Continuing to walk through James, a wonderful book which gloriously reveals the depth of the gospel as it works into our lives. Living for Christ is so much more than a moral checklist or cultural conformity. Our faith in Christ will produce much – but the incredible thing about gospel-based progressive sanctification is that we bear more fruit as we more fully understand our relationship with God – especially that it is based on Christ’s performance for us, not our performance for him.

So even beyond the wondrous truth that “faith works,” James reveals how it works. And even more critically, James reveals the contrast of this fruit-producing faith with the world’s view of religion. There’s a variety of ways that pastors say this… here are a few phrases that draw out the contrast of works grounded in unbelieving religion… or gospel faith:

Our works drive God’s love for us… or God’s love drives our works.
Our good works direct God’s favor… or our good works reflect God’s favor.
Our actions are the root of God’s favor… or our actions are the fruit of God’s favor.
Obey so God will be happy… or obey because God is happy with you.
Our obedience motivates God’s infinite happiness… or God’s infinite happiness motivates our obedience.
I am obligate so that God will love me… or I’m free to live this way because God loves me.
I obey therefore I’m accepted… or I’m accepted therefore I obey.
If I behave, then I belong… or I belong, that’s why I behave.

O the glories of what our Savior has done! May our hearts be more and more grounded in the gospel, that we might more and more see the reality of who we are in Him.