Doing

 I’m fully aware of the madness gripping the world wherein someone believes just because they say they are something, or might even believe they are that something, they are somehow transformed into the thing they believe they are. We’ve seen people believe they’re dogs, cats, a reincarnated Tutankhamun, or the space lord Zip come from a galaxy far, far away, but all they really are is attention-seeking clowns. Either that or people with severe mental disorders who are as likely to try and bite off your nose as they are to pitch a fit for misgendering them.

There’s a difference between saying you’re something and being something, between intending to do something and actually doing it. It may just be me, but I’ve been planning to get in shape for the better part of thirty years now. However, here I still am, Rubenesque as always, glowing with vitality and high animal fat content because even when I start to go to the gym and exercise, something always comes up. It’s enough of an excuse for me to torpedo the entire thing.

Yes, I’m fully aware bodily exercise profits little, and I’ve discovered there are enough things that profit more that by the time I’m done with those, the day is done, and I need rest. That profits a little, too, but I’ve decided I like sleep as much as the next guy, even if I don’t get enough.

James 2:14-17, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or a sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’”

Ever wonder if James and Jude ever got together to figure out how to annoy the sanctimonious and self-righteous? They were, after all, brothers, so they must have hung out more than they would have with strangers. I wonder about that a lot.

Here’s the plan: You write to the churches, I’ll write to the Jews, but let’s be brave and bold and direct in our writing like our big brother would have been. Then we’ll see who gets martyred first.

Spoiler alert: historically speaking, James won by a nose, but Jude’s martyrdom was more gruesome, being beaten with a club and then crucified rather than just being stoned like his brother. I know, if only they knew the prosperity keys to unlock the storehouse of all the wealth of the wicked that was laid up for the righteous. Perhaps they could have purchased their freedom. Oh wait, that wasn’t their intent. It wasn’t about a comfortable life here; it was about eternity there. It still is for those who want what Jesus offers, not what men are peddling.

To understand the deeper truth of what James is trying to impart we must first determine what he means by works. The other thing we must be aware of is the way in which he frames the question.

Yes, I’m well aware that I’m likely to catch flack from ‘the you don’t have to do anything to obtain eternity, except perhaps throw a hand in the air and a few bucks in the plate,’ but when we come to understand what faith works in us, how it transforms us, and how it directs us, we will come to realize that James is right, as is Paul, Peter, and Jesus, and any other Biblical author who insist upon devotion, surrender, faithfulness, and obedience.

James doesn’t start out by saying, ‘if someone has faith,’ but rather ‘if someone says he has faith.’ Again, it’s one thing to say you have something and another to demonstrably prove it. You can say you have faith, but the evidence of faith is the aforementioned works, and if there are no works to be had, if there is no fruit to be gleaned, if all you have is your say so and you have no solid evidence to back up your claims, do you really have anything?

Life is not a video game, and you don’t need to perform a certain number of tasks in order to get to the next level. No one is standing at heaven’s gate with a clipboard, checking off all the things you were supposed to do to gain entry as far as works are concerned. James is saying that faith transforms you as an individual, and the works of which he speaks are a byproduct of true and abiding faith in Jesus.

Although everyone is quick to say that Paul contradicts James, Jude, and Peter, and to a certain extent Jesus, because let’s face it, telling someone you love that they need to go and sell all they have and then come and follow can be seen as having to put in some kind of work, he doesn’t.

The only time people can vociferously say that Paul contradicts everyone else is when they take one verse out of context and Forrest Gump it until the wheels fall off.

The same Paul, whom some say insists on a fast pass to heaven also insisted on doing works befitting repentance, but nobody really likes to talk about that. It pokes a hole in the narrative, and we’d rather gloss over anything attempting to do so.

Acts 26:19-20, “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn, to God, and do works befitting repentance.”

True faith produces works, and those with true faith do not have to tell others that they have faith; they will witness it in their works. It’s not works salvation; it’s the natural byproduct of a life lived in obedience.

I’m well aware that every avenue we’ve pursued of late reveals that there are far fewer people of faith in what we call the church than we first assumed, but that can’t be helped. The truth will out whether I speak it or not because if we remain silent, the stones will cry out in our stead.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.