JAMES: PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
INTRODUCTION
James 1: 1: The book of James is what is called a general epistle. That means that it was written as a letter to not just one person or one church but as a general, circular letter that was to be passed around and read in several churches.
WHO WAS JAMES: There are primarily three men named James who are identified as followers of Jesus in the New Testament.
· James the son of Alpheus
· James the son of Zebedee (John’s brother)
· James the ½ brother of Jesus
Bible scholars believe that James the son of Alpheus dropped out of Biblical records and history so much that this book could not have been written by him. They simply do not know what became of him.
James the son of Zebedee (John’s brother) was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I between AD 42-44 (Acts 12:20
So for these reasons it is widely believed that this book was written by James the ½ brother of Jesus. And since I have no better reasoning or proof otherwise, we will go on this assumption.
After Peter left Palestine (Acts 12: 17-19) James became the leader or pastor of the first church at Jerusalem.
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James was raised up in the same home with Jesus. He had watched him eat and work and play and live a “normal” life. It is only speculation but it could easily have been possible that James and Jesus both worked in the carpenter shop or on the job site with Joseph. They both sat at the supper table and ate Mary’s cooking. Surely they must have played “cowboys and Indians” together on the Judean hillside.
But then one day James watched Jesus take a trip to the Jordan river where he was baptized by John the Baptist. And after that, there was something different about his older brother. He begins to preach and teach throughout the region. James heard him proclaim in the temple that He (Jesus) fulfilled the words of Isaiah (Luke 4:16-21). James and most of the others who knew Him in his younger days thought Jesus was crazy. (Mark 3:21). His family made fun of Him telling Him a real prophet would show Himself in Jerusalem (John 7: 1-5.) We are told clearly that Jesus’ brothers, His own family clearly did not believe in His claim that He was the Messiah.
However there were two occasions in the life of James that changed him from an unbelieving family member to a dynamic pastor and leader of the early church.
In the 15th chapter of I Corinthians Paul is explaining his credentials to the Corinthians. He tells them how Jesus died for the sins of man, how He was buried and rose again. Then he presents a list of those who actually saw Jesus after His resurrection. In this list Paul includes himself along with, Cephas (Peter), the twelve (the disciples) 500 (other) brethren and (in verse 9) James.
I never realized that the risen Jesus returned to his ½ brother to make Himself known to him. But according to Paul, James had an encounter with the risen Lord and after that encounter James was a different man. It was then that James became a believer.
The second occasion that changed this unbelieving brother was on the day of Pentecost, in the upper room. (Acts 2) Although James is not mentioned by name Acts 1: 14 list Jesus’ mother and “brethren” among those in attendance that day. So James had two crisis experiences with Jesus that changed his life. Not long after this upper room experience James became the leader of the church at Jerusalem.
We have just finished a study on leadership. We should understand by now that God wants us to be leaders. He had the same desire for James that He has for us. But do you see that James, even though he lived in the same house with Jesus, ate from the same table as Jesus, probably slept in the same bed as Jesus, could not become the leader God intended for him to be until his heart was in the right place.
That should hit home for us. We must get first things first. Before we can become the leaders we were meant to be we must experience those life changing crisis moments. Don’t sit here and listen to the lessons on leadership and think that you can just decide in your heart that because God wants you to be a leader that you are going to “turn over a new leaf” and rush out and try to lead and do things on your own. First look within yourself and assure yourself let God assure you, that your sins have been forgiven and your heart has been surrendered. Then go and be the leader you were meant to be.
WHAT WAS JAMES’ POSITION? As I’ve already mentioned, James became the “pastor” if you will of the first Christian church in Jerusalem. He didn’t proclaim himself to be that in his letter. He didn’t brag about the fact that he was Jesus’ half brother. He simply stated that he was a “servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Just as a little side-bar here, (Can you imagine how much of a change in his thought process and his beliefs that James must have gone through to go from believing that Jesus was his “brother” to believing that Jesus was his Lord? Wow that must have been a real experience).
There is only one person in our little church who could possibly understand the responsibilities of the position of a pastor. The men who accept this type of position accept the “pastoral concerns” that come with the job.
- They accept the responsibility for the spiritual life of their followers
- They accept the responsibility for the personal growth of their followers
- They take ownership of the well-being of their followers
- They resolve themselves as they stand before the District assembly of the church that they will involve themselves in the lives of their “sheep” with that empathy and compassion that we discussed a few weeks back. When a pastor’s members hurt, he feels their pain.
But let me throw this out there.
QUESTION: Is the pastor the only one who should shoulder this responsibility? If you and I are leaders in the church of God, does it not make sense that we should also should accept the same responsibilities? Be careful how you answer this question. It might make you change the way you live and serve.
Am I responsible for you? Am I to be concerned that you are going through a tough time? Is it any of my business or my concern that you have a spiritual need, whatever that need may be? Am I my brother’s keeper?
I believe that if God were the coach of a football team, there would be no “bench warmers”. If you sign on to play on God’s team, you would play. You would not come to practice and study the plays and sweat and run sprints and never put a foot on the field during game time. Everyone one the team would be expected to play the game. Oh we wouldn’t all play quarterback but we would play.
QUESTION: Do you honestly, practically believe that God saved you so you could simply “fill a pew”?
James took the position as pastor of his church and accepted the fact that as part of the body of Christ, part of the “church” part of the “family” of God he had a responsibility to others. Many say that James was too hard to straight forward, even too pushy. They say that he promoted salvation by “works” instead of grace. Martin Luther actually called the book of James “an epistle of straw” because he believed that James was disagreeing with Paul and going against Paul’s position in the “works/grace” issue. But actually what James was giving to his flock was practical information and instructions. He told his people that if your Christianity is going to be nothing more than doctrine, rules or theory then you might as well “go home”. Go back to what you were doing. Be a “good sinner” because if your “religion” is not doing something for God and for others it’s not doing any good.
If James was nothing else he was practical. And as we walk through his letter I think you will see that his approach to the problems that his people faced and the problems that we face should be handled in a practical, common sense manner.
James believed and taught that “In order for Christianity to work, it must work.” Think about that.
I want to just give you some examples. This is not from my own research or from my own mind but instead from one of the newer books by Max Lucado. Listen to some of his statements and see if this doesn’t inspire you to become a practical Christian.
“In our day and time 1 billion people are hungry…more than half of all Africans do not have access to modern health care, resulting in 10 million of them dying each year from diseases like diarrhea, measles and respiratory illness most of which could be prevented with on “shot”.
A mere 2 percent of the world’s grain harvest would be enough to erase the problems of hunger and malnutrition around the world. There is enough food on the planet to offer every person 25 hundred calories of food a day. We have enough food to feed the hungry. The storehouse is stocked. The problem is not in the supply; the problem is in the distribution. God has given this generation, your generation and my generation everything we need to alter the course of human suffering”.
Lucado stresses that we need to follow the example of the first Jerusalem church. He says we should follow James’ example. Then he gave some examples of his own; let me share them with you.
Edith Hayes: Edith is an 80 year old lady whose talent is sewing. She has assembled about 100 people who meet once a week to make disposable pads for cancer patients. These pads are used to cover seeping sores. It is a very unglamorous task. But they make the cancer ward at the hospital their mission field.
Joe and Liz Page: Joe retired form the military. Liz was a school teacher. Now she has a foot deformity but both have a fire in their hearts for needy children and their families. These two people make clothing for premature infants. They turned one of the unused Sunday school rooms in the church into a sewing factory. They make the premature ward at the hospital their mission field.
Caleb: Caleb is only 9 years old. He heard his Sunday school teacher tell about children in Central America who die of preventable diseases every day because of the lack of clean drinking water. Caleb took the $20.00 he had been saving for a new video game and donated it to the cause of drilling a well in one of those countries. He asked his father to do the same. Then he challenged the teachers and staff at his church to follow his example. They raised enough money to drill two water wells in El Salvador.
Edith, Joe, Liz and Caleb would all fit into the category of regular folks. They are not pastors. They are not saints. They don’t see angels when they pray. They don’t walk on water. But they do exercise their beliefs in a practical way. The only thing special about them is that they were willing to take a step when they heard Jesus say “Follow me”.
Wouldn’t James have loved to have these people in his church? Wouldn’t your pastor love to have people like them in his church?
What if you asked God to show you a place where you can “serve”, a place where you can “work”? Again, be careful here, God just might put something on your heart that Ajax cant’ get off. What if you could take the price of one 2 liter Mountain Dew a week and put it in a jar and save it to help feed a family? What if you used your skills, whatever they might be, from being able to fix stuff, to being able to teach stuff, and what if you used those skills to promote the kingdom of God? Could God use you? Yes, He could, in a mighty way.
Can we save all the dying children? No. Can we cure cancer? Probably not. Can we lead the whole nation to Christ? I doubt it. But can we save one? Can we help one? Can we take what we have and share it with someone and make a difference in one life? You bet we can!
But we will have to stop just “believing” and “get to work”. Our religion will have to become more than just a belief it will have to become an action.
We ended last week’s lesson talking about “leaving it all on the field”. When I asked what that meant on Sunday night I realized that some people didn’t get it. What coaches mean when they say leaving it all on the field is that a player should “give all that he has, do all that he can do, keep nothing in reserve”. Can I tell you that before you can leave it all on the field you will have to leave it all on the altar? Before you can go out and “break your butt for the Lord you’ll have to let Him break your heart”.
I don’t know whether you like that kind of talk or not, but one thing is for sure, James would have. He would have liked it because it is practical. That is the kind of man he was and that is the kind of message he presented. I think it will do us good to study what he has to say.
I hope as we follow James in his writings for the next few weeks we can attempt to see the practicality in his gospel. I hope that we can develop a religion that is a working religion.
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