James MSOTB

I want to tell you about a Christian I know.

I won’t tell you their name.
Not because I’m protecting their identity—
but because it might be you.

They believe in Jesus.
They attend church.
They would absolutely call themselves a Christian.

And they’re sincere about it.
Very sincere.
The kind of sincere that assumes sincerity is the same as faithfulness.

They own several Bibles.
Different translations.
For different seasons of life.
None of them are currently in season, though.

They pray regularly.
Mostly when something goes wrong.
And occasionally when someone asks them to.

They love their church.
Appreciate good sermons.
Clear sermons.
Sermons that are practical—
as long as they don’t actually have to do anything.

They are deeply committed to grace.
Grace for the tone they use.
Grace for their temper.
They love grace… as long as they don’t have to give it.

They are very concerned about the moral decline of the culture.
Especially the culture outside the church.
Inside the church, they’re just glad they’re better than all those other people.

They have faith, they believe faith is something you have.
Not something you do.
Which is really nice—
because doing things is exhausting.

They would never say,
“My faith in Jesus hasn’t changed my life.”
They think that would be a ridiculous thing to say.
But if you asked them how their faith has changed their life this week…
They would give you a look that means, “Mind your own business.”

That’s a standup comedy routine that could have been given by James Bar-Joseph in Jerusalem around 45 AD. Nobody would have thought it was funny then either. Would have got their attention, though.

We’re talking about the book of James today. It was probably the first book written in the New Testament—about 20 years after the resurrection. It was written by the head pastor of the church in Jerusalem—the leader of all the churches, actually. All the apostles looked to him for wisdom and direction.

Which makes sense… 

James was the half-brother of Jesus. Grew up with Him. Didn’t believe He was the Son of God, Messiah, Savior of the world until after the resurrection, though. Can you blame him—how would you feel if your brother started a new religion and expected you to worship him?
I’d be like, “You were always mom’s favorite.”

So, it sends a pretty strong message when Jesus’ biological brother comes on board with the church. He would have known Jesus the man better than anyone else—would have known Him as a kid, worked in Joseph’s shop with Him. Would have seen Him at His worst—did Jesus have a worst? For James to say this guy he had known his entire life was without sin, perfect, and even believe that He died for mankind’s sin and came back from the dead, and anyone else who also believes it would get eternal life—that’s a pretty strong endorsement. 

And we need to remember the setting when this was written. In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit explodes on the church at Pentecost and many thousands of people come to faith in Jesus. The church grows like crazy—five thousand become ten thousand, ten thousand becomes twenty.

Most of the Christians are still Jews. But they have friends and family that don’t believe in Jesus. That would have made everyday life really awkward. The more the church grew, the worse the tension got. People chose sides. It got ugly. People got angry. Lots of yelling and heated exchanges. And then murder.

It got to the point where the Jewish leaders started killing Christians. Going door to door and killing men and women for their faith in Jesus. 

Can you imagine? Everyone so wrapped up in their demonizing of the other side, listening to the echo chamber of people who agreed with them, lashing out at anyone who disagreed with them… can you even imagine people acting like that? Hmm!?

The Christians who were able, got out of Jerusalem running for their lives. Which means the church spread all over to a lot of other cities. A lot of non-Jewish people started coming to faith. Which caused all kinds of new problems.

The guy that rose up to lead the church through this chaos was Jesus’ brother, James. The first book written for the church to be read in worship at all those new churches was this little letter he wrote to help people navigate all this foolishness and live with God’s wisdom—to live like people who were actually following Jesus. 

So, we’re going to do a quick flyover of the book of James.
And we’re going to explore why having faith and following Jesus must change how we live.

What does faith look like in daily life? How should we live? What is Christian faith applied practically?

James is the main wisdom book in the New Testament: teaching God’s people how to live the Christian way—faithfully —in the real world.

Like the Book of Proverbs and the wisdom Psalms, James assumes the reader already has faith in God and focuses on how life works in God’s kindgom—according to His wisdom.

God’s wisdom and God’s Law are pretty much the same thing. 

James makes it clear that God’s Law is not something we can partially keep or selectively obey:

James 2:10 (ESV)
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Break one, guilty of all. We don’t get holy credit for effort. We’re either righteous—or we’re not. Any time we break God’s law, by doing what we shouldn’t or by not doing what we should—it’s a sin that leads to death. It doesn’t mean all sins are equal but it does mean any sin at all is deadly.

Think of it like…  if we break the smallest of God’s laws, it’s like drinking poison. A drop will kill us. It doesn’t matter what flavor the poison is or how much we like it.

…and we guzzle it by the gallon. Every day. 

James describes the basic flow of how sin happens and what it does to us…

James 1:14–15 (ESV)
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We make little sin babies that grow up and murder us. Sin grows. It matures. It has consequences. Sin isn’t just a mistake or weakness. It starts with our wicked desires, encouraged by our foolishness, and grows into something that kills.

Add to that our enemy the devil who chases us around encouraging us to be our worst—what can we even do? James says to resist the devil and he will flee. 

Also, God knows we’re going to sin. He made a plan for how to save us from it killing our soul. But He also expects us to resist temptation and try as hard as possible to speak and act like Christians. 

James 2:12–13a (ESV)
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.

If you trust in Jesus, then you will be judged by the law that sets you free—you will be shown mercy and forgiven because of Jesus. So, act like it.

People seem to be very confused about the relationship between salvation and sin. They tend to fall into one of two ditches: either they think they can save themselves by not sinning and being a good person, or since they are forgiven they can do whatever terrible things they want. Both are wrong.

We’re especially bad at the sin of holding grudges and keeping track of how people have sinned against us.

So you might not like it but James is very clear, and is echoing Jesus Himself, when he says if you don’t show mercy to each other then you will not be shown mercy either. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. If you do not forgive then God will not forgive you. 

If you continue to treat people like crap after God has shown you kindness—that’s not only foolish and wicked—God says He will judge you without mercy. 

Having faith is great but it’s not enough—even the demons believe in Jesus. We have to do something with our faith—have to put it to use—or it’s no good.

The most controversial statement in the New Testament was written by the brother of Jesus:

James 2:17 (ESV)
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

And in… 

James 2:26 (ESV)
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

If we don’t understand this, we don’t understand the relationship between faith and faithfulness.
He’s describing what living faith looks like versus what dead faith looks like.

There’s no such thing as living faith without faithfulness.

Luther choked on these verses, pretty much choked on the whole book of James, early in the reformation. He called James an epistle of straw. He was fighting against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church because it taught that doing good works was how God saves us. His whole thing was we’re not justified by our works so he didn’t know what to do with James. But he softened on this later when he came to see that if Christians don’t live a godly life that flows from their faith in Christ then their faith will die. Faith is useless if it’s not put to use.

He later explained that James is very helpful for understanding how to live as a Christian—it just doesn’t contain the words that make someone Christian. It doesn't so much announce the Gospel as it assumes we’ve already heard it. It’s pretty much all law. Everything in this book flows from “having been justified by Christ… so this is how you should live.”

I was thinking about how everyone is so quick to be angry all the time—how foolish that is. How un-Christian it is. Jesus said to be angry with someone is the same as murder. The definition of love according to God is to be kind, gentle, forgiving, patient… pretty much the opposite of being mad and grumpy with people. Anger, malice, contempt—these words are included in the same lists as sins we think are really bad:

Like, in Galatians 5:19–21 (ESV) it says… 

*Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality (yeah that’s bad), impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, (why, we would never! But then…) enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger…” (wait, what are those doing in there?)

And Colossians 3:5–8 (ESV) says… 

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality (check), impurity (of course), passion, evil desire (amen!), and covetousness, which is idolatry (horrible things!). On account of these the wrath of God is coming. But now you must put them all away: (He continues…) anger (what?), wrath, (hey, wait a minute, God says He’s bringing wrath, why can’t we? That’s not fair!) malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 

Anger is listed as a deadly sin in that list three different ways.

And you might be thinking, “Yeah but what about righteous anger?” 

I would argue that only God is capable of righteous anger. And you might be like, “What about Jesus driving out the money changers with a whip?” And I’d remind you that, first of all, Jesus is God, so there’s that. And second, He only did it once. So, if you think pulling out a whip is a WWJD option, then I’d say, like Jesus, you only get to play that card one time. 

And I’m pretty sure you, unlike Jesus, won’t be able to do it without sinning.

Probably best to notice when you’re starting to get mad and keep it to yourself —don’t do anything with that anger. In other words, “Be angry and do not sin.”

James 1:20 says,

“Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.” 

Most of us should probably write that on our steering wheel… tattoo it on our soul.

I was thinking about all of this as I was driving to meet a friend for lunch the other day—and someone pulled onto the feeder road in front of me going 30 MPH. 30 MPH! The speed limit of the feeder is 50 MPH! I started fantasizing about having one of those cattle bars on the front of my mini van so I could just ram into them and show them how dangerous it is to pull out in front of someone and drive 20 MPH under the speed limit! Aren’t you pleased with your pastor? Ha.

So I yelled… Anyone want to guess what I yelled?

“Meeeeee!”

That’s what I always yell when I get angry while driving. It reminds me of how much of a selfish baby I’m being. “Meeeee! I’m more important than you! Meeee!” Try it. Haha It’s life changing. 

How we act when we’re driving in traffic by ourselves is a pretty good test of our sanctification.
Yes, people drive poorly. Sometimes they even get mad at you. Sometimes, admit it, you deserved it. Here’s a crazy idea… let’s try to drive like Christians. Driving is dangerous, maybe we shouldn’t be ignoring God and His wisdom while we do it.

It’s hard. I mean, this happened while I was actually thinking about how stupid it is that we go around mad all the time.

Another test of our faithfulness is how we treat people when they disagree with us or disrespect us. Especially online. “Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry” is what God requires of us according to James 1:19. You’d think God had told us to be quick to speak, slow to listen, and stay angry all the time.

We all know this. We just don’t do it. We don’t even really try. 

But how can we say we have faith in Jesus, if we don’t give a flip about what He told us to do?
James says we’re fooling ourselves, and our religion is worthless. Worthless!

Worthless Religion

If you claim that Jesus is your Lord and Savior but you get angry and scream at your family…

If you know someone who has a need and you could help but you don’t…

If you show favoritism to people because it benefits you, or because they look like you, or they have the same politics as you… But you act like anyone else can go to hell… 

If you’re in a sexual relationship that God has forbidden… which is anything outside of marriage…

Basically if you read the Bible and don’t do what it says…

What good is it if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Do you think dead faith can save you? No. All this worldliness and sin make you an enemy of God.

These aren’t my words. These are all from the first book written in the New Testament to Christians. 

[James 4:5-10]

Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

It’s interesting how much this book—the first book of the New Testament era—echoes the Book of Job, which was the first book written in the Old Testament. James is encouraging the church to live faithfully, to be patient with each other and to not lose focus as they wait on the Lord’s return. To endure suffering without losing our faith.

And then in chapter 5, verse 11 it says…

We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.

And in verse 13 it says…

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

James kind of saves the best for last. In the last two verses he says this:

My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. James 5:19-20

In other words, repent and be forgiven. That’s getting pretty close to some Gospel.

This is a heavy book. It accuses all of us of being hypocrites.
If you were paying attention, a few of the things I said probably left a mark.
I know they did on me.

Do you have ongoing, habitual sin in your life?

Confess your sins. To God, to one another. So you can be healed. Forgiven.

Take hold of your faith and do something with it. Start living faithfully.
Let this be the year you stop hurting people with your temper.
Let this be the year you try hard to be faithful… In your marriage, in your prayer, in your Bible reading, in your sex life, in your giving, in your church attendance, in sharing your faith with others, in forgiving people who disrespect you, in getting help for your addictions.

Sin drags chaos and hell into your life and into the lives of everyone around you—turn away from sin and toward Jesus.

I know, this was a heavy sermon. Lots of law. Luther’s like, “I told you.”

But the first book the church ever heard in worship wasn’t Romans. It was James.
For the church to grow and maintain a good witness they needed their faith to lead to faithfulness.

Because James is right—faith without works is dead. And the terrifying truth is that left to ourselves, our faith would surely die. Which is why Jesus didn’t just teach wisdom—He lived it, He suffered for your foolishness, died for your sin, then rose to give you life—knowing full well you won’t be able to keep the Law God requires. The Christian life doesn’t begin with trying harder — it begins with being forgiven and given a new life. Faithfulness grows from that gift. But come on… We have to try as hard as we can, with the help of God, if we want a good life, a blessed life—we have to put our faith to use by living faithfully—walking in God’s wisdom instead of living like a fool.

James 1:5 is one of the sweetest promises in the Bible…

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

If you ask for wisdom, God promises to give it to you. 

The same Jesus James grew up with is the one who forgives angry Christians, restores divided hearts, and raises dead faith back to life. 

So, how about this… let's believe in Jesus and try to do what He told us. Attend church. Open our Bibles. Pray every day, and night. Let’s continue to listen to sermons but also listen to what God is saying to us through them. And let’s be deeply committed to grace, receiving it with thankful hearts, and giving it away like there’s an endless supply. Because there is. AMEN