James 1

***DISCLAIMER***  I literally just finished a 5 week sermon series on James 1 for our high school students; this could be very long.***

A Change in Identity Leads to a Change in Activity (Verse 1)

The Book of James starts off with a truly shocking opening statement!

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

James 1 (NET)
1 From James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ

James just declared himself a SLAVE to both God (which is not surprising, since he was Jewish), AND to a man called Jesus. But he didn't just say he was a slave to Jesus. He said that Jesus was "Lord."  The Greek word there is "Kyrios," which was used by Christians EXCLUSIVELY for God.  Some Christians took the term so seriously that when the Roman Empire required that all Roman citizens declare "Kaiser Kyrios!" (Caesar is Lord), they chose to die rather than declare that anyone other than Jesus was Kyrios.  

By James declaring that Jesus was Kyrios, he was declaring "Jesus is God, and I am a slave to Him. He is the Christ (The Messiah) who is the hope for all mankind."

To us as 21st century believers, that's not all that interesting of a declaration.  It's just a simple declaration of our faith.

Here's the problem: James was the half-brother of Jesus, and HE DIDN'T ALWAYS BELIEVE!  In fact, in all of the early appearances of Jesus' brothers, they show up to make fun of Him.

Mark 3

20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 

Jesus' family thought He was CRAZY!

John 7

3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

Jesus' brothers did not believe.  

We don't hear much more about them until James resurfaces a few months later in the Book of Acts and, suddenly, this man who did not believe in Jesus and thought He was crazy is LEADING THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM that Jesus started.  

Everything changed!

Church and Jewish history eventually records that James died after being taken to the top of the Temple. The leaders demanded he take back his claim that Jesus was the Messiah.  He refused, saying:

“Himself sitteth in heaven, at the right hand of the Great Power, and shall come on the clouds of heaven.”

So, they pushed him off the top of the temple, and then stoned him to death.

What changed?

How did a man go from thinking Jesus was crazy to dying for the sake of Jesus' praise? We're never given an exact answer to this question, but Paul gives us a pretty good guess as to the moment when everything changed.  In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul summarizes the Gospel with this:

1 Corinthians 15

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 

Paul gives us this incredibly concise version of the life-changing message.

• Christ died for our sins
• He was buried
• He was raised
• He appeared

Paul didn't claim Jesus was a great teacher.  He didn't claim he had a mystic experience.  He claimed something happened!  Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised, and HE APPEARED TO PEOPLE.  Paul's claim was verifiable!

If anyone was going to refute the ridiculous claim that Jesus was raised from the dead, it would be James.  He didn't believe in Jesus.  He thought his big brother was crazy.  

But 1 Corinthians has a little bit more to say:

1 Corinthians 15

5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James,

The risen Christ appeared to James, and it changed everything!  In that instant, James' thinking went from, "My brother died as a crazy person," to "Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Lord, and I am His slave."  

In an instant, his identity changed!

As James continues to write, he's going to give us a lot of commands, but he always argues from the idea that A CHANGE IN IDENTITY LEADS TO A CHANGE IN ACTIVITY.  He's not giving you a list of activities which will change your identity.  If you followed every single one of his commands, but you fail to embrace the reality that Jesus died for your sins, He was buried, He rose, and He appeared, you have gained nothing.   

He wants you to experience Jesus the way that He did.  When that happens, it changes you from the inside out.

If your identity is in Christ, it changes your activity.

You can listen to my sermon on James 1 here.

A New Perspective on Trials & Temptation (Verses 2-18)

Some people have called James the "Proverbs of the New Testament." It covers a lot of subjects, and shifts from topic to topic very quickly.  

The first topics he tackles are trials and temptation.  James says WHEN trials come (in this world, we should EXPECT trials), there's ALWAYS a temptation attached.  Options you would never entertain otherwise, suddenly seem both appealing and even justified.  

All of us are tempted by different things and, in the moment, we only see the good; we only see the reward of giving in.  In all temptations, there's more at stake.   

Each time we turn to temptation instead of God, we are saying we believe that temptation is more satisfying than God and His plan.

KEY PRINCIPLES REGARDING TRIALS AND TEMPTATION

• You will face trials
• You will face temptation in the moment of the trial
• There is ALWAYS more on the line than we think
• Our ability to resist temptation is directly proportional to our trust in God and His promises

You can listen to Jason Worthen's message on trials here, and my message on temptation here.

Don't Be Deceived (verses 22-25)

James 1

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 

There are two ways to read the Bible:

• You can read the Bible and be deceived.
• You can read the Bible and be blessed.

Reading your Bible without applying the truth and expecting life change is just like looking in the mirror and thinking your hair will magically comb itself and your make up will paint itself on your face.  We all know it doesn't work that way, but when it comes to the Bible we think things are different.

• So many times we read the Bible to FINISH instead of reading the Bible to CHANGE!
• Read your Bible to CHANGE, not to FINISH!

Instead, when we come to the Word, we must apply the truths we find.  That is how you are blessed.

DECEPTION

Hearing =Transformation = Application

TRUTH

Hearing + Application = Transformation

True Religion (verse 25-2:1)

Religion has a bad rap these days. Whether in the form of adding works to the faith or blatant hypocrisy, Christianity has a bit of a PR problem. This is only compounded by the fact that the media is quick to share stories of corrupt Catholic priests, sleezy mega-church pastors, and the antics of Westboro Baptist. However, they're not so quick to highlight those who are living out what James calls true religion.

James 1

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. 

James 2

1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

James tells us two things true religion NEVER does, and two things which are evidence of true religion.  I'm a bit of a non-linear thinker so I'm going to look at them out of order.

True Religion is Not Polluted by the World (verse 27)

This probably won't surprise you, but there are a lot of really insecure people in our culture. The statistics on the number of teenage girls who don't consider themselves attractive are staggering.  The number of people with a healthy view of themselves are terrifying.  We measure value based on superficial traits, success, and what others can do for us.

Why?

We've polluted ourselves with the world's way of thinking.  We watch TV shows where girls are judge based off of their beauty, and someone literally will circle the places where there's too much fat.  We buy magazines with perfect looking celebrities on the cover which promise to inform us how to get perfect thighs, a great butt, and smooth vibrant skin.  Then, when you read the article, they forget to mention their cover girl's legs were slightly shrunk, her waste was shrunk, her skin was slightly blurred to remove her pores, and they color corrected her skin so she would have a perfect glowing tan.  Oh yeah, and before they took the photo, a dozen world class hair and makeup artists did everything in their power to make her look better than ever. I read an interview recently with a 20 year old B-level celebrity who decided to have a surgical operation to physically cut out part of her inner thighs so she would have a wider thigh gap. They forgot to mention that trick in the magazine article.   

I wonder why so many girls have eating body image issues and eating disorders?
We've polluted our minds.  

You can go through our society and, in every way, we've created expectations which lead to our destruction instead of our success; we've polluted our minds.

Instead, true religion is shaped by the reading and applying of God's Word.  

True Religion Controls Its Tongue (verse 26)

If you want a good test to see how you're doing on the inside spiritually, take a look at what's coming out of you. Jesus put this brilliantly:

Luke 6
45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

If your heart isn't being transformed by the Word and is instead being polluted by the World, why would it surprise you when you say things you wish you could take back? Or, to reverse that, if you constantly find yourself saying things you know you shouldn't say, maybe you need to look for the areas of your heart which are still polluted and drown those areas out with Truth.

Maybe, for you, you're pretty good with your words.  On the surface, this could seem like an area where more introverted personality types have the advantage over the more extroverted types.

But consider, what do you say when...

• ...you're tired
• ...you're stressed
• ...you're angry
• ...you're depressed
• ...you're surprised
• ...you're annoyed

When life is hard, how do you respond?  When life starts to squeeze, what comes out? 

Lastly...

True Religion Does Not Show Favortism (verse 2:1)

True Religion Helps the Helpless (verse 27)

We have a huge problem in our culture with bullying.  At it's core, bullying is when someone uses their strength to hurt the helpless.  It's using your plenty to exploit the poor.  If you're strong, you pick on the weak.  If you have money and power, you leverage it to get more money from those with less money and power.

What did Jesus do?

• He leveraged His power to help the poor.
• He leveraged His power to save sinners.
• He moved towards those who were physically and spiritually weak, and He gave them hope.

True religion is when you leverage your power and resources to help those in need.

True religion is when you move towards the poor and the lowly.

If you're not moving towards the poor, you're moving the opposite direction of God; you're not moving towards the people that God pursued.

Conclusion 

With the applications on true religion, it's always important to remember that the most important thing is making sure that your actions come from a change in identity.  James is not arguing that you start doing new things to be religious.  That's bad religion.  True religion is when you have a transforming faith in Christ which leads to a change in activity.  Suddenly, the over-flow of your heart is love instead of hate.  Suddenly, your actions are for the benefit of others instead of yourself.

Sean Chandler | Associate Pastor

Sean has been a part of the association of Hill Country Bible Churches for over twenty years. He received Christ as a youth while attending Hill Country Bible Church Austin. He attended Hill Country Bible Church NW from 1989 to 2002. At that time he began attending HCBC Pflugerville. He served as a student ministry intern there for two years. In 2008, Sean graduated from Columbia International University with a double major in Bible and Bible teaching. Sean married his wife, Jennifer, in 2006. Their first child, Liam, was born in 2012.

He blogs regularly at seanchandler.net.