Sermon Tone Analysis

“Be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”

— James 1:22

James is arguably the most practical book in the Bible, with the exception of… possibly… Proverbs…

It is down to earth…

It doesn’t embellish itself with “scholarly” language and theological explanations…

James doesn’t speak to and for the “educated elite… no… He puts things simply and boldly…

He is straight forward and honest in his words…(which is one of the things I like about him)

James boldly stands before us and says: “Don’t just listen to the Word, DO WHAT IT SAYS!!!”

BUT… I gotta ask…

Who is James to say this?

Who is this James that we should listen to him?

All that he says in his introduction is:

Nothing else!!!

No comments to reveal anything unique to identify him… As opposed to Paul…

It’s a mystery!

And… there are no other writings from James in the Bible…

So… Who was this James?

He must have been a familiar figure in the Church… because his letter was excepted among the believers.

5 James’s are mentioned in scripture:

— James, the son of Zebedee (Mk 1:19)

— James, the son of Alphaeus (Mk 3:18)

— James, the half-brother of Jesus (Mk 6:3)

— James, the younger (Mk 15:40)

— James, the Father of Jude (Lk 6:16)

Of these only James, the son of Zebedee… John’s brother… and James, the brother of Jesus could be described as “well-known”.

At first glance, it would seem that James, the son of Zebedee would be the obvious choice… after all, he was very close to Jesus… had travelled with Him… and was chosen as one of Jesus’s inner three…

But…

James, the son of Zebedee was martyred in 44 A.D., and James’s letter is dated between 46-60 A.D.

It makes more sense then that this is James, Jesus’s half-brother…

That’s a BIG DEAL!!!

You see… If James is the brother of Jesus, then it reveals his amazing pilgrimage to Faith!

James didn’t believe in Jesus’s ministry in the beginning…

He was even part of the group that tried to stop Jesus…

But… James’s unbelief changed…

(the turning point — Jesus’s resurrection)

After appearing to the women, Jesus appeared to James — his brother — first… after that…

James became a leading figure in the Church…

(argument over letting the Gentiles into the body)

James made the final decision on the admittance of Gentiles into the Church…

Even Paul reported to James after his 3rd missionary trip…

Paul called James one of the “pillars” of the church…

History calls him “James the Just”…

Eusebius says that James spent so much time on his knees in prayer that his knees “grew worn and hard, like those of a camel” — which earned him the knick-name “old camel knees.”

— If only we prayed like that??!?!

But…

I know what you’re thinking… Come on Pastor… Get to the point… What does all this matter?

Why are we wasting so much time on who the author is?

Because…

If you’re not convinced of the authority of the author… If you believe that he was just some common man writing down some pious advice, and that he isn’t as important as say — Paul — it will undermine the value of what God is saying to you through James.

This is exactly what happened to Martin Luther — the one who led the Reformation…

The one who boldly nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Church of England and was thus excommunicated by the church…

You see… Luther did not consider the letter of James to be equal with other scripture…

He called it an “Epistle of Straw”…

When he published his Bible in German… he put James in the back, and he didn’t even list it in the contents!

Can you imagine?!?

Luther didn’t reject James… but he considered it “second class” scripture.

WHY?

Why did Luther consider James’s letter… the letter considered to be the first “book” written in the NT… so unimportant?

So… meaningless?

The reason is vital for us to understand… because it reveals a danger to us!

You see… Luther had the attitude he had for a very specific reason…

He was a reformer in constant conflict with the Catholic Church leadership…

His theology revolved upon “justification by faith”…

He emphasized personal faith in Christ… trust in HIS atonement… and forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of Christ…

Are you with me so far?

The death and resurrection… and faith in the death and resurrection of Christ were the foundations of his reformation theology…

James does not deal with those things!

James doesn’t mention Christ’s blood… His death… or His resurrection… (unlike the other writers)

James does not emphasize “faith alone”… instead he focuses on “Faith REVEALED through works”…

Are you seeing where the issue is?

Luther’s opponents used James against him in his debates with them… The result…

Luther began to see James as a “hindrance” to the doctrine of Justification by Faith.

So… He did what Christians often do in reaction to controversy…

He blinded his mind to the FACT that the WHOLE Bible is the Word of God!

We do not get to “pick and choose” what parts to believe and what parts not to… We do not get to ignore the parts that “disagree” with our theology!

But that’s what he did!

“The greatest tragedies in Christian history are those that come about because Christians pick and choose which parts of God’s revelation they are going to live by.” — Pastor Glenn Pease

The single most dangerous thing that ever happened to the Bible was the introduction of verse numbers.

Because… It creates the idea that scripture is separated…

It allows people to “pick and choose” what to hold on to… and that creates a perverted view of Christianity.

All cults are based on select scriptures…

Let me tell you: No church… No Christian… will ever find the kind of spiritual balance that leads to true godliness and Christlikeness… until we accept ALL scripture as THE authority for faith and practice!

When we “omit” or “ignore” scripture because it does not fit our narrative… we lose!

Luther could not see beyond his conflict… He couldn’t rise above it… and so, he missed to opportunity to incorporate James’s practical emphasis on works with his emphasis on faith.

Let me tell you… When we reject scripture… when we ignore, or omit the parts that seem to not agree with our theology… we will soon find that we have a dead faith!

In Luther’s time, Lutheranism became dominated by a dead faith…

We need the balance of ALL scripture to foster a vibrant faith.

Don’t reject anything in God’s Word… just because it “seems” to contradict… or conflict… with the truth you hold to be precious…

Don’t ignore the parts of the Bible that are controversial… or difficult…

Jesus said:

Paul said:

Not just the parts you like best!

James is writing to help us… to help Christians make doctrine practical!

He is a man of action… His letter is instruction on how to put faith to work.

Pastor David Owens tells the story of one day while he was in graduate school…

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas, and he was running late for his finals…

So… he was running “back roads” fro El Darado, AR to Memphis, TN… He set his cruise control for 8 miles over the speed limit…

You know… so he could make it there on time…

He was studying as he drove… and at one point he looked up from his study cards just in time to see a police car passing from the other direction…

Of course… the officer flipped his lights on… turned around… and pulled him over…