Faith without works is dead faith.
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: James 2:14-26
Title: Faith without works is dead faith.
There is a saying in Korea that if you make rice cake with words, the Koreans will eat it all and have leftovers. The meaning of this word is to point out that it is easy to put it into words, but to put it into action is never easy. Likewise, it will not be so difficult for us to believe in Jesus with our mouths. However, putting faith in Jesus into action is not an easy task.
Even though there are so many churches today and so many people living a religious life, it is not easy to find people who truly believe in Jesus. The reason is that although almost everyone believes in Jesus with their mouths, no one demonstrates what they believe in their works. Some of them show their faith through their actions, and they mistakenly believe that it is good faith to visit people who are less than themselves, give some money, and go to the neighbors to serve. This is something that unbelievers who are looking for a sanctuary do this every day. things are
According to this logic, there is no difference between those who believe in Jesus and those who believe in Shakyamuni. The only difference is that the object is the one Jesus and the other is the Buddha. Many people think that Jesus is the Son of God and Shakyam is a human being just like us, so they will go to hell. This is also a big mistake. No matter how much Jesus is the Son of God, if he does not imitate his deeds, it is no different than believing in Buddha.
In order for humans to imitate the character of Jesus, we must receive the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts. However, no matter how much we accept the Buddha's Spirit in our hearts, nothing will change for us. This is the difference between Jesus and Buddha. However, if we forget this principle and pretend that we believe in Jesus only with our mouths and do not try to imitate his actions, then what is the difference from the Buddhists who believe in Shakyamuni, who has no life?
The main difference between Christ and Buddha is that Jesus sacrificed his life and gave it as a ransom for many people, and Sakyamuni only practiced under the Bodhi tree for six years. What Shakyamuni said that he would master the Tao is the agony of how to control the evil in humans. However, even if a human born as a descendant of Adam sits for a thousand years under a golden tree, not a bodhi tree, there is no way to control the evil within humans.
It is in order to imitate Jesus' character that we dare to believe in Jesus by excluding figures such as Shakyamuni, Muhammad, Confucius, and Mencius. It is because eternal life is given only to human beings born as sinners by imitating the character of Jesus. However, if you believe in Jesus but do not imitate the character of Jesus and simply call on the name of Jesus with your mouth, then you are no different from the Buddhists who believe in Shakyamuni. The reason why those who believe in Shakyamuni or Muhammad cannot escape the snare of sin even after ten million years have passed is because there is no life in the character of Shakya or Muhammad.
But Jesus is different from other human beings, and in his character there is life. To say that there is life means that there is love in the heart. Therefore, the believer in Jesus must receive his Spirit into his heart and reveal his character. Such a person will be called a true believer in Jesus. When the Spirit of Christ takes control of the human heart, it becomes more sincere than ever before. In other words, they openly confess any sin in front of people.
If we also know what faith is, we believe that God is fully believed when Christ is in the human heart. Otherwise, we can never have complete faith in the name of Jesus that we call with our mouths. And since those who have the Spirit of Christ in their heart have no fear of death, they do not compromise with anything in this world, and they even sacrifice themselves for their neighbors.
As we saw above, Shakyamuni or Muhammad can never give life to those who believe in him. Therefore, while Shakyam is teaching those who believe and follow him to live kindly or virtuously, Muhammad demands that those who harm him rule with a sword. Why can't they just do this? Because there is no life in them. However, Christ is teaching those who believe in and follow Him to sacrifice Himself first in order to save souls, because the life that can live again even after death is in Himself.
Today's believers in Jesus are saying that they have no works, and that's what Christians are all about, never trying to sacrifice themselves. Instead of making sacrifices, they trample on others and not be able to rise, so everyone is anxious. Then, why do Christians today appear so contrary to what the Lord has said? The reason is that believers do not accept Jesus' character in their hearts, but call on Jesus by name only with their mouths.
To rectify this, all Christians must now appear as sinners against the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when the spiritual Son of God sent by God comes in the future, everyone must accept him from the heart. Only then can Christians cast off old customs and be born again in Christ. Otherwise, even if you call Jesus' name to die without putting off your old customs to the end, it is just dead faith. If you have life in yourself, check if you are ready to die right now for your family!
If there is anything Christians can boast about in this world, it is love. But in order to love others, you must first have the strength to sacrifice yourself. It is a lie to love your neighbor without the power to sacrifice yourself. Of course, you can love others physically. But it is only conditional love. However, the love given from Greece cannot be subject to any conditions or obstacles. If there is a condition, it is only the condition of admitting oneself as a sinner.
It may seem easy for us to love our neighbor, but it is never easy. Because you cannot love anyone unless you are born again as Christ. So there can be no difference of status in Christ. Whether rich or not, rich or poor, powerful or not, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, there are only sinners in Christ. That is why in Christ, all men and women are equal.