Introduction:
A. Perhaps with the exception of Proverbs, there is no more practical book in all the Bible than the letter of James.
1. As a tribute to the inspiration of God, it remains as practical for the 21st century as it was for the first century when it was written.
2. Do people still have trials and temptations to deal with?
3. Are the obstacles of prejudice and discrimination still present and active in our society and even in our fellowship?
4. Do some people want only to profess faith without actually living it?
5. Is worldliness ever found among the people of God?
6. So long as there are human beings living on this planet, problems such as these will exist.
7. And for that reason the book of James will always be necessary because it addresses all of these hindrances to spiritual maturity and completeness.
B. One of the key statements in the book was one that I had read for us today from chapter one.
1. As I tried to decide what verses to use for our Scripture reading today, I wanted to have us read the entire book, but I knew that would take too long.
2. So, I decided to have us read a key verse or two from each chapter. Kind of as a sampling of what we can look forward to in this new series on the book of James that I am calling “A Faith That Works.”
3. Back to the verse in chapter one: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (1:27)
4. By that statement, James let’s us know that the Christian religion is characterized by compassion (looking after widows and orphans) and purity (avoiding the world’s moral pollution).
5. In other words, Christianity must really make a difference in the way we live.
6. It must be a “Faith That Works.”
7. As we begin this study of James, let’s ask a few basic, yet important questions.
I. Question #1: Who Is the Author of this Letter?
A. The final author of every word in the Bible is the Holy Spirit. Right?
1. The setting forth of the will of God in both the Old and New Testaments was accomplished as “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet.1:21).
2. Therefore, it is our responsibility to receive the Bible “not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).
B. Nevertheless, the fact remains that this inspired, complete, an authoritative revelation of truth was delivered to us through men.
1. These men were somehow supervised and enabled by the Spirit of God so that they could not destroy or spoil the message being given through them.
2. The fact that the Spirit is the ultimate author of Scripture does not mean that the men used for the task of communicating truth were incidental or unimportant.
3. On the contrary, God chose certain individuals and employed them in the writing of Scripture because of their background, disposition and training.
4. And he allowed their own individuality and personality to come through their writings.
5. Paul wrote as Paul, using his unique vocabulary and style, and Peter wrote as Peter in the same way.
6. This makes the process of inspiration all the more amazing.
7. God respected and used the individuality of each man and yet so controlled them that the result of their work would be God’s own production.
C. With all that in mind, we come to the question of who wrote the letter of James.
1. Because the background and personality of the author are a part of the letter that the Holy Spirit produced through him, it is important that we try to identify who authored the book.
2. The author identifies himself in James 1:1 as, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
3. We assume that the original recipients of this letter found this brief introduction as sufficient to recognize the identity of the author.
4. That means he must have been a familiar figure in the early church.
D. Several men with the name James are found in the New Testament.
1. There is James the son of Zebedee (Mk. 1:19), James the son of Alphaeus (Mk. 3:18), James the brother of Jesus (Mk. 6:3), James the younger (Mk. 15:40) and James the father of Jude (Lk 6:16).
2. Of that group, only James, the son of Zebedee, and James, the brother of Jesus, could be described as well-known figures.
3. Our first vote might be for James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John.
a. He was evidently very close to Jesus.
b. He was in the inner three (Peter, James and John), who frequently were with Jesus apart from the other apostles (Mk. 5:37; Mt. 26:37).
c. But we are almost sure that this James did not write this letter, because he died as a martyr around 44 A.D., and the book of James was almost certainly written later than this.
d. Acts 12:1-2 tells us that Herod had previously put James the brother of John to death by the sword. When he saw how much that pleased the Jews, he proceeded to have Peter arrested.
4. With James, the son of Zebedee eliminated, that leaves us with James, the brother of Jesus as the one most likely to be the author of this letter.
E. Although there has been considerable debate as to the authorship, the major weight of church tradition leans toward the author being James the brother of Jesus.
1. Scripture tells us that Jesus had four brothers – James, Joseph, Judas and Simon (actually they are only Jesus’ half-brothers since they have the same mother, but their father is Joseph, and Jesus’ conception was by a miracle).
2. In the two verses that name them, Matt. 13:55 and Mark 6:3, the name of James is listed first, perhaps suggesting that he was the oldest of the four and closest in age to Jesus.
F. If James, the brother of Jesus, is in fact the author, and I believe he is, then his pilgrimage to faith is a fascinating one.
1. From John 7:3-5 we learn that James, along with his other brothers, did not believe in Jesus’ claims about himself.
2. It even appears that James was among those who sought to put an end to Jesus’ public ministry.
3. Mark 3:20-21 reads, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”
4. So, that was James’ early opinion, but it changed.
5. An altogether different picture of James is painted in Acts and in the NT letters.
6. An event must have occurred in his life that thoroughly changed him.
7. That event transformed him from a doubter to a disciple.
8. That event must have been the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus.
G. The Bible tells us in 1 Cor. 15:7 that Jesus appeared to James.
1. This appearance must have dissolved away all his doubts and reservations about Jesus’ claims to be the Messiah, the Son of God.
2. So immediate was his change of heart that he was numbered among the believers in Jerusalem when the book of Acts begins. Acts 1:14 says, “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
H. It is clear that from this point on James advanced to become a leading figure in the church.
1. When Peter was released from prison by an angel and rejoined the brethren at the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, he told them the details of his miraculous deliverance and said, “Tell James and the brothers about this” (Acts 12:17)
2. When the apostles and elders met to discuss the question of Gentile admission to the church, it was James who made the final and definitive statement on this matter (Acts 15:13ff).
3. Paul reported his labors to James upon his return from his 3rd missionary journey (Acts 21:18ff)
4. Paul referred to James as one of the “pillars” of the church at Jerusalem (Gal. 2:9).
I. Non-biblical history informs us that James was know as “the Just” because of his many virtues.
1. Eusebius says that James spent so much time on his knees in prayer that his knees “grew worn and hard, like those of a camel.”
2. Isn’t it amazing the difference a living faith made in the life of James.
3. He had grown up in the same house with Jesus.
4. He had witnessed the sinless life and heard many of Jesus’ teachings.
5. But he had been a an unbeliever and a stumbling block to Jesus until he had witnessed the resurrected Lord.
6. When James identified himself in James 1:1 as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”, that statement is both evidence of his humility and a recognition that his spiritual relationship to Jesus is far more important than his physical one.
7. He could easily have identified himself as “James, the brother of Jesus,” but in many ways that’s besides the point.
II. Question #2: To Whom is the Letter Written?
A. All the NT letters were written to specific people with definite purposes in mind.
1. As we have already said, they are permanently valuable because their authors were guided by the Holy Spirit.
2. Surely James did not think that he was writing 5 chapters of the Bible.
3. James wrote this letter to people for whom he felt a sense of personal responsibility.
4. James exhorted them in very much the same way a father would exhort his children – with both authority and love.
B. So, who were the people to whom this letter was originally written?
1. Verse 1 says, “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”
2. Although some have suggested that this might be addressed to Christians in general – both Jews and Gentiles, it is more likely an address to Jewish Christians who had been forced to flee Jerusalem and for whom James had a great personal concern.
3. The readers likely had been “scattered” because of an intense persecution that broke out against the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1 and 12:1ff).
4. When these Christians had lived in Jerusalem, they no doubt had looked to James as their teacher and counselor and spiritual leader.
5. Now they were separated from him and the pain of heart over this situation was certainly mutual.
C. James knew of the severe trial these saints were undergoing (James 1:2) and he desired to help them by writing a letter that would strengthen their faith, increase their courage, and warn them against spiritual indifference.
1. We can only imagine the enthusiasm with which this letter was received.
2. Perhaps some had only recently been separated from him, while others may not have seen James or had any direct contact with him in 10 years or more.
3. How excited they all must have been to have a word from their beloved brother and teacher.
4. How practical and challenging they would surely have found his counsel to be.
D. We can read James today with equal enthusiasm and interest, because this book is so down-to-earth and sensible.
1. It tells us how to conform our attitudes, our speech and our behavior to the will of God so that we can be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
2. This letters shows us how Christianity is a faith that works.
Conclusion:
A. As we journey together through this book I want you to join me in doing these things:
1. Read the entire letter of James at least once a week. It will only take you only about 20 minutes
2. Join me in praying for God’s help in learning the great truths of this letter.
3. And most importantly, join me in looking for daily opportunity to practice the pure religion described in James.
B. How much do we really love the Word of God, and how much effort are we willing to put forth to know it and live its truths?
1. In his book The Wonders of the Word of God, Robert L. Sumner tells about a man in Kansas City who was severely injured in an explosion.
2. The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands.
3. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible.
4. Then he heard about a lady in England who read braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in braille.
5. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion.
6. One day, as he brought one of the braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them.
7. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue.
8. At the time Robert Sumner published his book (Jan. 1969) the injured man had "read" through the entire Bible four times with his tongue. Wow! Now that’s real effort!
C. Let me conclude with this statement about the Bible by an unknown writer that helps me appreciate its power:
“This Book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s character.
Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end.
It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully.
It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.
Follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ; yes, to glory itself, for eternity.”
D. May God bless us as we study his word and allow it to shape our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Resources: Rubel Shelly, What Christian Living Is All About (20th Century Christian); Sermon Series by John Huffman, Jr., St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, CA; Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Victor Books.
