Living the Gospel
The Proof Is In The Pudding
Can you say you really believe the Gospel is you’re not living out the Gospel?
When I was growing up, I loved it when we went to my grandparents’ house in Tennessee.
My dad’s parents lived in Memphis for a long time, and we didn’t get to visit much, but when we did, my grandmother would always make her famous bread pudding.
Some of you are wondering, What is bread pudding? Honestly, I don’t know what’s in it. And I know it doesn’t sound good. But my grandmother’s bread pudding was awesome!
She had a special bread pudding pan that she always made it in, and after decades of cooking bread pudding in that pan, it was seasoned perfectly. The only problem with that bread pudding pan is that it was too small. There was never enough to go around. We always ran out!
There’s an old saying, “The proof is in the pudding.”
It’s another way of saying that if you want to know if something is good, put it to the test! The way you test pudding is simply by tasting it! I can tell you my grandmother’s bread pudding was the best because I’ve tasted it, and because it always disappeared moments after it made it to the table! It was good! The proof was in the pudding!
We know how to tell if something is good or not. The proof is in the pudding!
Pretenders vs. Contenders
It’s about this time of year, for all you college football fans, that we can begin to separate out the contenders from the pretenders.
The teams that are the real deal, from the ones who, maybe they’ve got a few wins early on, but they really haven’t played anybody. Then you get into the heart of the season, and you can begin to tell which teams are legit, which teams might compete for a playoff spot.
How can you tell? The proof is in the pudding.
The proof is in how the team has played against quality opponents.
So here’s the question: when it comes to people who call themselves Christian, how can you tell if they are contenders or pretenders? How can you tell if someone doesn’t just believe the Gospel, but is living the Gospel?
My grandmother would say, The proof is in the pudding.
You see… What we believe affects how we live. And how we live reveals what we believe.
Christian Faith + Christian Practice
You see this from the very beginning, Christian faith has always been connected to Christian practice.
What we believe shapes what we do and how we live. If we believe what we say we believe, it changes everything.
When the church started in Jerusalem, people were convinced by the power of the Gospel. And maybe, right here, we should pause for a moment and ask the question:
What is the Gospel?
For many Christians, they would sum up the Gospel by saying something like this: Jesus came, He lived, He died, and He rose again so that I can go to Heaven one day when I die. And that is certainly a part of the Gospel message, but the Gospel is much more than that.
The word Gospel, euangelion in Greek, literally means Good News.
In the ancient world, whenever a king or ruler would win a battle, whenever the enemy had been conquered, the king would ride back into the city. A messenger would run ahead to announce the good news, the euangelion, and people would line the streets. There would be a celebration. People would sing and shout the praises of their king and tell stories of his greatness and his glory.
Against that ancient backdrop of conquering kings, of battles won, and royal processions, and with all the tensions surrounding this moment, Jesus enters into human history.
In Israel’s own history, they had stories and prophecies of a king who would ride into Jerusalem righteous and victorious (Zechariah 9.9, 1 Kings 1.33). But Jesus wasn’t anything like what anyone expected. On the Sunday before the Friday Jesus would be crucified, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, which fulfilled the prophecy:
“Tell the people of Jerusalem,
‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.’”
Matthew 21.5, Zech 9.9
As Jesus entered the city, people cried out…
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Matthew 21.9
Even at that moment, after three years of witnessing the ministry of Jesus, the people didn’t get it. Many thought Jesus was coming to set up an earthly kingdom. They thought that was the Good News. But the Good News was better than they could have ever imagined.
The Good News
The Good News, the really Good News, is that in Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, fully human and fully divine, God had come near! God had come to be WITH His people. God had come to make all things right and all things new. So Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, set the captives free, and raised the dead (Luke 4).
Why?
Because this is what life is like in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the way things are supposed to be. No one is supposed to be hungry, or sick, or held captive, or dead! Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly! (John 10.10).
At the cross, Jesus put death to death. He reversed the curse. The spiritual disease called sin now has a Healer, and His name is Jesus. After three days in a borrowed tomb, the Spirit of the Living God raised Jesus up from the grave. Over the next 40 days, He was seen by more than 500 people. Then, surrounded by His closest friends and followers, He ascended to Heaven, where right now, Jesus of Nazareth, fully God and still fully human, is seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us!
Now, because of the finished work of Christ, all people in all nations can know the great and saving love of God revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, because of Christ, we are already citizens of Heaven. We participate in making things on earth as they are in heaven. And we believe that this is true: God is With Us. And that is Good News!
What we believe affects how we live. And how we live reveals what we believe.
30 Years Later
Fast forward to about 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus, and you see the idea taking root that what we believe affects how we live. You can see it all throughout the pages of the New Testament, but you can’t miss it in the writings of James. James was one of the brothers of Jesus. At some point, James came to faith and believed that his brother was and is God’s Messiah. And his faith in Jesus compelled him to action. He became a leader in the early church.
James writes a letter to help Christians know and understand that our faith affects how we live. And how we live reflects what we believe. Listen to what he writes in James 1.22-25:
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
In other words, the proof is in the pudding!
James says, Don’t just listen to God’s word… put it into action. Live it out. Do what it says. Don’t be a pretender; contend for your faith, contend because of your faith.
You weren’t saved by God’s amazing grace to sit on the sidelines until you die so you can go to heaven one day. Know, you’ve been saved for a purpose. You’ve been called by God for a reason. God will bless you for DOING what God’s word says!
When you turn the page to ch 2.24, James says this,
So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
For our brother James, I’m not sure it’s even possible to believe the Gospel if you’re not living the Gospel because believing the Gospel compels us to live out the Gospel!
Faith According to James
So what does our faith compel us to do according to James?
How do we live out the Gospel we say we believe?
Years ago, David Letterman was famous for his top 10 lists on his Tonight Show. You could read through the letter James wrote and come up with more than 10, but here are 10 ways to live out the Gospel According to James:
1: Live out your faith with JOY when trials come your way
James 1.2-3, 12
2: Live out your faith with WISDOM
James 1.5
3: Be Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak, Slow to Anger
James 1:19–20
4: Live out your faith by living a PURE life
James 1.21
5: Live out your faith by CARING for those in need
James 1.27, 2.8, 15-16
6: Live our your faith by LOVING others equally, without playing favorites
James 2.1
7: Live out your faith by coming NEAR to God
James 4.7-8
8: Live out your faith with HUMILITY
James 4.10
9: Live out your faith in PATIENCE and PRAYER
James 5.7, 13-16
10: Live out your faith by PURSUING the lost
James 5.19-20
How You Live Matters
What we believe affects how we live. And how we live reveals what we believe.
James says, How you live the life you live matters.
Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. – James 2.26
A few weeks ago, I was doing the yard work, cutting the grass, things like that. It takes me a little longer now because my son went to college, and he made sure to go far enough away that he couldn’t come home on the weekends to help me cut the grass. I think that was his primary motivation in choosing a college!
I was in the backyard and I saw something. It took me a minute to realize what it was, but it was a small snake. It was small. And it was dead. I don’t like snakes. I don’t even like dead snakes. But if I had to choose, I’d take them that way! Because it was dead, it posed no problem, no threat, it was nothing to worry about.
I think our Enemy, the devil, feels the same way about Christians. He roams the earth seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8), but if he comes up on a Christian who says he believes the Gospel, but he’s not living it out… It’s like walking up on a dead snake. He’s not a problem. He’s no threat. He’s nothing to worry about. If he comes up on a Christian and she’s more caught up in herself than she is in Jesus, she’s no problem. She’s no threat. She’s nothing to worry about.
Moderated Religion
In a little book called The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, an older, experienced demon named Screwtape writes a series of letters to his nephew Wormwood, a junior tempter. In the letters, Screwtape trains Wormwood on how to lead a Christian away from God—not through big, dramatic sins, but often through small compromises, distractions, and half-hearted faith. Lewis uses this creative perspective to help us see the everyday spiritual battles we face and how subtle the enemy’s strategies can be.
At one point, he writes: “A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
If your religion is just that, a religion… If what you believe is moderated in some way so that you can say you believe the Gospel and still live any way you want, you are not a problem. You are no threat. Nothing to worry about.
If you got baptized so you can go to heaven one day when you die, but you’re not living the baptized life, you’re not living the Gospel, you’re no threat. Our enemy isn’t worried about you.
But, if you believe what you say you believe, if what you believe about Jesus changes everything about you, the devil and his demons better watch out!
Jesus once asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Matthew 16.13
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Matthew 16.16-18 (NIV)
You see, we were not called to play defense. As the church of Jesus Christ, we are on offense, advancing the Gospel, advancing the Kingdom of God, participating in making things on earth as they are in Heaven, and the gates of Hell will not be able to stand against it!
This is what makes us contenders, not pretenders.
The proof is in the pudding!
The Early Church
We see this modeled in the life of Jesus and His disciples. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, to serve one another in love, and to share the Good News that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
The early church, because of its faith in the risen Jesus, was compelled to continue sharing the Good News of the great love of God revealed in Jesus. They believed deeply in worship, baptism, and celebrating the Lord’s supper.
They loved their neighbors, cared for the sick, and took in abandoned children. Their faith shaped the activity of their lives.
The early church didn’t do evangelism, but by the end of the third century, it had grown from 3000 on the day of Pentecost to more than six million people. How did it grow if the early church never did mission trips? Never preached evangelistic sermons?
It grew because of the way they lived out their faith. The way they lived the lives they lived was so compelling that people wanted to join the Christian community. And by the way, that was not an easy process! (Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church).
In the same way, our faith shapes our actions. What we do is connected to what we believe. When we believe the Gospel, we can’t help but live the Gospel!
In the same way…
We are called to live out the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God!
When we do, people will see that our faith isn’t just about what we believe; it changes the way we live. And brother James is cheering us on, reminding us,
“…don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.”
Live It Out
What if we did that? What if we lived out our faith?
For some of us, we’ve believed in Jesus for a long time, but if we’re being honest, we haven’t allowed what we believe to affect or change how we live.
But it has to, and maybe today is the day that changes for you.
Maybe you’ve been more like that dead body James talked about; you’ve had faith, but nothing tangible to back it up. Your faith has been lifeless.
Here’s the Good News: Jesus loves to resurrect the dead! He’s the God of second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances.
As long as you’re living, you’ve got an opportunity to live for Him!
So why not start living for Him today?
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