James - A Letter

Introduction

Dear John,

I have found someone else...

No, my name is not John, and Mari and I are doing great - coming up on our 25th in less than a month - but have you ever received a Dear John or Dear Jane letter?

If you have, then for sure you still remember how it feels. Letters are like that. For better or worse, the letter writer has a purpose and a context. No one sits down and takes the time to write a letter for no reason. Dear John letters may hurt, but their purpose is to allow both to move on to something better.

The letters, or if you want to use a religious word - epistles - are some of the best kept secrets in the Bible. Why? Because they are real.

It’s one thing to read a story or a history. It’s easier to detach from the situation - especially the Bible in this day and age. So you don’t believe in miracles. Awesome. How easy is it to say that you just don’t believe in the Bible. You hear it all. the. time.

The letters don’t allow you to do that. They are written by people that have suffered for the sake of Christ. They reflect the reality of the authors. And they are all different - Paul basically went through the Harvard of his day. Extremely well educated. His letters explain in glorious detail the faith - especially to people from other religions. His letter to the Romans is extremely dense, with every chapter building on the previous one. John was an apostle in Jesus’ inner circle. He was the only one of the 12 who was not martyred, and lived a long life, and was able to see how faith blossoms over time. And James...

Well that’s what this sermon is all about. James is my favorite book of the Bible. Period.

I think as a pastor in training I’m not supposed to have a favorite book. It is true that all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteous — thanks Paul for another letter — this his second to Timothy 3:16. James wrote a really special letter, though. And when I was reading the lectionary - well, rather than just preach a message from a small part of it, I wanted to tell you a little about the whole gem. Fair warning - you have homework after this. I want you to read the entire book. It’s five chapters you won’t regret.

The Beginning

Let’s start at the very beginning… A very good place to start. When you read you begin with A B C, when you sing you begin with...

When looking at an epistle, the most important thing to do first is read the beginning. That might seem kind of obvious, but all too often we get a verse, and we want to just read around that verse. Today’s lectionary reading is no different - it’s the end of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4. But when we do this, we lose something pretty big - who wrote this, and why?

Let’s take a look at the first four verses:

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

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Testing of Your Faith

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Most of the letters in the Bible begin with a short description of who is writing, who they are writing to, and an overall theme - the why. In this case, the letter says straight out - James wrote this. But who is James? In Greek, the word is Ἰάκωβος - Jacob. As you can imagine, among Jews that was a pretty common name! The word occurs 42 times in the New Testament, referring to at least four different men. Three of these are mentioned in one verse — Acts 1:13

Acts 1:13 ESV

And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.

We have James, one of the inner circle, another James who to be honest is barely mentioned in the Bible, and then the father of a Judas - named to separate this one from the far more infamous Judas Iscariot. The fourth is mentioned in the gospels - James the brother of Jesus.

Another thing we know about this James. He’s apparently well-known enough that he can just go by James and people know who he is and respect him. And that actually limits things:

James in the inner circle? Absolutely well known enough. But he was killed in the early 40s by Herod Agrippa I, likely before this letter was written

James the son of Alphaeus? Probably not.

James the father of Judas? Definitely not.

James the brother of Jesus? Yeah. Even though he came to faith late, he rose to a position of prominence in the church. He’s mentioned in the book of Acts where he speaks at an assembly of “apostles and the elders” (Acts 15:6). Paul made a point of meeting with him on a few occasions. So even though it’s not definitive, this letter traditionally has been ascribed to this James.

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Think about that for a second.

The guy who probably wrote this letter grew up — with Jesus. It certainly gives “why can’t you be more like your brother?” a pretty different context, right? But I’d like to take it a slightly different direction.

Sometimes people like to say that if God would just do miracles than everyone would believe. We don’t know authoritatively if Jesus did any miracles before what is recorded, but if anyone were to believe, wouldn’t it be his own family? But that’s not what Scripture tells us. On the contrary, James and Jude - another brother - did come to the faith. But only after the resurrection. John 7 mentions a story where His brothers were trying to make a spectacle of him. John 7:5 sadly comments “For not even his brothers believed in him.”

That - my Christian friends is us.

And that is why this letter has such a special place in my heart. It was written by a man who had a rather uncommon life, but still dealt with disbelief. And it’s written to the people who knew better - God’s chosen people the Jews. And yet, they, like us, too often didn’t get the point.

But why did James write this letter? Because God’s people were suffering. I think we can relate on many levels.

Wholeness vs. Brokeness

This letter is famously hard to outline probably because it is really more about a theme than a particular argument. And that theme is wholeness. Peace and harmony do come from God, and strife and disharmony from the world. But where James is different is he doesn’t just leave it at that — he constantly challenges us with practical steps for us to improve. Let’s take a look at the first reading as an example:

James 1:2–8 ESV

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Christian Jews of the day were being terribly persecuted for their new faith - many had to leave their homes going out to other areas or be killed. And no doubt, many asked if it was worth it. And the good news, according to James, is yes! It is worth it! Why? Because God is using it to strengthen His people.

And that is the point. We who believe in God know, or we should anyway, that God has a purpose for the trials we face. And at that point, what would one of our natural tendencies be. PRAY! We say. And of course, James says to do that.

That’s where this gets practical. How many times do we pray and not “get an answer” from God. James says that’s not God, but us. He uses a vivid metaphor - when we doubt we’re like a wave - just tossed to and fro. Why should be expect anything from God, when we don’t trust who He is.

He expands this - we are blessed when we are steadfast under trial, because that is holiness. But is God bringing evil upon us? Once again he puts the blame where it is due… God doesn’t tempt us with evil - He doesn’t need to. We do a great job of that ourselves - through our own evil desires.

God, on the other hand, is good and loving - He always has been and always will. James beautifully writes: James 1:16-17 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

What an awesome promise!

Doers of the Word

Like his big brother, James reserves his strongest words for those who believe they have a holiness because of religion, but in reality are far from it.

You could do an extended sermon series on just this. He speaks to:

Anger leading to unrighteousness rather that we should we should put this away and meekly follow the Word, and keep ourselves unstained by the world.

Treating everyone with dignity and respect, as we are partial to people that oppress us

But the crescendo, the piece de resistance of his argument is the masterful James 2:14-19, our second reading:

James 2:14–19 ESV

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

This passage actually got James in trouble — with people that came well after him. Martin Luther, for example, called this the “epistle of straw” because he thought that James was suggesting a works-based religion, that is, that we can earn our way to heaven by doing good works. But is that what James is saying?

I think we can clearly see that answer to that is no. That rather than buying our way into Heaven, what we’re actually doing is finding peace by doing the work of the God of peace. In James’ practical fashion, he points out the obvious. People showed their faith in God by what they did - he later mentions Abraham willing to sacrifice Isaac, and Rahab protecting the spies.

Godly Wisdom

And that… brings us to the actual lectionary reading for today. Since we had it in our reading, I’ll abbreviate a bit.

James 3:13–4:3 (ESV)

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (Therefore)

James 4:7–8 (ESV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

If we truly love God, and are not just paying lip service to the truth. If our desire is truly to be at peace, then it is really about us and our choices. We must choose to do God’s will and be good to others. And in submitting to God, we will find peace.

Conclusion

That - ladies and gentlemen, is an introduction to the letter James wrote. And there is SO much more to it than I can convey in this simple sermon. And so I leave it to you as homework. I read aloud the entire book and it took just under 15 minutes. Let me know how God blesses you through it.

But how do we apply this to our lives?

Well, first, and probably foremost, our God is a God of peace, and He desires that for you. But realize that peace does not come through religion alone. It equally comes down to our hearts. What is God calling you to do with your faith?

Second, understand the cause of your suffering. Is it a trial? Be thankful, because God will use it to bring you peace. But is it your own worldly desires? Do you trust that God truly knows what will bring you peace?

And finally, the world we live in will constantly lead you away from God. And it takes an attitude of surrender to truly find peace. Rich Mullins, an awesome man of God said it well in his song Hold me Jesus:

Surrender don’t come natural to me… I’d rather fight You for what I don’t really want, then take what You give that I need… So hold me Jesus. ‘Cause I’m shaking like a leaf. You have been King of my glory. Won’t you be my Prince of Peace.

Peace comes from God alone.

Amen.

Let us pray,

Lord, we believe that EVERY good and perfect gift comes from you, and our hearts desperately seek peace. We pray that You would cleanse us and renew us, that we would be Your instruments in this fallen world.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.