faith alone?

So, I was looking up a couple comedy routines by this guy Brian Regan.  If you have never heard Brian’s stuff, he is incredibly funny, especially when you are able to watch him perform.  As I was wasting a few minutes on youtube, I saw in the ‘recommendations’ section a comedian who had a high number of views and decided to check him out. 

At one point during his routine, he began to share about why he was a Christian and this is what I heard him (and many other people over the years) say about his faith: ‘The thing I like about being a Christian is the only thing you have to do is have faith… That’s it!  All these other religions and belief systems have a bunch of rules and regulations.  Not Christianity.  All I do is believe, I’m saved, and that’s it.  An idiot can do that.”

And while that may sound nice, I find his words and beliefs to be thoroughly unbiblical.  If we take an honest look at the life and teachings of our Lord, how much time did Jesus spend teaching the disciples and other ‘sinners’ how they ought to live?  Never once did Jesus ever tell people that all they had to do is ‘believe.’ If how we spent our time here on earth mattered so little, than why did our Lord spent a vast majority of his time teaching people what the Kingdom of God was like?  Why did Jesus address complex life issues on his Sermon on the Mount?  Some may be quick to quote Paul, such as Romans 10:9 that says, "If you confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  Whenever Paul or Jesus for that matter spoke of faith, it was always a faith that was accompanied by devoted action.  

Let us affirm and attest that Jesus Christ is Lord.  But God forbid we stop there.  Let us hear the words of our Lord and seek to walk in the footsteps of our rabbi in all that we say and do.