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Text: James 1:1
Theme: James is an example to all men everywhere that Jesus Christ changes lives.
James walked with God — in fact James lived with God for most of his early life.
The “James” under consideration for this installment of They Walked With God, is James, the brother of the Lord Jesus.
In the early Church he became known as James the Just.
According to Luke 3:23, we know that Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry.
We know from Matthew 13:55-56 that Jesus had at least six siblings; Yaakov, Yosi, Shimon, and Yehudah.
We know them by the English translations: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas.
The text also lists at least two unnamed sisters.
We also know that children came close together in Jewish marriages which means, as the next sibling in line, James would have been around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old when Jesus began his ministry.
James would have, most likely, been married with several children of his own by then.
The rest of Jesus’ sibling would all likely be in their mid-teens to mid-twenties, also married, and also with children.
This would have been a large extended family.
In a first-century Jewish home, children could expect to grow up in close proximity to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
They would have been expected to honor their parents, and maintain harmonious relationships with their siblings.
Family was at the center of Jewish community life.
But in Joseph and Mary’s home, not everything is harmonious.
We catch a faint glimpse of Jesus’ home experience in Mark’s Gospel.
Jesus is a year into his three-year ministry when he returns to Nazareth.
He is the hometown boy who has made a name for himself.
Everyone in Israel is talking about Jesus of Nazareth.
His stories are fetching, his teachings are with authority, and his miracles are, well ... awe-inspiring.
Accordingly, upon his return to Nazareth, he is invited to read the Scriptures in Synogogue, and comment on them come the Sabbath.
It is here we pick up the story ... “When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?”
they asked.
“What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!
3 Isn’t this the carpenter?
Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?
Aren’t his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.””
(Mark 6:2–4, NIV84).
I’ve always wondered — when Jesus got to his closing remarks, did he make eye contact with each of his brothers?
Did he look at Uncle Mordecai and Aunt Elizabeth?
There is no indication that James — nor any of his siblings — followed Jesus during his ministry.
But after the resurrection, James becomes a leading figure in the Church, and dies a martyr of the Church.
What happened?
That’s our story for this morning as we look at a man who went from skeptic to saint.
I. JAMES BEGAN WERE ALL MEN BEGIN
1. he was lost and undone and doomed to an eternity in hell without God
a. the Bible tells us that all men everywhere are sinners
“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;” (Romans 3:10, NIV)
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, NIV)
b. not only are we sinners, but we are sinners by choice
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
(Isaiah 53:6, NIV)
1) we are not sinners by accident
A. JAMES WAS A GOOD MAN WHO WAS WITHOUT THE SAVIOR
1. James grew up in a devoutly religious home
a. there is every indication that his family regularly attended the synagogue of their choice
1) if they had it, he probably attended VTS – Vacation Torah School
b. James learned the Jewish Scriptures and all the required prayers at the feet of a spiritually dedicated and loving father
c. we can also assume that James made the yearly trip to Jerusalem with his family to celebrate the Jewish Passover
2. the spot that besmirches this exemplary life is his rejection of the Son of God ... who happens to be his brother
3. his life is a picture of the spiritual condition of many in our very own community today
a. men and women who are good, decent, God-fearing people, who may even regularly attend church, but who are depending upon their own personal character and their own personal goodness to gain them eternal favor with God
b. they have based their salvation on an outward code of behavior and religious rites rather than on a personal faith relationship with the Risen Savior
c. some of you say, “How do you know all this pastor?”
1) because for 18 years I was one of those folks!
4. the case of James is all the more tragic when you consider who he was
a. who was he?
b. as far as the residents of Nazareth are concerned, James was the earthly brother of our Lord, Jesus Christ
1) in Matthew’s Gospel we have the story of Christ speaking at His home synagogue
2) the people — most of whom have watched Jesus grow up — are astonished at what He says
“Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed.
“Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.
55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?
Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?
56 Aren’t all his sisters with us?
Where then did this man get all these things?”
57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”
(Matthew 13:54-58,NIV)
3) now, did you catch v. 55? – the people asked isn’t this the carpenter’s son ... are aren’t his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas ... with us?
4) so we know from the Scriptures that Jesus had four step-brothers and at least two step sisters
a) Mary is mother of all seven children, but Jesus is conceived of the Holy Spirit while the other siblings are conceived from the union of Joseph and Mary
5) these are not “cousins” as the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church maintain
a) all three go to great lengths to keep Mary a perpetual virgin — including denying the obvious truth of these verses in Matthew
b) plus, I’ve never heard a convincing rebuttal to Matthew 1:24-25
“When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him.
He married her 25 but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son.
And he named Him Jesus.”
(Matthew 1:24–25, HCSB)
c) the obvious implication is that Joseph did know Mary intimately after the birth of Jesus
c. anyway ... can you imagine growing up in a home where your big brother is Jesus?
1) talk about a birth-order crisis!
a) can’t you just hear a 12-year-old James in exasperation telling his older brother, “Oh yeah, and who do you think you are: Mt. ‘Perfect’?
2) poor James, when something around the house gets broken, he can never, ever say, “I wasn’t me, it was Jesus”
d. in so many ways, Jesus is a “normal boy”
1) in Luke’s Gospel we are told
“When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.”
(Luke 2:39–40, NIV84)
2) like all children Jesus grows up, his body strengthens, but he is also filled with wisdom and the grace of God rests on him
ILLUS.
The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
The book also tells us that he was tempted in all the ways that all humans are, and yet he did not sin.
He never had a bad attitude.
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