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Deeds
of Faith
Works and Faith
Faith and works are as
inseparable as sun and sunlight. Faith is the sun; good works are its rays. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
I was hungry, and you
formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.
I was imprisoned,
and you crept off quietly to you chapel in the cellar and prayed for my
release.
I was naked, and in
your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick, and you
knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless, and
you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely, and
you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so
close to God, but I’m still very hungry, and lonely, and cold. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
A man who claims to have faith without works is like a man who puts all
his effort into building the foundation of a house and never builds anything on
it.
A
man who displays great works but claims no faith is like a man who builds a
house on sand without any foundation. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
As gloves are to a
surgeon’s hands, so are Christians in service for God. It is actually “God’s
hand” doing the work. We are but used by him and therefore have nothing to
boast of. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Works and Faith
A minister was talking to a
professing Christian and asked him if he was active in a local church. The man
responded, “No, but the dying thief wasn’t active in a church and yet he was
still accepted.” The minister then asked if he had been baptized. The man
responded, “The dying thief was not baptized and he still made it to heaven.”
The minister then asked if he had partaken of the Lord’s Table. The man
responded, “No, but the dying thief didn’t either, and Christ still received
him.”
The minister then
commented: “The only difference between you the dying thief is that he was
dying in his belief and you are dead in yours.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
Doctrine and doing are like
the two chemical ingredients of salt, which is composed of two poisons: sodium
and chlorine. If we ingested either of the two poisons, we would die. But if we
combine them properly, we have sodium chloride, which is the common table salt
that gives flavor to our food and indeed life and health to our bodies. So,
too, are faith and works inseparable. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
You’ve probably heard it
said, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, it’s how you live that counts.”
A.J. Gordon
encountered this philosophy one time as he talked with a fellow passenger on a
train. The man believed he could get to heaven by his good works. Pointing to
the conductor who was making his way through the coach, Gordon asked his new
friend, “Did you ever notice how carefully he always examines the ticket but
takes no pains whatever to inspect the passenger?” The man immediately caught
the significance of the question. He had just been saying that God was
interested only in what we do and not in a “little bit of theological scrip
called faith.”
“You see,” continued
Gordon, “the passenger and the ticket are accepted together. If he doesn’t have
one, or has the wrong one, he will be asked to get off the train—no matter how
honest he might appear to be. Just as the ticket stands for the man, faith
stands for you.
Note that the
“ticket of faith was purchased at a great price, but not by you or me! ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
Martin Luther, who had made
himself the apostle and champion of faith alone, wrote the following: “Faith is
a living, busy, active, powerful thing; it is impossible for it not to do us
good continually. It never asks whether good works are to be done, but has done
them before there is time to ask the question, and it is always doing them. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
Faith and works are as
inseparable as sun and sunlight. Faith is the sun; good works are its rays. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
I
was hungry, and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.
I
was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to you chapel in the cellar and
prayed for my release.
I
was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I
was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I
was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I
was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem
so holy, so close to God, but I’m still very hungry, and lonely, and cold. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
A man who claims to have faith without works is like a man who puts all
his effort into building the foundation of a house and never builds anything on
it.
A
man who displays great works but claims no faith is like a man who builds a
house on sand without any foundation. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
As gloves are to a
surgeon’s hands, so are Christians in service for God. It is actually “God’s
hand” doing the work. We are but used by him and therefore have nothing to
boast of. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Works and Faith
A minister was talking to a
professing Christian and asked him if he was active in a local church. The man
responded, “No, but the dying thief wasn’t active in a church and yet he was
still accepted.” The minister then asked if he had been baptized. The man
responded, “The dying thief was not baptized and he still made it to heaven.”
The minister then asked if he had partaken of the Lord’s Table. The man
responded, “No, but the dying thief didn’t either, and Christ still received
him.”
The
minister then commented: “The only difference between you the dying thief is
that he was dying in his belief and you are dead in yours.” ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
Doctrine and doing are like
the two chemical ingredients of salt, which is composed of two poisons: sodium
and chlorine. If we ingested either of the two poisons, we would die. But if we
combine them properly, we have sodium chloride, which is the common table salt
that gives flavor to our food and indeed life and health to our bodies. So,
too, are faith and works inseparable. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Works and Faith
You’ve probably heard it
said, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, it’s how you live that counts.”
A.J.
Gordon encountered this philosophy one time as he talked with a fellow
passenger on a train. The man believed he could get to heaven by his good
works. Pointing to the conductor who was making his way through the coach,
Gordon asked his new friend, “Did you ever notice how carefully he always
examines the ticket but takes no pains whatever to inspect the passenger?” The
man immediately caught the significance of the question. He had just been
saying that God was interested only in what we do and not in a “little bit of
theological scrip called faith.”
“You
see,” continued Gordon, “the passenger and the ticket are accepted together. If
he doesn’t have one, or has the wrong one, he will be asked to get off the
train—no matter how honest he might appear to be. Just as the ticket stands for
the man, faith stands for you.
Note
that the “ticket of faith was purchased at a great price, but not by you or me!
──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
.
A young boy, on an errand for his
mother, had just bought a dozen eggs. Walking out of the store, he tripped and
dropped the sack. All the eggs broke, and the sidewalk was a mess. The boy
tried not to cry. A few people gathered to see if he was OK and to tell him how
sorry they were. In the midst of the works of pity, one man handed the boy a
quarter. Then he turned to the group and said, "I care 25 cents worth. How
much do the rest of you care?" James 2:16 points out that words don't mean
much if we have the ability to do more.── Stanley C. Brown.
.
For years I enjoyed packing up my guns
and some food to head off into the woods. Even more than the hunting itself, I
enjoyed the way these trips always seemed to deepen my relationship with
friends as we hunted during the day and talked late into the night around the
campfire. When an old friend recently invited me to relive some of those days,
I couldn't pass up the chance. For several weeks before the trip, I had taken
the time to upgrade some of my equipment and sight in my rifle. When the day
came, I was ready for the hunt. What I wasn't ready for was what my close
friend, Tom, shared with me the first night out on the trail.
I always enjoyed the time I spent with
Tom. He had become a leader in his church and his warm and friendly manner had
also taken him many steps along the path of business success. He had a lovely
wife, and while I knew they had driven over some rocky roads in their marriage,
things now seemed to be stable and growing. Tom's kids, two daughters and a
son, were struggling in junior high and high school with the normal problems of
peer pressure and acceptance.
As we rode back into the mountains, I could
tell that something big was eating away at Tom's heart. His normal effervescent
style was shrouded by an overwhelming inner hurt. Normally, Tom would attack
problems with the same determination that had made him a success in business.
Now, I saw him wrestling with something that seemed to have knocked him to the
mat for the count. Silence has a way of speaking for itself. All day and on
into the evening, Tom let his lack of words shout out his inner restlessness.
Finally, around the first night's campfire, he opened up.
The scenario Tom painted was
annoyingly familiar. I'd heard it many times before in many other people's
lives. But the details seemed such a contract to the life that Tom and his wife
lived and the beliefs they embraced. His oldest daughter had become attached to
a boy at school. Shortly after they started going together, they became
sexually involved. Within two months, she was pregnant. Tom's wife discovered
the truth when a packet from Planned Parenthood came in the mail addressed to
her daughter. When confronted with it, the girl admitted she had requested it
when she went to the clinic to find out if she was pregnant.
If we totaled up the number of girls
who have gotten pregnant out of wedlock during the past two hundred years of our
nation's history, the total would be in the millions. Countless parents through
the years have faced the devastating news. Being a member of such a large
fraternity of history, however, does not soften the severity of the blow to
your heart when you discover it's your daughter.
Tom shared the humiliation he
experienced when he realized that all of his teaching and example had been
ignored. Years of spiritual training had been thrust aside. His stomach churned
as he relived the emotional agony of knowing that the little girl he and his
wife loved so much had made a choice that had permanently scarred her heart.
I'm frequently confronted with these
problems in my ministry and have found that dwelling on the promiscuous act
only makes matters worse. I worship a God of forgiveness and solutions, and at
that moment in our conversation I was anxious to turn toward hope and healing.
I asked Tom what they had decided to
do. Would they keep the baby, or put it up for adoption? That's when he
delivered the blow. With the fire burning low, Tom paused for a long time
before answering. And even when he spoke he wouldn't look me in the eye.
"We considered the alternatives, Tim. Weighed all the options." He
took a deep breath. "We finally made an appointment with the abortion
clinic. I took her down there myself."
I dropped the stick I'd been poking
the coals with and stared at Tom. Except for the wind in the trees and the
snapping of our fire it was quiet for a long time. I couldn't believe this was
the same man who for years had been so outspoken against abortion. He and his
wife had even volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center in his city. Heartsick,
I pressed him about the decision. Tom then made a statement that captured the
essence of his problem...and the problem many others have in entering into
genuine rest. In a mechanical voice, he said "I know what I believe, Tim,
but that's different than what I had to do. I had to make a decision that had
the least amount of consequences for the people involved."
Just by the way he said it, I could
tell my friend had rehearsed these lines over and over in his mind. And by the
look in his eyes and the emptiness in his voice, I could tell his words sounded
as hollow to him as they did to me.── Tim Kimmel, Little House on the
Freeway, pp. 67-70
Works and Faith
Martin Luther, who had made
himself the apostle and champion of faith alone, wrote the following: “Faith is
a living, busy, active, powerful thing; it is impossible for it not to do us
good continually. It never asks whether good works are to be done, but has done
them before there is time to ask the question, and it is always doing them. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
.
In his book I Surrender, Patrick
Morley writes that the church's integrity problem is in the misconception
"that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change
in belief without a change in behavior." He goes on to say, "It is
revival without reformation, without repentance." ── C. Swindoll, John
The Baptizer, Bible Study Guide, p. 16.
.
The question is asked: how can
justification take place without the works of the law, even though James says:
"Faith without works is dead"? In answer, the apostle distinguishes
between the law and faith, the letter and grace. The 'works of the law' are
works done without faith and grace, by the law, which forces them to be done
through fear or the enticing promise of temporal advantages. But 'works of
faith' are those done in the spirit of liberty, purely out of love to God. And
they can be done only by those who are justified by faith. An ape can cleverly
imitate the actions of humans. But he is not therefore a human. If he became a
human, it would undoubtedly be not by vurtue of the works by which he imitated
man but by virtue of something else; namely, by an act of God. Then, having
been made a human, he would perform the works of humans in proper fashion. Paul
does not say that faith is without its characteristic works, but that it
justifies without the works of the law. Therefore justification does not
require the works of the law; but it does require a living faith, which
performs its works.── Martin Luther.
.
"Faith and holiness are
inextricably linked. Obeying the commands of God usually involves believing the
promises of God." ── J. Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p.
145.