost us something, to not just say it, but to actually live it? What happens when our convictions get challenged, maybe openly in a public place or maybe in some other way? How do we respond? Does our faith hold together?
I think we'll see this morning that James is going to remind us that resilience isn't just shown by refusing to change what we believe, but it's also, and maybe even more so, it's refusing to stop becoming like Jesus. Even when the pressure rises. James wants us to consider whether our beliefs and our behavior and our words are matching are telling the same story, or if there's some disconnect between the faith that we profess and the life that we live. So here's the question I want us to wrestle with this morning and invite you into this wrestling match as I've been trying to all week. Does the way I live and the way that I speak reflect the faith that I claim?
That's the question that James is going to chase us with today. In fact, he's going to remind us that faith that only talks is empty. What good is it, he asks my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such a faith save them? And he quickly moves to giving us an example. In chapter 2, verse 15.
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? James is inviting us to consider this reality of their needs and what happens when we recognize them. He's not saying prayer isn't important to pray for people who don't have what they have. He's not diminishing in words of encouragement, encouraging one another in the Lord, but he is saying words of compassion without actions of compassion are just empty words.
You see, it's possible to talk about being generous, but not be generous. It's possible to talk about being people of forgiveness, but holding on to bitterness and to resentment. It's possible to talk about faith without actually living it. You see, in the same way James will say, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by action, it's dead. Now, I think it's important for us to be careful here because James isn't trying to say we have to earn our salvation, right?
Paul makes it clear in Ephesians, chapter two. We are saved by faith, by grace, through faith, not by works. Not so that we can boast, but not long after, he says, but we were created by God to do good works. And I don't think James and Paul are arguing here. They're conflicting.
In fact, I think they're confronting two different kinds of misunderstandings. Paul is trying to confront this idea that you can't earn God's acceptance through religious performance by just doing all the right things. James is saying and confronting, you can't just believe it to receive God's grace without allowing it to actually change who you are, to change our lives. He says, good works aren't the source of our salvation, but they are a reflection of it. And I can see how God's grace has begun to shape your Life by watching how you behave.
You see, following Jesus isn't simply believing certain things. It's trusting him enough to allow those beliefs to actually begin to change how we live. So James might say, faith has to move from our lips into our lives because resilient faith is evidenced through obedience. Someone will say, he writes, you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
I love the simplicity of James writing here. Show me. Don't just tell me. Don't just talk about it. Show it to me.
Let me see it in the way that you live. I mean, James says, you believe there's one God. That's fantastic. Guess what? So do the demons.
And we don't see them lining up to follow Jesus. It's not just about what we believe. He. To illustrate this point, James is going to introduce a couple of characters here at the end of chapter two that don't normally belong together. At least that we might think, right?
Abraham and Rahab. You think, huh? That's quite an interesting combination there, James. We have Abraham, Father Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites. And then we have Rahab, a Gentile prostitute from Jericho.
Now, how are you going to solve this one, James? He says, despite their difference, they shared something really essential. They trusted God enough to act. They believed him, and they acted on those beliefs. Abraham's faith became visible when God said, I want you to sacrifice your son, the son that I have promised to you that an amazing thing is going to happen, right?
I'm going to build a nation through you. And so Abram has to decide, how am I going to respond. My obedience to your call looks like it's actually going against the promise that you made to me. But Abraham believes God, and he believed him so much that he acted. He was willing to do it.
Rahab faced a different choice, right? She could have turned Israelite spies over to her, to the authorities in her city, and saved herself. Or she could choose to hide them and put her own life at risk that they might be saved. And she chose to act on her faith. Two very different people facing very different circumstances.
And yet they both trusted God enough to act. Their faith became visible. When obedience required courage, they were willing to act. And I think that's where James is making this connection, back to building a resilient faith, right? It's one thing to know and follow Jesus when it's comfortable, right?
When everything's going great, when our beliefs are affirmed and obedience doesn't cost us a whole lot. When we're in a room full of people who think like us and live like us. What happens when following Jesus requires us to step out, to go against maybe the flow of the community that we're in? When doing the right thing could cost you something? When forgiving someone means letting go of your right to get back?
What about when loving someone actually requires a little more than we first expected or planned? You see, it's in those moments that our faith becomes visible, that when our trust in Jesus becomes greater than our desire for comfort or control or approval. You know, sometimes I wonder if we've reduced faith down into something we possess rather than someone we pursue. You see, in Scripture, faith is always this relationship of trust that changes the direction of the way that we're living. You see, resilient faith keeps obeying God even when obedience is costly, even when it costs us something.
And now, if James just stopped right here, we'd have enough to think about today. And I know some of you are thinking, I was up late last night, Carl. It'd be a great place for you to stop right here. James forges on, and so are we. In chapter two, he says, don't just tell me.
Don't just talk about it. Do it, show me, live it out. In James, chapter three, he's gonna actually bring another idea that's just as important. He's going to come back to what we talk about. He says, actually, what you say really matters how you talk.
It's not enough for our actions to reflect our convictions if our words contradict our character. Right, they contradict the character of Jesus. Because resilient faith isn't just faith that you see, it's also faith that you hear.
James will remind us our words reveal the kind of faith that's being formed within us. And as chapter three opens up, he begins with a pretty dire warning for people like me and others who have chosen to participate in our teaching ministry here at Broadway. But he quickly broadens that conversation. Verse two, he says, we all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
I love how James says, we all stumble. He doesn't say, I know you guys and you have stumbled. He says, we all do. We all do. I mean, how many of us have ever said something in anger that immediately we regret?
Oh, I wish I hadn't said, how many of us have made a sarcastic comment that we thought was funny and it turned out to be a little more biting than we intended it to? How Many of us have ever spoken harshly to someone that we care about.
Sometimes words leave our mouths before we have time to think about them.
And we can't just pull them back. They're out there.
James gives us three images of the power of our words, the power of our tongue that forms those words in our mouths. He uses a bit. He uses a rudder. He uses a spark, right? Three small things, but have enormous influence.
Right? A bit can direct a powerful, strong horse. A rudder can steer an enormous ship. And a tiny spark can set an entire forest aflame. James says our tongues are just like that.
Something small can have such a huge impact. I mean, think about the power of words in your own life. Some of us can remember a word of encouragement that was given to us. Maybe it was a parent or a coach or a friend who could see something in us that we just couldn't see ourselves. And they spoke that word of encouragement over us, and we remember it.
When I first started in ministry, one of my greatest fears is that I'd make a mistake and I wouldn't have a chance to make it right. I'd just kind of get lost and into the ditch, and off I would go. I could take you to the place in my office that I was officing in Austin. I mean, I could take you there today. I can see it in my mind.
I'll take you to the spot where I was sitting and where the other. Where one of the elders came to my office, and he started out with this. He said, carl, you're letting us down. And I thought, oh, no, here it goes. Here we go.
My greatest fear is coming to reality. And he says, you're letting us down because you have gifts and you're not sharing them with us.
I said, what? He goes, you have some wisdom. And when we're sitting in that room, in that circle and we're talking about important things in the life of the church, you're just quiet. You just keep it to yourself. And we know there's something in there.
We need your voice in that room.
I mean, I still get goosebumps thinking about it today. That was the first time in my life that a grown man, not my father, look at me and say, you matter. Your voice matters. It's important. We need you.
I mean, I could take you to the spot I was sitting. Powerful.
I mean, the power of words in our life, right? Some of us, though, we can remember words that wounded us, had a cruel comment or criticism that just. And years later, you remember it, don't you? I mean, I could take you to that same complex, different room. We were around a table with some elders, and it was my turn to present what I wanted to do the next year in our campus ministry.
And I laid it out, man, I was so excited. And I remember one of the elders looked at me. Kaylee was with me. My deacons were with me. I mean, their team.
We were right there, man, so excited. And the elder looked at me and he said, you know, Carl, that's a good plan. I just don't think you can do it.
And I remember just being cut to the heart. I know many of us have examples that are much beyond that. Words have a power, don't they? Words can build up or they can tear down, they can heal, or they can wound. They can bring life, or they can cause death.
Here's what's especially important. I think James is gonna. Is gonna challenge us. He says our words often reveal what's happening inside of us, especially when we're under pressure. You see, it's easy to speak graciously when things are going up and to the right.
It's easy to say gracious things when all of our teams are winning, when all of our candidates are winning, when everything is working. But what about when they lose?
What happens when we're frustrated? What comes out when we're criticized, when our convictions are challenged? What comes out of us then? See, pressure has a way of revealing what's going on inside. I mean, in our culture today, when disagreement quickly turns into hostility and when social media rewards outrage, the loudest and most cruelest voice.
Christians aren't immune to this kind of pressure. Church. You see, sometimes we defend the Biblical truth, but we don't look very Biblical doing it. And sometimes we feel the need to defend Jesus in ways that don't really sound or look like Jesus. You see, the way we speak, James will say, is it's not a secondary discipleship issue.
It reveals the faith that's being formed inside of us. And so resilient faith refuses to let hostility make us hostile. James, warning gets even stronger. He says the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body, and it corrupts the whole body. It sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and it's itself set on fire by hell.
I mean, it's a sobering picture, isn't it? We all know the power of the tongue. I mean, how it can destroy marriages and friendships and all kinds of relationships, families and churches and reputations. I mean, years of trust that worked so hard to build can just be undone in just a couple of words, just a few phrases. So James keeps pressing the issue, exposing this contradiction that can so easily come up inside of us.
He says, with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who've been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth, come praise and cursing my brothers and sisters. This shouldn't be. I mean, think about that for a moment. We gather together on a Sunday just like this, and we praise Jesus for his love and his grace and his mercy.
And we tell stories of the transformation that's happened in our lives because a great God was not willing to let us go to hell, but sent his son to die for us to create this little community of fellow followers and believers who say, if you got a problem, you got a need. We're going to rally together. We're going to encourage, we're going to help. We celebrate all of that on a Sunday morning. And then Monday, man, we're just slicing and dicing people, aren't we?
We belittle those who disagree. We speak harshly to those in our family or friends who make us mad. We participate in conversations that dehumanize people, those people. And James says brothers and sisters shouldn't be.
Why? Well, because when we're speaking about those people, they're made in the very image of the God we've been worshiping. And that includes people who frustrate us, people who believe differently than us, and people who hold different political positions than we do, and people who may even be hostile to our own faith. You see, James says their dignity isn't determined or dependent on whether or not they agree with you. Their dignity comes from the God who created them in his own image.
And so he says, we can't separate our worship of God with the way that we talk about people.
I think this is especially important for us as a church to know, right? We live in a culture that pressures us and to compromise in a couple of ways. Number one, to compromise our convictions, to avoid conflict. Just don't say anything. Don't talk about that.
Don't bring that up here. That's going to get you in trouble. Or it pressures us to be combative. Right? Anybody who doesn't agree with you is an enemy, and you should treat them likewise.
You should treat them as such. But neither reflects the way of Jesus. We don't have to surrender our conviction to demonstrate compassion. And not only that, we don't have to become contemptuous in order to be courageous. Jesus showed us a different way.
He never compromised the truth, and he never allowed the hostility of others to determine the character of his response. Now, he could be direct. He would confront hypocrisy. He would speak hard truths, but he always did it with love. I mean, even as he was hanging on the cross being crucified, his prayer was, father, forgive him.
They don't know what they're doing. Have mercy on them. They don't know what they're doing. Right. These are the people who are mocking and insulting and murdering him.
And his response was mercy. That doesn't mean he was weak or unwilling to confront hard things.
It means his character wasn't controlled by the behavior of the people around him.
That's what resilient faith looks like. The world doesn't get to determine the spirit that's inside of us. We don't have to respond to anger with anger or hostility with more hostility or criticism, with contempt. You see, we're following the one whose love was stronger than the hatred that was directed his way. And through his spirit, he says, I'll form you into the same kind of person, the same kind of man, the same kind of woman.
So James closes this section of his letter with two questions. He says, can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters? Can a fig tree bear olives or grapevine bear figs? Neither.
Can a salt spring produce fresh water?
You see, what comes out of us reveals what's going on inside of us. I mean, Jesus taught this very thing. He says, for out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth will speak what's going on inside of you. Especially, especially under pressure, they're going to come out what's happening inside? And I think that's where James is pointing us today.
Not simply asking if we're doing enough good stuff or are you watching your language? I think what he's trying to ask us is, is Jesus actually changing me?
Is his grace reshaping my heart?
It's his spirit transforming how I respond to people around me when life becomes difficult. You see, integrity is not about being perfect. James reminds us we all stumble. We all stumble. You see, it's about allowing Jesus to bring every part of our lives under his control.
Our beliefs, our behaviors, our words, not three separate aspects of our life. It's one integrated life. Jesus, would you help all those things to match up what I say, I believe, and what I say and how I live? So I'll leave you with these two this week to think about where does your faith need to become more visible?
Is there someone that you need to forgive or someone that you need to serve? Is there a step of obedience that you've been putting off because you know it might cost you something? Well, maybe the invitation is for you to allow that faith to become more visible. Maybe for you. Where does your faith need to become more audible?
A relationship where your words have. Have become harsh or someone you've been speaking about with contempt rather than compassion? You see, maybe today the invitation is would you surrender those areas of your life back to Jesus, not promising to try harder, instead just asking him, God, would you keep transforming? Would you keep working? We all stumble.
We all stumble. And God's grace, his mercy, it's for all. See, the goal isn't to become better behaved people. The goal is to become more like Jesus. And so my prayer for us this week church is that our faith would become visible and audible in all the ways that we need it to be.
Oh God, may that be true of us as we live in this week, as we face what we're going to face, the challenges and the circumstances, the relationships and the opportunities. God, would you help our faith to be evidenced by how we speak and how we live? And God, I know for some of us that's going to take some transformation to keep happening. God, would you confront us in ways that we so easily fall into conversations that dehumanize and belittle those who don't believe or think or behave the way that we want them to? And God, would you confront us in the ways that our behavior is not following in the way of Jesus, that if someone were to see us, they would not see your compassion and your love and your grace and your hopefulness and your trust and your obedience, oh Father, in the ways that we can this week, as best we can, we offer our lives to you and ask for your transformation.
God, would you do in us what only you can do, help us to be more like you? Jesus, in our words and in our actions, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.