Cluster Notes 27th September 2015
SERIES: Faith Hope & Love
Text: James 2:14-26
Theme: How to Kill Faith
Aim
To understand that faith that remains private and personal, and doesn’t shape our life or behaviour,
will fade and die.
Background
This letter was from James, (half) brother of Jesus, to the Jewish Christians scattered all over the
world. Its content is deemed appropriate for every Christian despite its heavy Jewish nature. It is a
brilliant letter and we can learn much form it – especially about faith.
He’s just been correcting some poor behaviour – favouritism, from which he bridges naturally into
faith and actions, arguing that faith with the wrong behaviour is misplaced. It must be worked out in
practice.
Content
The staggering truth in these verses is that the simplest way to kill off faith is not in doubt but in in
activity. Famously faith without ‘deeds’/ actions is dead, v 17 & repeated in v.26.
What good is it he says if you wish someone well who needs food but don’t give it to them? For
wishing, we could read, ‘praying’ – gulp. Believing that God will help someone and then not doing
something about it shows the faith to be dead. As I write the Syrian Refugee crisis is front headlines.
What good would it be if we prayed for them, but said they couldn’t come to our country or our
house?
Belief is ratified by faith. It cannot remain only as belief, kept locked in a cupboard that never
interacts with the world we live in. It simply must find an expression – or it dies. When you become a
Christin, you’re encouraged to tell someone – this is an example of that. Expressing externally what
began internally. Owning your faith.
Examples are given from Abraham – how he took his son up on a mountain hike, carrying wood,
made a fire, strapped his son in, drew the knife out and raised it in the air. Only in that obedience
did God know Abraham was ‘faithful’ (don’t try this at home though!). Similarly, the prostitute
Rahab demonstrated her faith by sheltering the Jewish spies.
It’s like making a rope ladder or a tree house, and being the first to climb up. OR making a truly
unique cake and being the first to eat it.
Faith on its own, without action, withers and dies. Even the demons believe there is one God.
I believe God can heal people today, and uses ordinary people to do it. How could I say that and not
practice it? How could I write that and not offer prayer for healing? Want to grow faith? Then do
something. Don’t just study it, pray about it and work it up inside you; change your life or behaviour;
act on it and demonstrate it. Let faith out of its box and will produce life in abundance within you.
Extra note: other conversation is salvation by faith alone (Romans). This is not contradictory. We are
saved by our faith in Jesus and by his grace, not our works. We can’t earn salvation by showing off a
list of activities. It is our trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection and our ‘confession’ of him as God
that saves us. Of course that is only truly ratified as we work it out isn’t it? Remember the parable of
the soils? How some plants sprang up quickly, but died away? So it is with salvation, some fall away
and prove that their faith wasn’t’ genuine.
So how alive is your faith? Have you separated them? Have you inherited the idea that Christian
faith should be private and never showed? It is personal, but never private. It is public but also
respectful and humble, not proud. How alive is your faith? Is God stirring you to new actions, what if
anything is he laying on your heart?
What can you do as individuals or as cluster, or as 10.30 community, to demonstrate that faith?
CHILDREN’S SERIES
The aim of this session is to see that we can have faith in God and to think about how we can
demonstrate this faith. Faith is central to Christianity. We stake our lives on things that we cannot
scientifically “prove” – that God exists, that He loves us, that He sent Jesus to die for us, our sins are
forgiven and that when we die we will go to heaven where we will live forever.
Faith means obedience. Often we are tempted to check and double check God; “laying a fleece” is
seen as spiritual rather than cynical. But real faith obeys God. Jesus, when tempted by the devil, had
enough faith in God that He knew that God had power to save him – he didn't even consider that
testing God's word might be a good idea! That is the sort of faith that we want. Faith grows by
hearing. We can only become strong in our faith if we spend time with God and time reading his
word. Faith is a foundation stone without which we can't know God at all. But it is not blind,
Christian faith is rooted in what we know of God's character.
BOOK CONTEXT
James is the brother of Jesus and the writer of the letter which bears his name. He didn’t understand
or appreciate Jesus’ real identity until after His death and resurrection but then once he did believe
he was 100% committed to following Him. He became one of the main leaders, if not the main
leader of the early Christian movement and was killed for his faith in about 62AD. There are 2
differing stories of his death – in one account he is thrown of the top of the temple in Jerusalem and
then clubbed to death and in another account he is stoned to death!
SIMPLE REFLECTION
Read together James 2:14-26 three times. Immerse yourself in the story. Perhaps a person or a
phrase will stand out to you. Allow yourself to soak the story in and see what you notice. Meditate
on the passage and see what God says to you through this story about faith. Share your reflections
together and think about these questions: What might it look like for you personally to live a more
faith filled life? Where do you personally need to take more risks with God?
MOVIE CLIP
Watch together ‘Chronicles of Narnia DVD – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’ from 00:23:38
to 00:25:25. The clip starts just as Lucy returns from her first visit to Narnia and then tries to tell her
siblings about it. As they watch the clip ask everyone to think about times in their own family life
when they may have not been believed or when they have misunderstood or not believed someone
else. At the end of the clip discuss times when they have fallen out with brothers or sisters or other
family members because they weren’t believed or because they didn’t believe someone else.
Explain that it is believed that two of the letters in the New Testament were written by Jesus’
brothers – the letters of James and Jude; but any information given about the brothers whilst Jesus
was alive points to the fact that they really couldn’t believe He was the Messiah or Son of God.
James’ faith in Him as Messiah only came about after the resurrection – but once he did believe then
he dedicated the rest of his life to following Jesus, to the early Christian Church and even died for his
faith.
FAMILY TIME
Remind everyone that James and the other brothers of Jesus did not really believe in who He was
until after His death and resurrection. Sadly they were not able to encourage Him whilst He was alive
with them as a human brother. Sometimes we too miss out on opportunities to encourage and
support members of our own family because we are too busy or preoccupied with our own lives. Say
that they have a few minutes now to send a text message or a message on email, Facebook etc. to a
sibling or other family member. The message should be one of encouragement and support.