Intro to James

But we start with James. How should we now live? If you turn in your Bibles to James 1 verse 1. You will read these words.

James.

James 1.1. It's toward the back. Hebrews James.

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And one of the first questions we have to ask as we start the study of James is James.

In other words, there are a number of James mentioned in the New Testament, at least four different James. There's James, the son of Alphaeus, who was one of the twelve. And he is probably also the James referred to in, that should be Mark 1540. Not Matthew 1540, Mark 1540.

who he's called James the Younger, or in the King James it's James the Less, but it's the indication this James is younger. He's probably called James the Younger to distinguish him from the other James who was one of the twelve, James the son of Zebedee, who was the brother of John, the son of Zebedee. There's a third James, James the father of Judas, not Judas Iscariot. This is the Judas who we also know as Thaddeus.

But most scholars believe it's none of these James who is the author of this book. Instead, it's the fourth James. It is James, the brother, and when I say brother, you just need to think half-brother, of Jesus Christ. The brothers of Jesus are listed in John 13, 55. I think four brothers are listed there.

James heads the list. So many believe that after Jesus, James was the oldest of the brothers in the family. So I want us to take a quick search of this James. I've given you verses in your handout that talk about this James that we're going to just hit very quickly here so we can get a glimpse of who this gentleman was.

John 7 begins by helping us to know that James was at first James the unbeliever. And on your handout I have him called James the unbeliever. John 2.5 tells us that even his own brothers did not believe in him. That is, Jesus' brothers didn't believe in him. And most believe this means all of his brothers.

and James would have been one of those that was an unbeliever. Mark 3, 20-21 talks about how after Jesus had done miracles, and He had called out His twelve disciples, He entered a house and 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. and Jesus early family early in his ministry even his own family thought that his claims to be the Messiah were so exaggerated that they wondered about his sanity and it's in a few verses after this passage I just read out of Mark where somebody asked Jesus where are your mother and your brothers and jesus knowing how his family felt toward him said these referring to the group he was talking to are my mothers and my brothers because at that moment the crowd were those who believed in him so he said my real mother my real brothers are found in this crowd at this point so james we must i think say from the biblical evidence started out an unbeliever even to the point of thinking Jesus was insane in claiming to be the Messiah. But something happens. He becomes the pillar and leader of the early church. We're told in Acts 1.14 that he was present.

After Jesus was ascended, a group of believers went to an upper room in Jerusalem, all joined together, these are the twelve, all joined together in prayer along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. So those brothers, including James, who thought he was crazy, are now in the upper room praying with the disciples and with Mary. Change here. We're told in Galatians 1.18 that the first visit that Paul made to Jerusalem, he went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days, I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. An indication of the importance of James that Paul on his first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion thought that he needed not only to see Peter, but to see James.

Galatians 2.9, Paul refers to James, that's James the Lord's brother, Peter and John as a pillar of the church. So from unbeliever to pillar. Acts 12.17, when Peter was imprisoned, When he got out of prison, what did he say? He said, tell James, who was the leader of the church in Jerusalem at this point. That's why he said, go tell James.

Tell James and the brothers about this, he said, and then he left for another place. So again, another indication of James' prominence in the early church. Acts 15, 13. This is the Jerusalem council, the first major meeting of the church to try to settle the dispute. you have to be circumcised to be saved.

And after everyone else at the meeting had spoken, the last person to stand and speak, indicating he was the person with the final sort of authority, the one that would have the most sway, when they finished, James spoke up, Brothers, listen to me. And he says that it's obvious the Holy Spirit is working among the Gentiles. We don't need to demand circumcision before salvation.

agrees with James and with others who had spoken at that meeting. Acts 21, 18, the last time Paul visited Jerusalem before he was imprisoned and sent to Rome, he went up to see James. Went to Jerusalem, he went to see the head of the church, the leader of the church in Jerusalem. All these indicators of the importance and centrality of James to the early church. Well, what happened?

Why did he go from unbeliever to believer? And many believe, and I think rightly so, where Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, 7, Paul lists all the people who saw the resurrected Christ. And he makes a note. He says, and then Jesus appeared to James. And many believe that it was when James, this great apostle, met his resurrected brother that then he committed his life to Christ and became a pillar of the church.

But I want to talk about the end of James for a moment. There's a great church historian named Eusebius, lived in the 300s AD, who wrote a church history. And he talks about James and the end of James. When you read this, it's interesting to learn about James. The scriptures say James was a servant, a doulos of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That word servant here is one of a couple of words in the New Testament that we use for servant. The diakonos is a servant. A deacon is a servant. But the word doulos has the connotation of being a servant in the sense of a recognition that you have a master. In other words, I can serve someone without necessarily acknowledging that person is my master or that I have another master.

But this word doulos means I'm a servant who has a master. And I have voluntarily entered into ownership by that master. And James says of himself, I am that servant and my master is God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we see that he is that servant. But Eusebius tells us his life was so righteous, he was called James the Righteous or James the Just. And his reputation as a righteous man was enhanced by his prayer life. He was a praying man who Eusebius says he was described as a man who had hard knees like those of a camel. and he had hard knees like those of a camel because Eusebius tells us James constantly went to the sanctuary to pray.

And when he prayed, he got down on his knees. And he was on his knees so often his knees got hard like the knees of a camel. Isn't that a great picture? It's a great image for a leader of the church to be on his knees.

he was elected according to Eusebius by the other apostles to be the overseer or bishop of the church in Jerusalem. That he was the one that was chosen to be the leader of the early church there in Jerusalem. But then lastly, Eusebius tells us that James the Lord's brother was a martyr for Christ. and I want to just read a part of this to you. And I need something to read with.

They had sent Paul off to imprisonment and Eusebius tells that after Paul was taken care of, the Jews had gotten him imprisoned. They now turned their attention to James, the leader of the church, the Christian church in Jerusalem. the Lord's brother. And the scribes and the Pharisees, at a gathering of the people, asked Him to go up and stand in front of the people and make it clear that the people must not go astray as regards Jesus. They said, The whole of the people will accept what you say, so take your stand on the temple parapet so that from the height you may be easily seen and your words audible to the whole people.

And they wanted James, the Lord's brother, the people and say, don't be led astray by Jesus. Don't follow him. They wanted James to essentially say Jesus wasn't the Messiah. He was not the Lord. He was not the one promised of old. And listen to what James did. So the scribes and the Pharisees made James stand out on the sanctuary parapet and shouted to him, righteous one, whose word we are all obliged to accept. The people are going astray after Jesus who was crucified.

So tell us what is meant by the door of Jesus. And they were hoping he would now deny Christ as the door or the way. James replied as loudly as he could. Why do you question me about the Son of Man? I tell you, He is sitting in heaven at the right hand of the great power and He will come on the clouds of heaven.

And as James testified, we're told many were convinced and gloried in his testimony. And the crowd began to shout, Hosanna, the son of David, Hosanna, the son of David. Then the scribes and Pharisees looked at each other. We made a bad mistake in affording such testimony to Jesus. So they went up and they threw down the righteous one from the parapet of the temple.

other let us stone James the righteous and they began to stone him as in spite of his fall he was still alive but he turned and knelt uttering the words I beseech thee Lord God and Father forgive them they do not know what they are doing while they were pelting him with stones one of the descendants of the priestly family called out stop what are you doing the righteous one is praying for you but another one in the crowd a fuller as a person who works with cloth took the club which he used to beat out the clothes and brought it down on the head of the righteous one such was his martyrdom he was buried on the spot by the sanctuary and his headstone is still there by And Eusebius concludes he has proved a true witness to Jews and Gentiles alike that Jesus is the Christ. It is the words of this great leader of the early church that we turn to next week as we ask ourselves how should we now live. Let's pray.

Lord we thank you for your word. for the marvelous examples of those who have gone before us. This day, help us to renew our commitment to you and our passion to serve you more fully and completely. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.