Growing Up is Hard to Do
James 1:1
The history books paint Hernando Cortez as a ruthless explorer. He conquered the Aztecs, Mexico and Cuba. On February 10, 1519 he said this; “We are on a crusade. We are marching as Christians into a land of infidels.”
We start today a sermon series through the book of James. We are calling it Practical Christian Living, because, we too, are on a crusade. We are marching as Christians in a land that is not Christian.
You won’t find a more practical book in the Bible then James. James told it like it was. He would not be a popular preacher today. He was an in your face, step on your toes, get right with God preacher. James would say what Peter Marshall said to Christians, “We are too Christian to enjoy sinning, and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we don’t want to do it.”
The book of James is written to believers. It is written to us so you and I can grow up into Spiritual Maturity. I believe growing up is hard to do. It is a decision a Christian and church makes to go on with God. Just as physical growth has growing pains spiritual growth also has growing pains.
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched that butterfly struggle for hours trying to get out of a small opening. Then it seemed to stop making progress. So the man tried to help. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly came out with a swollen body and little tiny wings. What the man didn’t know was the restricting cocoon and the struggle, were God’s way of forcing fluid out of the body and into the wings. Then the butterfly would be able to fly.
This is what Spiritual growth is like. It takes struggles, trials, patience and perseverance to grow in our walk with the Lord. There are many Christians and churches who have decided to stop growing in their relationship because it takes too much effort. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, how strong would our faith be?
That is why the book of James deals with topics like, trials, temptations, humility, pride, taming the tongue, prayer, patience, judging others, wisdom, wealth, and being doers of the Word. Does it sound like topics we all need—Amen! I’m looking forward to all that God wants to teach us—aren’t you!
So today let me give you the three components of the book of James, and how they relate to us today.
I. The Author—“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
James was the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not become a believer until after the resurrection. Matter of fact the Bible says in John 7:5, “neither did his brethren believe in him.” In John 7 they sneered at Jesus. This is probably why Jesus told John to look after His mother Mary because the rest of Jesus’ family rejected Him.
But after the resurrection Jesus appeared to James in 1 Corinthians 15:7. James became a believer and even led the rest of the family to the Lord, because Jesus’ entire family was in the upper room in Acts 1:14.
James then became the pastor of the church at Jerusalem. He met with Paul conferred with Peter and James had a heart for His people. He was a devout Jew who loved His people.
The Bible doesn’t say how James died, but Josephus a 1st century Jewish historian writes that the high priest Ananus, had James stoned to death.
But notice here two truths about the author:
A. His Attitude—“bondservant” James could have defined himself as James the brother of Jesus. That is a pretty good title. But James doesn’t define himself that way. He says I am a slave to Jesus. What matters to James is His relationship to God through Jesus.
A bondservant is a slave that is totally possessed by the master. He is bound by law to the service of his master. The slave existed for no other reason then to serve the master. He has no personal rights and could had no will, or ambition other than to do the will of the master.
Paul, Peter, Jude all called themselves bondservants and Paul told us we are to be bondservants of Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 7:22. He also reminds us in v.23 we are bought with a price. Yes, brothers and sisters, if we are to grow up in faith we must realize that Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow. This is to be our attitude.
B. His Authority—“God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” A slave in plantation days was only as important as the plantation was big. James says he is a slave to God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is claiming his authority to write what God has told him to write.
James was the pastor of the church at Jerusalem during a very rough time. The church was in transition from the old way of doing things to a new way of doing things. Many Christian Jews still wanted to hold on to the Old Testament law.
Now there were people from other religious backgrounds, different ethnic groups, and they were on different levels of spiritual maturity. But James stood his ground and said I can tell you these difficult truths because God has given me the authority to do so.
Listen you and I don’t have to worry either. If what we are doing is following the Master we can live and speak with authority from God. This is powerful Christian living. Knowing that we speak on behalf of the Master should give us encouragement to do the Master’s will.
I. The Author
II. The Audience—“To the twelve tribes.” This letter is written to Christians.
James is writing to all the tribes no matter where they are. It is a comprehensive term that states this book is for every believer. James, as pastor in Jerusalem, and as brother of our Lord had something very important to say. All men need to hear the message.
James also knew what he was called to do. He was called to preach and teach on Spiritual Maturity. He knew he was called to be God’s man as pastor, to preach God’s message. 19 times in this letter James uses the word brethren. He wrote this letter to Christian Jews.
This is something all of us must learn as the audience today. We are all called to do something in serving the Lord. My job is to preach and teach the Word of God to the church. I am to do what Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (NIV)
The call of the pastor is to preach the Word of God to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body is built up. James knew this and God used him and his personality to accomplish His call on James life.
Every Christian is called to do the work of the ministry. Every Christian is a Minister in the body of Christ. We are all called to serve our Lord in some area within the body.
Now I want to give you something today. It’s not in the outline and I don’t have many original thoughts so you need to write this down. How can you know what you are called to do? Our call always is a sacrificial call. It’s giving our lives to serve God by serving others.
I’ve had people say over the years I want to be on that committee. They need my input. Or I want to do that because I need to keep them straight. That’s not a call of God that is a selfish ambition and the Bible clearly warns against that.
A call of God is something each of us has on our lives to serve others. It is a clear call and all will know that we are called to do it because it builds up the body of Christ.
The Whistling Swan travels 3000 miles from South Carolina to the Artic north.
In 1925 a flock got off track. They had tried to land on one of the Lake Erie but found it was frozen over. They landed instead on the Niagara River. Can you guess what happened? They wound up going over the falls. Many of them died.
Jack Minor, an avid bird watcher heard about what happened and he went to the falls to help. He took several of the swans home and nursed them back to health. Repaired broken wings, and cared for the flock. Every year since 1925, the swans land at his bird refuge some 300 miles from Lake Erie.
That’s how God’s call is on our lives. Others are helped the body is mended and God keeps sending people who need His help through us.
I. The Author
II. The Audience
III. The Aim—“scattered abroad.” (Spiritual Maturity) As you read the book of James you discover quickly these Jewish Christians were having problems in their personal lives and in the church family. They were being tested, tempted to sin, catering to the rich, church members were competing for offices, especially teaching positions.
The tongue was a serious problem, even to the point of creating division within the church family. Worldliness was another problem and some were straying away from the Lord and the church. By the way a person always strays away from the Lord before the stray away from the church. But the major problem of the church was the failure to live out what they professed to believe.
Notice James Aim to rectify these problems.
A. Faith in Trials—1:2-20 Trials are going to come. We live in a fallen world and we tend to wander from the Word and we allow the world to creep into our lives. God allows a test and trial to come to help us see how much we need Him and how selfish we really are.
When trials come we must see them as God’s refining process. God knows what He is doing and He knows what we need to make us stronger in our faith in Him.
B. Faith in God’s Word—1:22, 3:1-12, 4:1-6
The Bible says here in James 1:22-24, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” (NKJ)
When the Word is preached, taught and read the Christian must look at where they are in their relationship with the Lord. The preacher holds up the mirror and invites the believer to look into what the Bible says. Are we allowing God’s Word to penetrate our hearts and lives?
It is a question of obedience. James talks about the evil tongue and how we praise God and gossip with the same tongue. It is a question of obedience. James says in chapter 4 that division and strife in the church comes in through our tongues and our pride. James quotes Proverbs 3:34 in James 4:6, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”(NKJ) Peter quoted it also in 1 Peter 5:5.
They did that to remind us that pride is at the root of all sin and strife within the church. Therefore, we must place our faith and trust in the Word of God and live out what we say we believe.
Faith through Works—2:14,18,26, James gives us a review of what real faith is all about. In chapter 2 he reminds us of Abraham. James tells us that real faith is lived out in the works we do for others. We are to show our faith but how we live. The wonderful old hymn asks the question: Do others see Jesus in you?
Faith always leads to action. Faith is lived out so that others see what we really believe. Real faith is obeys the call of God and the leading of God to accomplish God’s will.
Conclusion: Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico on April 21, 1519. To prevent all thought of going back or retreat he had his men burn the ships. That is what this book of the Bible is all about going forward with God. This is the decision every Christian needs to make: Will I grow in my relationship with the Lord?
Are we willing church to go forward and not look back?
Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (NIV) I love this church and I believe there is still more to do. We are not there yet. Matter of fact we are just getting started. There is work to be done. Are we willing to do it?
1) The Author taught us that our attitude must be one of a bond slave. Can we say that today that we have no rights and we exist only to serve the Master?
2) The Audience needed to understand what God had called them to do as they served the Lord by serving others. Can we say we know what our calling is and are we serving others today?
3) The Aim of this wonderful book is that we learn to grow up in faith. Are you the same place spiritually that you were last year? Are you growing up in faith?
Growing Up is Hard to Do. God is taking us to a new land. Let’s take the book of James and let God teach us Practical Christian Living.
PRAY
