James aggressively raises the bar when it comes to expecting Christians to live out their faith.
There’s something about a cowboy and bad relationships that seems pretty common. There are great exceptions but many go from one relationship to another where the girl he picks manages to make him feel bad about himself—useless.
Sometimes our families or an employer can do it and sometimes we can do it to ourselves where a buck off streak or a series of misses on the roping side of the arena, lead a rodeo cowboy to think he’s becoming a failure.
If we read James without a fuller understanding of the Bible, he can make us feel pretty useless too.
James 2:20 “Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?”
There’s not much explanation needed here as James makes it clear our faith is pointless if we don’t live it out.
He then proceeds to give us some examples from what we have as the Old Testament to show us what genuine faith looks like.
James 2:21-26 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
James uses the accounts of Abraham and Rahab to show what faith in action looks like. Abraham had been asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. God didn’t require him to go through with it, but his willingness proved his faith. James uses it as an example to show us that if our faith is real, we will do what God asks. Now, we have both and Old and New Testament to help us know what God and Jesus ask of us.
Rahab was a prostitute who hid spies as Joshua was preparing to lead the Israelites to take the city of Jericho as commanded by God. Rahab showed that she believed God was the true god by hiding and allowing the spies to escape discovery and help carry out God’s plan. She demonstrated her faith by her actions.
Our actions can’t save us from God’s wrath, but when our salvation is real, our desire to follow Jesus and what he commands become proof that out faith is real. We don’t ever have to do anything more than believe Jesus was and is who he said, repent and ask to be forgiven, to be saved. James tells us that is dead faith; useless. But if we’re wondering how to tell if we are truly saved, one piece of evidence is our desire to live out what we learn from the Bible.
Cowboys of the Cross is a rodeo/ bull riding ministry that leads cowboy church services at events and maintains an online presence to share the gospel and make disciples among the ranch and rodeo community. They can be found at CowboysOfTheCross.com
.png)
