Question: Why do people leave the church, or in other words abandon the faith, or abandon a sound belief in the orthodox principles of the faith? We are not talking about why a family may leave your church and go to another down the road, but why do some seem to stray from the faith? It is very distressing and perplexing.
The apostle John assesses this issue in 1 John 2:19:
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
John’s answer is not that they left, but it is because they never truly belonged – in other words, never truly believed. We need to develop this idea, as it is critical that we know that we have a genuine faith.
In fact, the apostle Paul exhorts believers in 2 Cor 13:5 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
The key question is this: Is Christ in you? Or in other words, have you been born of the Holy Spirit? We’re getting to the conclusion before we get going, so you know where we are going, so that when we get there, you’ll know we are there! This is where we’re going: The Bible clearly teaches that you must be born again, and thus have the Holy Spirit to have saving faith. This is the key idea. Without the Holy Spirit, we are going to see that a dynamic, genuine, saving faith is impossible! (see Acts 19:2)
We are going to examine James Chapter 2 and find that there are three kinds of faith, but only one of them is saving faith.
The first is what we will call a dead faith. James 2:14-17 says: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
This “dead” faith involves only the intellect. There is the acceptance of God, and a “head” knowledge, or “mental assent” of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. However, there is a lacking of a response of good works. Now, let’s get one thing straight at the top here – James is not advocating the idea that works are required for salvation and thus contradicting Paul’s writing to the the Ephesians 2:8,9 where he says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” No, no, no. What James is saying is that good works is a product of genuine, saving faith. In fact, this is in complete agreement with Paul in Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God’s saving work in us will produce good works.
Let’s return to James. James is saying here that you cannot claim to have faith in God and the redeeming work of Jesus Christ if it’s not demonstrated by works of love and compassion. If your life is not demonstrating the love that Jesus Christ has for you, then how can the love of Jesus Christ be in you? It is His love for you, the love He expressed on the cross, that is the supreme motivator.
Let’s look at this further. The apostle John is in complete agreement. Looking at his first letter, we find that John proclaims that true faith will be manifested in acts of love and compassion.
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 1 John 3:14
This verse clearly teaches that love for fellow believers is an indication “we have passed from death to life”, and thus have saving faith. Paul uses the “passing from death to life” description of salvation when he says in Eph 2:1 “And you were dead in trespasses and sins.” If you have passed from death to life, then you love your brothers and sisters in Christ. So true saving faith is marked by love for believers.
John also says in 1 John 3:17 “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” This is a test, and again, this echoes what James said, in that if we have the capability to meet someones need, yet do nothing, we need to question whether the love of God is alive and active in our lives, and whether we have a genuine and living faith. Now, we know that the only way we have the love of God operational in us is because, it says in Romans 5:5 “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
John goes to further state the importance of expressing love and compassion to others when he says in 1 John 4:20: “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” John makes it very clear, that there are these tests that indicate through our attitude and actions as to whether you have saving faith, and thus whether the Holy Spirit is present and active in you, bringing forth these works of love. Otherwise, you may have what theologians call simply a mental assent, which is a “dead faith.” And it is dead because it does not exhibit works of love, and works of life.
Now, I need to quickly say that some of you may have saving faith and the Holy Spirit, but, you are currently lacking the evidence of good works. I say this in love, that you need to examine if there are other passions, pursuits, or pleasures that have captivated you. In this case, you may indeed have the Holy Spirit, but does He have all of you? If this is the case, you need to allow Him to remove the sins, be it attitudes, habits, whatever, so that He will again be the dominating influence and bear the fruit of good works.
In the future we will continue this topic and look at the two other kinds of faith portrayed in James chapter 2, but for now, a question: Does your life demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to others? If not, you need to examine yourself and determine if you are truly in the faith.
Remember, the faith that can save you is the faith that will change you!
Next time, we’ll look at “Demonic Faith”, and then the third and final segment of “Explaining Loss” -- “Dynamic Faith”