Introduction to James: A Call To True Faith

Will Butterfield

James: True Faith • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Good Morning!

I am excited because today we are starting a new series on the book of James.

I’ve kind of bounced around the last few months between James, John, and 1 John.

This week as I prayed about where God wanted us to go next, he confirmed James.

James is often described as “the most practical book in the bible” and in a lot of ways that is true.

However, taking that simple view separates some of the original meaning and intent.

In a moment we are going to dive into the details behind this book and you will see what I mean.

But, before we get to that, let’s watch the Bible Project’s introduction to James, and then we will spend the rest of our time framing our study of the book of James.

Bible Project: James

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this study!

Before we frame the study, I want to share some testimony with you.

I had lunch with two different church leaders this week and they asked lots of questions about our church.

One of those leaders knows Gathering Place churches, the other doesn’t.

Both asked similar questions about how or why our members are so active in ministry.

As they asked questions about how our little church is able to accomplish so much, I shared with them that it is because of you guys.

In most churches, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.

I’m sure y’all have heard that statistic before.

This is most certainly not the case here.

I would guess that the participation of our members in the ministries of our church is over 95% and I get to take no credit for that.

You guys are faithful in your obedience to God and to one another.

This is why we are able to impact so many lives and accomplish so much with so little.

I am proud to be your pastor and I love to get the opportunities to share what God is doing through all of you.

We have all come so far in our understanding of who God is and what it means to be the church.

I’m sharing all that in the beginning because as we dive into this study, I don’t want you to even consider that I am in any way displeased with who we are.

I was reminiscing this week about when we started the first Gathering Place and how Kevin Williams, Lorie Lopez, and I would see each other at the office every Wednesday and share all that God was doing in our lives and in our church.

We would regularly ask if this was just a honeymoon stage or if this was real.

None of us had experienced anything like it before.

I can happily report to you today that it was not a honeymoon period, because it has only gotten better since then.

I would guess that most of us have had experiences in our church past that were difficult or heartbreaking.

We are going to see as we jump into this study that this is exactly what James was responding to.

Jesus’ death revealed to the world the sickness that was found in the “faithful” of His day.

James writes to all Messianic believers to help them understand what True Faith looks like.

This is not a to-do list or an improved version of what was before.

Jesus’ death and Resurrection completely changed how we are able to interact with God.

James is calling the church to live out their faith just like they saw Jesus abide in the father.

We see Paul talk about this same idea of moving beyond dead religion and into a living relationship with God in Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 CSB

2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

As we discussed every week in our Love Like That series, none of us are “there” yet.

As sweet as our spiritual lives have become, there is even more than we can experience as we abide and obey.

As we talk about what True Faith is, we are going to have more opportunities to learn and grow into the men and women that God has called us to be.

I’m excited to see what God is going to do in my life and in your lives as we continue to pursue Him and are made into his likeness!

Let’s get a few facts and information covered that help us understand the writing, its message, and significance, and then we will jump right into verse one.

Date

The date that this book is written informs us of the significance of the writing, but it also explains some things that James doesn’t say.

Because James is writing to Messianic Hebrews and there is no mention of Gentiles, we know that this writing happened before the Jerusalem council in 49 A.D.

We know this because James was the head of the Jerusalem council and what they discussed was revolutionary in terms of what God was doing beyond the Hebrews.

We see all through the book of Acts that James is leading the church in Jerusalem.

To give the passage we are about to read some context, the council of elders and apostles have gathered to discuss whether Gentiles can become believers and whether they should be circumcised.

We are picking up where Paul and Barnabas are sharing testimony of what God is doing among the Gentiles.

Pay close attention to the role that James plays in this council.

Acts 15:12–19 CSB

12 The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they stopped speaking, James responded, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name. 15 And the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written: 16 After these things I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again, 17 so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord— even all the Gentiles who are called by my name— declares the Lord who makes these things 18 known from long ago. 19 Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,

James gives the final word on this matter.

This matters because as we study this book we need to understand that these are not just words of advice from a nice guy.

This is teaching, from the person that God appointed to oversee the early church, on what it means and looks like to be a follower of Jesus.

As the video mentioned, James’ words are a mix of Jesus’ teachings and the Proverbs.

This is the first New Testament book that was written and was the foundation of the church's teaching and is believed to have been written between 44 and 49 A.D.

All of the apostles, including Paul, were under Jame’s leadership and authority.

Their writings and teaching were no doubt influenced by James.

James not only is the first to write, but he was one of the twelve.

He heard all of Jesus’ oral teaching and he was the first to record that teaching and interwove them with what they already knew of God.

Remember how we have talked about “our redemptive history”?

James helped the church understand God’s work both before and after Jesus.

James bridged the gap of understanding so that the Messianic Hebrews could see the significance of who and what Jesus had done.

Salutation

James begins his writing in the same style that we see many other authors.

In most cases, there is a tendency to just skip right over the opening line and not consider what it may mean.

We want to get to the “meat” of it.

However, there is some important information here that we need to see.

James is identifying who he is, his basis of authority for the writing, and to who this writing is directed.

James 1:1 CSB

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.

Let’s break down some words and phrases in this opening statement.

Who and What?

There are differing views between denominations in the Christian church of who James was.

Some believe he was Jesus’ cousin.

The problem with this is that the word for brother and cousin aren’t the same.

Others believe that he was his half-brother which implies that Joseph had children from a previous marriage and their mother died and he then married Mary, the mother of Jesus.

There is no mention of this in scripture or from historians like Clement or Tertullian

In fact, Tertullian, who was alive during the end of the second century and into the third describes this man and author, James, as the uterine brother of Jesus which means that they came from the same womb.

We also see Paul referring to James as Jesus’ brother.

Galatians 1:19 CSB

19 But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

This is the same James that we spoke of in Acts 12.

And we see Luke refer to him in Acts 21:18

Acts 21:18 CSB

18 The following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

We can also see Jude, another of Jesus’ brothers, introduce himself in a similar fashion.

Jude 1 CSB

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James: To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

One of the commentaries that I have been reading said this about the fact that he doesn’t say that he is the brother of Jesus.

NT365 Book Study: Letter of James (James and Jude)

“James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”—some have said, “Well, this can’t be James, the brother of the Lord. Certainly he would have mentioned that.” It’s interesting that Jude was also one of the brothers of the Lord, and [in] his salutation in Jude 1, neither does he mention that he was a brother of the Lord, though he does mention that he was a brother of James (Jude 1). It’s very interesting that these two brothers of the Lord did not capitalize on that relationship to Jesus to, you might say, lord it over others in the early church. They simply, together, saw themselves as slaves of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

James was the brother of Jesus.

What does it mean when James and Jude call themselves slaves to Jesus?

Obviously, in our culture and many others, slavery is an incredibly negative thing.

It is with words like this that we must go back and look at the context of the word and what the author might have been alluding to.

The word here that is translated as a servant in some translations and slave in others is Doulos.

Is James using the word doulos—which just clearly means slave, not just servant—in its Graeco-Roman background, or is he using it against the Jewish background? William Varner, NT365 Book Study: Letter of James, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

The Graeco-Roman meaning of slave is one that has no rights or life, and while that does have some application to what James is saying, the Jewish understanding makes even more sense.

NT365 Book Study: Letter of James (Following LXX Usage of Doulos)

The word doulos in the Greek Septuagint—that translation of the OT—translates the Hebrew word 'eved, which means “slave” or “servant.” But it’s used not just in an abject sense of slavery, it’s actually used in a noble way. That may come as a surprise to people. Moses is referred to as the “slave of the Lord,” the “servant of the Lord.” David is referred to as the “servant of the Lord.”

In his opening statement James, the brother of Jesus is saying that by the grace of God and the work of Jesus, he has been adopted into God’s family as a spiritual leader.

He is likening himself to the prophets of old who were sent by God to teach the people.

Which leads us to our final question, who was James sent to teach?

The Dispersed

James 1:1 CSB

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings.

Diaspora is the Greek word here that literally means to scatter seed.

James is referring to the twelve tribes of Israel that were scattered during the Babylonian and Persian captivity.

Both times when the people were exiled from their country, they were scattered across the region.

After the captivities ended, many came back home to Isreal, but many did not.

We see evidence of this in Act 2, when it talks about how all these people heard the gospel in their native tongue.

Acts 2:5–12 CSB

5 Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. 6 When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” 12 They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

James’ goal in writing this letter was to remind all of his people, the Jewish people, that they have been brought back together by what Jesus has done.

He wants them to see that while they were scattered, they were not lost.

The message of Jesus the Christ is for all of them.

Jesus was the Messiah, the savior, that the prophets of old were talking about.

James, a “slave” of God, like a prophet of old, was proclaiming God’s work among the people.

And he finishes this opening statement with “greetings”, which literally means rejoice!

James is about to help all of his people to understand what Jesus was about and taught before his death.

His goal is to show his people what True Faith looks like.

All that the Hebrews had experienced for generations was dead religion.

God had not spoken to them until John the Baptist began preaching to prepare the way for Jesus.

Jesus had come and revealed to the world the nature of the relationship that God wants to have with all people.

Jesus had come to redeem his people just like God said He would so long ago.

Finally, the one that could crush the serpent's head had done just that.

This is why James opens his work by telling all people to rejoice!

For us at TGP West, our goal as we study this book is for us to gain a greater understanding of what it looks like for each of us to live in true faith.

How do we do that and how do we recognize the fruit of faith that comes as we abide in Jesus?

This book is not about works, it is about the results of an abiding relationship.

We aren’t looking to be better people but to be better abiders and as we abide, Jesus makes us more like himself.

Just like Jesus told James and the other disciples in the upper room if we abide in Him, He will produce much fruit through us.

This is what James is describing in his letter.

As we read these words, what we are seeing is the results of abiding, not a list of things to accomplish on our own.

Next week we will dive into chapter one and I can’t wait!

Let’s pray.

Announcements:

Happy Mother’s Day!

Prayer for the Pregnancy center - to celebrate Mother’s Day this year and to honor all mothers, I want us to take some time this morning to pray for the Cenla Pregnancy Center’s patients and staff.

Motherhood is a complicated thing and thankfully we have an organization that is dedicated to helping new moms.

Let’s all move toward the center isle and hold hands as we pray.

The CPC provides testing and education on all aspects of motherhood.

Mom’s - experience joy in pregnancy, they would be surrounded by people that can help and encourage them, against fear, physical health, and mental health.

Staff - God would speak through them words of wisdom, kindness, love, and kindness.

Amen

Josh and Lana Carver are coming on May 22nd to share what God has been doing in their lives.