Faith and Work – Sunday, February 7th
“Faith alone saves and saves forever, but faith that saves is never alone.”
When I worked for Child Evangelism Fellowship leading Five Day Clubs and teaching the message of salvation, I discovered that the above statement was true. Hundreds of children came to know Christ, through faith, each summer that I worked with CEF. Only a few stick out to me today. They are the kids who came to know Jesus Christ by faith and then had some sort of life transformation happen, even within the week that we were working with them.
There was one particular 6-year-old that came to know Jesus Christ through faith at the beginning of the club week, and then two days later, his mom showed up. She had a skeptical look on her face and I asked if I could help her. She said, “No, I just wanted to see why my son has changed in two days from being someone that was angry all the time to a son who loves people!” That mom stayed through the Club and came to know Christ. That whole family is currently serving God in central Iowa, working fulltime for Child Evangelism Fellowship.
You see, the heart of God is to transform lives. It is when we come to Him by faith that He saves us from the punishment of sin (which is separation from God forever) and gives us new life in Him. With that in mind, He transforms us to be more and more like Himself. He gives us the opportunity to respond to Him wholeheartedly. It is through this wholehearted response we begin to see what James is talking about in James 2:14-25 when he talks about faith without works being dead. If I am not allowing God to transform my life and work supernaturally in me, then the faith I initially had is not there. That doesn’t mean that I am not saved by faith, it simply means that I need to understand repentance at that point and turn back to the God who initially saved me!
This week, Pastor Ken will talk more about this on Sunday morning. James 2:14-25 is a powerful, challenging section of Scripture.
Some questions that you might ponder:
In my own life, do I see that God is transforming me? Am I allowing Him to do so?
Is there anything I need to repent of and turn back to the saving God of grace?
-Pastor Chris.
