Exercise Faith With the New Knowledge (James 2:14-26)

So, faith comes into the first and foremost place in the lives of believers in Christ. God the Father has redeemed us through the Son’s blood and liberated from the bondage of sin and death. The reality of humanity is that they have been lost and fallen in Adam. The restoration of humanity has been made and done through the death Jesus Christ with his blood. The process of realization of both truths can be done only through the lens of faith and no other. By faith, we come to see that we have fatally and critically been fallen and put into complete darkness and confusion. It is the realization of the need of redemptive salvation through the eye of the gift of faith given from heaven above. At the same time, by faith we come to see that Jesus Christ has already and fully paid the ransom price for the sin of the world on a cross with his blood. Exercising the faith in Christ, we believe and experience the marvelous deliberation and redemption from the power of sin and death. By faith, we believe that we have indeed been made free in Christ. What’s next? It follows the continual exercise of our faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Apostle James says a staggering statement that faith without deeds is dead, which is urging every believers to examine their faith whether it is genuine or not. It is not saying of going back to the works of the law, because we have not saved by works but by grace through faith. “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.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) So, what is faith? Why is ‘faith without deeds’ dead?

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a 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? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:14-26)

We are born to exercise faith naturally in every way. Without exercising faith, we cannot even take a single breath of air. If we have to examine first whether or not air is poisoned, no one can breathe. If we have to examine whether the car engine would function properly or not, we would not able to drive it at all. If we have to examine whether the electricity would be supported or not, we would not able to utilize it. But, we keep on breathing constantly, starting the car, and turning the switch on without even thinking. It shows how much we are automatically practicing faith, simply relying on the works of others. Why is it so? Because we have been made that way by the infinite wisdom and glory of God. It is a way of God’s teaching and revelation through the plain things we exercise every moment in our midst. In short, the God of all creations is saying that we can never live without relying and depending on the works of others. To breathe, we must rely on the air in which we take oxygen into our body. The air is made by the invisible hand of God. So, we are relying on him every second, believe it or not. It may be called the old knowledge or in-born knowledge that all man exercises even without being taught how to do.

But here comes a catch! Since the nature is so predictively and faithfully running all the time without betrayal like we breathe so easily, humans unwittingly think that they can run the world by tail. They bump troubles and difficulties over and over again, but still they think they can fix and manage all problems. Like people who were building the tower of Babel in the plain of Shinar to make their names great, reaching to the heaven, humanity is resistant and stubborn to fold their pride despite of one blunder after another. Mankind in Adam is fatally blind and darkened, not even knowing that they breathe freely because they depend on the invisible God who is lavishly and liberally giving, giving, and giving. So, humanity desperately needs to learn the new knowledge that man in Adam is lost and fallen and Jesus Christ came to restore the lost race and died in our place as the atoning sacrifice. Whoever believes in the Son Jesus Christ shall not perish but have eternal life, says the Scripture. Through the faith in Christ we have been redeemed from the bondage of darkness and died to sin and made alive to God. This is the new knowledge for all humanity and has been already fulfilled for those who are in Christ.

What is then living by faith? It means to live on that new knowledge with obedience. Faith should be exercised with both knowledge and obedience. Jesus Christ is the example as the pioneer and the perfecter of faith. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2b) Jesus knew the will of God that he must die for the sin of the world. He also knew that there was no other way but the cross in order to meet the holy law requirement set by the Father and thus voluntarily obeyed him to the point of death. Yes, faith cannot be an authentic faith with obedient deeds. All the deeds exercised within the act of faith are inherently related with the cross of Christ. Abraham obeyed God even if it would mean to kill his son Isaac. In fact, the Scripture says that he received his son back from death. “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:19) Rahab risked her life in hiding the spies of the enemy because she feared the Lord God of heaven and the earth more than the king of Jericho. “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” (Hebrews 11:31) By welcoming the spices she was immediately branded as a traitor who could be condemned to death. To help the needy it is impossible to do without sacrificing the fortune monetarily. The owner has the right to dispense or withhold the fortune. But how can it be helpful without dispensing money?

So, how does it work in living by faith in God and the Son Jesus Christ? It is always a two step process—first, put off our old self and second, put on the new self. This is the new covenant living based on the new revelation in Christ. “Everything coming from God and nothing coming from us.” Without going through the first step, it is impossible to enter into the second. The first step is essentially to be selfless by denying ourselves and taking up our cross of shame and guilt. It is possible because we died to sin and death with Christ. It is necessary because there is nothing to depend upon our old self, the flesh. Then, we put on the new self in Christ and follow him. This is the only way of following Christ Jesus in perfection. That is the act of faith in Christ. The first step is in fact our death with Christ in the cross of Calvary. The death is immediately followed by the resurrection with Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) This way, we are empowered and strengthened with a power far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come (Ephesians 1:21). This is the new knowledge in Christ. A new life in Christ does not come naturally but only through the faith in him.

“That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:20-24)

June 28, 2017

© 2015-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

From Favoritism and Judgment Into Freedom and Mercy (James 2:1-11)

We do not have to teach or learn how to love ourselves. How much do we care, defend, love, like, protect, cover, and attend ourselves? No doubt we all do naturally and automatically. Just watch how defiantly children defend themselves when asked who’s fault in the middle of fight among them. It is the age of I, me, and myself. The trend is obviously to insist all my rights and get them right now. Self-promoting, self-serving, and self-seeking cause clash, bloodbath and even death. Hate, killing, revenge, anger, hurting are norms in our cities and countries. Even in the church, exclusiveness, cliques, factions, divisions, dissensions, quarrels are rampant and prevailing as reported in the church of Corinth even in the first century. “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” (1 Corinthians 1:10) That is how exactly the world operates. But not in Christ because he is a way out of self-loving bondage and dungeon in Adam. James, a half brother of Jesus Christ calls the fallen nature of humanity ‘favoritism’ and ‘judgment’ in his letter to the church of Christ Jesus the Lord.

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘You shall not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:1-13)

How can we escape from being the victim of favoritism and judgment? It is impossible for us to avoid in nature. We have been born to be fallen and lost in darkness and confusion because all is born in Adam. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) God know! So, he sent his Son out of faithful love and just compassion that whosoever believes in him shall not perish in the condemnation of favoritism and judgment but have eternal life, a freed and true life in Christ. The royal and perfect law requires holiness and glory in all aspects of our lives, externally, internally, and spiritually. No one can meet the cruel and painful requirements of the law. God know! There is one who can meet them all in perfection and wholeness. He is Jesus Christ our Lord who has met the death requirement of the law on the cross with his blood. In love, he shed his blood and offered his body as the atoning sacrifice in the heavenly temple. He was ashamed, crushed, afflicted, forsaken, suffered, humiliated, nailed, pierced like a criminal. He died in our place as Prophet Isaiah foretold some seven hundred years before Christ was crucified.

“Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the law but fulfill it. That is how he has fulfilled the law. And that is how we can escape from the darkness and confusion of favoritism and judgement. The Scripture says, “Be holy for I am holy.” (Leviticus 20:26) The law demands to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. No one can meet the law, so all sin and die, as the Scripture says, ‘the power of sin is the law.’ (1 Corinthians 15:56) Jesus gave his disciples the new commandment which is the same as the old commandment except this phrase, ‘as I have loved you.’ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) Now we can love one another by means of Christ Jesus who lives and indwells in us. That is the good news. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” We cannot love even our husbands, wives, or children all the time as God loves. We are born to be bigoted, prejudiced, favored, and judgmental. No help in the world can change the curse. Education cannot, nor wealth, nor academic achievements, nor power in office, nor protest. But when we come to the place where we cannot keep the law though we wanted to do it, saying “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” like Paul, a genuine and all powerful help arrives right at the moment. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 7:25)

The royal law says that we can escape from being the victim of favoritism and judgment and enter into freedom and mercy, not because we can on our own means but we have been made so in Christ who has met the cruel and uncompromising demands of the law of God. Those who are born of God cannot sin but obey the perfect law. Apostle Paul answers, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2) Apostle John says so bluntly, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” (1 John 3:9) But it is not an automatic process even after born again. It requires a prerequisite step to obey the law. It is to put our old self to death. How can it be? Jesus says to disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34) That is it. Denying ourselves and taking up our cross. Why is it so painfully required? Because there is nothing in us to depend on and nothing to contribute for credit in the eyes of God. No man can serve two masters—God and Mammon, says the Lord Jesus. To follow him we must put off our old self who died to sin with Christ. What does it mean in practice? It means to admit the fact that we do not have anything in us to claim our rights in any circumstance where the world entices and seduces us to assert the self-righteousness, passing judgment on others. So, God disciplines us to be rooted and established on the faith of Jesus Christ. Life on earth is a testbed whether we have truly been born of God. It is a continual process of difficulties and sufferings one after another. When stressed and pressured by whatever reasons, it is the exam time to see and learn how to handle our lives. It is an opportunity to be revealed of the truth and be molded to be more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ. When we put off our old self, we are able to be put on the new self, the image of Jesus Christ which is what we really are in him. We cannot be angrily hateful and righteous at the same time.

It is the way to escape from the enslavement of favoritism and judgment and enter into freedom and mercy in Christ. Freedom comes only when we are completely selfless. We instantly and completely become off guard when we see a baby who is so fragile and helpless that we cannot but loving and caring selflessly. Being selfless means death. For example, when driving, without any doubt we start the engine, believing that it would run and go wherever we intend to go. There is no strenuous effort involved to try to run the car at all. If so, it will be impossible to drive. What is happening? We are indeed free to start the car because we are not aware of ourselves involved in starting and running the engine. Just start and drive! There is no I in the whole course of running the engine while going somewhere. Another example is electricity. To turn on the light, simply turn the switch on. To turn the light off, turn it off. It is simple. There is no I in making the electricity. Just turn it on and off. But the process behind the scene is so complicated and complex that the electricity plant, hundreds of miles of cables, uncountable number of poles, regenerators are built to service the electricity to home and business. We selflessly without even thinking of the complex systems turn the switch on.

That is how we live in Christ under the new covenant. We have graciously and mercifully been made righteous through the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, so we have confidence to approach and stand in boldness before the holy and glorious throne of God. That confidence is not from us but from Christ Jesus whom God sent. “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6) Nothing coming from us, everything coming from God. God has indeed made us free and no one and nothing can rob our freedom in Christ (John 8:36). We have been made free from being the victim of the favoritism and judgment on others, so we exercise God’s mercy selflessly. That is what our Lord Jesus Christ has loved us first while we were still sinners.

“Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:6-11)

June 10, 2017

© 2015-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.