What does real faith actually look like?
James 2 gives us a challenging answer: living faith doesn’t just believe—it moves. It serves. It obeys. It gets its hands dirty.
In this message by Preaching Minister Gordon Dabbs, Ph.D., from our IRL: In Real Life series, we explore one of the most debated passages in the New Testament: “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Are we saved by faith or by works? And how do James and Paul fit together?
The good news is that our hope doesn’t rest in our work for Jesus, but in Jesus’ work for us. We don’t work to earn grace. But when grace takes hold of a life, it leaves evidence.
Grace comes first. But grace never comes alone.
Living faith becomes visible. It has dirt on its knees, calluses on its hands—and work boots on its feet.