Turn to the book of James with
me. The book of James. Every now and then the pastor
asks me to fill in for Sunday school. And I have to, I guess
you'd term it, come up with something to say. Lord willing, I'm going to I'm going to start going through
this book as opportunity presents itself. Let's read verses one and two
for this morning. It says, James, a servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad, greeting. My brethren counted all joy when
you fall into divers temptations. This book, historically speaking, as the canon of scriptures were
being formed over time, This letter of James caused a lot
of controversy. Some others were in dispute along
with James as to whether they should be included in the canon
of the scriptures, which we have in front of us in our Bibles. It was in dispute or in doubt
as to whether this should be included, and in fact, if it
was inspired My history has been such that
I have read some of the old reformers, Martin Luther, Gill, all those
guys, which has caused me some problems in understanding
this book. I'll get more into that. But
this letter of James and some others was in dispute and doubt.
But later on, the letter of James received universal acceptance,
and after a careful examination, it was received by all the Christian
people at the time as a part of the New Testament, and a total
of 66 books in this Bible. That was so until what we termed
the Great Reformation. I don't think I'm alone when
I say that the book of James has been a difficult book for
me for years. It was scary reading to me. I
didn't understand it. And I must confess my thoughts
of it was influenced by those Reformation authors who rejected
it and its place in the canon of
scriptures. I can name others, and you would
know them, who still reject to this day and argue that its inclusion
was a mistake. Over the past four months or
more, I've had the pleasure of reading Pastor Tim James's commentary
on this. His thoughts and expositions
of these chapters are precious, and I can't express how much
it's meant to me, personally, to study the scriptures prompted
by some of the comments that's been made in his expositions,
to study and have my understanding open to this book. It's been
a great blessing to me. It is inspired by the Spirit
of God. I have no qualms about that.
And it is a great gift to our Lord's church, our Lord's people,
us and the church universal. I heard Pastor Don Fortner say
one time that pastors and teachers should study the scriptures and
read respected commentators. And when they find something
that blesses them, more than likely it'll bless others. Bless the hearts of their hearers.
And I do hope that that's the case with what I'm going to try
to do and the Lord would enable me to do, to deliver the inspired
sense of what James is saying in this little letter. Martin
Luther, I don't want to dwell too much on this, but I think
the background's important to tweak your interests and to put
me in my place. Martin Luther thought the book
ought not be included in the Bible because he felt that James
was saying the believer is justified by works. He called it a very
strawy epistle. And what he meant by that, as
I can interpret it, strawy means straw-like. Have you ever seen
a bale of straw? He described it as strawy. Straw runs every which direction
in a bale. And if you kick it on the ground,
it all tangles. In other words, he was saying
it just don't make any sense. He thought that it flatly contradicted
the preaching of Paul in Romans on justification by faith, and
Luther wouldn't accept anything or anybody that contradicted
that saying. The trouble with Luther was that
he misconceived these teachings. And while it's true that the
letter of James was slow in coming to be included in the canon of
scriptures, it gradually worked its way into general acceptance
and there's absolutely no ground for questioning authenticity
or its place in the scriptures. Because the thrust of the Reformation,
the Great Reformation as they call it, was justification by
faith and faith alone, that's what they stress, and I stress,
and the source of several martyrs who died for that stance, salvation
by grace and grace alone, salvation by faith and faith alone. The
church had several martyrs for that cause And for that belief
and any suggestion that a man was justified otherwise was treated
as a curse. In fact, the conspiratorial actions
of some of the reformers, I mean, I'm talking about the Catholic
church and the steps that they took in killing these men for
believing what they believed. In return, the great reformers
of the time, including Martin Luther, conspired some of the
most evil and bloody acts as the Catholic Church did. I guess that you could say extreme
situations often bring about extreme responses, retaliation. But James, here it is, James
is not putting forth the doctrine of justification by works, period. I think the Lord has enabled
me to see past that now. Luther fought to reform the Catholic
Church, of the practicing of selling indulgences for the purpose
of justifying dead people. They're dearly departed and releasing
them from purgatory. And Martin Luther posted his
95 Theses to the Pope's front door and he was sought, they
tried to kill him for years after that. They continued their selling
of indulgences, pieces of the cross, spikes from our Lord's cross. And they even sold what they
claimed to be the foreskin of Simon Peter, who they claimed
was the first Pope. Do you find that offensive in
your thoughts? These reformers fought against
it, fought against it. These indulgences were supposedly,
according to Catholic doctrine, a means of justifying the living
before they died and purchase one and you'll be sure for heaven.
And if you purchase a whole lot of them, that increased your
chances. Salvation's not but chance. Knowing
all this, I think it's easier to understand Luther's response
to the book of James. This book, though, addresses
one thing, one thing, in a whole lot of different ways. I guess
that's what caused Luther to think it was straw. It just went
every which direction. The theme of the book, and listen,
The theme of the book, the best as I can express it, and in the
use of other commentators' words too, is this book's theme is
the proper response of the believer to diverse trials, temptations,
and tribulations that attend faith, or believe in Christ and
his gospel. Who is he writing to? James is
writing to men and women who are born of God, to the people
who are resting in Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the epistle is written to everyone who is washed in the blood of
Christ, robed in his righteousness, and who worship and trust the
Lord Jesus. Who are they? They're the Israel
of God, you see that? Verse 1, 12 tribes. They're the
Israel of God, both Jew and Gentile, Jew and Gentile, the 12 tribes,
the Israel of God. Now for a fact, This was written
to those Jews which had been dispersed through the wars and
persecution that they'd had. But it's title here, if you have
a King James version, it's probably got at the top of the beginning
of the book, the General Epistle of James. That means it applies
to everyone who has faith in Christ. Nowhere in the letter will you
find a hint that a man is justified before God by his works. Giving
an understanding and knowing what the theme of the book is
will help all of us to see that. The principle of faith is prominent
throughout this book. And it's always to be viewed
in light of our response to the truth. And our faith is
a response to truth. I didn't mean to stutter. Faith
is a response to truth. There's no place where justification
or righteousness is set forth as a result of faith in this
book. It addresses the faith that is
given to every believer in the new birth. The fruit that produces works
that have as their design, the honor of God and his son. James
is not writing as a counselor. I think that's probably the way
I've read the book before. He's not writing as a counselor.
He's not writing to unbelievers, and more on that later. And he's
not pretending to be a life coach. That's what they call folks like
that nowadays. You hire them. He speaks in imperatives. He speaks what is required, okay? We'll find that that is imperative
and required in the sense that it is the reaction of faith. It is the works of faith. Born
of God, every child of God has those works in some way and in
some form. The works that James reveals
come in two basic categories. One is face response to the believer
in need. You'll find that all those issues
address. concerns brothers and sisters in need. And secondly,
the other works that he discusses and reveals is faith's response
to the abuse of the world. Those two things are addressed.
Our response to other believers, trials of other believers, or
to the believer in need, The other is faith and response to
the abuse of the world. Although this letter's written
exclusively to believers, we'll find that James sometimes confronts
unbelievers, and he even rails on them, especially the rich. Look at it, let's look at that,
James chapter five. And this will, hopefully will
give you some direction if you want to read ahead and study
or whatever. James 5, verse 1. He clearly addresses unbelievers
here, okay? But the letter is written to
believers. He said, from whence come wars
and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your
lust, they war in your members? You lust and you have not. I'm sorry, I need to flip the page. Go to now, chapter five, verse
one. You rich men, weep and howl for
your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted
and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver is
cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you.
and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You've heaped treasure
together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by
frog cry, and the cries of them which have reaped are entered
into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. You've lived in pleasure
on the earth, and been wanton. You've nourished your hearts
as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed
the just," notice that, and He didn't resist you. He didn't
resist you. Okay, now that being said, we
need to remember this epistle is written to the true church
universal. It's written to every believer
in this world. And it's very unlikely, it's
very unlikely that rich unbelievers, which are spoken of there, rich
unbelievers, don't read this book. And it's doubtful whether
they would even know they're there or ever even see them.
And the question in Tim's expositions He asked this question, why would
James include those harsh words to and about unbelievers if that's
true? It's just, why would he put it
there? And he sees two possible reasons,
and I found this very interesting. One would be to make believers
suspicious of the rich. Was that one of your reactions
here? Yeah, it would be. If you read that, I don't want
nothing to do with rich folks. But that notion doesn't set forth
the teaching of loving one's neighbor, so that can't be right.
As he admonishes in James 2 in verse 8, he said, if you fulfill
the royal law, according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as you love yourself, and your neighbor might be a
rich man. The second reason that he gives
is that these words present the dangers of wealth and are designed
to make the rich, who are among the believers, to guard themselves
against the natural bent that they have in their natures to
put trust and confidence in that which will soon pass away and
be left to your daughter. You know, temporal things are
always changing. If you don't believe me, check
the value of the dollar lately. And because of that, trust and
confidence in those temporal things sometimes, and may, change to greed. if you see it decline, if you
see all your beans are eaten up, all your potatoes are gone, and it causes you to turn to
covetousness, materialism, and just plain old meanness. And
when that takes place, the one that trusts in those riches becomes
exclusive, not inclusive. And the progression
of that will be to oppress the less fortunate, to ignore them
by not caring for them. And the fact that this issue
is addressed in chapter two, and because this book is written
to the brethren, verse two, we can't look at these words and
discount them as meant only for unbelievers. They're meant for
us too. They're primarily for the believer
and meant to give us pause to make sure that the faith that
we have been given results in caring for the whole household
of faith. Why so? Because we desire the
glory of God if we've been given Christ in faith. And when we
pick up our Bible, we should and must always remember to say
to ourselves, this is written to me. This is God's letter to
me. Front to back, all 66 books are
written to me. And they're for my learning,
for my instruction, my help, This is not to somebody else.
That don't pertain to me, that's to somebody else. The thought's been there. It's
not to them or about anybody else. For example, when James
speaks about the tongue, I think most of you will be familiar
enough, he talks about the tongue being powerful instrument, like
much small thing but it steers big ships like a rudder on a
ship about that wide and it'll steer a ship 300 foot long. He's not talking about the gospel
in the church. When he speaks about the tongue, We hear that message and we say,
well, I sure wish my neighbor had been there. That would have
put him in his place. But he's not talking about that.
He's talking about us. He's addressing the reader and the hearer. This
book talks about hearers and doers, and doers and not hearers. more into that later too. But
taking that approach, the book of James will prove a great blessing,
has been to me and to our hearts and inspire a greater dedication
to the gospel that we love. And with all that in mind, let's
look at James' salutation here in verse one. The writer is James, and James,
is the Greek rendering of, I found this, I didn't know this. A lot
of things I don't know. The writer's James and James
is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name Jacob. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. He is of the Israel of God. There
were two apostles that had this name James. James the son of
Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus. The son of Zebedee,
James the son of Zebedee, just for information's sake, James
the son of Zebedee was the fisherman that was called in Matthew chapter
14 when he threw down his nets and followed Christ. But it can't
be him who wrote this book because he was killed by Herod in about
44 years after Christ died. James the son of Alphaeus was the one approximately, wrote
this book in approximately the year of 62 years after the death
of Christ. And the son of Zebedee, James
the son of Zebedee already being dead, that's the only one that
it leaves that possibly could have written it. Paul in Galatians
1.19, and others in different other places, called him the
brother of our Lord. And he's the one who defended
Simon Peter when the Jews were pressing Paul to circumcise Gentile
believers. How does that sound for works? In Acts 15, some historical writers
refer to him as James the Just. Back in verse one, he describes
himself as a servant, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His reference to both father
and son is all inclusive and is said to assure believers that
one can't be served without the other. God's not a father if he doesn't
have a son. and one can't be served without
serving the others. There can be no son without a
father either. Notice that he describes himself as a servant,
a servant. It's an indefinite article. He's just one above many, one
among many. He puts himself on the same footing
as every other servant of God, including me. The word servant means, from
all of our studies in the Old Testament with Pastor David,
he's said and told us many times that this bond slave or servant,
the word servant means bond slave or bond servant. And we've all
learned that from him. is one who has willingly given
himself to lifelong service to the master that he serves. The letters addressed to the
12 tribes, I don't think there's any doubt that this speaks primarily
to the entire Israel of God, the church universal. But it does include the believing
Jews who have been dispersed throughout all that region by
the wars and civil conflict and persecution by their own people.
Believers, the unbelieving Jews wouldn't tolerate these folks.
And the church is said to be scattered abroad. That's the
manner in which God has spread his gospel to the whole world.
He can run them out of their own country into others. And
they went, they were dispersed with the
truth of God's gospel, the gospel of Christ. And Peter addressed
his first letter in a similar manner that James does here. He says to the strangers scattered
throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, and various other
places, James's salutation is one word, greeting. I looked
all that up and did traces of the word greeting throughout
the New Testament. And some of the commentators
that I read thought that this was not much of a salutation.
Greeting, greeting folks. but it's one used throughout
the scriptures. Matthew wrote in his gospel, when after Christ's
resurrection from the grave, and they all left the tomb and
went to tell everybody that he's gone, Christ met them. You know what his first words
to them was? Greetings. Greetings. All hail, that's the
way it's written there. But it's the same Greek word
for greeting. And they came and held him by
his feet and worshiped him. And Luke wrote, when the angel
came to Mary to announce the birth of Christ, the angel came
to her and said, hail, that's the same word, greeting. Greeting's
a Christian greeting that means rejoice. It's interpreted and transcribed,
translated that word, these many words. It's translated rejoice,
be well, be glad, thrive, prosper, and Godspeed. This one word takes
on all those meanings and summarizes the tenor of this whole book. And a proper understanding of
it will bring these things about an ever believer. Rejoice, be
glad, thrive, prosper. Godspeed. Now, if you want to
read ahead, perhaps study this short letter on your own. It's
important to understand what James means by this word temptation. Very important. Temptation can
be substituted with our word trial. This is important to understand. He said, my brethren count, look
at verse two, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into
divers temptations, divers trials. The temptations, the trials,
which he addresses in this book include anything that we in the
flesh would consider adverse. causes us grief, causes us pain,
because they're all tests of our obedience to God in Christ. He instructs the believer, the
follower of Christ, that while they're exercised by these trials,
he says rejoice. That's hard to do. That's hard
to do when you land in a hospital with a heart attack, or your
neck broken, or pneumonia. You don't think much about anything
except your pain and your own misery. He said, count it all
joy. Not only when they fall into
one temptation, but that word divers, that's many, many. It's not just one kind, it's
many. The Lord afflicts us in various
ways, and there's various cures because our ambition, our covetousness,
our envy, our gluttony, our intemperance, and our excessive love of this
world, and the innumerable lust of the old man that dwells within
us, wars in our members, so that we can't do what we want or would,
can't be cured by the same medicine every time. That's the reason
we got many trials. All of those trials are specifically
designed to cause us to trust in Christ. Depend on Him for our eternal
security. I'll leave you with this. Look
at verse two. My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into divers temptations, trials, knowing this, that the
trying, the trial, the testing of your faith, what does it do? It works patience. Is there any
doubt that James is addressing faith in this letter? Nowhere will we find in his writings
that we're justified by works. It's when we are in weakness, when we are strong. That's what he's saying. As with
all of scripture, this letter has to be at its main purpose,
the comfort of God's people. Lord willing, we'll start going
through this verse by verse. Thank you.