Under Trials Series

James: Practical Faith 

James 1:1-8

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church 

09-08-2024

Dancing in the Rain 

I watched the sky grow darker and felt the wind kick up.  I checked the radar, and sure enough, a thunderstorm was about to let loose. 

Maxine and I spent last Friday and Saturday in Michigan City, Indiana. Because there was a chance of rain, we took the short drive to the Lighthouse Outlet instead of heading to the beach.

Five minutes after we arrived, the sky opened and began raining hard.  In the south, we would call it a "gully washer." 

I got caught walking across the parking lot to another store, and my shirt was soaked.  I grumbled that I should have brought an umbrella or stayed put until the rain let up. 

Grumble.  Grumble.  Grumble. 

And that's when I saw her.  She was about two years old, her hair in pigtails, and the biggest smile on her face. 

What was she doing?  She was dancing in the rain.  She would spin and jump in the puddles with wide-eyed abandon. 

I was proud of her mom. Instead of filming her for a social media post, she was giving her full attention to her daughter, clapping and laughing right along with her. 

Suddenly, I was convicted of my grumbling.  I was mad and soaked to the bone. When faced with the same situation, she laughed and danced in the rain. 

I want to be more like her! 

Welcome to James 

This morning, we will begin our fall book study. We will read the book of James verse-by-verse. 

James is the most practical book in the New Testament.  It's very similar to Proverbs.  In 108 verses, there are 59 commands.  This book is where the rubber meets the road of genuine faith. 

The central theme of James is that genuine faith produces genuine works. 

Remember that good works do not save us.  We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  But once we are born again, our belief will be accompanied by good works. 

Chuck Swindoll breaks down James this way:

James 1 - when genuine faith is stretched, it doesn't break.

James 2 - when genuine faith is pressed, it doesn't fail

James 3-4 genuine faith is expressed with control and humility and not arrogance. 

James 5 - when genuine faith is distressed, it doesn't panic. 

This book was written between AD 45-50, making it the earliest New Testament book. 

Please turn with me to James 1. 

Prayer. 

James the Just

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.

The author identifies himself as James.  Although there are several men named James in the New Testament, most scholars agree that the writer was Jesus's half-brother.

How hard would it be to be Jesus's little brother? 

Mary and Joseph had a large family, and Jesus had multiple siblings. 

When Jesus taught in the synagogue in His hometown, the crowd was indignant and asked:

"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 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." (Mark 6:2b-3) 

His siblings didn't believe He was the Messiah. 

At one point, his family tried to stage an intervention:

"When his family heard about this [calling disciples], they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." (Mark 3:21)

But all this changed when the resurrected Jesus appeared:

For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." (I Cor 15:3-8)

In Acts 1:4, his brothers pray with the disciples in the Upper Room. 

James became the church leader in Jerusalem, functioning as their first pastor. 

He was called James the Just or James the Righteous.  But the nickname that stuck was "Old Camel Knees."  It was said that he spent so much time on his knees in prayer that his knees were calloused like a camel's. 

In AD 62, James was thrown off the top of the Temple because he refused to recant his faith in Christ.  Legend tells us that he didn't die from the fall so they beat him to death.  As they did, he prayed for their forgiveness.