The Bible Study Podcast, episode 499.

Today, the Bible Study podcast continues and concludes the study on Christian maturity as we talk about service.

Welcome to the Bible study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen.

Thanks for joining me on this study of Christian maturity. We'll conclude it today as if one could ever conclude maturity.

But we're going to talk about service, and it seems when we're talking about the things that we do, that there's no better place to go than the book of James.

So these are some verses from James

chapter 2 verses 14 through 26. What good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have

faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes

and daily food. 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?

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say,

you have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds,

and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe there is one God good. Even the demons

believe that, and shudder. You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds

is useless? Was not our Father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

And the scripture was fulfilled that said Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,

and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered 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. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

As we talk about Christian maturity, we need to talk about the things we do. We need to talk about

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