Are We Doing Good Things for the Right Reasons? (TMF:1998)

Wednesday, January 04, 2023
Peace to Live By: Are We Doing Good Things for the Right Reasons? (TMF:1998) - Daniel Litton
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       “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17, ESV). I kind of ended our sermon last week discussing this very thing, and that is that we can say this or that, but if we really don’t mean it, it doesn’t really matter. But really James is zooming out I think more than that. His picture here is bigger. He brought up the word faith. A person can do the right things (show interest in others), but it’s often for the wrong reasons. It’s often to get something out of someone in return, to use the person for their own, personal benefit. It can also be to keep true to a rule, a commandment, that the person feels he or she needs to fulfill. So, the good work is done out of obligation and not from the heart.