Living vs Dead Faith

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Faith and Deeds - James 2

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
This is the famous passage everyone likes to debate.  Is James saying that if you don't have good deeds that accompany faith, you don't have saving faith?  What about the doctrine we are saved by grace not by works lest anyone should boast?  Ephesians 2:8-9  The problem is if good works save us, then why did Jesus have to die?  If we can be saved by good works, then Jesus died for nothign.  Of course we know that bible teaches that we are saved by faith and not by works, so what do we make of this passage in James?  
I think it is helpful to look at the next verse after Ephesians 2:8-9.  Ephesians 2:10 ironically says, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." So how does this verse add to the discussion?  What is shows is that at the root of being a Christian is doing good works.  Why? Because a Christian is a Christ-follower.  A Christian does the things Jesus did and taught us to do.  Jesus did good works all the time.  If the Spirit of Christ is living within us, it is the Spirit that spurs us on to do the good deeds Christ made us for.  
But of course we can reject the Holy Spirit, or what the bible calls "quenching the Spirit".  The Holy Spirit can lead us to do a good work, and we can say "no thank you I am too busy right now!"  So what role does faith have in this? Faith always produces good works.  When we are walking in and exercising true faith it will always involve doing goods works.  As Ephesians 2:10 says, "We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works!"  
So rather than spend so much time worrying about the relationship between faith and good works, let's spend more time putting our faith in action. While we can't take credit for the good works we do, we can certainly enjoy doing them.  Tell me when is the last time you did a good work and didn't feel good about it.  That's the thing, when we do good works it strengthens our faith because we see God at work and it feels great!  Having the gift of faith that produces good works is a dynamic duo.  It's what we were made for.

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