A Jew Tour Through James (Part 1)

Well, I think the person that's heard me preach the most over the last 33 years of preaching is probably my wife, Kim Abendroth. But second to her is probably Steve and Janet Cooley. Probably 30 years they've heard me preach.

We're still friends. Pastor Steve, what's the sermon that you've heard me preach more than any other sermon in the last 30 years? Any guesses? It is a book that I've preached regularly and often. And he has heard me preach it probably 10 different times.

But he's never heard me preach it this way. It's a book that helps us, that guides us, that helps us know how to live in light of who Jesus is. And it's perfect for a snow Sunday. Please turn your Bibles not to Luke, but to the epistle of James.

Turn your Bible to James. I had a couple heads nod over there, James. We are in the gospel of Jesus according to Luke. But since it's snow Sunday, I thought, well, I kind of need a little backup plan just in case.

And I think probably next Saturday night into Sunday, we're going to need another backup plan. It looks like we get more snow next week. Let me give you my rationale behind this message this morning from James.

Luke is chock full of some of the greatest truths in all the Bible about Jesus. And you learn about how he was born of a virgin. You learn about his temptations. You learn about his power over sin and sickness and death.

You just learn about who Jesus is. There are these truths, these statements that are true about Jesus. And sometimes in the gospel of Jesus according to Luke, it tells you what to do. It tells you how to act.

It tells you how to think. But most of time, it's just a spotlight on Jesus. And obviously, there's nothing wrong with that because you become like the one you worship. But as a supplement to who Jesus is, the book of James tells us, how do you live in light.

Of that resurrected Jesus?

How do you live knowing that Jesus paid for your sins? Do you live differently than the world does? Do you live exactly like the world does? And so James is one of these books that it doesn't have anything about Jesus's death, burial,.

And resurrection.

It says some things about Jesus, and we'll look at that this morning. But it mainly tells us what Jesus wants us to do, what God, the triune God, wants us to do. What does obedience look like? How do you please the Lord?

Obviously, not to get to heaven, but because you're going to heaven, how do we honor this God? And how do we love neighbor? And how do we do that? And so today, we're going to look at the book of James.

Jet tour. My guess is it's going to take us two weeks. I have personally, by the way, been parked in James for about two weeks because there are certain things in my soul that need ministering to, and James is ministering to me.

And of course, when I think of you and some of the trials that you're going through as a congregation, what would be good for the congregation? The book of James will be very, very helpful, I'm sure to you.

James the Servant and the Purpose of the Epistle

Before we get into the passage in terms of the meat of it, there's a greeting. And let's look at James chapter 1, verse 1 for the greeting because it's very insightful. James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings.

Now, many of you have heard that Martin Luther didn't like this epistle. He called it an epistle of what? Straw. But did you know in the same preface to this book, he also said this, I praise it and hold it a good book because it sets no doctrine of men, because it sets up doctrine of men and lays great stress upon God's law.

What does God command us to do? What does he want us to do? How do you live in light of a resurrected Savior? That's the book of James. And one of the things about James is it's fast paced. It really draws you in.

And it's got an imperative every other verse. I think if you count it, there's 108 verses and there are 54 imperatives. Here's what Christianity looks like. How do I live in light of a resurrected Savior?

That's a lot different than how would I live if evolution is true? How would I live if Jesus was a liar? How do I live my life if there's no God, no resurrection, no judgment, no eternal life, no forgiveness?

So James is very fast paced.

He's very direct.

Sometimes if you want to be direct with people, you give short sentences, staccato sentences. And that's what James does. Another comment, out of all the books in the New Testament, which one was written last?

I think that's an easy one. And the answer is the book of Revelation. Which one was written first? Out of all the books that were written, 27 New Testament books, which one is written first? Answer, the book of James.

That's exactly right. And so here's how you frame James. If you want to know what James is, so you don't say it's a strawy epistle because there's nothing about Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, virgin birth, ascension, prayer for us.

There's nothing in the Bible, in the book of James, about that. How do we frame it? Here's the answer. I've been waiting all week to say this. The events of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have occurred.

There's been a virgin birth.

There's been healings. There's been Jesus forgiving sins. Jesus has walked on water. He's cast out demons. He's preached good news. He suffered under a temporal judge, Pontius Pilate, at the same time suffering under God the Father as he judges Jesus in our place.

There's been a resurrection. Jesus has conquered sin and death and hell. And he's, in fact, done something that no one can do. He's raised himself from the dead. He ascended into heaven. And the men looked.

And here Jesus goes up into heaven. And Jesus is now praying for his people. That's all happened. It just hasn't been written yet. It's happened, let's just say, from 30 to 33 AD. You can argue about the timing.

But Jesus has been on earth doing his public ministry 30 to 33 AD. Life, death, burial, resurrection. That's happened. It just hasn't been written. And so people that have been alive 15 years later receive the book of James.

They know Jesus is alive. They know he's raised himself from the dead. And so they ask the question, well, how do we live? Do we go back to some kind of civil law back in for the Israelites? How do we live and please God knowing that Jesus has been raised from the dead?

And so the spirit of God gives the book of James to people that already know about who Jesus is. And so we can never take this book full of all these imperatives, chock full every other verse is an imperative, and say, well, they're strictly Proverbs.

They're strictly just law for us to do. No, no, we know who Jesus is. We've been saved. We trusted him by faith alone. Now, how do I live? Am I any different than I was before? Am I any different than the world?

James is a book that tells us how to live to please the Lord Jesus for what he has done. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at James chapters one through five. I wanted to do it all today, but that's okay.

We don't have to. Although, you know what I thought about? You braved this awful New England snow storm of four inches of snow to get here like a hearty New Englander. And so you should just say, you know what?

Let's just go for an hour. Let's just go for two hours. What do we care? So if I preach too long and you want to just get up and excuse yourself, we'll take your names down and watch you. How do you live a life that's pleasing to the Lord?

A good father and mother would tell their children, here's what you need to do. I've met people in my life that their father and mother have never guided them or led them. I mean, they've barely provided for them any food or shelter.

But of course, the heavenly father knows, here's how you live your life. For maximum joy and maximum, more importantly, honor to the Lord. And by the way, look at James, even back to chapter one, verse one again.

What does he call himself? James, the leader of the Jerusalem church. Listen to me. James, a pillar of the church. Better take care of what I say. James, an apostle. I'm sent out by the Lord Jesus and I have authority.

James, the half brother of Jesus. I know what I'm talking about. I've been in the same womb that Jesus has been. But James doesn't do that at all either. At all, does he? He says, I'm a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reminds me of his half brother who made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, Philippians chapter two. I'm just a servant. And I'm a servant of the Lord. I'm a servant of the Lord Jesus.

He's the sovereign.

He's the king.

I'm here to serve him gladly. And he writes to 12 tribes scattered among the nations. Mostly Jews, but there are Gentiles as well because the word greetings isn't like shalom. It isn't like the peace greeting.

So we've got Jews and Gentiles. Those trusting in the Lord Jesus, male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile. How do we live knowing Jesus is alive? How do I live compared to what I lived like.

Before I was a Christian?

How did you live your life BC before Christ saved you? I would imagine you live for yourself. I would imagine that I live for myself. I would imagine I wasn't thinking about sin and death and everything else.

Now that I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus and you are too, is there any different?

How do we live our lives?

And James gives us the answer. So if I had to summarize five chapters, 108 verses, I have 14 ways to live your life in light of the resurrected Savior. Now, normally when you do preaching classes, you're never supposed to go beyond three points in a poem.

You know that. Maybe five max. But to summarize all this and take a big picture, they're kind of groupings and they're 14 groupings. Sometimes you'll see it in your paragraphs in the Bible. 14 groupings, 14 ways to live your life knowing that Jesus loved you and gave himself for you.

Knowing that one day you'll see him again. He's going to come back. Are you going to die and see him face to face? 14 ways to honor Christ Jesus as a Christian. Number one, how do you live in light of a Savior that loves you and has bought you?

Number one, count it all joy when you're in a trial. Count it all joy when you're in a trial. Now, if there's no resurrection, if there's no Jesus, how do you deal with trials? You buckle up, you buckle down, you resist, you get mad, you struggle, you become inebriated, you do pleasure things so your mind's not on it.

When a trial comes and they come regularly and they come often, compared to what we used to do, compared to what we would do if Jesus were alive, if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, what do we now do as Christians?

And so what does he say? You know the passage very well. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness or endurance.

And let steadfastness or endurance have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, that is mature, lacking in nothing. Jesus said we would have tribulation. And now when we have tribulation, what do we do?

What do you do?

In light of health issues and things like that, and our family, I just can't stop thinking about this passage. Because it helps me know what pleases God. It helps me run from, I can't believe you did that to me.

I can't believe you did that to my family member. I can't believe you're so harsh and unloving. I'm trying to serve you with my life, and I can't believe what you're doing. I don't even want to say those words.

What does he say instead? Count it all joy. I mean, the first thing that does for me is, it gets me away from, why me? Versus, it's happened to me in the sovereign plan of God. How do I respond? What's the right way to respond to trials?

And here, he says, with your mind considering, in a godly way to do it, not just stow it, not just lay back and let God, not enjoying the trials, but consider, using your mind, I'm going to count this all joy.

It doesn't mean when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It doesn't mean put on a happy face. It doesn't mean feel it all joy. It means this, that you know God is sovereign, and he's proved his faithfulness, because the tomb is empty.

You've read Luke chapter 24, that Jesus has raised himself from the dead, and he's coming back. And you know that Jesus had an apostle, and he had an apostle Paul write these things. God works everything for good, according to his purpose.

Everything, all things, for those that love God. Now, everything changes. I'm counting it all joy. Paul in jail said, rejoice always. And again, I say, rejoice. One man said, to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the storm.

And we realize God's doing something. When you meet these trials, all kinds of different trials, you think you've been in through every trial. Well, here comes another one that's odd. For you know, see here's more, mental, counting it's mental, considering it's mental, knowing it's mental, the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect. I've regularly said to myself, and my family members, and many of you, when I meet a really neat Christian, Kim and I regularly go to Mount Hermon for our conference that we receive the word.

And we meet these people that are the most wonderful people, people that I've said to one particular man, I wish you were my dad. And I probably could have said, I wish I were you, in one regard. But they're just godly, and patient, and wise.

And you just think there's something about you. And you know what's true for every one of those people? They've had a hard time. They've had struggles. They've had a wayward child. They've had something go wrong in their life.

And they've been molded by God, and shaped by God. And they've had the attitude like Job, though you slay me, I'll still trust in you. And so you know when God begins a good work in you, he'll be faithful to complete it.

You know he gives you the spirit of God. And that spirit is conforming you to the image of Christ. And how does the image of Christ become, you become conformed to that? And the answer is many things.

Through the word of God, that's true. But God has a way to use suffering and trials to help us. I mean, just try living a trial-free life. And you know what happens is we finally figure out the one trial, and then we're like, OK, here we go.

Something else is going to happen. But here he says, I want you to count it all joy. And you say, oh, I just don't know how to make it through a trial. I need help. I can't seem to navigate trials. I've done a lot of wrong things in trials.

So what does he go on to say? He anticipates it, doesn't he? Verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, the context is in a trial. With a command, let him ask of God.

Ask God.

If you're in a trial right now, ask God for help. And by the way, when he's good and ready, he'll help you. No, that's not our God. All you have to do is go back to Luke and see how generous the father was with the son.

See how generous the son was, the spirit. And you're never going to say, God just gives partially and piecemeal. You'll say, God gives everything.

He gave his son.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach. And it will be given to him. Let him ask in faith. No doubting. The one who doubts is like the wave of a sea driven, tossed by the wind.

No, we want to go to the Lord and say, thank you, Father. I want to obey you. I'm in a trial. And I need help. And so I'm going to ask you. And I know you're going to provide. And you're not going to snub your nose at me.

You're not going to humiliate me or insult me. You've asked me too many times for wisdom. You got yourself into this problem on your own. This is self-induced. No. The Lord doesn't say, by the way, look at all your past sins and failures and I'll rub your nose in it.

He doesn't do that. Verse 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under this trial. You're getting wisdom. You're counting it joy. And when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Not only does God help us temporally, we get wisdom, but there's an end to it all. There's a payday one day. It's the crown of life. Lloyd-Jones says, the Christian is a man who can be certain about the ultimate, even when he is most uncertain about the immediate.

Isn't that good? Now, here's what I didn't do when I used to preach this. James, the half-brother of Jesus, for a long time was not a believer. Became a believer in the Lord Jesus. Believed in his brother as the God-man, as the Savior.

And when you read James, you can hear a lot of Jesus's words repeated by James, because he would sit and listen to his brother teach. But you know what I think James is also doing? Who's the one that counted it all joy when he encountered various trials?

Is there somebody who perfectly did that? Who truly did that?

And you look at them, and you say, they're the ones that I watch as they go through a trial. Not my friends at Dallas Seminary in Mount Hermon, but who never failed? Who is the example? Who is the representative?

Who's the one we look to? James isn't talking about anybody else except the Lord Jesus. Listen to this. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Who for the what?

What?

Joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. You want to know how to overcome trials is by counting them joy. And you realize that's, in fact, what my Savior did.

That's what the Lord did. And there were temporary blessings, of course, and ultimate blessings, even for the Lord as God raised him from the dead. So most of you are in a trial, or will be. Those that are in a trial right now, may I encourage you, even with a tear in your eye, or not knowing the end, to say, Lord, I don't know if I've been doing this the right way.

Would you please forgive me? I need to count it all joy. I need to count it all joy. And Lord, would you give me wisdom? Do any of you need to say that today? I'm sure you do.

I do.

Blame the Right Person in Temptation

The second way to honor the Lord, knowing that Jesus is alive, is to blame the right person during temptations. Count it all joy, and now to blame the right person. Found in verses 13 through 18. What about temptation?

I thought about this passage, and I thought, who's the one famous person that talked about temptation the wrong way? And that man's name that popped in my mind was Oscar Wilde. Here's what Oscar Wilde said about temptation.

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Oscar Wilde said, I can resist everything but temptation. I know, that's an amen.

I'd be glad.

Yes.

I always remember, with little ones, somebody told a story. They said, I was at church every Sunday, and I sat there, and sometimes I took notes, sometimes I didn't, sometimes I was too young, this, that, and the other.

And I went to Bible college, and they had an entrance exam. And I didn't study it, and I passed it. Because just sitting underneath the word of God, changing people, learning theology, and everything else.

So there'll be a quiz for your son after the church service. How can Jesus be truly God and truly man? Is there a better way to go through a temptation? And before Christ, when we're in a temptation and fail and it costs us, we blame people.

We blame the environment. We blame people. We blame, well, think about Adam. He blames God, and Eve blames Satan, and it's just the blame game. Who should we blame when we're in a temptation now and fail?

Verse 13, let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God, like with evil intent. He's got my worst out for me.

He's evil. He's wrong.

I'm being tempted by God. And then James says, for God can't be tempted with evil, and he tempts no one. He might put you in a trial, but he doesn't tempt with evil intentions. I mean, that's so uncharacteristic of God.

If God gave his best to his son, why would he then do something like that? That's not in God's character. God's holy. God's pure. He himself tempts no one. Verse 14, you want to know where the real blame is?

While God may be testing you to strengthen you for your good so you're lacking nothing, he's not trying to sinfully, obviously, he couldn't do that. He's holy. But he's not trying to, with evil intent, have you fail.

Where is the blame supposed to fall when we're tempted and we fail? Verse 14 gives the answer. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by Satan, by other people, by God. No, it's right there in the text, by his own lust or desire.

And you know what happens? When desire has been conceived, it gives birth to sin. Sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death. And while you might want to blame God or other people when you fail in a temptation, don't be deceived, my beloved brothers.

To prove that God would never do something with evil intentions? What's the greatest thing that God has ever done for us?

Verses 17 and 18.

Not just who God is, 17, but what God has done for us. Every good gift, and he repeats it for comprehensiveness, and every perfect gift is from above, from heaven, from God. And it just showers down, coming down from the father of darkness, no light.

That's holy talk, holiness of God talk. That's Isaiah, holy, holy, holy. God only does holy things for us because he's holy. With whom there's no variation, no shadow due to change. That's who he is. And you want to know why God is good, and we can never blame him in temptation?

It's for his person, and now his work. Verse 18, what particular work? Well, verse 18's work is of his own will. That shows you that he's for us. Nobody made him do it. He wasn't coerced. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be kind of a firstfruits of his creation.

God is goodness, gives good gifts, holy gifts. And so when we're in a trial, we say, I think I should count this all joy because God's working in me. And when I'm in a temptation, I should never say, you know what, I can't believe the Lord put me here.

I can't believe that when I fell, God did that because God's sovereign over everything. And so therefore, I must have had to sin because God's sovereign over that. We don't say that. Now again, I step back and I think, did Jesus undergo temptation?

How does the perfect man undergo temptation? And the answer, we've already seen in Luke, and it's found in Mark, and it's found in Matthew. When the tempter came in the wilderness to tempt Jesus, what did Jesus say?

God, you're sovereign over Satan. And as Luther might say in the future, the hardest working servant of God is Satan because he works night and day. And so God, you sent Satan, and you're not doing this the right way, and you're tempting me, and I can barely stand it.

Did Jesus do that? Of course, we know the answer's no. When Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, I almost said when he's in the Garden of Eden. Was Jesus in the Garden of Eden? The pre-incarnate Jesus, was he in the Garden of Eden?

True or false? Who says true? Jesus was in the Garden of Eden. Who says false? He wasn't born yet. The answer's true. Who was walking in the cool of the day? That's another sermon. That's another snow sermon.

You can just see James, the half-brother of Jesus.

I know the way to do the right thing when it comes to temptation because I know about my brother. I know about the Lord Jesus. I know about the God-man who when he becomes tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane, his response is, not how could you, God?

Not you're going to make me somehow be tempted to sin. It's, Father, your will be done. And of course, the Lord Jesus even taught us to pray that way. Your will be done. Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

Receive the Word and Obey It

The third way to honor the Lord Jesus with your life now that you know him and he knows you is to receive the word and obey it. Before we were Christians, what do we do in trials? A variety of things.

How do we deal with temptations? A variety of things. Now what about the word? Receiving it and doing it. That's the next section here of James, and James knows for these 12 dispersed tribes, you can just imagine you've got a clump of grapes, and you take your hand, and you smash those grapes, and they just kind of scatter.

The juice just scatters. And so the heavy persecution coming from some Roman leaders, they persecute the church, they scatter. What do I do when I'm scattered and running for my life, and they're taking away my property?

How do I see things? Well, I probably should be counting it joy. I think I should make sure I think about temptations rightly and never blame God, God forbid. And I think I should make sure I'm doing the word.

I think I should receive the word and do it. And that's what he says in verses 19 and following. Know this. It's still mental. My beloved brothers, you can hear the heart of James. Some people think James had a bunch of sermons, and they put some of these together to come up with this book.

Or it was a complete sermon from start to finish. He wants the best. He's not scolding them. He's not saying, if you don't do this, you're not saved. Some people say, oh, this is a book of test of saving faith.

No, no, this is a book of how can we get you to obey and honor the Lord Jesus in light of the resurrection? Know this, my beloved brothers. He's just got done talking about the word. That you're saved and quickened through the word, born again through the word.

He's going to talk about the word in verse 21, and he's still talking about it now. And let me just interpretively read it for you. Let every person be quick to hear the word, slow to speak the word, slow to anger when it comes to the word and its conviction.

For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, put away all filthiness, defies and does everything else. That reminds me of first Peter, chapter two, where he says, put away malice and deceit and hypocrisy and all evil and then come to the word.

And so when we come to the word, we confess our sins and we come to the word and we think I need to receive God's word. But not just receive it. The writer goes on in verse 22. What does a person do in light of a resurrected savior?

But be doers of the word and not hearers only. That means auditors. You don't do anything, you just listen. Deceiving yourselves. And then he gives some examples and stuff that's very almost sounds like Jesus talking, because the way Jesus would describe things is so perfect like this.

And you could just relate to it. For if anyone's a hearer of the word and not a doer,.

What's he look like?

Well, he looks like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. See, men look at themselves in the mirror, too. And you look and you've got to see things.

And of course, you've got to look really hard.

Because they didn't have the mirrors we have today. They had mirrors that weren't quite as good. And this particular person, he looks at himself in the mirror and then goes away and forgets what he was like.

So super simple. You've probably taught it. You look at the mirror. If you're a man and you realize, I need to comb my hair.

Those were the days.

And and then you just walk off.

You never comb your hair,.

Never do anything, big smudges or something like that. And I've said this before, too. I'm blind enough now and old enough now where I'll shave and then I have to, like, get up really close to the mirror to see what I've missed, because far away from the mirror, it seems like I got everything.

So when it comes to God's word, it's not like we look at it and see it. And isn't it wonderful? No, no. What's the text go on to say? But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, no longer under condemnation by the law.

It's to guide us and help us. And it's good for our neighbor. The law of liberty and perseveres. Be no here who forgets, but a doer who acts. He will be blessed in his doing. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my what?

Commandments. It's good for you.

It's for you, for your good. One man said it's one thing to fight. It's another thing to be a soldier. It's not just I do God's word, but it's a characteristic is I want to be a doer. So the focus isn't on the action.

The focus is on the attitude of the person. And of course, we as Christians sin and we don't always do God's word, but we want to do it, don't we?

We desire to do it.

And then when we don't think rightly, we repent and we ask God to forgive us. I'm not doing your word. And I want to do that. And there's a great application of this doing God's word found in verses twenty six and twenty seven.

And it's about helping orphans and widows and not getting stained by the world congregation. If you were James and you were thinking about someone in your life who was typified by not doing God's word only, but who is a doer of God's word, who would you say that person would be?

He could just watch Jesus.

You want to watch Jesus and describe things about Jesus. Listen to some of these. Jesus said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and accomplish his work. I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me.

I do exactly as the father has commanded me. If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Behold, I've come to do your will.

Oh, God, did you know those are all quotes from Jesus? And he actually did it. You want to see a doer of God's word. You look to the Lord Jesus. While there's nothing about the death, burial and life of Jesus here in this passage, in this book, everything shouts out.

Of course, we live in light of Jesus's death, burial and resurrection soon return. He's given us a spirit so we can do it. Number four, the fourth way to honor the Lord Jesus with your life. Now that you're saved, now that you're able, now that Jesus is alive is to love without partiality, is to love without partiality.

Obviously, this is a social tension in our lives now with racism, systematic racism, unconscious bias and all that tripe. When you hear about sins are the stains that will never be removed, you say to yourself, they're not thinking like Christians, because when people do have partiality, they do discriminate.

There is racism. There's a stain that can be forgiven. And we know that because of who Jesus is. There's no room in the church for partiality, prejudice or preferential treatment. So James knows, especially when you've got Jews and Gentiles together in this dispersed tribe before you were saved.

How did you think about these issues? Now, how do you think about these issues? Especially when I'm in the church with them? I'm a Gentile with a bunch of Jews and Jews with Gentiles. My brothers, verse one of chapter two, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

And again, kindly, brothers, because you're in Christ Jesus, don't show partiality. When you believe in Jesus, the Lord, God Almighty, I know what does it say there at the end of the verse, verse one, the Lord of glory.