This is the word of the Lord. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 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. Amen.

The Lord bless to us this short reading from his word. It is my plan over the coming weeks, as the Lord enables, to spend our time together considering what I consider to be a precious and distinctive epistle, the epistle of James. Today, as I've said, we will look at the first few verses and we will ask the Lord to bless us with some insights and encouragements from the words of the apostle.

But before that, I would like to share a few remarks on the book as a whole to remind us that it is our privilege and purpose always to be seeking the Lord Jesus in the scriptures. And we may see, especially in the writings of the very apostles who were personally taught by the Lord Jesus and personally commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We believe they did this and we make no apology for cherishing the words that these men have left to the church. We consider it to be the very gospel of God, the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, as they were appointed to preach.

And we say, therefore, as we come to these passages that we expect to be presented with our savior. We expect to see him clearly set forth in James's teaching. We should look to be confronted with the words of eternal life and taught such things as are conducive to our growth in grace and knowledge of Christ and his doctrine. We should expect to be challenged, for we will be called to examine ourselves. our lives, our values, our priorities in the light of God's word. We might expect also to be equipped to face the trials and difficulties of our times and the threats to our spiritual peace and our settled faith that we must face. what James here calls our divers temptations.

And we trust that we will be enabled to honour and worship and serve the Lord Jesus Christ better. in our church relationships, in our families, and in our communities by the things that we read and hear from the pens and from the lips of these servants of the Lord.

We remarked yesterday in the little note that the Epistle of James is an intensely practical book. It deals with everyday matters of our faith, and it addresses experiences in a believer's life. And it does so by being honest with us. James reminds us of our blessings in the Lord and also of our responsibilities to show forth the Lord in the way that we live. He doesn't ignore our faults and our failures in Christ's service.

The book of James is a letter full of admonitions. Epistle just means letter. We call these gospels books, we call them epistles, we call them letters. It's a little letter. But James is full of admonitions. Full of imperatives, if you like. Directions and instructions. And yet he never leaves us thinking that the strength to perform what is required of us is in ourselves. Enabling grace is always drawn down from above and derived from Christ.

James is speaking to believers. He speaks to believers about the fruit of our Christian testimony and the effect of our spiritual new life in Christ. He is speaking to men and women who possess real, lively faith. and yet who must, generation after generation, come to terms with the personal trials and temptations of this life and our natural weaknesses. He builds a framework for our Christian practices on a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. Anyone who endeavors to adopt James's teaching as a lifestyle without its divine spiritual root cannot please God.

James isn't a book of suggestions for godly living. It's a statement of how Christ's people live in this world when they live in Christ.

Now, the author of the book or the epistle of James is James. So no surprise there. But there are two Jameses in the New Testament and both were disciples and both were apostles. So which one is the writer? There is James, who was one of the principal disciples. And we often hear of him numbered with Peter and John. So we often hear about Peter, James, and John. These were three disciples that were given some prominence by the Lord. And often it was they who were taken into special confidences of the Lord. for example, onto the Mount of Transfiguration or into the home of Jairus when his daughter was healed. And Peter and James and John were given special insights into the way in which the Lord acted.

And there is James the Less. So-called, perhaps, because he was a small man in stature. He wasn't very tall. And so they gave him a nickname. Well, you're Little James. That's a possibility. He's called James the Less. James and John, the two that were brothers, were the sons of Zebedee. James the less was the son of Alphaeus, and he was a close relative, a cousin it seems, of the Lord Jesus. James the son of Zebedee was killed early in the book of Acts by Herod Agrippa. He also tried to kill Peter, but he was himself slain by the angel of the Lord. James the Less went on to become a central figure in the church at Jerusalem And it is this James, James the Less, the son of Alphaeus, who we think wrote this letter. With no information about how this James died, but he appears to have lived a good number of years and maintained authority and influence over a long period of time at Jerusalem.

So, note this in your mind. When we speak about the epistle of James, we're not talking about the James of Peter, James, and John. We're speaking about another James, James the Less, who was a cousin to the Lord Jesus.

We read together in verse one, that the epistle is addressed to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. Now, if we read that at face value, we might think that this is a Jewish audience. But in fact, it is better to understand this as spiritual Israel, because that is a title that is suitable for all the elect, all the chosen people of God.

Now, Israel in the Old Testament were known as the chosen people of God, but Israel in the New Testament is a picture of the true church of God and all of God's elect, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. And as I often say on occasions like this, it is important to note who is being addressed. The Scriptures apply primarily to the church of Jesus Christ and too many errors have crept into the professing church because proper attention has not been given to identifying to whom the words of Scripture are being addressed.

If the Holy Spirit tells us that a particular passage is addressed to believers, we have no right to apply that passage to unbelievers. Doing so leaves unbelievers with the false idea that the rights and privileges of the church are the possession of all men and women. when clearly that is not intended. You cannot find the love of God outside of Christ. You cannot enjoy eternal life except you are born again from above.

And here we reason that the 12 tribes can mean no other than the church though they are scattered throughout the world. God's chosen covenant people, Christ's people, are in all nations. Christ is actually called the desire of all nations. That is, the desire of his people in all the nations. And what is certain is that James is addressing believers. He is addressing men and women of faith.

15 times in these five chapters, James calls his readers brethren. They are brothers. and sisters, brethren in the Lord. They are part of the family of God. They are the family of God by adoption into the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our elder brother. God is our father. This is the picture of the family of God. And it is these to whom James is writing. Remember that. Remember that as we're going through this book together.

As James is speaking, instructing, admonishing, and reassuring, he is referring to men and women of faith. He does not at any time imply the conduct of the hearer will lead them to faith. He always assumes that their actions will flow from their faith as its fruit.

James sends his greeting. to his audience as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I like that. It's a strong endorsement of the divinity of the Lord Jesus. How is that? Well, the Old Testament clearly positions the Lord God in a unique and exclusive position for worship and service. We see that throughout the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. It clearly positions the Lord God in a unique and exclusive position for worship and service.

Choose you this day whom you will serve. The Lord Jesus, quoting Deuteronomy, said, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. That James links the name of God and the Lord Jesus Christ together, declaring himself servant to both God and Christ, recognizes Jesus as God. and the Messiah as God. God with us in the minds of his readers. Christ is James's Lord and God.

And James also describes himself as a servant. I like that too. James is an apostle. He is leader of the church in Jerusalem. but he is a servant of God. Though an apostle, he's no desire to demand attention or esteem beyond his delegated role as an ambassador on a mission from his master. And yet he speaks with authority. He is a servant, but he speaks with authority. When he addresses the spiritual and practical challenges that we all face, he commands our attention as one who sat at Jesus' feet and learned personally from the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a servant like God, and he brings God's message to God's people.

But he's also a servant of God, like we are servants of God. Like you are a servant of God, and I am a servant of God, if we are Christ's people. We are called, all of us, to serve the Lord, and the body of Christ, in the church of Christ. And that, too, is what James is acknowledging here. the body of Christ. We are connected to Christ. We are joined to him. We are united with him. And we are servants as well as his people, called to serve.

James's greeting is quite different from the other epistle writers. He doesn't mention grace. or mercy or peace as the others do. He has a single word greeting and it is greeting. His single greeting is a comprehensive expression. He is building into that word a variety of senses. The expression contains the idea, he is invoking the idea of calmness and joy and blessing. It's as if he is wishing his audience the calmness, joy and blessing which he is about to speak about.

In a crazy world, it is sometimes difficult to be calm and joyful. But as James is about to show, our joy is in the Lord. Our experience of contentment, our patience, our peace is enabled, is warranted through trusting in Christ's promises.

And I want to mention something else here, just to have stated this at the beginning, as it were, of our studies in James. Some people have tried to dispute the value of James' epistle by highlighting what they portray as contradictions between the statements of James and other New Testament writers, especially Paul. However, God willing, we shall see in the coming weeks that there is no inconsistency in the scripture when the meaning and purpose of the writers is accounted for.

On the contrary, All who are made humble under the word of God find James's writing to be complementary to the rest of the New Testament. Notwithstanding, it occupies a unique place and contributes distinctive lessons. This is to our benefit. This is not a problem. This is to our benefit.

There's a beautiful variety given to the church in the word of God. All the writers of scripture are inspired by the same Holy Spirit. All set forth the same truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet the writers do so with different gifts and talents and sometimes in different ways.

And I think that there's a lesson there for us all as well. We all serve the same Lord. We've established that. But we all have different skills. to contribute. We all have different gifts and talents given to us. Yours and mine differ. One is not better or greater or more important than another. And what is bestowed is given to be employed to the glory of our God.

It is our privilege to serve Christ's cause where he places us with the gifts that he has given us as the apostles did. Peter was not Paul, Paul was not James, James was not John. These men brought their own gifts but they brought the same message and they taught the same Lord. and we all as part of one body, Christ as our head, as the Lord enables, we each contribute to the well-being of one another and the glory of our God.

Now, if James hasn't intrigued us, if he hasn't stirred our curiosity sufficiently already with his opening greeting, He surely does so in verse two. He says, brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.

Now this is, we must admit, a curious statement. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. How can we count hardship, a joy. How do we derive pleasure from diverse temptations, from strange and unusual troubles?

Well, because we learn to interpret these trials as exercises and lessons from the Lord. When our doctor gives us exercises to do, we understand those exercises as useful to restore our health. When a trainer stretches our muscles, we hope it will make us stronger. When a teacher makes us practice problems, those past papers that we used to have to go through. When the teacher makes us practice problems, we know that the intention is to develop our expertise and strengthen our confidence for the tests that are to come. Likewise, in spiritual matters, diverse temptations are the exercises, are the stretches, are the trials and the troubles and the problems that strengthen and educate and enable our relationship with the Lord and our service for the Lord. James speaks about the trying of your faith. The Lord's Apostle is addressing his spiritual brethren who have faith. We've established that, I trust. Faith that is possessed is faith that will be tried. Faith that is tried, faith that is tested, faith that is attacked. And James calls this temptation.

Now, we need to understand that sometimes in scriptures, the same word can be used with different meanings. That's obvious. We know that that's the same in our own English language. A word can have different meanings. And so temptation has different meanings. He is not talking here about temptation to sin. He's going to come to that later. Rather, these temptations are the afflictions of nature that we suffer, perhaps afflictions of our body, afflictions of our mind. persecutions that we endure for the sake of Christ, or for the sake of the gospel, or for the testimony that we bear in this world, perhaps the way that we are spoken to, perhaps the way that we are treated by family members. Perhaps the fact that when we try to live before men, upholding the values of scripture and testifying to the things that we have learned, we find ourselves ostracized and alienated, overlooked and passed by.

Every true believer suffers such temptation. Consequently, Spiritual trials and practical suffering ought to be regarded as a mark of genuine spiritual life and gratefully acknowledged as such. Let me just make a little point here. Very often, true believers are troubled because they feel that their faith is weak, that they are constantly doubting, that they are constantly under attack, that they are troubled. And they think to themselves, if I was a true believer, I would have more peace. If I was a true believer, I would have more contentment.

Well, Paul teaches us, whom the Lord loves, he chasteneth. That's the book of Hebrews. Let's assume it's Paul. But whom the Lord loves, he chasteneth. And these trials of our faith, these temptations, are the exercises, are the strengthening exercises that allow us to work on spiritual traits, spiritual characteristics in order to serve the Lord better, to make us stronger. And I do not wish to diminish the hard in hardship. But as believers who trust the Almighty, and the all-wise and loving God, we ought to reflect on all our challenges and interpret them in spiritual ways. Be it for confession and correction of sin in our lives, or the development of gifts and graces in our life. They're given for a purpose. They are sent to try us, to test us, to develop us, to mature us, to enhance our witness and our testimony. They are humbling. They are abasing. They are frustrating. but they are instructive and beneficial and conducive to our leaning more wholly and familiarly upon Christ. And anything that brings us closer to the Lord Jesus is a cause for joy and a reason for thanksgiving.

Even chastening is a spiritual grace. The trying of your faith worketh patience, says James. Trials of our faith teach us to be patient. Now patience or long suffering is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. And trial stirs up that gift of the Spirit and it develops it and deepens it. It enhances and matures it. No true believer can lose his or her faith. It is the faith of Christ. It is Christ's faith in us. And it cannot be given and then withdrawn. It cannot be given and taken away. If we are Christ's, we are His forever. But that faith that He has given us, His faith in us, He will stir up and He will test and try. Trials of our faith lead to spiritual growth and greater knowledge of the Lord. And that must be a good thing.

James knew that his readers would be experiencing trials because all the Lord's people do. If you're one of the Lord's, you do. I do. We might go so far as to say it is a mark of God's grace and goodness in our lives. He is good to us by sending us troubles. Now we'll only learn that as we go through those troubles.

Those of you who are younger amongst us today might wonder what we're talking about. Those who are older have probably got some insight. In this respect, we are a very blessed congregation with all the trials of our members that we speak about so frequently, so regularly, that we pray about, that we seek relief for. We also acknowledge in that seeking that we must bow to the Lord's wisdom in sending and continuing our troubles as he does and as he will.

Our natural, our sensual response to trials is to wish them stopped and gone. But we should not overlook that spiritually they have a positive purpose. And the apostle is directing us to look beyond our immediate sense because the grace of patience leads to perfection. The perfection of patience might mean peace and contentment in whatever state we find ourselves. Now Paul spoke a little bit about that. He said, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. So that patience leading to perfection may be a reference to us coming to an element of contentment despite the troubles that we are enduring. And that is a beautiful grace to behold in a tried and tested saint.

Alternatively, James might be alluding here, he might be referring to the glory that lies ahead, the perfection that lies ahead for us in heaven. That is also a great encouragement for a believer to exercise patience until the Lord releases us into the eternal joy of what he has in store, of his presence, of the glory that awaits. Either way, these are rich seams for believers to mine.

But I want to finish today by noting the final phrase in verse four, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. And first, let me acknowledge that believers never feel themselves to be perfect and entire. We are always conscious of our imperfections in body, soul, and spirit. What we lack in our aspirations to serve our Lord better. Nevertheless, by faith, we take our Lord at his word. When the Apostle Paul tells us we are complete in Christ,

So where does that bring us? Where does that sense bring us? We constantly feel our own inadequacy in our flesh, in our nature, in our mind, in our dedication. And yet by faith, we believe that we are complete in Christ. It shows us that though by every measurement we are in ourselves far short of perfection and wanting much We are at the very same time perfect and entire in Christ by faith and with his blood to cleanse from sin and with his righteousness to cover our nakedness and his promises to comfort us in our journey, we do, in short, want nothing more than Christ. Christ himself is all we need. No matter what else, this world, this life, our all-wise God might lay upon our shoulders. If we have Christ, we have everything.

It says, Paul, my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So let us leave these few verses today with this lovely thought in mind. In Christ, we have all. In Christ, we want nothing. In this life, we shall know sadness and loss. In this life, we shall know isolation and loneliness. We'll feel cold, we'll feel hunger, we'll feel pain. We're not immune to illness and disease. But while all these trials are real, we also have a peace that passeth understanding. We also have hope that endures, a joy set before us, a crown of life that remains. we have Christ and his righteousness. He is our all in all. And soon, we shall, with all the saints, be perfect in holiness and in happiness, entire, whole, and complete in body and soul. We shall be free from every sorrow. We shall lack no good thing. and we shall eternally be at rest in heaven with Christ.

May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.