James chapter one, verse one. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion: Greetings. Father, we come to You this morning asking that You would shine upon the word of God into our hearts, illuminate our understanding, and bring us into the knowledge of the truth. Lord, we would understand Your will today so that we might do it. So help us, we ask, in Jesus' name. Amen. Have you ever imagined what it might have been like to be the brother of Jesus and to grow up in the house of Mary and Joseph? Eating with Jesus, having an eldest brother who, no doubt, perhaps was the favorite, perfect child who never did anything wrong. Whose wisdom was insurpassable because at the age of 12, He confounded the very rabbis that your parents looked up to, and the whole community. And oh, not to mention the miracles. How He would work miracles. Well, much like Joseph in the Old Testament, Jesus was not appreciated by His brothers. The Bible teaches us in John chapter 7 verse 5, "for not even His brothers believed in Him." And in Matthew chapter 13 verse 57, when Jesus is speaking in His hometown of Nazareth, it says that they took offense at Him. But Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and in his own household." And in that same passage of scripture, they said, "Is this not the carpenter's son, Jesus? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?" Well, I want to submit to you this morning that this brother of Jesus called James is the one who writes the epistle before us. James, a brother of Jesus. Historically, it has been believed by theologians throughout the history of the church as a major view and understanding of the author of this text as being attributed to none other but James, as the book of Galatians 1:19 says, "James, the Lord's brother." This is the James who was the pillar, one of the pillars of the church of Jerusalem, the one who articulated the conclusion of the council concerning the inclusion of the Gentiles into the body of Christ. This is the James who gave his judgment there, the James who was a prominent leader at that church. That church was the largest church, and that church was the first church of the New Testament. And so this is none other than that James, that James who is the Lord's brother. Now, how would you expect James, who is the Lord's brother and the most perhaps important Christian leader in the early church, how would you expect him to introduce himself to the people to whom he is writing? Well, we would think that he would do so just in a most ordinary and common way. Well, you know, you introduce yourself by your most special privilege or in a way most relevant and identifiable to the people that you are speaking, so that they can understand that. You know, so so-and-so might say, "Dr. so-and-so," or, "Professor such-and-such at this university." Or you might hear something like, "founder and former president of, CEO of Amazon and" you wait for Jeff Bezos. And so these are not bad ways to introduce yourself if they are not ways that are accompanied by pride, but rather as a form of identification. It's common. You talk to people about who you are and what you do, you're essentially doing the same thing. There are purposes in identifying yourself with titles which aren't inherently wrong. Yet James cared not to exalt himself, and in fact, one of the reasons why they believe he wrote this epistle is because he doesn't introduce himself by any qualifications. And so that he was such a renowned and well-known James—there are many James in the scripture. And so he introduced himself not caring to exalt himself by his greatest privileges, "James, the pastor of the church at Jerusalem," or, "James, the brother of Jesus," but rather James takes the most humblest posture and position that would be known in the in the time of his writing and introduced himself with that kind of introduction. He begins with these words, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." "Remember me primarily not as His brother, but as His slave. Remember me as His bondservant. Remember me as one who is submitted to His authority and kingship and lordship. Remember me as His servant." is the way James introduces himself in an epistle that makes its way down to us a couple of thousand years later that we might, we might know him not only as the brother of Jesus or the pastor of the church of Jerusalem, but as the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's pretty hard to do with your brother or sister, to call him, "that I'm your servant." Which means that James understood something about his brother Jesus and believed that this Jesus is both Lord and Christ. And James says, "I'm His bondslave. I take a title that describes me as His property. I take a title that describes me as one totally devoted to Him and as one who is in uttermost submission to Him." You see, the bondslave, which is the word there or servant, is one who's lost his sense of autonomy. Now, theologically, it's not like a rubbish slave left on the side of the road or a street to be bullied and bashed around. Theologically, when we are slaves of Christ, we are Christ's purchased possession. This is the whole point. We've been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so the servanthood aspect of the New Testament that regards us is that we have made a voluntary submission to Jesus Christ as Lord and have been bought by His love and by His blood to serve Him all forever. Much like the passage that I just read earlier from Deuteronomy, seven years, Jubilee comes up, the slave can go free, who's worked in that household for half the wage of an ordinary worker but has been supplied also by the owner of the house with all their needs taken care of. And seven years comes up and you free the slaves. They can go and find another occupation or another way to live. They're not bound to the master. Their contract, as it were, has ended. But the Lord says if this slave that is in your house sees themselves as well off among you, they are satisfied with the way that you care for them, and they say, "I don't want to go out and find another job. I don't want to find another master. I love my master. I love the house that I'm in because I've been treated so well." He said, "Well, you take an awl," which looks like basically an ice pick, "and you put it through their ear, so they get an earring, essentially, and they will be your slave forever." Signifying that they voluntarily love their master so much that they want to be identified with their master and supplied by their master and serve their master all the days of their lives. This is what the gospel does for us, isn't it? This is what it does. It shows us a master whose love is incomparable and calls us to a life of submission which we voluntarily lay our lives down and give ourselves for because why would I want to go serve anyone else but this Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me? And so when James says, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ," he's saying, "I'm a bondslave of Jesus. My brother, the risen Lord, the King, the Master, has put an awl through my ear, and I am His. I want to stay in His house." Not just physically in the house of Mary and Joseph because He's ascended into heaven, but, "I want to belong to His family, to His kingdom, and I want to serve Him all my days because there is none like Him." And so James makes special effort not only to identify himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, his own brother, but beyond that, what James does is he exalts Jesus Christ as well. Yes, by taking a position of submission, he exalts Jesus. But listen to what he does in this, in this passage. He says, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." James makes special effort to recognize that his brother Jesus is one with God the Father. And he does this in two ways. First, he calls Him "Lord," which, used among the Jews, the word "Lord" prominently referred to Yahweh, to the one who is the self-existent one, the one who was in the burning bush. He is Lord. He is Yahweh. He says, "I acknowledge Him as Lord." You know, as Paul said, has given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's God. He is Yahweh. He is Master. He's not a lord, He is the Lord, one with the Father, the only Lord God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, as Paul puts it in other places. He calls Him Lord, a word used interchangeably in this very epistle to refer to both Jesus and to God the Father. Look in verse number five, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of who?" God. Verse five, "who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." Look at verse seven. It says, "Let him ask in faith." In verse seven, "for that person," verse seven, "must not suppose that he will receive anything from who?" The Lord. The God of verse five is the Lord of verse seven, and James has no problem giving that title that belongs to God to Jesus. He's saying, "He is Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ." He understood that his brother was God manifest in the flesh. He has come to faith in Him. He believes in Him. He follows Him, He serves Him, and He acknowledges the mutual ownership of his life by the Father and the Son. That's why he says in verse number one, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He's exalting Jesus to equal status with the Father. He's acknowledging Him. You know, the Bible says you cannot serve two masters. And James says, "Well, I can serve two masters because the master is one. He's God. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ. I serve God." As Alec Motyer said, "The Greek could equally well sustain this rendering: a servant of Jesus Christ who is God and Lord." What this text teaches is that Jesus Christ is none other than God manifest in the flesh, the only Lord God our Savior. And this is the one who James identifies himself with. He humbles himself as a servant of God who is none other than His brother. James. Isn't it an amazing thought when you think about how he introduces himself? But who does he address this epistle to? So this is the author of our epistle, his name is James, the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he addresses this epistle to the "12 tribes in the dispersion." This is a valuable piece of information for us to understand that this book primarily addresses Jewish believers but is not limited to Jewish believers. And what I simply mean by that is the 12 tribes was an eschatological term, a term referring to the end times of the restoration of the people of God, Israel. And what James sees is that the gospel has begun this work of gathering together the 12 tribes, which began in Jerusalem and in Judea and then extends to the uttermost parts of the earth. And what James is understanding is that he is saying by saying "to the 12 tribes," "I'm talking to you," among his congregants, which would have been the first believers, Jewish believers, which is the beginnings of the work of the restoration of the people of God through the power of the risen Lord Jesus and the proclamation of His gospel. And James is saying, "I'm writing to you." And this is very appropriate for us because this book is not written to Jews at the exclusion of Christians. These are written to Christians. Okay? That were ethnically Jewish. And so there's a lot of references to the Old Testament here, but what's important for us to realize is that these people believed in Jesus to whom he is writing. He says in chapter 2 verse 1, "My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory." These are his brothers who are believers in the Messiah, Messianic, as it were, Christians. They're Christians. Now, these people are dispersed, which refers to, tells us of the time when Saul came into the church of Jerusalem. Do you remember that? And Stephen was stoned to death, and Saul was making havoc of the church, and the church then spread throughout the entire known world at the time, persecuted Christians that were scattered abroad, dispersed abroad because of the persecution that was happening. Most of those Christians would have been from the Jerusalem church. And James, the pastor of these people, is so concerned that those people that have been scattered out throughout the world, that they hear of the instructions of God and hear of the word of God, and he can continue to shepherd them and share with them the truths of scripture. And so this is the people that he's talking to. The persecution spread them aboard, and this preacher pastor is concerned for their spiritual well-being. And so concerned is he that the language throughout the entire epistle is filled with exhortations. Eight times he calls them "my brothers," "my brethren," "my brothers," terms of affection. He longs for their holiness. He compels them, and he does it persuasively. He calls them to live lives that are right and holy and true. He speaks to them with love and affection, but with a closeness that he's so concerned for their souls. "Be not deceived," he says in verse number 16 of chapter one, "my beloved brothers. Don't be deceived. My brothers, my family. Don't be deceived," though you're scattered throughout the world. He charges them to "know this" and to "be this" in chapter 1 verse 9 and verse 22. He alleges and asks questions in chapter 2 verse 14. He says, "What good is it, my brothers?" You could just imagine this man just reasoning with them. "What good is it that you live like this and behave like that and say that you have faith but you don't demonstrate that faith by your works?" So bold is he with them that he says, "Do you want to be shown, oh foolish person, that faith without works is dead?" James employs illustration and imagery right throughout his epistle. He talks about the waves of the sea and the flower of the grass and mirrors and rudders and horses and fires and agriculture. He uses hypothetical scenarios to help convey graphic pictures of things that could be happening in the life of the churches to which they belong. He says things like this, "For if a man comes into your assembly and he's not dressed appropriately, or one comes and he's dressed, and he's wealthy and whatever, then this is how you need to behave towards them. Don't show partiality." But he uses an illustration to help them see what it looks like practically in their midst. Or "if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food." So he employs this hypothetical scenarios. And then he litters the whole epistle with illustrations and examples from the Old Testament. He quotes the Ten Commandments. He says, "Consider Abraham. Consider Rahab. Consider Elijah. Consider Job." And he does all this to explain his point. He is basically using all the rhetorical vices that are at his disposal to fire home a message to the people that these scattered believers might remain steadfast under trial and be built up in the faith. No wonder why one commentator said of this epistle that this man, James, was a preacher well before he was a writer. And I think that's true. You read this epistle, and it's like you've got a sermon. It's coming at you every single verse. There is something that's potent and powerful and sharp and confronting about the book of James. But what does James say to them? Because when you read this epistle, James has so many things to them. There's so many topics that are covered. This is practical theology like none other. It is filled with different topics about anger and speech and about trials and about afflictions and about the law and about faith and about works and about how you should live and you can go on and on and on and you can think to yourself, I wonder what the whole key to this epistle actually is. What is James really concerned about? This is not an epistle like Paul's. You read Paul and he argues his point all the way through, and three, four chapters, you get to a conclusion at the end of the fourth chapter of reading or whatever it may be. Whereas James is rapid-fire commandments that challenge us in a way. And it's not that James wasn't able to write. The scholars say that the Greek used in the book of James is phenomenal, actually, unlike much of the New Testament. He was very able and very apt in his abilities. James deliberately writes this way because he wants his epistle to be confronting and to be practical. He wants them to obey the Lord zealously. You know, there's 108 verses in the book of James, and 59 of them are commandments. I don't even know how you can write in such a way to get 59 commandments in 108 verses. But James skillfully, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of God, crafts a message for his people that is very confronting. And what he does in chapter one is that he lays these sort of seed sermons that he picks up later. Take, for example, chapter one. Look at me in chapter 1 verse number 19. He says, "Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger." And you see, okay, well James there mentions speaking, the tongue. Verse number 26, he also mentions, verse 27, he also mentions speaking. Sorry, in verse 26, about bridling the tongue. And it almost like he leaves off speaking there for just a moment—there's a little bit of it in chapter two—but he picks up a whole exposition of the tongue in chapter number three. And this is how you'll find the epistle goes. There's a sort of repetitiveness that comes about where things are laid, truths are laid and challenging us with these short commandments that are developed later on in a fuller expose or exposition. This is how James conducts himself. But what is the overarching theme? When you have so many topics, you have so many things, what is this overarching theme? Look at chapter 1 verse 26 to 27 as we see what James is speaking about. This is what he's saying to them. "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." What's James' broad, unifying theme that encapsulates everything that he says to us in this epistle? James is concerned that the believers will demonstrate true religion. What James is concerned about is not necessarily how well they have worked out all their theological particulars. Not saying that this is not important, but James does not take pains to explain to us the doctrine of justification by faith, nor does he take pains to explain to us the trinity or to explain to us the person and work of Jesus Christ, as important as all these theological concepts are, and that James himself believed. James has one key purpose that he wants us to understand, and that is that he wants us to understand what true religion really looks like. "So you say you believe all these things about the theology and about God and about who God is and who Jesus is. We take that for granted that you know these things. But if that is the case, this is how your life ought to be." And he does so in the ways that we would not really think of ordinarily. He has three things in chapter number one, verse 26 and 27. He says the way that you know someone has true religion is, look at their tongue. How do they speak? And not only watch their tongue, he says, "Do they care for the needy?" Watch their hands. This is how they speak. This is how they act. "Do they care for the needy? Do they actually care for people that they cannot benefit from?" You see what he's trying to say here. The needy are those that you can get nothing from, but they are people that you can give to. And that demonstrates whether your religion is really rooted in what? In God's grace and mercy alone as His servant, or whether you are serving for your own glory and your own self. There's no benefit in that, humanly speaking. And then lastly, separation from the world, which he describes to us as a life of holy living that is the outworkings of the gospel. This is what holy living looks like: the way you treat others, your tongue, the way that you enact with others, the humble brokenness of submission of a heart that embraces the people and is willing to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. This is what holy living looks like, the sacrificial giving up of yourself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And James takes pains to hammer home through 59 commandments these key things so that we can leave the book of James thinking, "Wow, I say I'm a Christian, but I actually want to live like one. And these are the areas that I actually need to work on in order to demonstrate more and more that I belong to God as His servant." Because James understands, as we should also understand, is that there is such a thing as a defiled and worthless religion. He says true religion in verse 27 is pure and undefiled, indicating that there is a religion that bears the name of Jesus that is defiled and that is not true and does not demonstrate the glory and power of the risen Lord Jesus in our lives. There is a religion marked by empty profession. There is a religion marked by partiality. There is a religion out there even in professing Christendom, even within our church that we must be mindful of, of judgmental arrogance, of a loose tongue, of a worldly disobedience. There is a religion of self-indulgence. There is a religion that is dismissive of the needs of others and prioritizes ourself above others. There is a religion like that. And it's a false one. And James is not concerned whether you pass the test of delineating all the theological positions that are accurate. What he is concerned about is this big question: Where is the fruit of regeneration in your life? You say you're born again? You say you believe in Jesus? Show me the money. Talk is cheap, says James. Why don't you walk the talk? Where is the indisputable outworking of faith that demonstrate to us one another and to the world that we belong to God? And what James is doing in this entire epistle is he's calling the dispersed and persecuted believers that are scattered around the world, and he is calling them to be God's servants, just like he is. He is saying to them in one way or another, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. James knows and believes and has tasted the power of the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus that has purchased him, has saved him, and has made him a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. James knows what that's like in his life. James knows what that's like in his experience. And what he is saying is, "You also, saying that you have faith in Jesus, are God's servants, are servants of my elder brother, the Lord Jesus. Where is the fruit of that in your life? Is He Lord and Christ of your hearts? Then where is the life that demonstrates that? Where is the voluntary submission that the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to? Paul says it this way, and understand this, friends, you are here today without the knowledge of Christ, the Christian life is not a life of slavery. This is a life of the controlling love of God that causes us to act and believe and work as those that are slaves of Jesus Christ. Do you understand that? We are purchased. We are not our own. It's not the hard bondage of slavery. It's the love of Christ that controls us, says Paul. And we thus judge that if one died for all, then we all died in Him. And that He died for all that those which live should not live unto themselves, but unto Him who loved them and gave Himself for them. And so James calls us through this epistle to live as bondslaves of Jesus Christ, too. Look at chapter 4 verse 7 to 10 as we find some application here. says James 4 verse 7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God." That's the call of the epistle. "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. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you." And isn't that what James does? Leads a life of humility and is exalted by God as one of the prominent leaders in the church of Jerusalem and in the known Christian world. And what does he say? He says, "Come and humble yourselves as servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will exalt you in due time. Come, take up the towel and wash the disciples' feet. Come with me and love sinners. Come with me and love the saints. Come with me and demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ. Come with me and be unspotted from the world and shun ungodliness and worldly thinking and materialism, and let's follow Jesus with all of our being. Come with me and lay your pride down. Come with me and live for the glory of God. Come with me and serve the risen King who purchased us with His blood." James says, "Yield your lives to Jesus. You see these hands, they are not your own. They are Jesus's hands. You see these feet, they are not your own. They are Jesus's feet. The eyes, the ears, the life, the heart, the entire being belongs to the one who purchased you. You have an earring in your ear that marks you out as God's own, by voluntary submission. So live up to your calling. Every time you look in the mirror and you see, as it were, the marks of Jesus Christ in your life, that He has saved you and called you, you live up to that. When you look in the mirror and you see these hands, they are for God. When you use them for evil," James says, "cleanse your hands, you sinners." When your heart thinks of evil," he says, "purify your hearts, you double-minded people." When you think evil of your brother in judgment," he says, "don't judge, lest you be judged. Follow after love and peace and purity." James says, "When you speak an evil word, have your tongue cleansed and bridled under the control of the mastery of Jesus Christ who is your Lord." And as we explore these 108 verses and as we are confronted by these 59 commands, we need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray that God would give us a revelation of ourselves as servants of Jesus Christ that have been purchased by His blood with a love that we do not deserve. We need to stop living as entitled people that feels like God owes us anything, but realize that we are people who have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus. We must think of ourselves as servants of somebody, either sin, as Paul says, or righteousness. We are either servants of Jesus or servants of ourselves and servants of the world. We are either in Egypt or we are in the promised land. We are either with God or we are against God. You cannot serve two masters. And what James says to us is right at the beginning of this epistle, we need to pray, "God, give us a revelation of what You've done for us so that these 59 commandments will not be grievous commandments that will cause us to reject You and cause us to be frustrated with You and feel like we can't do anything, but to realize that, God, You have saved us by Your grace. And the only reason we have any right to exist is by Your mercy. And we ought to live our lives for Your glory, not to earn Your favor, but because You have favored us in Jesus. You have loved us with love that we do not deserve. You're a master too good, oh God, and I don't want to go to anyone's household to serve them. I want to serve You." Let us get that picture in our heads. And now having gotten that and understanding that, we say to ourselves, "Okay, Lord, what do I need to do in Your house? What do I need to do as Your son, as Your servant? How am I meant to live as a bondslave of Jesus Christ?" And so therefore, we pray like the hymn we're about to sing, that God would come and give us grace to serve Him. This is what the hymn says: "Come, almighty to deliver, let us all Thy grace receive. Suddenly return, and never, nevermore Your temples leave." Listen to these words: "Thee, we would be always blessing. You, Lord, we would be always blessing. Serve You as Your hosts above. Serve You like the angels, oh God. Pray and praise Thee without ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love." We want to be like those angels that wait at the beck and call of Jesus. "What's the next command, Lord? And how we can take Your message and fulfill Your will to serve Him as the hosts above." That's what the gospel does. So that the James that once rejected Jesus and did not believe in Jesus, as the rest of his brothers, now calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ because of the saving work of Jesus Christ. "I want to serve You, Lord, because You've saved me." Let us pray. Oh Lord, our God, it is great love that You, oh God, would purchase us and call us to be Your servants. Bondslaves we are, and we thank You that You've freed us from the bondage of slavery where we served ourselves and the world and others to our own destruction. But You have brought us into, Lord, this freedom and a liberty as Your slaves, as Your servants, to be in Your house, listening to Your commandments, and to adore You and praise You and fulfill Your will all of our days. Lord, give us, give us a love for You that will interpret Your commandments through the eyes of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we might see Jesus not only as our Lord and Master, but as our Savior, our friend, and God as our Father who in loving union calls us to yield to Him. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.