A Study of the Book of James
#1 - A Little Man With a Big Message
By Pastor Jim May
This epistle is called "general", because not written to any particular person, as the epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon are; nor to any particular churches, as the epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, &c. but to the believing Jews in general, wherever they were. The author of it is James; and whereas there were two of this name, who were the apostles of Christ; some have thought it was written by one, and some by another: some think it was written by James the son of Zebedee, and brother of John, but most likely it was written by James the Son of Alphaeus.
He is often referred to as "the brother", meaning that he was in the same family but not necessarily a sibling. He was probably a cousin of Jesus. He has often been called James "the Less," or James "the Little," and that was probably because he was of a very short man. But like the title of this message says, he was a little man with a big message.
James is mentioned as being one of the original apostles or disciples several times.
Matthew 10:2-4, "Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him."
Mark 3:14-19, "And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him:"
Luke 6:13-16, "And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; Simon, (whom he also named Peter) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor."
James also had a separate interview with Jesus after his resurrection. Paul gave testimony to James’ personal encounter with the risen Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how 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 of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."
James was also there with the rest of the disciples immediately after Jesus ascended into Heaven. He was with them also in the prayer meeting when the Holy Ghost fell on the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 1:10-14, "And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."
It is accepted by most Bible scholars that James became the Bishop of the church in Jerusalem. When Peter was set free from the prison by the angel, Peter told them to go and tell James what had happened.
As Bishop of the church, James was in a position to take charge of the meeting of all the disciples when the question arose concerning Gentiles being saved and receiving the baptism in the Holy Ghost. When most of the disciples were arguing that Gentiles who were saved also had to be circumcised to be acceptable, it was James who said in Acts 15:19-20, "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood."
James also repeated his decision concerning the Gentiles to the Apostle Paul in Acts 21:18-24.
So let us read the opening of the epistle that this great disciple wrote. It isn’t addressed to anyone in particular, but it is meant to speak to the heart and life of every Child of God that reads it, regardless of where they are, and especially to the Christian Jews of the 12 tribes of Israel.
James 1:1-2, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;"
If anyone could make the claim to be a Servant of God and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ it was James. As we have seen, he was there, hand picked by God. The Bible doesn’t tell us what James’ original occupation was, but wherever Jesus found him, and whatever he was doing, he left everything behind to follow Jesus.
That’s the kind of disciples that Jesus is still looking for today. As the Spirit of the Lord moves among men, He is ever looking for a willing heart, someone who is willing to leave behind everything and follow him. He isn’t looking for a man or a woman with excuses. He isn’t looking for someone who will half-heartedly serve him. Jesus is looking for a few good men or women with courage, commitment, dedication and a willingness to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to fulfill the call of God upon their lives. Could you have been one of those original 12 disciples? Would we have left all and followed him? Will we do so right now?
The point is that each of us is chosen by God. If you are saved today then you, like James, are a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Lord walked by one day and picked you out of the crowd that was in that miry pit of clay. He saw, in you, a willing heart and there is no doubt that each of you love God more than anything in this world.
So when I ask if you could have been one of those 12, the answer is “Yes”. You are a disciple now, and you could have been one then. The requirements and circumstances of your service and walk with the Lord are probably different from those of the original 12, but the commitment and dedication required to serve the Lord are the same.
As I read these first few verses of James’ epistle I was amazed at what he wrote. First of all he is writing to a church that is under heavy persecution. Those Jews who were converted were being driven in every direction to escape the persecution of both their fellow Jews, who would not accept Jesus as the Messiah, and by the Roman Government who was now trying to squash this new sect of Christians before it could grow into a force that would bring on a rebellion.
The 12 tribes of Israel were all represented among those Born Again Christians from each tribe were driven into exile or underground and scattered for survival. Also, many were led by the Holy Ghost into the Gentile nations so that they could be instrumental in spreading the gospel throughout the world. Some of these exiled Jewish Christians were used by God to be the founders, teachers and pastors of churches that were birthed all throughout Macedonia and Asia, some even going into southern Europe.
In the face of this scattering, in the face of great persecution, rejection by most of their own countrymen, hounded by the power of Rome, often with no place to call home, constantly on the move, often hungry, but always blessed and cared for by God, these Christians wandered. But instead of mourning over their circumstances and being overcome by sorrows James says in Chapter 1:2-4, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
“Don’t worry; be happy; be happy in spite of your circumstances; be happy in the face of troubles and trials; count it all joy that you are able to suffer for the Lord and be used in His service! So what if you suffer; Jesus suffered more. So what if you have no place to call home; Jesus had no earthly home either. So what if you are persecuted; they persecuted Christ and crucified him. Remember, your JOY is rooted in the fact that you are a Born Again, Spirit filled Child of God, and you have an eternal reward waiting for you in Heaven! No matter what man may do, he can’t touch that!
That doesn’t sound like the message that most of the church is hearing today does it? All people are taught today is that; “if you have enough faith, you can be rich beyond your wildest dreams” and “God is just waiting on you to believe so that He can fill your bank accounts, provide you with a wonderful lifestyle and make you a spiritual giant with a checkbook to match your faith. If you are lacking in anything that you want, it just means that you don’t have enough faith. If you are sick, you must have done something wrong to deserve it. If you are not living the lifestyle of the rich and famous then you can’t be truly saved.” That’s the message of those who preach faith doctrines today and it in no way lines up with what James is saying here.
James says to, “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” Does that mean that we are to be joyful over temptations to sin? Should we be ecstatic about the temptation to drink, to smoke, to gamble, to commit adultery or any other sin? NO – that’s not what James is saying. Those kinds of temptations are never a source for joy. They only bring grief and sorrow to your heart and tend to weigh you down when they come to your mind, and will destroy your very soul if you act on them. How can that be counted as joy?
What are the “divers temptations” that James is talking about? Those “temptations” are the afflictions, persecutions, and trials of your faith for the sake of the Gospel. These kinds of “temptations” are not there to tempt you to do evil but to spur you onward into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ.
A little bit later James says in Chapter 1:13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:" We will discuss this more later, but let us realize that the temptations that James is talking about here are not temptations to sin but temptations to grow in grace.
By the will of God, every Child of God is brought to a place where his faith will be tested. We must all go through the fire to be purified and sanctified in our daily walk with the Lord. There are no exceptions. The good news is that they help us to grow spiritually and secondly, that God will limit those temptations conditional upon our ability to overcome them.
Paul wrote these words to the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
God “tempted” Abraham when he said to go and sacrifice your son Isaac, but God made a way of escape and provided His own sacrifice; a goat caught in the bushes nearby. God tried Abraham’s faith, his fear (reverence of God), his love for God and his willingness to be absolutely obedient. Abraham passed the test because God made a way for him to be victorious.
God is no respecter of persons and if He tried Abraham’s faith, and the faith of the Christians of the early church, then He must also try our faith as well. God tries our faith, not because he doesn’t already know how we will do in the test, but he does so because he wants our faith to be made manifest to the world.
Psalms 34:17-19 says, "The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all." So God never allows you to enter into a time of testing without already having a way made for you to over come them. He knows ahead of time that you can, and will win, but He wants everyone around you to know of your faithfulness so that your life may be a witness of his provision, power and glory through you.
Wherever these Jewish Christians went they faced troubles. The Gentile nations that they went to witness to often turned against them, beat them, cast them into prison and sometimes killed them. But in the end, they won and the message of the gospel went on to win many of their persecutors to the Lord.
That’s the joy that James is talking about. There’s joy in knows that you serve a Living God, who is able to make all things right. There’s joy in knowing that your life has counted for something eternal, no matter what you have had to face. There’s joy in knowing that Heaven is waiting for you and that you are a Child of God. There’s joy in realizing that Jesus knows your name and that you have a new name written down in Glory.
James then says that we should know, “that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”
Patience is something we all need, and something we are all a little nervous about asking God for. Every time we think about patience we are reminded of this verse. We want and need more patience, but we don’t want the trials that bring it on.
When trials come they accomplish two things in our life. First, those trials will point out the mettle of our faith in God. That’s when we really find out if we trust God or not. When the trial is passed and we look back so see how we have overcome and remained true to God, then we know that our faith is genuine; it is precious and it is like gold tried in the fire. Secondly, those trials produce patience in us. With each trial we grow a little stronger, a little more patient in suffering and little more able to bear the burden that God wants us to bear in serving Him. Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit and with each trial we over come, our fruit gets a little more plentiful and we are better prepared for trials and life that is yet to come.
That’s why James says that we should, “ let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
What does he mean when he says, “wanting nothing”? Does that mean that God will give us everything we want in life? Is that a permission slip to treat God like a Santa Claus, ready to give you anything and everything that you desire? Of course that isn’t what it means at all.
God had promised to supply all of our needs but never all of our wants because a lot of the things we want aren’t what we need at all and are not good for our lives.
The wants that James is talking about are those things that we want, desire and need as we serve the Lord. We want to be holy. We want to be sanctified in Christ in our daily walk with Him. We want to have God’s best in our lives. We want to be used in God’s Kingdom. And most of all, we want to be as much like Christ as we possibly can so that we may give God glory through our lives.
When patience has been made perfect through trials, and has accomplished its perfect work in us, it will help us to be faithful to the end. Patience in your service to the Lord will bring you to the place where you are ready to enter Heaven’s gates and stand before God as a faithful servant.
On that day you will hear God say as He does in Matthew 25:21, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
On that day you will perfect in holiness, righteous in the sight of God, entire, needing nothing else and wanting nothing else. You will have it all and everything will be complete.
On that resurrection morning you will rise, both body and soul, and you will want no good thing. You will be free from all sorrow, completely fulfilled in all things. You will be made perfect through the Blood of Jesus Christ.
James’ focus in this epistle is not on this earthly life, but on eternal life. We will never reach perfection in this life, but patience in serving the Lord, learned through the trials of life will help us to grow stronger in the faith, staying faithful to the end, and then we will be made perfect forever.
So let patience have her perfect work in your life. If it means that more trials must come, then bring them on Lord for I want to be made perfect in the end. Heaven will surely be worth it all.
