Monday Reflection | James 2:14-26

Sunday's Sermon:
Faith Works

Opening:
O Lord, open our lips and our mouths will declare Your praise.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end,
Amen.

The Scripture for today is James 2:14-26.

Passage:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
(James 2:14–26 ESV)

Song:
See How Good It Is (Psalm 133) by Sandra McCracken and Wendell Kimbrough

Lyrics:
See how good it is
Gathering with friends
Welcoming the stranger in
See how good it is

Sad divisions cease
We're ordained as priests
Spreading out God's joyful feast
See how good it is

When God's children live as one
By the Spirit we become
The open arms of God
To a world in need of love

See the earth renewed
By the morning dew
All creation sings the truth
See how good it is

Prayer:
O God, at whose bidding man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening: grant us to cherish the lessons we have learned out of your holy Word. Support us when we are tested in duty, that in all our doings we may remember that you have chosen us that we should go and bear fruit and that our fruit should abide.
-The Gelasian Sacramentary