Have your Bible handy to reference scriptures for this lesson, which is available on YouTube by the same title.

We dealt with Chapter 2, verses 1-13 in Lesson 3 when we looked at our attitudes and behavior toward rich people.  Lesson 6 will be taken from James 2:14-26. Part 1 deals with James 1:14-20.

At the end of Chapter 1, James tells us that if we want to demonstrate a genuine religion to others, then we need to take care of orphans and widows.  He goes back to the idea of proving our religious beliefs through our actions in the second half of Chapter 2.  His position on living out our faith is straight forward and very clear.  To prove we have faith, we must perform good deeds that are motivated by that faith.

If we see someone who has a need, such as a lack of food or clothing, then we are to meet that need if it is in our power to do so.  To tell someone who is in need, “I hope you have a good day” and then not help them meet their need is unacceptable.  Our words will mean nothing because we don’t back them up with action to supply the need.

He uses that analogy to show us that we can say we have faith, but if we never do anything to prove that we do possess faith, then our statement is worthless.  Having faith is great, but that faith should be the motivation to do good deeds as we follow the teachings of Jesus.

Some people try to avoid doing good deeds by claiming they have the gift of spiritual faith and others are given the gift of doing good deeds.  Supernatural faith is indeed a gift from the Holy Spirit.  But if you look at the lives of those with supernatural faith, you will discover they perform great deeds because they have that faith.  James points this out in verse 18.

Allow me ask a question:  Have you ever known someone with extraordinary faith who did nothing with that faith?  Who sat on their faith and performed no good deeds?  Every person I have ever known who was gifted by the Holy Spirit with supernatural faith acted on that faith.  Think about this—how can we know a person has faith if he/she never does anything with it?

The whole point of this passage is that good deeds are proof the faith exists.  Without the good deeds, there is no proof.  Let us pray that we will demonstrate our faith through our good deeds.