James Introduction

James 1:1James 1:1 Introduction

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(Before the reading of God’s Word) Before we read, I did want to let us know that we will be venturing through the book of James. Today will begin this series as we start with an introduction to the book. However, next week we will take a pause from it and pick right back up on January 19th.

Read James 1:1.

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Part 1 (Intro)

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(Intro) I am excited to begin this series with you all today! I have chosen to go through the book of James because James is a book that is very near and dear to my own heart as I have a personal history with this book. As many of us are aware, I grew up LDS and the LDS religion reports that James 1:6-7 is the text that spurred Joseph Smith to found the religion of the church of Jesus Christ of Saint a.k.a. Mormonism. (Read James 1:6-7)

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LDS use this text as a reason for why you and I can just pray about anything to receive an emotional response a.k.a. “a burning in the bosom” to determine what truth is. (Pick up the Bible) Brothers and sisters this is the word of God and it is true, regardless of how you and I feel about it. The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. We are to act as good Bereans when we open up the word of God and examine its claims.

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I bring this up to remind us that any text taken out of context can be used as a proof text to justify just about any belief.

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(Context) Because today will be an introduction and will context several elements of context, this message will serve as the anchoring context of our entire series throughout of James.

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(Theme) I think before we look here into verse 1, It would probably be helpful to remind ourselves of what the entire theme of James is. The book of James is a book dealing with sanctification. It is a book that gives us wisdom and a means of Ethical guides that all Christians are called to live. Therefore, It is my hope that in coming weeks, this book will convict us, grow us, and humble us before the feet of Jesus. I would as that you would not be superficial Christians attending the services and letting the word of God remain void for you and your life but instead that the word of God would pierce you and grow you in all holiness as we seek to conformed to the image of Christ.

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(Bulletin insert) as you can see in your bulletin. There are three key questions that I hope to answer in today's introduction and that is: who wrote the book of James? Who was the book of James written to? And what was the reason that the book of James was written for?

Part 2 (Authorship)

‌(Read) James 1:1a

So who is the author of James? We might think that this question is easy to answer by proclaiming “Obviously James.” However there is some difficulty with this as there are many figures in the first century named “James.” However, most scholars agree of that the author of this book is “James, the brother of Jesus Christ.” Now I think the history of the individual James is actually one that is compelling for us to understand better today. His testimony actually validates his witness and why he is an important figure to the early church.

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(History) Read John 7:1-5, 1 Corinthians 15:4-7

We don’t have the time to turn and read this account, but James is also referenced in Acts 15 during the council of Jerusalem. Which is significant as James was the leader and Overseer of the church there in Jerusalem. This helps us date the book of James as the council of Jerusalem took place in the years of 48-50 AD. That event would have most likely made it in this letter, but because James does not write anything about this event, the book of James is most likely written around the time of 45–48 AD and is seen as one of the earliest New Testament books to be written.

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This history of James coming to have a salvific relationship with Jesus post the resurrection of Christ validates the witness of James. James didn’t believe in Jesus before his death, but couldn’t reject his brother any longer after seeing that Jesus had conquered death itself. I also think that it demonstrates James’ humility and chief relationship with Christ in the beginning of this book.

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James starts off his letter, not saying “I am James the brother of Jesus,” but instead says “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” James is less concerned about his family ties to Jesus but sees it as more important that you and I know that he is a servant of Jesus. (Joke) No one who is raised as brothers would call themselves servant, a slave, a follower of his older brother. But for James, his chief relationship to his older brother is not that he is related to him through birth, But that James has been born again recognizing Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

(Question/Apply) What can we learn from this today? Our chief relationship as being a Christian is not that we have graduated from bible college, it is not that we have gone on a mission, it is not that we are involved in local outreaches (Which are all great things!) but our chief relational tie to Jesus, is that he saved us from the wages of our sins and we are now his servants.

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(Bulletin answer/Quote) “so for our bulletin answer of who wrote the letter of James the answer is this a sinner who is saved by grace, though he could call Jesus his brother was more concerned that you and I knew that he was a servant of the object of our faith.”

Part 3 (Church/Israel)

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(Read) James 1:1b

the next question must be asked who is this letter written to? I think in order to answer this question we need to remind ourselves of how the entire Bible and church fathers referred to the church.

The church (Ekklesia) simply means is the “called out” and “assembled ones.” The Authors of the New Testament were quick to identify the “called out ones” A.K.A. The Church as the true Israel of God. All one needs to do to understand this scriptural principle is to read Gal 3 which tells us that children according to the promise are those who place faith in the Seed; Jesus Christ. Or go and read Eph. 2 which states that we are no longer alienated from the common wealth of Israel nor are we any longer strangers to the covenant of promise, because through the body of Christ he has broken down the dividing wall making both Jew and Gentile one new man.

Even consider the words of the church father Justin Martyr in his book called “Dialogue with Trypho the Jew.” He says; “For the true spiritual Israel, and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham…are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ”

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The idea that God has two different people is not only counter intuitive for the authors of Scripture, but is actually contradicting the Gospel itself, as Pauls write in Romans 10:12 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all”

(Objection) However, why then does James write “to the twelve tribes in the dispersion”? The immediate objection that comes from those who deny there being only one people of God, would say “This is written to only those who are ethnically Jews And not to the gentile church.” This logic however can not be the case.

(Arguement for why the reference to the 12 tribes is a reference to the church) James in addressing this letter “to the twelve tribe in the Dispersion” can not be referring only to those who are ethnically Jewish only. Why? Because the dispersion of the 12 tribes had already taken place roughly 600 years before James penned this letter. The Dispersion of the 12 tribes took place in the time of the Assyrians and Babylonian exile, where 10 tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel where essentially lost to the nation through captivity, death, and expulsion from the land. These tribes were largely never recovered.

So James could not be writing to the ethnic Jew. Why? Because many of those tribes no longer existed at the authorship of James. This means that James is not writing this letter to Ethnically born Jews, because to write to the 12 tribes of Israel in James’ is was not even possible, but instead he is writing this letter in the continuity of God making both Jew and Gentile his covenant people through being born again and having faith in Jesus.

This doctrinal theme is also seen in 1 Peter 1:1-4 (Read)

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But if you are not yet convinced that the book of James is authored to the church, James further clarifies to whom his is writing to elsewhere in the book. James often in this letter refers to it recipients as “Brothers.” (V.2,Chapter 2 V.1, & V.5) This means that the James, who as a servant of Jesus, is writing letters to those who also share a relational tie to Jesus as their supreme relationship. James is writing to brothers in Christ, not brothers of the nation of Israel.

However, I think this more clearly demonstrated in Chapter 2:1-2 (Read). In this verse, James calls those who he has identified as the 12 tribes of the dispersion as his brothers who are apart of the “assembly.” James is speaking of the local church, not this crazy convoluted concept of the physical lost tribes of Israel that many modern scholars would have you believe.

(Bulletin answers) Therefore to the answer to the second question in your bulletin; to whom is the this letter being written to? Is; James is writing to the churches, the Israel of God, those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. This letter would have been a letter that was circulating the early church to teach the early church how they are to be growing in the Lord of Glory!

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But what is the purpose of this Book?

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Part 4 (Purpose)

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I think it would be helpful to just read a few of the next verses. Let’s read James 1:1-4.

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The purpose of this book goes back to what I insinuated earlier was the theme, which was; “Sanctification.” This book is written as a means for those who have been set apart for the Lord, to order their lives according to the Word of God. I think this is actually highlighted in why James would refer to those who believe in God as being in the dispersion. ‌In the Old Testament, persecuted Israel became known as Exiles. So James is reminding us of a day when Israel was taken out of Jerusalem. James is reiterating how the commission of the church is to take place. Is the great commission of Christ : “Go only unto Israel and make disciples”? NO! The great commission is “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” Meaning that the Christians Church is not to remain located in one place, but it is to operate amongst the entirety of the world.

Conclusion

Grace Bible Church, we are not called to make disciples only in the physical land of Israel, but we are called to be the people of God in a world that rejects Jesus, in a world that will often hold us captive, in a world that hates you and I. We are exiles heralding the Good new of Jesus Christ dying for us and rising again from the grave. We are to be a people who bear witness that Jesus is coming again for his bride and to judge those who have sinned against him. This is why James would tell the 1st century church “Count it all joy my brothers when you encounter various trials.”

“We are called to live a life like the prophet Daniel, who although he was captive to Babylon, exiled from the land of Jerusalem, living under the tyranny of a evil king, and walked amongst a people who persecuted him and his fellow brothers, he still was able to live a life of faithfulness to God.

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We today live in a world that hates the Christian,… We are in the dispersion amongst them. We are in this world, not of this world. We are simply pilgrim passing through, but as pilgrims we are to wage war with our flesh and seek to be faithful to God in our sanctification”

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