I'm Kevin Applegate. I'm the Cell Group Ministry Director here at Ginghamsburg, if you don't know me. I've been in a conundrum lately and here's the question I've had on my mind: can there be proof of faith? Or, even better than that, should there be proof of my faith from me to those people that I meet and with whom I interact? This came about a couple weeks ago. I was on vacation - how many of you have ever done a timeshare presentation? Okay, confess, and probably the only reason you did it was to save a little money. Well, we were trying to go to Universal Studios and we were at this hotel. "You could save $200 on your tickets if you spend an hour and a half at this presentation." So, I thought we'd go to this presentation. I hate those things, by the way, because I'm a bad "no" person. I don't say "no" very well. We went to this condo place and we had a little breakfast and we met Matt. Matt gave us a presentation. After about an hour, he finally figured out that I am a pastor at a church. He said this statement to me that took me aback. He said, "You know, you don't seem like church folk." I think he thought he was complimenting me. But the thing that came across was: is that a good thing or bad thing? That he didn't know that I was a "religious folk." Interesting enough, this whole question is what we're going to be dealing with today in James 2. If you turn with me, we'll jump right into James 2:14-19. It's interesting because I think James is asking the same question. James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such a faith save them?" Wow, that's a tough question. If there is no action of your faith, no proof of your faith, do you have a faith that can save you?

Let's pray before we jump into this. Pray with me: "Lord God, we open our minds and our hearts, and we invite You to be here. Speak Your words to us, push us where we need to be pushed, encourage us where we need to be encouraged, but let us hear Your words that our lives might be changed. And we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen."

If I asked you to "show me your faith," what would you say? Think about that for a second. In the scientific method of our modern era, God is not a provable fact. Sometimes I think our church people, our churches all around think that faith itself is not provable; therefore I don't need to have action. Faith is a private, personal thing so I don't have to really do anything. I think maybe James had found this in the church to which he was writing. I think he found this idea that you don't need to have an active faith, just a belief faith. But before I start, I want to quickly say that you can't work your way into heaven and you can't earn the love of God. However, for you and me to believe that our faith does not need to have action, it's just a personal, private thing, is very deadly. It's deadly because faith without action, what you have and what you're showing to the world around you is a worthless faith. What exactly is a worthless faith? According to James here's what it is: a worthless faith is a faith that has no action - a faith that does not act. Look back in James 2 again with me. I'm going to read it again and I'm going to go through verse 16. "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such a faith save them?" That's a rhetorical question. The answer is no and here's why: "Suppose a brother or 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?" What good is that kind of faith? A faith that doesn't act is nothing more than a faith of empty words. If you see something of a physical nature and you do nothing and say, "Go, keep warm and be well fed," it's a faith of empty words. And even worse than that, a faith of no action is just the opposite - it's a complete lack of faith.

Let me give you an example. It's been about two years now in this energy crisis - did you see the gas jump to, I don't know what it is, $4.15? That was exciting, wasn't it? We've been in this energy crisis, maybe two or three years. How many of you believe, have faith, that the federal government will fix this crisis? I got your vote over there: one, two. Now let me re-ask the question: how many of you think the federal government can fix the problem? What's the difference? What we have is a complete lack of faith because of no action. On Tuesday this week, I was listening to a senator - I don't want to say which party - but they were saying they were going to propose a plan for the energy crisis to be fixed; we will be energy independent by the year 2025. It struck me, 2025, that's five presidential elections before then. How many more crises will we go through before then? Will I even be alive? Maybe I'll even have grandchildren by 2025. This senator might as well have said to me, to all of us, "Go in peace, keep warm and well fed."

Proverbs 25:19 says, "Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble." Faith is worthless if you do nothing. It's easy to get caught up in all the right words, the right actions, the religious talk, but if you do that, a faith of empty words, you miss the meaning of a faithful life and a faithful walk with Jesus Christ. Jesus clearly pointed this out to the religious leaders of his day. He told them this parable, Matthew 21:28-31, "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyards.' 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go." Jesus asked this question, "'Which of the two did what his father wanted?' 'The first,' they answered. Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and sinners are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.'" Which son was justified in the father's eyes? Was it the one who said the right thing or the one who did the right thing? What Jesus was illustrating is a faith that doesn't act, a faith that doesn't move, is meaningless in God's eyes. James in the second chapter condemns it even more. This is what he says in 2:17, "In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead." A worthless faith is a faith that is dead.

I recently went to the funeral of my stepfather. I'm always reminded at funerals at how unnatural a dead body is because there's no action, no life, it's completely still. How unnatural to see that person who before you saw full of life, full of action and full of vigor. When we talk about the church, we as the body of Christ, if we're not active, if we're not living out the faith, then we are nothing but a dead body. Too long people outside the church have looked on the church and all they see is no life. Or all they see is a people concerned only about themselves or their building and they have rejected the church. Because when they looked in the church they wanted to see life and all they saw was a dead body. Dead faith actually is an oxymoron because where God is, there is life. When God is active, life happens. Real faith is a faith that is alive.

Let's continue in James because he really gets into this. James 2:18, "But someone will say, 'You have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."
What James is really saying is, if you have to argue or try to convince somebody that you have faith, that you're walking with Jesus, you probably either aren't or you're probably not following very closely. Because the Jesus I read about in scripture is the Jesus that healed people everywhere he went, taught people everywhere he went, and lifted the oppressed everywhere he went. Everywhere Jesus went, he met peoples' needs. Jesus never ever loudly claimed to be the Messiah. In fact, he did just the opposite. He never claimed to be the Messiah but guess what: his life and his deeds claimed it for him. One of my favorite stories is when he came upon this funeral procession in the little town of Nain. It was a mother who had lost her only son. On the spur of the moment, Jesus had this compassion. He walked up to the funeral procession; raised the son from the dead and gave him back to his mother. Now that is life. Where God is - there is life. Listen to the response of the people, Luke 7:16, "They were all filled with awe and praised God. 'A great prophet has appeared among us,' they said. 'God has come to help his people.'" There was no questioning or arguing about whether Jesus was the false prophet, whether Jesus knew God, they knew that he knew God. They saw God in his action.

I know none of us match Jesus' life and faith. I know that. But if you follow Jesus very long, if you follow Jesus' steps very long, if you've listened to the Spirit and allowed the Spirit to use you very long, your faith and your deeds are going to grow. Faith that is alive is a faith that grows. Most of the problem with us, and meaning myself, we don't have a faith that is dead - what we have is a faith that is weak. I often equate faith as like a muscle. If you use it, it will grow. If you work it, it will get stronger. But equally, if you don't use it, you will lose it, it deteriorates. A lot of times we only attempt things for God, the things that we can do under our own power or our own strength. What faith is that? If I'm doing something, if I'm stepping out for God and doing something that I can do on my own, that's not really trying faith. Or, sometimes we take a step for God, and God moves, and then we stay in that place and we continually stay in that comfort zone and never move beyond our own strength.

Let's take a faith test. How many of you had faith that you could find this church today? How many of you didn't know for sure. There's always a few and you know why? Because they haven't been here before. It's called repeating the action. Faith is about using it and then moving forward so you can grow in it. Here's another one: the Sudan Project. What if Mike had stood on this platform in 2004, the week before the Christmas offering and said, "We're going to raise . . . I want $1.2 million next week." How many of you would have believed or had faith that that would have happened? I doubt very many. After four years, where the offering has gone from $300,000 to $500,000 to $900,000 to $1.2 million - how many of you doubt that this year God will raise a million dollars for the Sudan? We're stepping out in faith and God uses that and helps us to grow in that. One more, I'm going to meddle just a little bit. How many of you had to step out in faith just to come to Ginghamsburg Church, or to become a member of Ginghamsburg Church? We received new members today. But once God becomes faithful to you, how many of you had trouble attending Ginghamsburg after God has been faithful to that step of faith?

Here's the question: what if God said to you now, "I want you to be one of the urban missionaries and move out to the Fort McKinley campus"? Ah, that's another step of faith. It's not easy. Taking faith steps isn't easy, but if we're going to grow in this faith, we're either growing in our faith or we're dying in our faith. It takes a lot of work and a lot of trust, but the cool thing is once you become strong, the more God will use you. And the more God uses you, the more you will produce fruit. That's where it gets exciting. A live faith is a faith that produces fruit. One of the definitions, the scientific definition of life, is that life must reproduce itself. Real faith reproduces itself wherever it is. The first sign of faith, a real alive faith, is fruit. In John 15:5, Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you; you will bear much fruit." Not you might bear much fruit or maybe after 10 years of Bible study you'll bear much fruit or maybe after 20 years of seminary you'll bear much fruit, if you're hanging out with Jesus, you will bear much fruit.

I am awed by people who literally step out for the kingdom of God. Two times I've been to Thailand and both times I have sat and listened to a woman named Annie Dieselberg. She went to Thailand to start a church, which is a Buddhist country in Bangkok. She found her heart was broken for the prostitutes in the sex slave business, but she didn't know how to reach out to them. So, she started befriending them and she started going into the bars just to make friends with them and then, at some point, to ask them to leave that kind of lifestyle. But what she found was that they needed jobs. She'd never started a company before, but she started a jewelry business because that's where God led her. Now she has about 85 women that she has gotten out of prostitution and they have found dignity in the lifestyle of making quality jewelry. Not only that, almost 30 of them have met Jesus Christ. I am awed to sit in the office of a person who steps out in faith.

I can't even list all the people around here that awe me, that you are out there changing peoples' lives. You're stepping out in faith; you're letting God use you. Is there fruit on your tree? Is God using you to build God's kingdom? Is God using you to reach out into the lives of others, to teach people about Jesus Christ, to disciple others? Is there fruit on your tree? Have you ever heard the old saying, "there's proof in the pudding"? I looked that up because that doesn't make any sense. Does anybody know what the saying actually is? "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." The quality can only be judged when it's put to use. The proof of your faith is in the fruit. The quality of your faith can only be judged when you put it to use and the proof of that is the fruit on the tree. Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:16-17 how to recognize those who follow Christ and those who don't, "By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." Quality faith reproduces itself wherever it is. How many of you actually read the New Orleans article about Ginghamsburg's mission to the hurricane devastated area? It was such a testimony to what our heart is and I thought the article was excellent. But what was really fascinating to hear was the actual online comments from people who read the article.

(video)

"This story is so refreshing; it makes me want to go to church today."

"Man, I just got done reading the article out of the paper and it makes me want to go to Ginghamsburg with a big pot of gumbo. I cry when I see how people will sacrifice so much of their personal lives to help others. Wow!"

"You know, honestly, I haven't been to church in probably 12 years now and after reading this, I feel like going to Ginghamsburg Church and becoming a member of that church. I mean, this is the real thing, it's a real church."

(end video)

People who are looking for life and finding life in what we do in our faith. The proof of your faith is in the fruit. In April, we went to Thailand with a team and one of the things we were going to do was work with an orphanage. The woman who founded the orphanage is named Kru Nam. She's a Buddhist, but she had the heart to grab kids off the street, young kids mainly, before the sex traders got to them. The number of children has grown to about 140. We were supposed to work two full days with her kids. But Kru Nam was a little suspicious of us - I don't know why. She had no idea who we were. We got there early in the morning and she didn't come to get us the first day until the middle of the afternoon, which was really frustrating. All we did that whole day was play with and love on her kids. We spent the whole day and most of the evening playing with them, doing crafts with them and loving them. The amazing thing about that is that Kru Nam the very next day, just sent us to the kids. She had no more concerns. She didn't even come herself to the place she sent us. We spent another day loving the kids. What Kru Nam had told Not for Sale, the organization we worked through for the trip; she wants us to come back because we truly loved her kids like no other group has loved her kids. The quality of your faith reproduces itself. She didn't have to ask us about love, she saw it happening in this team who were loving on these kids.

It's the same way with all our actions. Your faith should be reproducing itself in the lives of other people. But don't be mistaken. Because our faith is alive, we do things for God, we don't do them for ourselves. Living faith is not about you and its not about your desires. Living faith is in response to God. Living faith is a faith that responds to God. I love how James finishes this argument. James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even demons believe that - and shudder." Satan and his demons believe in God. That is proof that belief without action is worthless. There has to be action. Satan and the demons' reaction to God is that they shudder. Our reaction is just the opposite. We respond to our belief, our faith and God's love with great gratification. Real faith is all about God. It's not about us. Our faith, our hope, our very life in Jesus Christ, the love that God gives us, we respond to that and we work and we live and we build the kingdom of God because of that grace and love. Listen to how the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10 describes his own life, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

Faith that is alive is faith that lives and faith that shines light in the darkness. When God is in your life you cannot help but respond. It's like lighting a light in a dark area - the light will be seen. In Matthew 5:14 & 16, Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." You are the light of the world. You are the very hands and feet of Jesus. You are the life that people are looking for. You are the hope, you are the healing, you are the response, you are the people that God needs to send to reach the people around us with the same faith and the same love and grace that God gives to our own lives.

How many of you have been watching or have noticed this whole flood thing in Iowa and Missouri? It's so tragic and still going on today - another breach of a levy today and another town flooded. I was reading about a couple who own a trucking company and live in Oakville, Iowa. When they learned that their town was about to be totally flooded, they rounded up 37 trailers, parked them at the entrances of streets and houses, and told all their friends and neighbors in the whole town, "Pack up your stuff, put it in the trucks and we will move it out." Just hours before the flood came and inundated the whole town, they took the whole town out in the trailers to higher ground. They were on a rescue mission. They didn't do it for money or for fame; they did it because of their love for people. Aren't we on a rescue mission? Aren't we the light of the world that God has called into action to rescue people so that we can save them from all the things, all the pain, all the suffering that is out there? It's up to us - faith without action is dead. Faith that is alive puts us in the place where God can use us to be life-changers and world-changers. I challenge you. I don't know where you are, whether you're a new Christian or whether you've been a Christian for 40 years. God is calling you and putting into your mind even now, what is your next step of faith? Where is that place to which God is calling you to take your life? God says, "Jump on board the train and I will use you in mighty ways." A live faith is a faith of action.

Let me pray with you, but in our prayer as we close, I want you to think about the places where God is calling you to be and where God is calling you to go. Let me pray. "God, I thank You this day that You have given us so much. You've blessed us with life, hope and peace. Lord, as that wells up in our own lives that we can't help it, we've got to share with our neighbors, our friends, those around us who are oppressed, those who need Your love. I pray that You would challenge us, dare us, push us forward to be a people of faith and a people of action. I thank You for doing that and I thank You in Jesus' name. Amen."

Go in peace, I dare you to step out in faith today.