Works Without Faith Is Dead

The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?" (Isa 29:13-15)
 

Sunday morning rituals and then the rest of the week what do we do? On Sunday mornings we praise the LORD with our lips, but how much honor do we give the LORD during the rest of the week? Some of the saddest moments of my life are when I realize someone worships on Sunday morning purely out of ritual or because they think this "act" is the good work that will grant them eternal life. Or, maybe, it's to enhance their political or business life. I assure you; any works without faith is totally useless.

James tells us "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." (James 2:17-19)

It is useless to call yourself Christian if you have no faith. It is useless to pretend that you know Jesus if you do not. You may fool some of the people; but, you can never fool God.

We are not and cannot be saved by any good works including showing up for worship. But, by hearing the Word during worship, faith just may be fired up inside of you by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is by faith alone in Christ that we are saved. He did the good work for us!

God's Peace – Pr. J