The Illustration

James 3:15-17

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “ Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

Let me just start off by cutting to the chase (and excuse me for being a bit Philly here...) but James' point here, in a nutshell, is this:

PUT UP OR SHUT UP!!!

Faith, at it's core is trusting or believing; it's really that simple.

But Faith is not something you merely HAVE, it's something you PROVE by what you DO.

(Please let ME Illustrate)

Let's say you have never jumped out of an airplane before? You get up to, ohhhh I don't know, 6000 feet....and the Instructor says, "OK JUMP!!!"

NOW.... how do you know you have FAITH??? (Faith that what you learned is true, faith that the chute will open, faith that you will land safely....)

ALL kinds of things are racing through your mind and IF YOU JUMP, then didn't you have trust (i.e. FAITH) in all those things which led you to DO SOMETHING. (i.e. Jump)

See, you could "Tell" the instructor you have all the trust in the world, but without actually jumping you have proved nothing....You're "so called faith" is USELESS.

So are you DOING your faith???

Tomorrow....A further evaluation from James.