Execution Gap

Wouldn’t it be great if all you had to do was to simply believe?

What if all you had to do was to believe in physical fitness and bam, you’re physically fit? Just believe in the right combination of calories and carbs and bam, you’re at the perfect body composition.

What if all you had to do was to believe in financial stewardship, believe in living within your means, believe in living debt free…and just by believing it; it happened?

What if all you had to do was believe in the power of love and you could have the most amazing marriage, the most amazing relationship…and bam, just by believing, it happened?

What if belief was all you needed?

Hello, my name is Jeremiah Ramer and I wanna welcome you to Blue Oaks! I used to be on staff here at Blue Oaks and I see a lotta familiar faces out there!

I am the Lead Pastor of Crossroads Church in West Texas. I have to brag on your pastor a little bit. Pastor Matt is one of the realest men I have ever known. He loves Jesus and I know you know that, or you wouldn’t be here. I have so much respect for your pastor, and even more love.

And no…he didn’t pay me to say any of that. I just hope you understand just how blessed you are to have Matt as your pastor and leader.

Also, I understand the story of God working at and through Blue Oaks because I was around in the very early years of this great church. It is so exciting to see how God has grown this church from infancy into what you are today. Pastor Matt and I talk a lot about you and about how God is moving and working through all of you to transform this community for Christ.

It is an honor to be here with you today; I am humbled that Matt would invite me to share with you.

We’re continuing the Wise Up series and we’re gonna be in the last half of James chapter two.

James was written by Jesus’ younger half-brother named, James. We know that James rose to a place of prominent leadership in the early church after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

And he writes this letter to the people in the early church who were primarily Jews who had converted to Christianity, and he challenged them to be faithful in their walk with God because of their faith in Jesus.

The Book of James is so practical and so beneficial in many different areas of our lives. James addresses the problems that Christians were facing in the early church. He addresses greed, favoritism, gossip, judgmentalism, pride, prejudice, and materialism.

Isn’t it amazing that over 2000 years ago, the half-brother of Jesus, who didn’t even believe in him until after he rose from the dead, wrote a letter challenging people back then to grow up in their faith and these were the issues they were facing? And we’re still facing these same issues today!

James is like that person who has a way of making us confront the issues in our lives even though we don’t wanna hear it. He gets to the root of the challenges we’re facing and encourages us to think differently about them.

The entire Book of James really hinges on the tension between faith that believes and faith that takes action.

Let’s jump into James 2:14-20: What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

The first thing I think we have to ask is, why is James saying what he’s saying to the Christians in the early church?

What problem or what challenge lead him to say what he’s now saying?

Apparently these Christians in the early church had given in to the temptation to show favoritism to those who possessed wealth. In doing so they devalued the poor and the lowly among them, and as James points out, they were cold and jaded toward the plight of their poor brothers and sisters in Christ who were struggling and suffering and they offered them no real support or help in their time of need.

Also, if you read the rest of James, they were struggling to put into practice what they believed. They had an intellectual understanding of the theology of grace in Christ, but they lacked the desire to practically apply what they said they believed.

There’s this execution gap between faith and godliness, between what we say we believe, and how we live our lives. I think this execution gap is best described as obedience. “Obedience bridges the gap between what we say we believe and how we live our lives.”

James is using their coldness toward the poor in the church who were struggling as an indictment and an example of how they were falling short of living out the faith they claimed to have in Jesus Christ.

There was this growing chasm in the early church between belief and actions. The gospel, the good news about Jesus presented this idea that salvation was granted by grace alone through faith alone. You simply believe and receive salvation.

And I’m not arguing for a different understanding of how salvation works. In order to understand a text like this one, it’s always important to line it up alongside other texts like these different passages written by the Apostle Paul, an up-and-coming Jewish religious leader who was so fired up for his Jewish faith that he made it his personal mission to eradicate the early church. That is until Jesus appeared to him and changed his life and he immediately became a force for Jesus and, along with Jesus’ brother James, a leader in the early church. Paul wrote roughly half of the New Testament in the Bible and he said in Ephesians 2:8-9: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Paul wrote in Romans 3:23-25: For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

Then in Romans 4:4-5: When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.

To be righteous means to be in right standing with God, and the only way we are able to be in right standing with God is by believing, by putting our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, that’s it. Salvation = Jesus + faith + nothing

So then, why this tension? If the formula for salvation is so cut and clean, so black and white, then why this wrestling match between belief and action?

Well it goes back to the execution gap, the gap of obedience between what we believe and how we live our lives. James pointedly said in James 2:17: So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

Throughout history bible scholars and pastors have argued and debated about whether or not James and Paul are aligned around this doctrine of grace and works.

I believe they absolutely are aligned, but there is a real tension that we’re required to learn how to live and operate in that keeps us on our spiritual toes.

If, as it appears is happening with the Jewish Christians in the early church James is writing to, anyone that focuses on the faith and grace side but neglects the works side, James characterizes their faith as dead and useless.

The comparison James is getting at is between more than just faith and works, it’s really between dead useless faith and this (vs) living action-oriented faith.

Now, here’s where the tension comes in. It’s possible to over-value your good deeds, your works, and to believe that those have some kind of power to save you. Like we just read in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul said, Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Our works do not hold the power of salvation in them. We cannot earn what Jesus has freely given his life to offer us, we can only simply receive and accept his gift of forgiveness and salvation to us.

But it’s also possible to fall into the trap of understanding that salvation is by faith alone through grace alone and to bank on that saving faith and to forego any dedication to righteous living. And James addresses this saying in James 2:18-20: Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

James compares the faith of someone who claims to believe but their faith does not impact the way they live, to the belief of demons that also believe God is real. That’s kinda terrifying. It’s possible to have this kind of intellectual belief that God is real but to go on living however the hell you wanna live.

In verse 14 James even says, James 2:14: What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?

Here it seems like James is suggesting that if you don’t have the actions, then you might not have the saving faith.

However, I don’t think that James’ point is about salvation, I think it’s a rational argument for faith characterized by obedience. It stands to reason in James’ mind that if you have been saved and redeemed by the blood of Christ, then your actions should reveal that kind of life-altering, life-transforming faith.

God isn’t interested in dead faith. God is interested in faith that drives us into obedience, faith that propels and inspires us to live our lives in ways that express our faith and prove it’s worth to those around us.

And at the same time, we cannot be mistaken about what our actions and our works do, we are not saved by the good things we do, yet, our good works substantiate the faith we claim to have in Jesus Christ.

I’m sure you’ve heard someone claim that they want nothing to do with the church because the church is full of hypocrites. That stings a little bit, because I know there’s an indicting truth to that mentality. The church is full of hypocrites because we often let ourselves off the hook for embracing the kind of radical life-changing faith God wants from and for us because we’re banking on God’s grace in our lives.

The single greatest challenge facing Christianity today isn’t unbelief, it’s hypocrisy. When we claim to have faith in Jesus and yet we lack the substantiating obedience, the world looks on unimpressed with people who claim to know the one with power over life and death, yet, it hardly impacts the way we live.

By the way, and I’m not even joking, when someone drops that line about the church being full of hypocrites, I legit say, “You’re right, and there’s always room for one more hypocrite in the church!”

Look, it’s not possible to be perfect and to live out your faith perfectly, but it is possible to put your faith on display by living a life of obedience and a life of active faith.

If you truly believe that Jesus laid down his life for you, if you truly believe Jesus is Lord in your life…then prove it with your obedience.

James gives us two examples of what this faith that moves us to action looks like: James 2:21-24: Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

Abraham had this faith in God, but the thing that revealed the depth of his faith was when he was obedient to God. God had promised Abraham that Sarah would have his son. But it didn’t happen until she was 90 years old!

Then, when Isaac was a teenager or in his early twenties, God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Now, you have to understand that no parent would want to sacrifice their child, but Isaac was no ordinary child. Abraham was 100 years old when he was born! Just imagine waiting an entire lifetime for God to fulfill his promise of a child then to have God command you to sacrifice your own son!

Now, just in case you’re not familiar with the story, God stops Abraham from killing Isaac. But not before Abraham had more than proved his willingness to obey God no matter what the cost. And that was the kind of faith James and Paul are talking about, and the kind of faith God wants for you and me: the kind of faith that’s obedient even if the cost is unimaginably great.

Abraham was willing to put his son’s life on the line in order to express his faith in God by being obedient even though he didn’t understand what God was up to.

This is where the rubber hits the road so many times in my life. I know what God wants from and for me, and yet, the test is not in the knowing and believing, the test is the execution on the faith I claim to have in Jesus.

I know God wants me to practice generosity toward him and others as a way to free myself from the control of money, and even though I know this is true, it’s not really faith until I’m willing to act on what I know and believe.

I know God has a plan for my sex-life but simply knowing the plan and living it out are two different things. It’s not really faith until I’m willing to honor God with my sex life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer [ pic ] was a German theologian during World War II. It was in the fires of seeing the suffering of the Jews in concentration camps, starving and orphaned children, people living through unspeakable suffering that his faith moved from academic and intellectual into a faith that moved him into action, into obedience.

He became a staunch and outspoken opponent of the Nazi regime and Hitler, which eventually cost him his life. Bonhoeffer wrote in his most well-known book The Cost of Discipleship that, “Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.”

Pastor Matt Chandler sharpened this point, he said, “Faith not only trusts God, it obeys God.”

If you truly trust God, then you must obey God.

So many times in my life I have distilled my obedience to God down to the things that I “don’t do.”

I don’t get drunk, I don’t cheat on my wife, I don’t steal…and look, there’s someone listening to this message right now, and you are thinking of a “don’t do” that is absolutely obedience to Jesus in your life right now. So don’t hear what I’m not sayin. If there’s an addiction or some sinful attitude, or behavior in your life right now, when are you gonna make the decision to become obedient to God?

But maybe you’re a bit more mature in your faith, you’ve been at this a while, maybe even for an entire lifetime and you’ve become somewhat of a professional Christian. You major in the “don’t do’s” yet you’ve missed the life transformation that comes from radical obedience to Jesus in one area of your life or another.

Do not give in to the temptation to tell yourself, “I’m all good” because you don’t do some of the big-ticket sinful things that come to mind so easily. Faith that leads you away from sin is wonderful and life-transforming, but faith that lead you into obedience, now that’s something that stands out.

I’ll take that a step further, faith that leads you into obedience, into action that leads to the possibility of someone else’s life being transformed, now that’s powerful. Leaving a life of sin is so important in our development as follower of Jesus, I don’t wanna downplay how significant it is that Christ changes our attitudes and appetites for sin.

And, my hope and prayer for you is that your faith is going to lead you into taking a next step in your development, a step that requires you to move forward out of your comfort zone. To be generous to God and others even though you’re afraid you can’t, or to serve in the church or community even though you’re afraid you don’t have the time, or to get in a group even though you’re afraid of being vulnerable with others, or to share your faith in Jesus even though you’re paralyzed by the fear of rejection.

What is the next step you sense God speaking to you about today? That still small voice, that tug in your heart, that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you about your next step. The gap between the faith you claim to have in Jesus and the life he’s calling you to live is in the obedience staring you down in your head and heart right now.

Will you choose to step out and put your faith into action? Or will you hide behind the grace of Christ and continue in your disobedience?

This conversation is really between you and Jesus and only you can answer this question today.

For good measure, James throws in one more example of the kind of faith God is looking for. He tells us that James 2:25-26: Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.

Why in the world does James close with this example of Rahab?

Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho in the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament. Joshua, the leader of Israel at the time, sent spies into Jericho to scope out the land and Rahab welcomed these spies into her home at great personal risk.

She tells the spies that all the people of Jericho have heard about God parting the waters of the Red Sea for the Israelites to walk across and about the great victories God had given them over their enemies.

She told the spies in Joshua 2:11: “No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.”

Without even knowing much except for what she had heard, Rahab is already expressing belief, faith in the one true God.

But she didn’t just believe, she was willing to put her faith into action. She hid the foreign spies in her home. She put her life on the line for these spies who worshiped a God she had barely even heard about because, even though she didn’t have all the answers, she believed.

Because of her kindness to those spies, the Israelites spared her and her family when they defeated Jericho. You should definitely read her story in Joshua, it’s incredible.

Rahab was a prostitute, a person who sold herself for money. Now, we don’t know this explicitly, but the fact that the writer of Hebrews and Jesus’ brother James talk about her faith in God leads us to believe that she left her life of prostitution.

I never really liked when the pastor would read the genealogies in the Bible as a kid. They were long and boring, and boring and long. But you know what I’ve learned, every single word in the scriptures is somehow related to every other word and also somehow related to Jesus. For instance, we read in Matthew 1:1: This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham:

And then it goes on listing name after name after name until you get to Jesus. But if you go back from Jesus like a thousand years you get to Rahab the prostitute! Matthew tells us that Matthew 1:5-6: Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of King David.

Not only was this prostitute eventually married to Salmon who was a leader alongside Joshua in Israel, but obviously God blessed her and gave her a son named Boaz who married Ruth whose story is recorded in the Old Testament book of Ruth. And her grandson Obed was the father of Jesse who was the father of King David, the most famous king the world has ever known!

But what’s even better is that Rahab is listed right here in the Book of Matthew as a part of the lineage of Jesus! Isn’t it crazy how God works? She wasn’t even Jewish and yet she found her way into the most important family tree the world has ever seen!

So why does James close with the story of Rahab?

Because, faith like James is talking about here, faith that honors and pleases God doesn’t care what your past looks like.

The kind of faith James is talking about, the kind of faith Jesus died to inspire in us, doesn’t hold our past, our failures, our insecurities, our hesitations, or even our doubts against us.

If Rahab could put the little faith she had into action and God could use her in the family tree of Jesus Christ the Messiah, do you believe he can use you as well?

The writer of Hebrews points out the faith and obedience of Rahab in Hebrews chapter 11. One of the themes in Hebrews is also in chapter 11. It says in Hebrews 11:6: It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

This message finds all of us in one of two places.

Either you have already trusted Jesus as Lord of your life and now you’re trying to close the gap between your faith and obedience. Or, you haven’t made the decision to trust Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life just yet.

Maybe this is your moment. Are you ready to put your faith and your trust in Jesus as Lord?

If you’re here today, or watching online and there’s never been a time when you’ve said Yes to Jesus, I wanna give you that opportunity right now.

I’m gonna say a prayer of forgiveness and salvation, and you can repeat this prayer in the quietness of your own heart and mind, and you can invite Jesus to be the Lord and savior your life.

Would you pray with me? Every head bowed and every eye closed.

If you wanna say Yes to Jesus today, the prayer goes like this.

Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner, I’ve made mistakes, I have regrets, but Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God and that you lived a perfect, sinless, holy life and then you went to the cross to pay the penalty, the price, for my sins.

Based on your sacrifice Jesus, I’m asking you to forgive my sins.

Not only that, but I believe on the third day you rose from the dead, defeating sin and death once and for all! And Jesus, I believe in your resurrection!

Jesus, I’m asking you to come into my heart and my life and to save me! I don’t ever wanna be the same from this moment on.

I wanna know that when I die, I will spend eternity with you in heaven, and I wanna know that I will have your spirit living in me for the rest of this life!

I’m saying Yes to you today Jesus. Thank you for saving and forgiving me!

If that’s a prayer that you prayed I wanna pray for you, will you take a bold next step and wherever you are, every head is bowed, every eye is closed, will you just lift your hand if you said Yes to Jesus today!

Ok, thank you, just keep your hand up so I can pray for you. I see you over there, thank you, just keep your hand up.

I said Yes to Jesus today.

Dear Jesus, thank you for these hands of men, women, and students that have said Yes to you!

I pray that you will encourage them with your presence like they’ve never experienced before! Thank you for the gift of salvation for which you paid the ultimate price by laying down your life on the cross.

Ok, you can put your hand down.

Every head still bowed every eye closed. Maybe you’re feeling challenged or convicted today about some area of your life. What is the gap between your faith and obedience today? Take this moment to ask Jesus to help you close that gap today and to be obedient.

Dear Jesus, thank you again for loving us so much that you never give up on us or turn away from us, thank you for giving your life so that we can have new life in you.

In Jesus’ name, amen.