Title: Faith and Works / James 2:14-26
Contents
When we read the Bible, we sometimes get confused. This is especially true when reading Romans and James. In Romans, it is said, "The righteous live by faith." In James, "Faith without works is dead." In Romans it is said that Abraham was justified because of faith, whereas in James it is said that he was justified by works. Reformer Martin Luther saw that the value of James, which emphasized works, was diminished because he emphasized faith through his study of Romans. But, as we know, the latter part of Romans emphasizes works.
The faith emphasized in Romans speaks of confidence in the gospel as opposed to the law. No matter how hard we try to keep the law, we cannot do it because of sin. Therefore, we cannot be righteous by keeping the law. It is only when our sins are forgiven through the redemption of Jesus Christ that we can keep the law. What Paul was trying to emphasize in Romans was not that we should forsake the law, but that we must first believe in Jesus Christ in order to keep the law right. It is only when we are reconciled to God through faith and have a right relationship, our life can be changed to a righteous life. Therefore, in Romans 12, Paul said to those who have been saved through faith, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” It emphasizes action.
Faith and works are inextricably linked. We cannot be justified by God by works alone. Only after believing in Jesus Christ can we walk the path of right deeds. Only when we believe in Jesus Christ, who has become the way and the truth, can we know how to live righteously and where we must go. Therefore, walking without faith is like wandering through the desert without knowing where to go. No matter how hard you work and wander, it is like dying without ever getting out of the desert. At the same time, faith without works is as foolish as knowing where an oasis is in the desert and not going towards it.
It is by faith that we become children of God. It was done by the grace of God. There is nothing of my merit in it. Therefore, we are always grateful for that grace, and from now on, all we have to do is walk diligently on the right path we have found.
The goal of life we find in Jesus Christ is to please God. to glorify him. In order to please God, we must know His will. When we know the will and live according to it, we become children that God is pleased with. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that "those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven" can enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, the goal of us believers is to do the will of our Heavenly Father. You don't believe in Jesus for your own satisfaction, and you don't believe in Jesus just to be saved. We have come to know God the Father through faith in Jesus Christ, so we have moved away from the life we used to live for ourselves, and now we are moving on to a life that pleases the Father.
Nevertheless, our religious life is always focused on self-satisfaction and self-salvation. I earnestly pray for my faith to grow, but faith grows through works. When we do the Father's will, our faith grows. Just as a child grows up healthy when he is active while he is awake, even for a moment, our faith grows healthy when we work diligently according to God's will. When we gather every week for worship, we give thanks for the fact that the life of the past week was a life according to God's will, and we promise that we will live the next week more faithfully according to the will of God. God's will is not the same for all of us. God gives each person a different gift, so that the kingdom of God can be accomplished through that gift. Therefore, we should examine each gift and glorify God through it.
As I recently wrote the history of the church, I once again saw the practical faith of Elder Yunjae Lee and Deacon Yuukgyeom.
"It cannot be said that Mr. Lee Yun-jae was a person for the spread of Hangeul and was a fighter who propagated the spirit of the Joseon Dynasty through Hangeul. …He was a madman for disseminating Hangeul propaganda. Even before the unification of Hangeul spelling was announced, <Dongkwang> magazine He was the one who recommended the use of new spelling, wrote the Korean query section of the <Dong-A Ilbo>, visited the editors of magazines of religious groups such as Christianity, Catholicism, and Buddhism, as well as the trend, and recommended writing the new Korean spelling method. He went to the publishers and encouraged him to write new spellings, so he was usually Professor Lee Yoon-jae when he spoke Korean at the time, and he had to put the seven letters of 'Hangeul proofreading Lee Yun-jae' in front of his books in order to gain authority, although he didn't write many books. , can be said to have laid the groundwork for the development of Hangeul culture in this country." In Lee Seok-rin "<Hangeul> Magazine and Lee Yun-jae", <Love of the Country> Vol. 13, page 63.
In the early 1930s, he traveled several times to Pyongyang, Seoncheon, Jeongju, and Hwangju to give lectures at the Hangeul Class. Therefore, at that time, our Andong Church became a gathering place for Korean scholars. Thanks to this, Andong Church was able to write according to the Korean spelling system early on. If you look at the 1930's bulletin, there is no letter with the letter below. I looked at it indifferently before, but I found out that it was because of Elder Yunjae Lee's Hangeul movement.
There are several anecdotes that indicate his uprightness. According to the writings of his third daughter, Young-ae Lee, there is an anecdote as follows.
“One of the strict manners close to a bizarre wall was when he went to work from the Hwadong house to Yeonhui College, and he walked around because he didn’t want to pay the Japanese for the train fare that was only 5 years ago. The more I tried to see it, the more I could see the image of the Governor-General of Joseon that caught my eye, so I purposely went from Jongno to Namdaemun, passed Bongrae-dong, and passed Ahyeon Pass to school."
Also, in the writings of Nosan Lee Eun-sang, there is an anecdote as follows.
“The son of a certain Yuji who protected his parents while he went to Beijing to study abroad had a wedding in Seoul, and it was supposed to be held at a hotel in Jingogae (now Chungmuro, where only Japanese people lived at that time). As a teacher who protects righteousness, he had to attend the ceremony, but he swore that he had never set foot in his life as a 'street of dwarfs', and he could not even enter the honmachi. The story of standing at the entrance to Jingogae in front of the post office, from 2 o'clock at the wedding ceremony to the time when everyone came back from the banquet, for a couple of hours, standing like a road warrior, even shocked many people's hearts."
In 1937, he was arrested in Japan due to the Suyang Alumni Association incident, and he suffered imprisonment at Seodaemun Prison until the summer of the following year. On September 12 of the following year, he was referred to the Hamhung District Court again for a preliminary trial, and at 5 a.m. on December 8, he died in a cold cell without seeing the day when the glory of the country was restored. It is proud to know that such a person was the elder of Andong Church. He has demonstrated faith in action.
Also, Deacon Yu Eok-gyeom is the second son of Gudang Yu Gil-jun, a master of the enlightenment thought in the Korean language, and has contributed greatly to the development of Yeonhui as the principal of Yeonhee College. It is not an exaggeration to say that Yeonhui College actually established the foundation just because there was this person. After liberation, he served as the first principal of Yeonhui University, then became the head of education for the U.S. Military Government and laid the foundation for today's education system by performing amazing tasks such as reorganizing the school system and compiling textbooks in order to establish the 100th anniversary of the education of the liberated country. . Sadly, he passed away at the age of 53, when he had to work for a long time. Byeon Yeong-ro (卞榮魯), the teacher's friend and poet, wrote the following:
"After hearing the army's death, I rushed to the end of Gahoe-dong. The shoppers were lined up, but in a sense, it was quite lonely. To be honest, the room was cold because there was no Sitan, and people who stayed up all night due to lack of rice had to endure the night. There is a saying in the proverb that people should cover their coffin lids and give comments, but that was the word applied to the deceased. There are few people who have lived their lives with the same spirit of serving the nation and society as Yoo Gun, who has transcended everything in this corrupt country and is now helplessly deceased.”
If the minister's house had no firewood, so he was cold, and he couldn't keep up for the night due to a lack of rice, you would know what his poverty-stricken life was like. It wasn't because he didn't get paid, but because he helped others with the money he received. When I was a superintendent, my salary was about 200 won, and I was able to live quite comfortably with that amount of salary at the time. But he said that he used all the money for scholarships for poor students. When we hear stories like this, it doesn't feel like we're hearing old stories that have nothing to do with us. But aren't these people really good ancestors of faith who had faith in action?
I believe that these people are people who lived their lives with passion and faith just like the Apostle Paul. They are great workers who "fighted the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith."
Dear brothers and sisters, you are called to work for the kingdom of God, freeing yourself from your selfish life through faith in Jesus Christ. The important thing now is to follow the calling, diligently devote yourself, and do the work that God has entrusted to you with all your might. I hope that each of you will discover what God's will is in your own place and carry out the will of God. Faith without works is dead. As you continue to move and lead a righteous life, your faith will become a living faith and you will eventually enter the kingdom God has prepared for you.
I hope that as you participate in the Lord's Supper today, you will discover what Jesus is showing you today, and I hope that you will follow that calling faithfully and dedicate your life.