The Outpost Church
James Intro
- Graves Into Gardens
- Good Good Father
James 1NIV2011
- Big Idea: To communicate important background information about the book of James that will help us make sense of the different passages we will read later. Communicate the overall desire of James for his readers to be perfect and mature. That only comes as we put our genuine faith in Jesus and pray for wisdom to live faithfully. Major takeaways in this: Faith without works is dead. What is faith? What is wisdom? What is perfection as James defines it?Why family church...Same content easier illustrations & explanationsFill out sheets of paper and give to Adam after service. You are going to see a ** on the slides they can fill something out for...Memory versePlease give me some feedback.Alright let’s get started...
James 1:1 NASB95 1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.So I want to start by talking about authorship:AuthorDo Greek and Hebrew bit...**James’ real name was actually Jacob.Explain the three James’ in Jesus circle:James the brother of John…he died before the book of James was written (killed by Herod Agrippa)…as a side note, James the Apostle died in around 44 A.D. and the book of James was written sometime between 45-46 A.D. which makes the book of James the very first New Testament book ever written…even before any of the Gospels.James the lesser - nothing is really known about him (maybe he moved to Africa, some think he went to Spain, and others think he went into Asia). What we know for sure is that he didn’t stick around Jerusalem.James (or Jacob) the half brother of Jesus.What’s neat is we actually know a lot about this James from the Bible.We know that he actually was very skeptical about his brother Jesus being the Messiah until after his resurrection.We know that:**One of James’ nicknames was James the just because he always tried to do what was right by following God’s Law.We also get this verse in Paul’s letter to the Galatians:Galatians 2:9 NASB95 9 and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.This verse comes in a story about the Jerusalem council where a bunch of the early church leaders all gathered in Jerusalem to talk about some things in the church and did you notice who one of the pillars were? Pillars is just another term for leader.**James was the leader of the church in Jerusalem.Here is the deal…if I were going to write a letter to a bunch of people who don’t know me and I wanted to let them know they should listen to what I have to say, I would think that telling people I was literally the half-brother of the resurrected Jesus would be the way that I could do that. I probably would’ve started the letter like, James the half-brother of the savior of the world to the twelve tribes who are disperses abroad: listen up because this is really important. Or at least I would’ve probably told people that I was a leader in the biggest and fastest growing church in the world…that might have gotten a few people’s attention. And yet, James doesn’t do this. We will talk about why in future sermons.When you study a book of the Bible it is important to not only know who wrote it but who they were writing to. Luckily James tells us right off the bat:**James was written to the 12 tribes dispersed abroad.Here is why that is so important:James pastored the Jerusalem church through two severe famines. Under James’ leadership the church also endured extreme persecution from the Jews and also persecution from the Romans. James would actually be killed by the Jews not far from where his church was there in Jerusalem. Whether James meant for this letter to only go to the Jews originally we aren’t sure. But what we know is that from very early on, like while the Bible was still being written, the church believed that everyone, not just Jews needed to read James’ letter.During James’ time pastoring the Jerusalem church, he had seen a thing or two. James knew the struggles his people faced. James knew the temptations they were most likely to give into and the things that caused them to take their eyes off of Jesus. The best we can figure is that James guessed that if his people were struggling with these things then other believers were probably struggling too.And so James wrote this incredible and very practical book about how to follow Jesus through some of the most difficult problems and temptations we face in life. James actually doesn’t write anything new in that everything James writes comes almost directly from either the wisdom literature of the Old Testament or from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.Here is the deal about that though…that can make the book of James both really easy and really hard to read at the same time.The book of James is filled with short lessons filled with wisdom, axioms, practical lessons, and catchy one-liners. Its because of this that But if you are someone who likes for there to be a central story or who thinks linearly its super difficult.Do what is linear bit…? A then B then C then __James is not at all organized linearly. In fact, James uses a style of Greek writing that is incredibly complex and we as westerners have a really difficult time getting our minds around it. James’ writing is so profound in fact, that many critics say it would’ve been impossible for a poor, uneducated, peasant craftsman to have been able to produce it.James is broken down into these twelve different teachings that all seem to stand alone if you aren’t tracking what James’ purpose for the book are. So let’s take a few moments and look at the purpose James had for writing this book and then we will close things out.James 1:2–4 NASB95 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.Let’s look at verse four because it actually gives us the reason for James’ writing.**James want the people reading this letter to be perfect and complete.Does anyone have any other words in their Bible besides perfect and complete?Let’s talk about being perfect for a minute.Do the perfect hair perfect body funny bit...Do the seat belt bit…seat belts save lives assembly at school…do we really believe riding in cars is dangerous? The goal of the assembly at school (for which they got ever more graphic and scary each year) was to convince you without a shadow of a doubt that riding in cars is dangerous and wearing a seat belt can make it considerably less dangerous.If you truly believe that riding in cars is dangerous and seat belts make it less dangerous then you will definitely wear your seat belt.**For James, perfection, maturity, and completeness is about a consistency between what we claim to believe and how we actually live.James knows that we are actually very fractured people who claim to believe one thing about who Jesus is, our devotion to him, and how that affects the way we live our life, and yet our actions display that we actually believe something different entirely.James’ desire for the readers of his letter is that they will stop living fractured lives and become perfectly complete and lacking nothing.To constantly remind us of this, James has included a bunch of these catchy one-linersHere are a few examples that we will be looking at specifically over the next several weeks. See if you can pick out the inconsistencies in our thoughts and actions that James is trying to highlight.James 1:7–8 NASB95 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.OrJames 1:22 NASB95 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.Or speaking about the sins of partiality and favoritism we show to wealthy people while ignoring the needs of the needy. If we claim to follow Jesus then we must remember that:James 2:5 NASB95 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?and yet we:James 2:6 NASB95 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?Here is his one-liner meant to call out our duplicity:James 2:13 NASB95 13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.Or how about this one:James 2:15–17 NASB95 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.These don’t even get us all the way through chapter two! James still serves up two more one-liners meant to show how we live fractured lives just in the end part of chapter two. This reality is like the key we have to hold in our minds if we want to read the book of James well. These were incredibly relevant to the people of James’ day and that are still just as relevant to us today.It looks like James has just written a bunch of standalone wisdom sayings but once you have idea in your head that the author James had in his, we will see how he masterfully weaves the theme of being perfect and complete throughout all of the seemingly disjointed teachings. James is an incredibly practical book but in order to be changed by it, you have to take it to heart.Listen to this statement James makes:James 1:25 NASB95 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.The word for look here is parakypsas in Greek and means more than just a cursory reading. The idea is like stopping, bending down, and studying something intently. For this reason, we are going to stop each week and highlight a particular passage of James for further study and memorization. Kids, if you guys can memorize this and bring it to Mr. Adam next week, he will have a little something for you.James 2:17–18 (NASB95)17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”Mom and dad, I’m sorry but I won’t have anything special for you next week. Well maybe I can have like some special coffee in the foyer or something. The hope with family worship Sundays is that we can give you guys something to work on together as a family and really help you disciple your kids well.One last thing and then let’s close it down.James is going to tell us that we need three things if we are going to grow in maturity and perfection becoming truly complete. While we are going to look at two of them in future sermons, he has actually already given us one of those things that make us perfect so I figured we had better talk about it.James 1:2–4 NASB95 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.Did you notice that James just assumes that you as a follower of Jesus are going to endure trials. He doesn’t specify what he necessarily means by that and that’s actually the point. We are all going to endure things that test our faith…that is to say that it will test whether or not we actually believe what we say we believe and will live according to that belief or not. And we are to take joy in those trials because those are the very things that God uses (although he’s going to make certain we know in just a few verses that God didn’t actually send those trials) to show us what we actually believe and grow us into deeper belief that leads to right action and finally perfection.Let’s go back to our seat belt example for just a second. Have any of you ever been rear ended? I grew up in the nineties in the age where a lot of people didn’t wear their seat belts. I also grew up in the age where you cleaned out the trash in your car going down the road…anybody else ever do that (do the funny sonic trash bit).Tell the story of being rear ended when I was riding in the back of my grandmas car. The buy barely tapped us but it felt like he hit us going like sixty miles an hour and both me and my sister went flying forward and our heads hit the back of the seats in front of us. I wish I could say that I learned my lesson from that incident…I definitely did better but still failed to wear it all the time. I wish I could say that I learned my lesson when two of my very close friends and classmates died in the tenth grade when they got into a bad accident and weren’t wearing their seat belts or when my cousin died in a car crash and wasn’t wearing his seat belt. I think that all of those different situations helped but do you know when I finally learned my lesson? When I got pulled over in college and got a ticket for not wearing my seat belt.You see, we find ourselves in the middle of trials all the time. Sometimes those trials are messes of our own making and sometimes they are just bad situations that happen because we live in a broken and sinful world. While it is incredibly important for us to understand that God doesn’t send those trials just to teach us a lesson (a lesson that James ensures we understand just a few verses later), those trials don’t have to be for nothing. We can take joy even in the trials as we let the testing of our faith produce an endurance of action that leads to unifying our character in perfect complete maturity.It’s the old adage, you don’t learn patience without having to be patient. You may know that you are supposed to be a forgiving person because that’s who Jesus was and what he did for you but there is something about being in a situation where you have to forgive someone that is really hard to forgive to really understand what that means and live complete as a forgiving person.We want to grow as humble, loving, forgiving, patient, kind, gentle people, who speak kind life giving words to others, manage our finances well, and treat all people with respect regardless of what we stand to gain from the relationship. We often grow the most when we are placed in situations with the option to do the opposite. Or we grow in trials of hardship when other people have the opportunity to treat us in one of those ways and yet the choose to do the opposite and we experience the pain of that choice. In those trials, we get to see what we truly believe and adjust accordingly.James is telling us that we need to see those trials as a blessing because they lead to our perfection. Like the fires of a crucible that refine our character, we should take joy as we know the precious and mature character that will come out the other side.I want to close out with this question:What trial are you currently going through and how can we take joy in the opportunity for growth it is providing us?I don’t know where you came in here at or what you may be dealing with...Talk to kids…maybe it’s someone at school not being very nice. Maybe it’s problems with a brother or sister, or grades, or feeling lonely, or problems at home with mom and dad.Talk to parents...COMMUNIONWhile it is true that James wants us to be perfect, in the sense that he wants us to live consistently with what we believe, there has only ever been one truly perfect person.If we have any hope it is through the perfect life of Jesus lived on our behalf and the sacrificial death which paid the cost for our imperfection. Our perfection comes as we submit to Him and seek to follow after him the rest of our life. Jesus calls us back to remember that sacrifice regularly because it is also the power which ultimately changes us as well.I want to invite you to participate in remembering the life and blood of Jesus given on our behalf this morning. If you are a follower of Jesus who has been baptized and a member of the church, then here in just a moment, I am going to give you a moment to come grab one of these little cups.This is no small thing and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I want to give you all a couple of minutes to go in prayer alone and as a family in your seat. Don’t come to this with unrepentant sin in your life or unforgiveness in your heart. As the music plays for the next couple of minutes please take time and prepare your heart as we prepare to take the bread and the cup. Once you are finished, please quietly come grab one of the cups and wait quietly at your seat and I will lead us through it.GIVE TWO MINUTES.Luke 22:14–19 NASB95 14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”Pray AND EAT THE BREADLuke 22:20 NASB95 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.Pray and DRINK THE CUPAfter Jesus and his disciples ate the final passover meal, the Bible says that they went out from that place and sang a hymn together. Will you join us in worship one last time this morning and as soon as the song is over, you all are dismissed.Sing final song. James 1:1NIV2011
Galatians 2:9NIV2011
James 1:2–4NIV2011
James 1:7–8NIV2011
James 1:22NIV2011
James 2:5NIV2011
James 2:6NIV2011
James 2:13NIV2011
James 2:15–17NIV2011
James 1:25NIV2011
James 2:17–18NIV2011
James 1:2–4NIV2011
- King Of My Heart
