JAMES: INTRO AND CHAP ONE!
James 1:1-14

Of course, you realize right off the bat, James was slap dab crazy – out of his mind!? The man says when trouble comes, throw a party. As we would say in Louisiana, “laissez le bon temps rouler! (Let the good times roll.) A hurricane hits your place and you’re supposed to throw a party? Isn’t that’s insane. Back in the last century a Baptist pastor, Jess Moody, who himself bounced off a lot of walls had a sermon called, “Have a Happy Hurricane!” He said that was a common saying this time of year in Ft. Lauderdale where he was pastor. Many families threw hurricane parties. I have to assume those ‘canes were less violent than the recent one on the Gulf coast!

James was using colorful language here. The word translated various has its root in an expression like many-colored. And the word that means both trials and temptations is the root from which we get our word pirate. So I envision one’s ship being overrun by a mob of colorful pirates

Of course, James wrote in more pious sounding language: Count it all joy when you are beset by various trials and/or temptations. You gotta understand that checking out how strong your faith is leads to developing endurance. Then over the years as you mature, you’ll look back and see how that endurance brought you to maturity, able to accomplish His purpose in your life.

Now that we’ve dived right in, let’s pause and take a look at this little letter as a whole. We just studied Galatians, a letter that Paul wrote to the congregation of a specific church, primarily dealing with a specific problem. On the other hand, we don’t know for sure who was intended by James, except he calls them “the 12 tribes of the dispersion.” If you remember Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, you may also remember the crowd had come from all over that world, speaking various languages. That tells us that Jewish people (originally 12 tribes) were already dispersed to many countries outside of Palestine. If James was written after 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and turned it into a Roman town, there was a huge dispersion of Jews at that time, and it may have been those scattered Christians James was writing to. We call this kind of letter a “general” epistle, since it seems to be intended for the church at large.

As to the date of the book, various people think it’s anywhere from 65 AD to 125! If most scholars are correct that a central reason for the book is to correct a distortion of Paul’s teaching that we are saved by faith alone and not by works, then this letter must come after Romans and Galatians had been widely circulated. If you still have a copy of the Intro I sent you to Galatians, you might look over that one again. If so, then the earliest the book could have been written was after Paul’s influence had spread widely enough for people here and there to be misinterpreting what he meant. This was the very early days of the Gospel and the Church, so it was vital that they get the doctrine right. We’ve already seen the abusers described in Paul’s letter, that we call Judaizers. An opposite group had arisen, however, claiming that Paul taught you could believe in Jesus and after that it didn’t matter what you did. James wanted to make sure that genuine faith results in good works.

Traditionally, James who wrote this epistle is considered the half-brother of Jesus, who led the congregation at Jerusalem. Others point out a couple of other James, such as the disciple and the other one nicknamed “the Less.” The book does show the kind of emphasis the Jerusalem church took an interest in as described in Acts.


Now, let’s go back to verse 5. Here is a very specific promise that a particular prayer will be answered. The Christian does not have to live life without guidance. If you need wisdom, ask for it, and you will receive it. Seek and you shall find. I believe this can apply both to wisdom for today’s choices and the development of lifetime wisdom.

The Epistle of James is an unusual letter. Many scholars look at it as the only example of wisdom literature in the New Testament. Wisdom is a tradition in Middle Eastern Literature, and we find five books in the OT we call wisdom literature. Chief among these are Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, both of which are filled with pithy sayings on how to live effectively. James shares this, but in his hands it becomes distinctively Christian wisdom. We’ll see as we go on how often a saying of Jesus lies behind a verse.

Verses 6-7 emphasizes faith in praying as opposed to doubt. We use doubt two different ways in our churches today. First, we use it as intellectual doubt. That’s when our mind is thinking through our beliefs. The proper way to handle intellectual doubt is not to fear it, but to think it through. Today there is an immense amount of discussion in books and online about every aspect of our faith. I strongly encourage Christians to read at least two or three books a year about the Christian life, so you will be led by the Spirit as your understanding develops.

I believe it is the second kind of doubt at issue here. That kind is simple trust that God will do what He says, and that you can depend on Him as you follow Jesus. Why would you pray if you don’t trust God to answer you? There’s a story about a little boy who lived near a mountain range. One night after reading his Bible, he looked out the window and said, “God, throw that mountain into the sea! Amen.” When he looked up, the mountain was still there. “I thought it would be,” he said. That’s the kind of doubt that interferes with prayer.  With confident faith, one prays for wisdom and moves forward assuming God is leading.

V 7 – that person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Well, of course not! He has just said it takes faith, but this kind of doubt is the opposite of faith. Double-minded and unstable…the opposite of the man of faith. Both the leadership of the Holy Sprit and your faith in that leadership will, throughout your life, push you beyond your comfort zone into risk territory. If that scares you, remember what the Twelve who followed Jesus must have experienced. He took them from fishing, tax collecting, and who knows what else to turn them into almost instant rabbis and evangelists! And the Lord still does it!

Verse 8 – Oddly, it is the one who takes leaps of faith who James says is stable! The one who hesitates is lost! It’s okay if your emotions bounce all over the place. The unstable one is the one who begins to believe and draws back, who begins in faith but draws back. Movies and TV police procedurals and military shows have popularized the concept of a partner “having one’s back.” That idea is equally important in Christian discipleship. Together our congregations must support one another, with everyone playing his part.

>One day as a pastor, it struck me that usually it was the “old heads” in the church that were the most fearful of going forward. Part of it, I’m sure, is that living on a fixed income and living through recessions made them cautious. On the other hand, by the time you reach senior adulthood, most Christians have walked for years with Christ. They have a dozen or three dozen testimonies of the Lord carrying them and their churches through trying times. It seems to me that older Christians should be the most adventurous, challenging the younger ones to move forward as the Spirit leads!

Vv 9-11 – The early church often tilted toward the lower social classes as witnessed by several of these epistles. Paul addresses the subject, and James agrees with him here. The present passage challenges each group, the poor and the wealthy, to celebrate their status. The poor should stand tall because the Lord has made him an ambassador for Christ and a servant of God. The rich, paradoxically, should embrace the fact that their privileged status will not last into eternity.

    I remember a poem from somewhere whose repeated chorus echoes its self-explanatory title: Six Feet of Earth Makes Us All of One Size!
    Political Correctness constantly hammers against built-in privilege. We here mostly charges against old white males, but with the #MeToo movement, it has reached out to men of several races. We white male Christians need to remember that we are not called to privilege, but to service. Check out Philippians 2:5ff – Let this mind be in you…
    Likewise, remember that dynamically powerful verse from Galatians: The is no Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, but in Christ ALL ARE ONE!

V 12 – James returns to his persistent theme of perseverance. We have no evidence of active persecution in the background of this epistle. On the other hand, Christians of that day could expect the occasional spurt of one government or another or even harassment from Jewish leaders. In addition, Satan harasses us daily with temptations. Remember, wherever you see the word trial, you could also translate that word temptation, so that could like in the background here. Keep on keeping on. Yield not to temptation.  And the like.

V 13 – Don’t blame temptation on God. And, I would add, be careful about blaming trials on God. As we’ll see, we bring a lot of trials – and temptations! – on ourselves! Fundamental to the nature of God is the notion that He is good. James spells it out: He is never even tempted to do evil, and even further, He will never tempt anyone else. So watch out that you don’t blame God.

    Once I started looking for them, I was surprised how many was I – and you – subtly blame God. “Anger is just my besetting sin. I’ve always had a tempter.” Implies you can’t do anything about it, even with God’s help.
    The advertising constantly bombards us with temptation. What can we do?
    Saw an article last week suggested Google was edging away from its founders’ motto: First, do no evil. How well do you keep that motto?

V 14 – Add to that, the most frequently heard excuse, “The Devil made me do it.” Well, no. He can tempt you, but he can’t override your will. If he could, our sin would be his fault, not ours. But consider the process here, and note it IS a process:
    1 – sin begins in desire, your own desire. Desire is rooted in pride. “I deserve it.” Do you? Be sure you don’t sound as if you’re pouting. How did you get along without it? How do others do without it? Eve saw the fruit and thought how it would feel to sink her teeth into it.
    2 – Action expresses the desire, and that action becomes sin. Eve ate!
    3 – Sin carries one in the direction of death. When sin is full grown the end of the path is death. I think of life as a road. At one end is God. At the other is Hell. Which direction are you headed?
    4 – James thinks in terms of life: conception, birth, death. There’s a special irony in sin giving birth to death!
    As a pastor, when I found myself in a difficult situation, I quoted the first part of John 15:16 to the Lord, You did not choose me, but I chose you…”  Then I would say, “Lord, you got me into this, now help me out here.” Sometimes I got the help easily. But there were a few times, I was pretty sure I heard Him say, “Oh no, I didn’t. Don’t blame this one on me. You got yourself into it, now get yourself out.” Of course most of the time, He did lead me out, but still…
    You actually gain an advantage when you accept responsibility. If the devil really did make you do, you are in no shape to defeat him. If you take the blame, you can reverse your behavior and work your way out!

V 16-17 – In contrast to blaming temptation on God, recognize and praise Him as the source of all good! Good and perfect gifts…Perfect has the idea of maturity, which in turn has the idea of fulfilling its purpose. A mature Christian is one who fulfils God’s purpose for him. A perfect gift is one which fulfils its purpose. Perfection in the Bible does not put flawlessness first, but completion of purpose.

V 18 – James here connects his thoughts with those of John and Paul! John spoke of the new birth, and Paul of the new creation. “Word of truth” includes two of John’s favorite words. Word is the Greek word logos, which usually means Christ or at least the Gospel of Christ. James give evidence he believes we are saved exactly as the rest of the NT says we are.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: This strikes me as a huge lesson. You won’t have enough time to cover all of it. Give some thought as to which parts will be most helpful to your class members. If you can’t cover all you think is important, make a note and consider going on from there to begin next week. I’ve also saved extra material against a week of material I think is either less important or already absorbed by the class.














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