Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.”