So maybe you believe. You know that God has promised you a life of abundance, but every passing day just feels even more empty and meaningless. You see that God is doing things in the lives of the people around you, yet despite your faith, you have not truly experienced yourself. Or if you have, it was so long ago that you’ve forgotten the feeling.
James suggests that the reason we don’t feel God’s hand in our lives is because we don’t act in faith. We may believe but we don’t act.
James 2:23-25 says, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is called righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?”
Here, James tells us that Abraham’s faith was ‘credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend’. We’ll touch on the friend aspect soon. Furthermore, when Rahab put her trust in God through her actions, she was repaid with kindness or as we spoke about in the prior part, chesed (covenant love) that a friend, a loyal friend, would give.
Wait, let’s pause for a second. So, when we act in faith what happens? Does God love us more? Doesn’t God love everyone?
It’s true, our God is a God of love and truly loves everyone and I might get in trouble for saying this, but you can argue that despite this love, not everyone is God’s friend.
Friend???
Yep, God be having friends.
In John 15 this really amazing man said:
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Jesus, Right?
Jesus said that when you do what He asks, He is not only your Lord and Saviour, but he’s also your friend. That’s a whole different dynamic with a whole different level of benefits.
Friends share certain pieces of information. God tells Jesus something and Jesus relays the information to you. Ever wonder why God never gives you the full plan or picture? Maybe it is because you haven’t established a relationship where He can trust you with it. You know there’s certain people you don’t tell things to until its already done, because them just knowing can ruin the plan. If we have shown to not follow God’s plans for us when he asks, time and time again, is it shocking if God decides to stop filling us in.
That’s why its so key to reiterate that we are Jesus’ friends when we do the things he commands.
It’s not even just about hearing God’s plan for us. That friendship can bring protection, peace, healing and purpose. But this is only available to those who act in faith.
You know what is interesting about Rahab’s story. At first glance it appears like Rahab’s faith saved the spies. But really, her faith saved herself and her family. Not only did it deliver her from an undesirable situation, it also protected her family from the same situation.
Her faith turned the hooker holy. A righteous prostitute. To where she was mentioned alongside the one and only Abraham (a man who also operated in faith). That action changed not only the trajectory of her life, but also her entire relationship with God.
We don’t have to be God’s friend right, to get into Heaven? Like are you saying unless we do these acts we won’t get in? That’s not what Big Daddy told me.
Of course not, these acts of faith aren’t necessarily a requirement for you experiencing heaven and God’s presence after Earth.
Phew, because it sounds like a lot of effort.
I do have to ask though, if you’re looking forward to spending an eternity in the presence of God, why wouldn’t you want the experience now? Not only in heaven, but in your work, in your family and in your relationships.
A lot of us can’t even grasp what it will be like when we finally meet God because we didn’t fully seek him while we were here on Earth. Imagine believing but never having that true relationship, that friendship. Where all we know is from what we’ve heard from others. Surely when we’re finally there in front of God, it’d be a big culture shock.
But not as much for Rahab. Rahab knew of God’s power, but also experienced his power in her situation. She should’ve died. Her family should’ve died. Massacred and destroyed.
Joshua 6:25 says,
25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho – and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
Through Joshua’s command to the Israelites, Rahab and everyone in her house was spared.
Remember, this chesed protected not only Rahab but everyone in her house. We cannot pretend that who we surround ourselves with does not affect our destiny.
My Sunday Skl 