James, A Servant of God and of The Lord Jesus Christ

James as New Testament Wisdom Literature

Please turn in your Bibles to the book of James and chapter 1. James chapter 1. This is God's holy and infallible word. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation.

Because as a flower of the field he will pass away, for no sooner has the sun risen with that burning heat than it withers the grass. Its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life with which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of this new book study, and may he use it to grow us in the faith.

Please pray with me. O Lord, we need the practical wisdom of your servant, inspired by your Spirit. I pray, O Lord, that James would change us, and that we would mature and grow in our genuine and sincere faith in Christ, that our lives would be marked by obedience, and that we would remain undefiled and unspotted from the world.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. We have before us a special treat, if you will, because James is a very different kind of book. It is New Testament wisdom literature. It's like the book of Proverbs.

It has line-by-line instruction imperatives for us. Today, we're going to only look at verse 1 of chapter 1, and the title of the message is found in that first line, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. For those of you who are in need of an outline, the first question we're going to ask and answer, hopefully, is who is James? Who is James? Second, what are his credentials?

How does he describe himself? What are his credentials? Third, who is the audience? And fourth, what is his aim? We'll give that to you again. First, who is James? Second, what are his credentials? Third, who is the audience?

And fourth, what is his aim? What is his aim? James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is James? As you know, there are a number of James listed in the New Testament. The first person who could be considered a potential candidate for the authorship of the book of James is James the Apostle.

This is one of the sons of Zebedee. He is the brother of the beloved disciple John, who is that gospel writer and epistle author. There is a bit of a challenge to James' potential as the author. He was actually martyred in Acts chapter 12, which calls into question his ability to write the epistle.

There's another James, and he's the father of Judas, one of the apostles. And this is not Judas Iscariot. So there is another James, acquainted with the apostolic band, who could be considered one of the candidates to be an author.

Then there is James, the son of Alphaeus, and he is another person. It's a very legitimate claim to be the author of the book of James. But I favor the last one, which is James, who happens to be the presiding minister of the church at Jerusalem.

He is the one who would be the leader of the Jerusalem Council. He is the moderator of the presbytery, and I believe he is the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is probably now the dominant majority position, and I think some of the textual evidence that I'm going to supply in just a moment will help us agree with this.

In one sense, it doesn't matter, because all Scripture is God-breathed. The Holy Spirit is the author, and he uses men to pen these letters. We know this message comes from God himself. Interestingly, the question of the siblings of Jesus, it seems that there is a number of them that have been listed in the Scriptures.

One of them is James. Another is Joses, which is probably more familiarly spoken of as Joseph. Jude, who is the epistle writer. Jude calls himself, in his epistle, a doulos and brother of James. He doesn't say he's the brother of Jesus.

He says he's the brother of James, interestingly. Simon and two namesisters. Is there a little bit less clear? Salome and Mary, and there may have been others. It looks as though that Mary had at least seven children, and I'm going on the record, I do not believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Sorry to disappoint those of you who like to hold to that position. I absolutely do not believe in that doctrine. I believe she and Joseph had children that Jesus grew up in a family with his siblings, part of it necessary to be our redeemer.

James. James, the brother of Jesus, the leader of the church at Jerusalem, the moderator of the presbytery. I believe that's who the author is in James. I'd like you to turn first to the book of John, in chapter 7.

The gospel according to John, in chapter 7. I'm going to begin reading in verse 1. After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.

Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one does anything in secret, while he himself seeks to be known openly.

If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Now this may sound positive on the one hand. Jesus, if you are the Messiah, his brothers are saying, get out there, go down to Jerusalem, and tell the world that you are the Messiah.

But look at verse 5. It says,. For even his brothers did not believe in him. James, who would be the spokesperson of the apostles, who would be the person who would lead the Jerusalem council not many years from this, at this stage does not believe in his brother.

He doesn't see him as the Messiah. Turn over to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 1. Again, we're on authorship, trying to answer the question, who is James? I'm going to go ahead and begin reading in verse 4 of Acts 1.

And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It's not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey. I want you to listen here, verse 13. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying.

And we're going to have the list of the four candidates for the authorship of James here. Peter, James, John, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James.

All of those connected with the apostolic band are here witnessing this event of Ascension returning to Jerusalem. Look at verse 14. It says,. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Something's happened between John 7 and Acts 1 as it concerns the brothers of Jesus. They believe in the risen Christ. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Again, I appreciate your patience with me.

We're trying to make the case for authorship. 1 Corinthians 15. Children, parents, I would say if there is a chapter of Scripture that would be very helpful to know, I would know 1 Corinthians 15 inside and out.

Teach 1 Corinthians 15 to your children. As a family, know it. 1 Corinthians 15. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I deliver to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas and then by the Twelve.

And after that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. Now pay attention. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles, and last of all he was seen by me, also as by one born out of due time.

After the resurrection, Jesus personally appeared to James. Now, for those of you who have brothers, I don't have a brother. I had an uncle who was like a brother to me. But can you imagine the person who maybe was your roommate in the bunk beds or whatever they had in Galilee, that you grow up with this man who's your older brother, and he's a perfect child in every way, the apple of the eye of his mother, and you find out that he is God in the flesh, he is the Messiah, he is your only hope of salvation, your brother.

This was hard. No prophet has honor in his hometown or in his own house, but Jesus, in his mercy, saves James and Jude and all of these brothers, Joseph and Simon and Salome and Mary and all of his family, it seems.

And this man, who is not an apostle, but he has an apostolic air about him because he is the Lord's half-brother, and he meets one of the qualifications of apostleship, he knew the Christ on earth and he is a witness to his resurrection.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, has seen the risen Christ. This also makes some of this other material we're going to consider that much more significant. I appreciate your patience again. Let's turn to the book of Galatians in chapter 2.

I was a little surprised about what I discovered here. I've studied James before. I've preached on it before. But I was surprised what I encountered when I began to study this. This is Paul. Much like what we are learning in Sunday school today, he is arguing against the Judaizers.

The issue in Galatia is circumcision as a prerequisite to gospel and Christ and salvation. Galatians 2 says this, beginning at verse 1,. After fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me, and I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run or had run in vain.

Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

But from those who seemed to be something, whether ever they were, it makes no difference to me, God shows no personal favoritism to any man. For those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, for he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles.

Now listen carefully. There are pillars of the church in Jerusalem. There are three names listed in verse 9. The first name is James. Cephas is Peter. And John, the beloved disciple. James, Peter, and John.

I believe this is James, the Lord's half-brother, not James, the brother of John. These are the pillars of the church in Jerusalem. This is going to be very important. They perceived that the grace that had been given to Paul, it says, they gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision.

They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was also eager to do. Now listen carefully. Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed.

For before, certain men came from James, James the writer of our epistle, James the half-brother of Jesus, James, who was the leader of the church of Jerusalem. Before, Peter would eat with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. Now what I want to point out to you here is that Peter has already had his vision. Peter has already heard from the Lord that the Gentiles are included in this salvation in Christ.

But Peter is in some way submitting to the authority of the men who are emissaries, who have gone out from James. James is the leader of the church at Jerusalem. Peter takes a submissive stance toward James.

Now, I don't think of Peter as doing that. I think of Peter as an apostle. Now we know in his first epistle, he says he's a fellow elder. But Peter is one of the top guides in the faith, one of the biggest leaders in the church.

But he's submitting to these men, because they've come from James, and they've now made him feel squeamish about eating with the Gentiles and this issue of uncleanness. He withdraws from the Gentiles, separating himself, fearing those who are of the circumcision.

And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. One other thing before we leave the book of Galatians. Let's look back to chapter 1.

Galatians 1 says, After three years, after his personal seminary with Jesus, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

Everybody knows who James is. Paul is deferential to James, recognizes his authority. He's one of the pillars. He's one of the guys I have to talk to. Peter is deferential to James. Now let's turn to Acts chapter 15.

Again, thank you for going with me. Knowing something of the man who is used to write our epistle is going to be helpful in the days ahead. I want you to listen. This is the decision of the Jerusalem council.

Acts chapter 15 verse 1. And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.

So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles. And they caused great joy to all the brethren. When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.

But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. There are Pharisees who have been converted to Christ.

They're described as believers who believed in him, and they're struggling and wrestling with this question. It's in Philippi, it's in Galatia, it's in Antioch, it's in Jerusalem. Verse 6. Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.

And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

But we believe through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. Then all the multitudes kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul, declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.

And now the decisive word. Understand the prominence of this man's position. Peter has spoken. Paul and Barnabas have spoken. There's a man who's going to give the final word. James answers, verse 13, saying, Men and brethren, listen to me.

Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which had fallen down.

I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. Even all the Gentiles who are called by the name says the Lord who does all these things. I hope that resonates more with you now as we've concluded the series in Zechariah.

James says this is what this prophecy, all this has been building and leading up to, is the revelation of Christ and the salvation of the nations in him. It continues. Known to God from eternity are all his works.

Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

For Moses had through many generations those who preach him in every city being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. It should be pointed out that James doesn't start and reinvent the wheel of everything.

He's a very decisive man, a very black and white man. I love that about him. John is very much this way. Peter is this way. Verse 22. And it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who was also named Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.

They wrote this letter by them. The apostles, the elders, and the brethren. To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings. Remember Galatians 2? People who came from James, who Peter was dragged away and was fearful of eating with the Gentiles.

Verse 24. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, You must be circumcised and keep the law. To whom we gave no such commandment.

Men went out from Peter, operating under his authority, but he didn't say that. It seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well.

Farewell.

The man that Paul, Barnabas, and Peter look to to make the final ruling, in a sense, on this, to speak for them, the decision they've made, is James. What kind of man is it that even Peter and Paul look up to him for leadership?

His name, they called him James the Just. They called him Camel Knees, because he spent his life on his knees in prayer. I can even picture in my mind the camel as he drops down. I get that picture of James always dropping to his knees in prayer.

He's not one of the twelve apostles. He's so learned and such a Jew, and it gives us some insight into the life of Jesus, if this is Jesus' brother. He is basically the most Jewish man that anybody knows.

He knows the law inside and out, dispelling any myth that Jesus is an innovator when it comes to things like the law of God. James is a decisive man, a black and white man. His yes is yes, and his no is no.

Let's now turn back to our text. It's going to be a long study if that's only the first word of the book of James. The second point of outline, and this next part will be a bit quicker, was how does James describe himself?

We had to go into internal evidence of the scripture to get his curriculum vitae, his resume. We had to go through and piece it all together, but what does James say about himself? This is echoing those two prominent men, Peter and Paul.

He calls himself a slave, doulos. He doesn't invoke his pedigree here. This is a great lesson for us, particularly men. The greatest men in scripture are characterized by their humility. Weak men rattle their sabers and flex.

Weak men do that. It's been my experience. The strongest men in Christ are humble men. They don't have to make extravagant boasts. They don't have to talk about all of their accomplishments. They are content to be slaves of Christ.

James' great qualification to speak to them is not that he presides over councils and is the pastor of apostles. Think about that. It seems to be he's the pastor of Peter and John and people like that.

He says, I'm a slave of Christ. I was bought with a price. I am not my own. That is the testimony of you and of I that we have been bought with a price. We were slaves of sin and now we are slaves of righteousness.

We have the same kind of qualification that James does. That Christ's blood has been spilt and it pays for our redemption. I can understand our lesson better this morning. James has a pretty good pedigree.

I'm the Lord's brother. He doesn't invoke that here. It's very telling. Very telling about who he is. I'm a slave of Christ. In the structure and the grammar of the New King James, it says a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That, maybe for us in English, causes some tension. But if you understand the structure and the grammar, James is saying that he's a servant of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees no lack of divinity in Jesus.

Again, it's astounding when you think he probably shared a room with him. His brother is the king of glory. Mary's son is Mary's Lord. The one she gives birth to, the one she nurses, the one she cares for is her salvation.

So too, James has been confronted with the reality of Christ and his gospel. He has seen his brother, who was crucified and died, risen and ascended. And now Mr. Camel Knees spends the rest of his life as his slave, serving him.

The application for us is we need to divest ourselves of self-interest. We have three elders in the room today. Paul Levine is an elder at St. Peter Presbyterian Church in Virginia. Mark and I serve as elders here at this church.

And we are, as part of our qualifications, commanded to not be self-willed. Our self-interest means nothing because we've got a collar around our necks. We're slaves of Christ. You have to remember that, brothers.

Our self-interest really doesn't matter. Not our will be done, but his will be done. The Savior, Jesus Christ, saved James. His qualification, his great credential that he espouses, his authority that he asserts here is that he's a slave of Christ.

Well, that brings us to the third point, the question of the audience. Well, the immediate context here is striking because the twelve tribes of Israel have most certainly been scattered, so scattered that the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom are indistinguishable from the pagan nations in which they live.

These are the exiles who've never returned. Their DNA has not been preserved. They're part of Assyria, and they're part of Mesopotamia, and all of these places. They're no longer who they once were. So why does James say to the twelve tribes, which are scattered abroad, this is so powerful, I believe also that Peter invokes this in his letters, that James sees the reunification of the twelve tribes of Israel now being accomplished in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are people who don't even know that the promises of God were given to their grandparents, and they're out there in the world, and Christ's gospel is coming to them, and they're being saved, and they're being reintegrated into the kingdom of God.

There's also, as you know, if we were to take some more time to go into Acts, that great persecution arose after the martyrdom of Stephen. It's very likely that James, as the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, had members fleeing because of persecution.

So we have this man of great authority, but also of great pastoral heart, writing a letter, probably to some of his own people who were in his church. It should be noted that Josephus said that James was martyred in Jerusalem in AD 62.

When all of those flights to Pella and all those things are happening, when persecution is driving the church out, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, the pastor of the people in Jerusalem, he can't leave.

He's their shepherd. So he stays and gets martyred for Christ. Incredible imagery that the twelve tribes, scattered to the wind, are receiving the word of God through the pen of the slave of Christ, James.

There's another thing. The last word of verse one says, greetings. I always wondered why we said seasons, greetings, in relation to Christmastime. If you dig into this word and its usage, you realize that it means be glad, rejoice.

So James is saying, I'm the slave of God. I've got a message for you. You should be glad and rejoice. God is speaking to you through me. I'm his instrument. Receive now my letter in the word of the Lord.

The Aim of James: Mature and Complete Faith

Question four, last of the points. What is his aim? Now, I could go through and do a lot of little studies on issues within the five chapters. I want you to look at verse four. I'm going to start with this as my thesis of the book of James.

I'm going to ask you to allow me to amend and change this as we continue to study the book of James. I think this hits pretty closely to the very purpose of the book of James. Look at verse four. It says, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Reading through the book numerous times, having acquaintance with it, studying it, I have a strong sense that James wants his hearers to know, and he wants them to possess, a genuine Christian faith. A genuine Christian faith that grows to full maturity.

I believe that thesis can be supported in what we'll encounter in the days and weeks ahead. In James we'll encounter over 50 verb imperatives. It is a very action-oriented book. It's a book of doing.

Be doers of the word and not hearers. Mark and I believe that it's fitting for us at this time and stage for us to delve deeply into this concept and idea of practical Christian living. We need our theology, sometimes ivory tower and egghead theology, very philosophizing in its character.

We need our theology to progress to a greater, richer orthopraxy and right living. A couple words of application. For each of us, our identity, we make much of our own family names. I look out and I see family resemblances and all those things which are valuable.

At the end of the day, our identity is we are united to Christ. That's our greatest qualification. The greatest testimony of your family would be that you are united to Christ and you live for him. That would be the greatest accomplishment your family could ever achieve.

The message of Christ and his gospel is hopeful, it's triumphant, it goes to places where people seem too far gone and lost, and it redeems them and restores them and reconciles them to God. We must have this confidence and hope when we're preaching Christ to the lost and every creature under heaven.

The Lord, through his servant, tells us to be glad and rejoice. We're going to learn more of the hardship of the hearers, the original audience of the letter, and so this becomes more powerful as we get into the book.

May the Lord prosper our study in the book of James. Please pray with me now. O Lord, we thank you for your servant, your slave. We thank you for his humility, and O Lord, we ask that you would grant us this kind of humility that we might be fit for service.

O Lord, may the aim of James, that his hearers would have a genuine Christian faith and that it would grow to full maturity. O Lord, would you grant that to these, your people here today. May we rapidly be sanctified and grow in Christ's likeness, that we might be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

We know that you are able to accomplish this in the power of your Holy Spirit, for the glory of your righteous name to show the world the victory of your dear Son. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.