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Deeds of Faith

 

Works and Faith

         Faith and works are as inseparable as sun and sunlight. Faith is the sun; good works are its rays. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.

         I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to you chapel in the cellar and prayed for my release.

         I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

         I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

         I was homeless and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

         I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me.

         You seem so holy so close to God but I’m still very hungry and lonely and cold. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         A man who claims to have faith without works is like a man who puts all his effort into building the foundation of a house and never builds anything on it.

         A man who displays great works but claims no faith is like a man who builds a house on sand without any foundation. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         As gloves are to a surgeon’s hands so are Christians in service for God. It is actually “God’s hand” doing the work. We are but used by him and therefore have nothing to boast of. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         A minister was talking to a professing Christian and asked him if he was active in a local church. The man responded “No but the dying thief wasn’t active in a church and yet he was still accepted.” The minister then asked if he had been baptized. The man responded “The dying thief was not baptized and he still made it to heaven.” The minister then asked if he had partaken of the Lord’s Table. The man responded “No but the dying thief didn’t either and Christ still received him.”

         The minister then commented: “The only difference between you the dying thief is that he was dying in his belief and you are dead in yours.” ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         Doctrine and doing are like the two chemical ingredients of salt which is composed of two poisons: sodium and chlorine. If we ingested either of the two poisons we would die. But if we combine them properly we have sodium chloride which is the common table salt that gives flavor to our food and indeed life and health to our bodies. So too are faith and works inseparable. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         You’ve probably heard it said “It doesn’t matter what you believe it’s how you live that counts.”

         A.J. Gordon encountered this philosophy one time as he talked with a fellow passenger on a train. The man believed he could get to heaven by his good works. Pointing to the conductor who was making his way through the coach Gordon asked his new friend “Did you ever notice how carefully he always examines the ticket but takes no pains whatever to inspect the passenger?” The man immediately caught the significance of the question. He had just been saying that God was interested only in what we do and not in a “little bit of theological scrip called faith.”

         “You see ” continued Gordon “the passenger and the ticket are accepted together. If he doesn’t have one or has the wrong one he will be asked to get off the train—no matter how honest he might appear to be. Just as the ticket stands for the man faith stands for you.

         Note that the “ticket of faith was purchased at a great price but not by you or me! ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

         Martin Luther who had made himself the apostle and champion of faith alone wrote the following: “Faith is a living busy active powerful thing; it is impossible for it not to do us good continually. It never asks whether good works are to be done but has done them before there is time to ask the question and it is always doing them. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

Faith and works are as inseparable as sun and sunlight. Faith is the sun; good works are its rays. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

            I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.

            I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to you chapel in the cellar and prayed for my release.

            I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

            I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

            I was homeless and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

            I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me.

           You seem so holy so close to God but I’m still very hungry and lonely and cold. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

A man who claims to have faith without works is like a man who puts all his effort into building the foundation of a house and never builds anything on it.

            A man who displays great works but claims no faith is like a man who builds a house on sand without any foundation. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

As gloves are to a surgeon’s hands so are Christians in service for God. It is actually “God’s hand” doing the work. We are but used by him and therefore have nothing to boast of. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

A minister was talking to a professing Christian and asked him if he was active in a local church. The man responded “No but the dying thief wasn’t active in a church and yet he was still accepted.” The minister then asked if he had been baptized. The man responded “The dying thief was not baptized and he still made it to heaven.” The minister then asked if he had partaken of the Lord’s Table. The man responded “No but the dying thief didn’t either and Christ still received him.”

            The minister then commented: “The only difference between you the dying thief is that he was dying in his belief and you are dead in yours.” ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

Doctrine and doing are like the two chemical ingredients of salt which is composed of two poisons: sodium and chlorine. If we ingested either of the two poisons we would die. But if we combine them properly we have sodium chloride which is the common table salt that gives flavor to our food and indeed life and health to our bodies. So too are faith and works inseparable. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

 

Works and Faith

You’ve probably heard it said “It doesn’t matter what you believe it’s how you live that counts.”

           A.J. Gordon encountered this philosophy one time as he talked with a fellow passenger on a train. The man believed he could get to heaven by his good works. Pointing to the conductor who was making his way through the coach Gordon asked his new friend “Did you ever notice how carefully he always examines the ticket but takes no pains whatever to inspect the passenger?” The man immediately caught the significance of the question. He had just been saying that God was interested only in what we do and not in a “little bit of theological scrip called faith.”

            “You see ” continued Gordon “the passenger and the ticket are accepted together. If he doesn’t have one or has the wrong one he will be asked to get off the train—no matter how honest he might appear to be. Just as the ticket stands for the man faith stands for you.

            Note that the “ticket of faith was purchased at a great price but not by you or me! ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

.

FAITH AND WORKS

A young boy on an errand for his mother had just bought a dozen eggs. Walking out of the store he tripped and dropped the sack. All the eggs broke and the sidewalk was a mess. The boy tried not to cry. A few people gathered to see if he was OK and to tell him how sorry they were. In the midst of the works of pity one man handed the boy a quarter. Then he turned to the group and said "I care 25 cents worth. How much do the rest of you care?" James 2:16 points out that words don't mean much if we have the ability to do more.── Stanley C. Brown.

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FAITH AND WORKS

For years I enjoyed packing up my guns and some food to head off into the woods. Even more than the hunting itself I enjoyed the way these trips always seemed to deepen my relationship with friends as we hunted during the day and talked late into the night around the campfire. When an old friend recently invited me to relive some of those days I couldn't pass up the chance. For several weeks before the trip I had taken the time to upgrade some of my equipment and sight in my rifle. When the day came I was ready for the hunt. What I wasn't ready for was what my close friend Tom shared with me the first night out on the trail.

I always enjoyed the time I spent with Tom. He had become a leader in his church and his warm and friendly manner had also taken him many steps along the path of business success. He had a lovely wife and while I knew they had driven over some rocky roads in their marriage things now seemed to be stable and growing. Tom's kids two daughters and a son were struggling in junior high and high school with the normal problems of peer pressure and acceptance.

As we rode back into the mountains I could tell that something big was eating away at Tom's heart. His normal effervescent style was shrouded by an overwhelming inner hurt. Normally Tom would attack problems with the same determination that had made him a success in business. Now I saw him wrestling with something that seemed to have knocked him to the mat for the count. Silence has a way of speaking for itself. All day and on into the evening Tom let his lack of words shout out his inner restlessness. Finally around the first night's campfire he opened up.

The scenario Tom painted was annoyingly familiar. I'd heard it many times before in many other people's lives. But the details seemed such a contract to the life that Tom and his wife lived and the beliefs they embraced. His oldest daughter had become attached to a boy at school. Shortly after they started going together they became sexually involved. Within two months she was pregnant. Tom's wife discovered the truth when a packet from Planned Parenthood came in the mail addressed to her daughter. When confronted with it the girl admitted she had requested it when she went to the clinic to find out if she was pregnant.

If we totaled up the number of girls who have gotten pregnant out of wedlock during the past two hundred years of our nation's history the total would be in the millions. Countless parents through the years have faced the devastating news. Being a member of such a large fraternity of history however does not soften the severity of the blow to your heart when you discover it's your daughter.

Tom shared the humiliation he experienced when he realized that all of his teaching and example had been ignored. Years of spiritual training had been thrust aside. His stomach churned as he relived the emotional agony of knowing that the little girl he and his wife loved so much had made a choice that had permanently scarred her heart.

I'm frequently confronted with these problems in my ministry and have found that dwelling on the promiscuous act only makes matters worse. I worship a God of forgiveness and solutions and at that moment in our conversation I was anxious to turn toward hope and healing.

I asked Tom what they had decided to do. Would they keep the baby or put it up for adoption? That's when he delivered the blow. With the fire burning low Tom paused for a long time before answering. And even when he spoke he wouldn't look me in the eye. "We considered the alternatives Tim. Weighed all the options." He took a deep breath. "We finally made an appointment with the abortion clinic. I took her down there myself."

I dropped the stick I'd been poking the coals with and stared at Tom. Except for the wind in the trees and the snapping of our fire it was quiet for a long time. I couldn't believe this was the same man who for years had been so outspoken against abortion. He and his wife had even volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center in his city. Heartsick I pressed him about the decision. Tom then made a statement that captured the essence of his problem...and the problem many others have in entering into genuine rest. In a mechanical voice he said "I know what I believe Tim but that's different than what I had to do. I had to make a decision that had the least amount of consequences for the people involved."

Just by the way he said it I could tell my friend had rehearsed these lines over and over in his mind. And by the look in his eyes and the emptiness in his voice I could tell his words sounded as hollow to him as they did to me.── Tim Kimmel Little House on the Freeway pp. 67-70

 

Works and Faith

Martin Luther who had made himself the apostle and champion of faith alone wrote the following: “Faith is a living busy active powerful thing; it is impossible for it not to do us good continually. It never asks whether good works are to be done but has done them before there is time to ask the question and it is always doing them. ── Michael P. GreenIllustrations for Biblical Preaching

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FAITH AND WORKS Statistics and Commentary

In his book I Surrender Patrick Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception "that we can add Christ to our lives but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior." He goes on to say "It is revival without reformation without repentance." ── C. Swindoll John The Baptizer Bible Study Guide p. 16.

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FAITH AND WORKS Statistics and Commentary

The question is asked: how can justification take place without the works of the law even though James says: "Faith without works is dead"? In answer the apostle distinguishes between the law and faith the letter and grace. The 'works of the law' are works done without faith and grace by the law which forces them to be done through fear or the enticing promise of temporal advantages. But 'works of faith' are those done in the spirit of liberty purely out of love to God. And they can be done only by those who are justified by faith. An ape can cleverly imitate the actions of humans. But he is not therefore a human. If he became a human it would undoubtedly be not by vurtue of the works by which he imitated man but by virtue of something else; namely by an act of God. Then having been made a human he would perform the works of humans in proper fashion. Paul does not say that faith is without its characteristic works but that it justifies without the works of the law. Therefore justification does not require the works of the law; but it does require a living faith which performs its works.── Martin Luther.

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FAITH AND WORKS Statistics and Commentary

"Faith and holiness are inextricably linked. Obeying the commands of God usually involves believing the promises of God." ── J. Bridges The Pursuit of Holiness p. 145.