Serve God Everywhere We Go
“Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
(The Letter of James 2: 17-18 NASB)
But someone may well say,
“You have faith and I have works;
show me your faith without the works,
and I will show you my faith by my works.”
- When we arise in the morning, how do we show our loved ones that we are God’s child?
- When we arise from our beds each day, how do we show our family we love God?
- When we arise from our slumber as a new day begins, how do we show those closest to us that we belong to Father God?
God calls each one of us to become His child, and as He does, then God calls us to ‘live out’ our gift of salvation He has given to each of us.
We who belong to God have been made FULLY ALIVE, through His abiding love.
We are able to see the world surrounding us, to serve others & to show them the love of Jesus through our words & through the actions we do.
We are called to serve the Lord.
- He is the One we are living for each day we arise.
- We are called to chase the love of God.
- He is the One who will say, “Well done, child. Come on in,” when our earthly life is finished.
Can we say we love God & then ignore the needs of others?
Can we say we love God & then turn our backs when someone cries, “I need help”?
Can we say we love God & then not live our lives as God intended from the start?
James, the half-brother of Jesus, grew up in the home where Jesus also grew up and lived. As difficult as it is for us to wrap our minds around the concept—JESUS IS FULLY GOD & FULLY MAN—HE IS BOTH—The Son of Man & The Son of God!
Therefore, James saw his earthly brother Jesus serve in the home JUST AS James saw his Savior Jesus serve those surrounding him. Thus when James wrote—
“show me your faith without the works,
and I will show you my faith by my works.”
James knew from experience, from experiencing the gift of God’s salvation, from being a child of God—works DO NOT cause a person to receive salvation because God’s salvation truly is a gift of God!
Rightly so, works CANNOT EVER make a person God’s child!
&
Even so, FAITH APART from working out one’s salvation is—NOT FAITH AT ALL!
- GOD CALLS HIS CHILDREN TO SERVE OTHERS!
- GOD EXPECTS HIS REDEEMED ONES TO SERVE OTHERS!
- GOD PREPARED HIS CHOSEN ONES THE WORKS THEY WOULD DO TO SERVE OTHERS!
We know this to be true because God’s Word tells us so!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith;
(The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 2: 8-10 NASB)
and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God,
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
When God transforms our hearts, He begins to change—our thinking, our words & our actions. Serving God is not reserved for just those who are called into ministry, to just a few in God’s kingdom, but serving as God’s bondservants is the expectation of ALL GOD’S CHILDREN.
We Are to Serve God Everywhere We Go!
Our response to God’s call to serve Him reveals so much to the watching world.
- They begin to see how we have been changed by God.
- They even begin to wonder about the God we serve.
Wherever we are—every area of our lives needs to honor God!
We communicate through the LOVE of GOD to our families & to our friends & to our co-workers & to our neighbors how their spiritual condition is important to us. As we serve them in the ways God has prepared for us to serve, then those who are lost to God begin to be drawn toward God.
TRULY, THAT HAS REMAINED GOD’S PURPOSE FROM THE START—TO RECEIVE EVEN MORE SOULS INTO HIS KINGDOM.
Therefore, in closing, James, the half-brother of Jesus—The Son of Man & The Son of God—concluded the discussion of “Faith & Works” with these words.
“For just as the body without the spirit is dead,
(The Letter of James 2: 26 NASB)
so also faith without works is dead.”