James

Faith Without Works is Dead

January 23, 2017 by Tim Sherfy

Every so often, I like to increase the amount of hate mail I receive. There’s no better way to assure this than discussing the faith (or grace) vs. works topic. As I have stated previously, I don’t fall into either the faith or works camp. I believe one without the other is useless, and believe there is strong Scriptural support to say the answer isn’t either faith or works, but rather faith and works. James says plainly in his letter faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26).

faith without works is dead, faith vs. works,grace vs. works,James 2:14-26,faith or works,works based salvation,Ephesians 2:8-9,for by grace are you saved through faith,Ephesians 2:10,created for good works in Christ,Matthew 22:36-40,greatest commandment,Ephesians 4:1-6,unity,church unity,united in Christ,faith,works,love,God's character,character of God

image © Halfpoint via Fotolia

Coming from the brother of Jesus, I’m going to consider him a strong authority. There’s more to say about this, however. To those in either the faith or works camp, I urge you to keep reading. Not so I might persuade you to agree with me, but rather to take an honest look at what Scripture says about this and consider the eventual logic behind each view.

Unconscious Bias

January 19, 2017 by Tim Sherfy

Each of us possess an unconscious bias towards others. Some bias is the result of past experience, some the way we were brought up, and some the result of our culture and environment. Regardless of the source, we all look at the world through a lens colored by our unconscious bias. The problem is, our bias generally does not reflect the way God looks at people.

unconscious bias,love,valuing people,great commandment,James 2:8-9,favoritism,mission,love God,serve people,change the world,unsurpassable worth

image © Chris Titze Imaging via Fotolia

He has a very conscious bias with which He looks at every soul on the planet. God’s bias is love. What I want to do as a disciple of Jesus is replace my own unconscious bias with His conscious decision to value people and always seek to serve them. I wish this were as easy as it sounds, but an unconscious bias is difficult to recognize and harder still to tame.

[Read more…] about Unconscious Bias

Obedience to God

October 27, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

At its core, this blog is about discipleship. It’s about living your life wholly devoted to Christ so you can live out the life He created you to live. What this looks like in practice will vary from person to person, but the one thing all disciples have in common is obedience to God. By definition, obedience to God implies you have to do something in order to be His disciple. This isn’t a works based salvation; it’s works because of salvation.

Obedience to God,obedience,A.W. Tozer, tozer,discipleship,Disciple of Christ,Disciple of Jesus,grace vs. works,grace only,grace based salvation,works based salvation,Ephesians 2:8 and 9,for by grace are you saved,Ephesians 2:10,works created for you to do,Revelation 3:16,lukewarm Christian,Bible lukewarm,vomit you out of my mouth,spew you out of my mouth,James 1:21-25,double minded man,looks in a mirror and forgets what he looks like

image © duncanandison via Fotolia

As A.W. Tozer once said, “Salvation without obedience is a self-contradicting impossibility!” Many people have bought into the teaching of salvation through grace alone to the exclusion of any responsibility for works of obedience. That’s a cheap and easy salvation never put forth by Jesus.

[Read more…] about Obedience to God

The Purpose of Church

August 18, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

In “Counter Culture”, David Platt writes, “When we observe our churches today, do they look like groups of people who gather with one another as they give their lives to spreading the gospel among unreached people, impoverished communities, abandoned orphans, lonely widows, dying babies, sex slaves, and suffering brothers and sisters around the world?” His conclusion is the same as my own: we do not.

purpose of the church,david platt,counter culture,James 1:27,true religion,orphans and widows,Isaiah 58:6,true fast break the chains of injustice,slavery,sex slavery,poor,hungry,homeless,sick,imprisoned,sheep and the goats,Matthew 25:31-41

His question comes straight from the Bible (Matthew 25:31-41; James 1:27; Isaiah 58:6), and reflects God’s will for each of our lives. It’s sad enough most of us are not dedicating our own lives to this, but absolutely tragic we as a body of believers are not marshalling our forces to combat these evils in the world.

Sin is Not Okay

June 23, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

I’m seeing a disturbing trend in Christendom… Somehow sin is becoming “okay”. I’m not picking on any individual sin because it’s all equal in the eyes of God. Jesus demonstrated this when He said anyone who has lusted has committed adultery in their heart and anyone who has harbored anger has committed murder in his heart. I don’t think I’d be going too far out on a limb to then conclude, if not for the merciful covering of the blood of Christ, we would all be adulterers and murderers in the eyes of God.

sin is not okay,sin,1 John 2:15-17,2 Corinthians 6:15-17,James 1:27,everyday Sunday,commitment,mission,compromise,heresy,hypocrisy

I say this to make it known up front I am the worst of sinners. What’s worse than an adulterer and murderer? So I am throwing no stones at any other sin or sinner. My only premise is it should never be acceptable or even possible for a Christian to find sin acceptable. Sin is not okay.
[Read more…] about Sin is Not Okay