James

Transcript

As my brother Phil astutely pointed out, we're going to be studying Paul today.

No, James. The epistle of James will be in. We'll do a little introduction into the epistle, and then we'll take a look at some of the things that James had to address in his time. Some of the stuff was the influence of Greek thinking, or worldly thinking, which of course affects us. But today, we're going to take a look at enduring trials. The trials in James's time, they were under heavy persecution from both their fellow Jew and from wherever they fled to. Of course, anti-Semitism was always present. So James is encouraging them to endure trials. And of course, we know life brings trials. We've all got trials to deal with. So that's what we'll take a look at this morning. If anyone's got anything they'd like to interject with as we go along, just shout it out.

So James, he's the half-brother of Jesus. This is in Mark here. This is when Jesus is out. He's in the synagogues, and he's teaching. And the Jews are amazed at his incredible wisdom. But then they're like, ah, he's just this carpenter, right? He's the son of Mary. And he's the brother of James, Judas, and so forth. And they're just like, this can't be this special guy that is speaking such great, powerful words. We know this guy. And then Paul, he says, then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days. And I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. So some have thought that maybe James was written by someone else other than the half-brother of Jesus. But it is written by, most believe that it is written by James, the half-brother of Jesus. Here we have a nice little picture of James and Paul greeting each other with a slow dance. You didn't see this too often. But it's a good custom, I think they must have had. We have an AB meeting tomorrow, a business meeting. Maybe we'll bring up this. This is how we should embrace one another. So again, I mentioned the persecution. This is his audience. These Christians have scattered out throughout the Roman Empire. And in Acts it says, while those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews. So this is his audience. This is what he's trying to encourage them in a time where they're being persecuted. Of course, God uses this to spread the gospel message. And then when Jesus says, where I go, you can't follow. So they're wondering, where is he going to go? Where won't we find him? He's going to go to the dispersed among the Gentiles.

So that's where the message is going. And that's who he's trying to encourage to endure these trials. Now, Jesus' family didn't believe in him as the Messiah. John says, even his brothers didn't believe in him as the Messiah. Even though they're hearing these great words that he's speaking, they didn't quite get the full picture. And Jesus here in Mark, Jesus has been out teaching. He's been out healing people. And there's been quite a crowd that has gathered. Jesus then retreats into a house. And he's with his apostles. He's selected his 12 apostles. They move into this house. And I think he wants to have this intimate time with them. But the house is surrounded by people who want to hear more. They want to see some miracles and healings. And also the Pharisees are out to kill him. And his family hears about this. And they're outside. And they want to get him. And they think, we've got to get him out of here. He's a little too enthusiastic. Hey, he's getting a little carried away. Don't mind what he's saying. He's out of his mind. They're trying to remove him. They don't quite get that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, yet. And then this is one of those Messianic passages. I've become a stranger unto my brethren. Jesus came to the Jews to serve the Jews. And they rejected him. Even his disciples eventually flee out of fear from him. And then this last passage, this really speaks about the loneliness, I think, of Christ. I'm an alien unto my mother's children. The world can be a cruel place. But the home should be a place of comfort. And Jesus, he didn't even have that amongst his siblings. And it says that his mother's children. I think there's an intimacy there that's being portrayed. We think of the patriarchs who had multiple wives and many siblings. But who were the close ones? Well, the ones you would have drawn closer to would have been from the same mother, like a Joseph and a Benjamin had a close relationship because they were from the same mother. So this intimacy in Jesus just speaks of his loneliness. So they don't believe in him as the Messiah. But a big change is about to take place. And that's the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians, it says here, then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, convinced by the resurrection. And of course, why wouldn't he be? Look at the astonishment on his face. He's in awe. What? I just saw you. You died. No one survived the crucifixion. It was brutal. Our brother Joel gave a very nice prayer last week. Said something along the lines of, Jesus, sorry you had to go through this because it was torture. But we're glad you did. Is that close, Joel? Yeah, it was very nice. And yeah, we're glad that he did. But it was a torture. No one survived. So this is the look of astonishment. You get how?

And then it must have clicked. He is the Son of God. And all those sayings and things that Jesus said would have come back to him. And he's moved by this. And we'll see what an effect that the resurrection has on James. And the rest of his family, they're told to, the Peter and John and the apostles, they're all told to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. And it says, and these all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. So they're all moved by this as, of course, they should be. It's an incredible event. The resurrection from the dead. And it reminds me of the raising of Lazarus. I think we'll turn and we'll read a few passages from John 11. So Lazarus, he's died. And the word gets to Jesus. And Jesus decides he's gonna wait to glorify God. And people have come to mourn with the family, some of the unbelieving Jews. So it says, I'll pick it up in verse 36. It says, then the Jews said, see how he loved him. It says, Jesus wept. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor. For he has been there four days.

Then Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank thee for you have heard me. I knew that you would always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. Then he said this. Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, the unbelieving Jews, had seen what Jesus did and put their faith in him. Of course, right? He just raised someone from the dead, right? So some of them are like, obviously he was sent from God. He is the son of God. Of course, others, they still didn't believe and they ran and they told the Pharisees who plotted to kill him. So, you know, the power of the resurrection in a few weeks, you know, we've got Easter coming up where, you know, Christianity is supposed to, that's supposed to commemorate the resurrection. But unfortunately, you know, it's been diluted because of false beliefs, right? The immortal soul dies and goes up to heaven. There's no power to the resurrection. Who cares about the resurrection if I'm in heaven, right? That's the problem with false doctrine, right? For us, the resurrection, Paul says, you know, if there is no resurrection, we're just wasting our time, right? There is a power to the resurrection, I'm afraid, that has been diluted. It's turned into a Easter is a children's holiday now, isn't it, unfortunately? But, you know, this is how we're gonna look, right? That look of astonishment. You know, I wake up, I should wake up every morning, but sometimes, you know, sometimes I do, sometimes I say, I wonder if today my angel will appear to me and tell me today's the day. Of course, the first thing he's gonna say is what? Fear not, right? Because when he shows up, no matter how prepared you are in your mind, we're gonna look like this, right, astonished. And it's time to go. And we're probably gonna, we're not gonna be able to say anything. Probably gonna have to grab our hands like they took a lot up. Come on, let's go, it's time to go. Or if I'm asleep and we're raised, it'll be the same thing, right? What? Yeah, come on, it's time to go. You've been raised from the dead. Power of the resurrection. And Jesus, he's looking forward to the resurrection. He gets to raise his mother. He gets to raise his brother James up. This is a great event that he is looking forward to. This is what he says in John six. And this is the Father's will who hath sent me that all that he hath given me, I shall lose nothing. We have been given to Jesus. The sacrifice of Jesus was not gonna be in vain. It was not gonna, oh, sorry, no one believed, we'll have to try something else. Wasn't gonna happen. And Jesus knows who has been given to him by the Father. He says, I won't lose you, I know where you are. And I will raise you up again the last day. No man can come to me except the Father who sent me, right? He keeps repeating, he sent me because it's the only way I would be able to have the power to raise you because he's given me that power. And he has, unless the Father has drawn him in, right? He can't come to me unless the Father draws you. Or that word can mean dragged. Some of us, myself, dragged, right? My angel's gonna say, what took you so long, right? Really, I had a lot of work with you. Why did you, I'm a slow learner, what can I say? But some were drawn, right? By the grace of God were drawn by the Father to Jesus. And then you've got the promise. Jesus guarantees it. I will raise him up at the last day. It's a guarantee. Is there anybody, is there any man more trustworthy than Jesus? Of course not, and he guarantees it.

He who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood. Well, who is that? Well, that's gonna be us. That's why we're here today. When we partake of the memorial, we are taking in the life of Jesus, right? That's what we're promised to do when we put on that saving name and we take of that bread and that wine. We're taking in his life to live a sacrificial life, to follow his example. And what does he say? Well, the person that does that, they have eternal life, right, that's past tense, right? That is a guarantee. You have already got it. We all here possess eternal life if we just keep going, keep enduring to the end, no matter the trials, we endure. And he says again, the guarantee, I will raise him up. That's the power of the resurrection, right? Revelation, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore. And he has the keys to Hades, end of death, right? Jesus says, don't fear the man that can put you in the grave. Fear the one who can leave you there. That's him. He opens up the gate, he's got the keys. He can take you out or he can leave you right where you are. That's the power that this man has. That's the power of the resurrection. And it's motivating. It was motivating for these guys. It was motivating for all that Jesus saw

after his resurrection, right? They suffered some pretty gruesome deaths, some tough persecutions. When trials come into your life,

people often either draw closer to God or they move away further. So this really built up their faith, as we'll see, certainly with James. So James, he opens up, first verse, James, a servant of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

This is how James sees himself. There's nothing about, ah, he's my older brother. He's my half-brother, Jesus. That relationship, that sibling relationship has been superseded by the master-servant relationship. James, that's how he sees himself, I'm a servant. That's the more important relationship that he has with Jesus. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus

who you have crucified, both Lord and Christ, right? That same Jesus that you thought, oh, I know, he's a brother of James, his father's a carpenter, I know, he lives over there, I went to school with his brothers and sisters, this. No, that same one, that one, he was no ordinary man. He was the Messiah, he was the anointed one, and you kill them, right? And they're like, oh, right? I think it says there, they pierced their heart, and they, what can we do? What could you possibly do? You were there screaming, crucify him! And it's all Peter says, repent and be baptized. He was just no ordinary man, and by this point, James knows this. Jesus says, it is the spirit that giveth life, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you, this spirit, they are life. Jesus spoke, when he spoke, he spoke about spiritual things, heavenly things, things to attain to eternal life. It wasn't just fleshly things that, there's no prophet in them, right? That's what you can be concerned with. I'm concerned with the spiritual things that give life, eternal life. I'll tell a quick story. So my college roommate, he's been talking to him about four or five times a week for the last three years. He's got a son that has bipolar, and he doesn't know how to deal with it,

and nor does his wife. And so he's been into some mental hospitals, a couple of them, and you know, quoting to my friend, it didn't work, so they've just kind of ignored it. And so the son's been self-medicating, and my friend gets very frustrated, and I've been telling him for quite some time he's gonna get help, he's gonna get help. So finally I convince him to call up his son's doctor and tell him the situation about the mental health, and he's gotta get put into McLean's. And so he finally does it, and he's got a lot of other family things going on, so there's a lot of stress in his life. And he's walking, and I'm walking, and we're talking on the phone, going for our walks as we normally do, and he goes, oh man, I tell you, my chest. I'm getting this, what a pressure on my chest. And I kind of jokingly say, oh, are you having a heart attack? And he goes, well no, no, because I'm too young to have a heart attack, you know, I'm in good shape, and I don't have any numbness down my arm, or anything like that.

And I said, well, you know, you're not too young, you're 57, you know, it's not out of bounds for someone to have a health condition. And I said, you know, it could be stress, you know, you've been under certainly a lot of stress in your family, that's for sure. And he said, yeah, so long story short, about an hour, I convince him to go to the hospital. I go, just go to the ER. He didn't wanna go because there was a lot going on. He had hockey the next day, he plays in this old man league, and he's gonna go skiing on the weekend, and he had a lot of work to do. And so he goes, I just wanna put it off. And so I say, you know, I convince him, just go to the ER, tell him you're having chest pains, you cut the line, I don't wanna spend all day at the ER. I go, nah, you tell him you got chest pains, you go, they take you right in. So he goes there, he gets an EK, and he's texting me while he's in there. He goes, EKG came back, no problem, waiting for the blood test. And I said, oh, okay, that's good, maybe it was just stress, but at least you know. Oh, no, blood test, no good. I'm in a critical condition. They're rushing me into the Lahey Clinic. There's a surgeon waiting for me. Right, and I'm like, whoa, you know, so the next day he calls me up, four stints, 100% blockage, 100% blockage, 95% block, 93. Now he's 165 pounds, exercises all the time, eats pretty well, so he never thought that this was gonna happen to him. And he's like, I can't believe it, you know, wow. He goes, you know, you saved my life convincing me. And I said, yeah, but I could have very easily convinced you, don't be a baby. I would wait till Monday if I were you. That's what men do, right? I go, you're gonna miss skiing. This might be your last time to go skiing, I would wait. But he said one thing, he said, he goes, it kinda feels like I'm having a heartburn, but I never have heartburn. I remember a coworker of mine who had a heart, I said, what did it feel like? And he had mentioned, it felt like I was having a heartburn. And if I didn't have that in my mind, I might have just told him, ah, just blow it off. And so he goes and he gets all that done. He meets with his cardiologist who he knows about a week later, and he tells him, boy, did you dodge a bullet. And he's like, yeah, he goes, I'll tell ya, I almost didn't come. He goes, a friend of mine convinced me to come. He goes, I had other things I wanted to do. I had hockey the next day, I wanted to go skiing on the weekend, and he goes, what do you think? He goes, would I have died? He goes, you wouldn't have made it. He goes, I'm not sure if you waited much longer in the day. You would have made it. So my friend's like, can you believe it? I almost died. And I said to him, wow, I know. He goes, I was in the ambulance, butch, and I'm looking at the guy, the empty, and I can see the concern on his face. And I'm going, I can't believe, I'm not ready to die. I can't believe I'm gonna die. And I said, so what does that make you think about your mortality? He goes, well, the doctor said, you know, it could happen again. And I said, no, no, no, what about beyond that? Bigger picture. I don't know. I go, no, like, what happens to you next? What happens to you when you die? I don't know, I didn't think of that. I go, how did you not think about that? It's just common sense. You're gonna die. Don't you think what's gonna happen? What about God? Did any of that come? Maybe I shouldn't have wasted my time. Maybe I should have paid attention. He goes, no, that's your thing. You're religious. I'm not, I didn't think of any of that. Didn't even dawn on me. I go, how's that possible? And he goes, you know what I was thinking about? I was thinking my taxes weren't done. I go, are you kidding me? Your taxes weren't done? The spiritual things meant nothing to him. Blind to him, deaf to the spiritual things, right? That's what Jesus says. I speak to spiritual things. We want those spiritual things. We go for them, we grasp them. We understand the importance. But I'm afraid to many, like my friend, they're meaningless. They're just foolish words. Just like I was speaking a different language to him. And that could be me, right? That could be you. By the grace of God, he has dragged me here. But I could very easily be that man who those words mean nothing. James is a leader in the Ecclesia. James, Peter, John, those reputed to be pillars in the community gave me and Barnabas, this is Paul, the right hand of fellowship, right? That's a leadership role. James, I don't know what path James was on prior to the resurrection, but when he sees the resurrected Christ, it makes a big difference. It's a big impact on his life. He's a leader in the early Ecclesia. When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day, Paul and the rest of us went to see James and all the elders were present. James was one of the elders, leaders in the Ecclesia. The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about all the wonders God had done among the Gentiles. When they finished, James spoke up. Brothers, listen to me, Simon has described to us how God has first shown his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. James, he's a leader, big impact. He has now dedicated his life. James has written about 40, 50 A.D. or so. He dies about 62 A.D., he's a martyr. Of course, it's not in the scriptures. It's his death, but according to Josephus,

James is summoned by the Sanhedrin. You're gonna come before us and you're gonna denounce Jesus as the Messiah. He shows up, he obeys the command to show up, but of course, he doesn't denounce Jesus. He says he is the Christ. He is the Anointed One. He is the Son of God. He is the future judge of all the world. And he is promptly stoned and clubbed to death. Now, he has to know, showing up there and saying what he's gonna say, that he's gonna be killed. Just as Jesus knew he was going to die by crucifixion, James going there, no, I say this, I'm gonna die. But he didn't care, because his half-brother, the Messiah, has the keys to the gate and the resurrection. And he will pull him out of that grave. He doesn't fear the one who can put him in the grave. He fears the one who can leave him there. So that's the impact of the resurrection, knowing that Jesus has guaranteed it. And it speaks of that impact that the resurrection has. He's not fearful. And then what's he gonna say? Because he's writing to people about suffering persecution. Is he gonna go and not go? Is he gonna run and hide? And he's saying, no, we gotta endure these persecutions, these trials in our lives. So he just goes in quite confidently, says what he has to say, and this is how we endure it. We have the hope of the resurrection, just like we do, brothers and sisters. We don't have much to fear. We get the hope of the resurrection. Hopefully, we don't suffer persecution today in North America, maybe one day we will. I don't know how I would respond. But with a faith, with a strong faith, we might respond like this as well. James says, my brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials.

That's a strange saying, right? Trials and joy really don't kinda go together. He says, knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that he may be perfect and tire-locking nothing. So these trials, we fall into them. These are the things that come into our lives unexpectedly. Some things, you know, you don't take care of yourself health-wise, you're gonna have some health problems, right? That's just gonna be what it is. But sometimes things come upon us completely unexpectedly, out of our control, and these things can happen. In the various trials, well, of course, there are problems and pressures of life. There are many, and there are varied, right? We all go through something. We all have something, right? Jesus, what does Jesus say? You know, don't worry about tomorrow, right? It's gonna have its own problems. You're always gonna have some problems. So there are wide, there are many, there are varied, the struggles that we go through. And then Peter, let's read from 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter one.

We'll pick it, we'll pick it up right in the beginning. 1 Peter chapter one, verse one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Glacier, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Remember, right, we've been given to Jesus. We've been called, we've been chosen through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for the obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood. Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, right? That's what we have. And into an inheritance, right? That's what we are, right? We have inherited those promises that can never perish, spoil or fade, they're kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. It's guaranteed. In this, you greatly rejoice, right? We rejoice in those promises. Though now, for a little while, you may have to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed, right? So, yeah, we're gonna go through some trials. I mean, life is difficult, you're gonna have those. And there's also the testing of the faith, right? Sometimes these trials are brought into our lives to prove our faith, to strengthen our faith. And this is Paul. He's out preaching and they don't like what he has to say, so they stone him. They think they've killed him, but then he pops right up and he goes on to say, they preached the good news in the city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Coney, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples, encouraging them to remain true in the faith. And Paul says, I'm gonna go to the church We must go through hardships to enter the kingdom of God. No one skates into the kingdom. No one escapes the suffering of the flesh, right? There's always a price to pay and no one escapes it. He says, knowing this in verse three, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, right? The testing of your faith. Now, I don't always, I don't think of trials that I've gone through. I don't really, I'm like, oh, is my faith being tested? But it is, right? And it worketh patience, toil, intense effort, right? It doesn't come easy. And what's the result? A cheerful endurance, right? We endure to the end. The hope is for endurance to the end, a cheerful endurance.

Paul writes in Romans, not only so, but with glory and tribulation, really? Knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Patience, experience and experience, hope, right? This endurance, we stand our ground. It builds up our faith. So no matter what comes our way, we can stand our ground. We survive, we persevere. And what do we have? We have this hope, right? We have the kingdom, no matter what, good times, bad times, we look up, and what do we see? We see the kingdom. No matter what struggle I'm going through, that's my end result. I see the kingdom. Those who don't know spiritual things, my friend looks up, he doesn't see anything. He's blind, so he looks back down. It's a temporary thing. It's the only thing of concern to those that don't understand the spiritual thing. But we've been blessed because we get the vision of the kingdom, and it helps us to get through tough times. God is working and work within us, molding our character, preparing us for the age to come. We work now, there's work to be done and necessary now, but also a preparation for the work of the kingdom age.

He then says, James goes on in chapter five, take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy who endure. You heard of the patience of Job, right? And Job's suffering, and you saw in the end, the Lord was very pitiful and tender mercy, right? Though we know the struggles that Job went through, right? I mean, devastating things. Most would have walked away, and yet he endured in his faith. And you know, for us, we can just flip a few pages and say, ah, it all worked out in the end for Job. His life was greater at the end. God bless him, right? The view of the kingdom is what we get there, a little kingdom age snapshot. But when you're going through the trial, sometimes you can't see, sometimes you can't see what that end is, because you're so consumed. That's what we don't wanna do, is be overwhelmed by the trial that we go through, that we lose our faith. I'm gonna close early. I think I'm just gonna do one more slide. Because we have a business meeting, I think we're gonna discuss timing and whatnot. So I'm gonna give us plenty of time to stretch our legs, meet with one another. So Job, it was a man in the land of us whose name was Job, the man was perfect, complete, upright, right? It speaks of moral character. One that feared God and shunned evil. He believed him, and he obeyed. This is what we would like to have written about us, isn't it? And yet this man suffered trials. So we should expect trials in our lives. And what helped Job when these trials came along? He had a lifetime of faithful practice, good spiritual habits already in place when times were good. So when the tough times came, he already had these in place. And we are steadfast in the apostle's doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer. Really simple things. If we keep at these things, right? Brother Rich spoke last week about prayer. There's no excuse. We have no excuse not to have a strong prayer life. It's easy to do. Set aside five, 10 minutes, a couple of times a day for prayer, it's easy. We meet together, right? That's what we're gonna do later. We're breaking the bread. Remember the memorial. You think Jesus is happy when you look into this ecclesiast and says, oh, look at the remnant. They're still meeting to remember me. They remember the sacrifice. They know what it was. They believe in me. They believe that I'm the one. I am the resurrection. It pleases him. We share in fellowship together. We do our readings. Okay, I think I'm gonna stop. Good enough? Okay.