The Death of Faith?

Good deeds don't get you into heaven, but they just might be the very thing that show others the way to belief.

Aug 05, 2024

If you read through the headlines about Christian responses to worldly news, you’ll notice that faith vs. works is the root of many commentaries. The consistent question that Christian thought leaders ask is what good does your faith do in the world?

Progressive Christians tend to focus on the outworking of our faith concerning social justice, caring for the poor, and welcoming the immigrant. Conservative Christians emphasize the work of faith in internal heart change so that we are compelled to prevent evil in the world like abortion, tainting God’s design for marriage and identity, and preserving a moral society.

These are all important and Christlike endeavors, but we approach them differently. And why? The rhetoric I see from more progressive Christians is the desire for our faith to be lived out loud through the ways exemplified by Jesus and discussed at large in Scripture.1 That’s not to say that conservative Christians don’t care about that; again, we all just approach the “how” differently.

In the recent debate about the Olympic opening ceremonies, I kept seeing comments about how little this should matter in the grand scheme of concerns Christians should be invested in.

I’m not condoning everything stated in this post, but I share it because we’re still in this tug-of-war between faith and works.

To those who did oppose the Last Supper depiction in the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, they did so because they were concerned about the lies being told to society at large about who we are as humans made in the image of God, our identity and the way we live out our trust and faith in God. They were concerned about a prominent reenactment of our Lord being mocked, and understandably.

What people like Zach Lambert have been upset about is that our faith seems to be producing more verbal outrage in defense of our identity instead of outrage in defense of the works that we are called to—more boycotting corporations than bearing fruit of caring for God’s people. While I may not agree with everything he shares, his posts, among others of similar perspectives, have helped to draw my attention back to God and rely on what God says about how our faith is supposed to be worked out.

Christians are commonly torn between a life of faith alone and a life of works. Our human nature begs for physical representation, proof, and examples. Works are much easier to check off a list and claim to be a “good Christian”.

We often think of faith and works at odds with each other, like only one of them can truly save us, but maybe that’s where we get it wrong. Faith saves you but works are a result of faith.

When Jesus stepped onto the scene, He referred often to the works He was called to produce, so we can insinuate that works themselves are not inherently bad.

But the testimony I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
John 5:36 NASB

The Word: Works
G2041 | ergon

This word is used 176 times in the King James Version and translated as “work” 152 times. In other verses, it is translated as deed (22 times), doing (1), and labor (1).2

an act, deed, something to be done
effort or occupation
that which one has been called to or ordained to accomplish
precepts of the gospel

While this is a simple word, and one we use every day (i.e. “where do you work”), there is rich meaning in the Scriptures pertaining to how Jesus used it and how we are called to specific work.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
James 2:14 NASB

James is known as the letter that claims faith requires works. People often wonder if James and Paul were at odds with each other because Paul mentions multiple times in his letters that faith alone is what saves us.

We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith inChrist and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 2:15-16 NASB

Disregarding the haughty attitude with which Paul wrote this, his intentions are to clarify that faith and faith alone is what justifies us and saves us. This is a vital tenant of the Christian faith—good deeds don’t get you into Heaven, your faith and trust in God and His endless grace does.

As mentioned above, this seems to come under scrutiny with progressive Christians like Zach Lambert, and I understand why. Too many people have a lukewarm faith where they believe that God is who He said He is, Jesus is the son of God who died for our sins and rose again, and we are justified by our belief. Then they just leave it there and live their selfish lives as they desire with no regard for the actual commands of Christ.

James also felt this righteous anger.

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 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 2:15-19 NASB

Before James penned these words, Jesus had something to say about works.

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:28-29 NASB

Our purpose in this life is belief. Belief in God is what Jesus calls us to—that is the “works” our life should produce, so it makes sense that evangelical Christians are primarily focused on evangelism—showing people the love of God so that they too might believe.

But too often people consider that to just be a state of the heart, when in reality, the gospel produces a kind of faith and trust that should transform our heart, renew our minds, and push us to respond to others made in the image of God the way Jesus did: loving your neighbor as yourself.

Faith without works isn’t “dead” in the way we read James’s words. I think of it like a branch on a tree—faith, when bound to live internally and not externally represented, still exists and is strong enough to hang onto the rooted system of the tree, but it is stunted. It doesn’t grow, it doesn’t bear fruit, it will likely get overshadowed and burdened by other fruitful branches on the same tree. It’s a part of the tree but not secure enough to sustain the weight of the world and burdens of pain and suffering because it’s not being nourished the way it needs to be.

This is our faith when we do not let it fully transform our heart and push us to action—to love others and fight for their justice, no matter our political leanings. James uses the example of Abraham.

You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
James 2:20-24 NASB

Abraham’s belief in God is what justified him, but his belief in God was paired with the work of obedience to God. Because if you say you have faith in something or someone, but when push comes to shove, you don’t trust them to follow their guidance, then you don’t really believe in them like you thought you did.

True faith requires trust and confidence in God so that your faith easily turns into works when God presents you with an opportunity to love your neighbor outwardly (not just pray for them).

So what are the works of our faith? How do we emphasize a thriving faith? Everyone’s works will look different. For some, you might be a teacher and find ways to fight for children’s educational rights and safety. For others, you might be involved in your church and feel called to get involved with ways to care for the homeless in your neighborhood. Still others, you might be involved in politics and feel convicted to start something on a larger scale that helps immigrants have a better legal experience or set legislation in place to fix the broken system of adoption, healthcare, etc.

Every avenue that we are called to pursue “works” in the name of God should be about loving humans made in the image of God (hint: that’s every human), and our posture is that we trust in God so much we want to follow His guidance and commands for our lives, not that we should do these good deeds so that we gain good status in God’s eyes and gain salvation. That will never… work (pun intended).

I’ll leave you with an intriguing conversation I had on Threads a while back about what people think it means to be “a Christian”.

I contend that Christian = “Christ follower” or “Little Christ” so while our belief is what saves us, our actions are intrinsically tied to our identity as Christians because following Christ or acting like Christ is about our works and how we love.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35 NIV

Don’t let your faith die in the land of “just enough”. Pray for God to give you a desire to learn more, grow more, and seek out the ways of Jesus so your faith can be turned into works that point others to the goodness of God.