Turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to the Book of James. We will be reading, James, chapter 1, verse 1. I know you're hoping that the sermon will be as short as the verse. And I cannot promise that. James, chapter 1, verse 1. James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nation's greetings. Let's pray. Lord, this is your word. It is not a word from man. It is a word that you have spoken. That you carried the prophets along, that you spoke through them. So its origin is in you and from you. So change us by it. Jesus, you are the living word. Holy Spirit, you take that word, which is the sharp sword. And you pierce us today, we ask. For our good and your glory. Amen. This begins a series on the letter of James that we are actually doing with, we're going to go through this letter of James in the following weeks, with our daughter church, Christ Presbyterian Church in Fayette County, with Chris Treat. So as we're going through the Book of James, they're going through the Book of James as well. So we'll be praying for them that the Lord will move in their midst also. I want to begin by, growing a word out there, discipleship. Now if you've been around the church very long, you know that's a word that we use a lot. And it may be that you hear a word like discipleship or discipleship, which is a word or discipleer, which also isn't a word. But we have created it and made it into a word. That your eyes kind of gloss over when we start talking about this. But I want to talk about discipleship from a different perspective this morning. What is true biblical discipleship? And what does it mean to be disciples by James? Discipleship is what makes something that is abstract and theoretical. It makes it practical and real in our lives. The discipleship is the difference between studying something in a classroom and actually going and doing it and being led by someone who knows more about it than you do. The difference between studying and saying, you know, I understand that from a textbook perspective. And I agree with that theologically, but the discipleships when you actually get to put it into practice. An example of this difference between something being abstract and theoretical and practical and real is my experience when I was first married before I had kids. Theoretically, I wanted children. I remember sitting at the table with my wife and the other children at the other place in the restaurant. They were throwing french fries and they were running all over the place and crying really loud. I remember thinking to myself, I want children someday, but I'm going to be the best dad in the world. I'm going to be cool yet my children are also going to respect me at the same time. And as I was hearing these other children running around being so chaotic and crazy there in the restaurant, I remember thinking to myself, these are the worst parents, right? I know exactly what to do. And then I actually had children. And my table became that table of loud craziness. And some other punk was looking at me rolling his eyes. Because it was much different than sitting at the table thinking without children, how easy it is to be a parent, because I know about being a parent and being a parent is good. But then when you actually have children, it's much different. And that's what discipleship is like. And Christianity could be the same way. We can sit on the comfortable pew on Sundays and agree with everything that the preacher's saying but to so many of you, and I can speak from my own experience, your Christianity is unreal, isn't it? Does it ever feel like the rest of your Christianity is totally detached from the rest of your life? And what going through the book of James is going to do for us, as we're discipled by the book of James, we're going to be confronted with the reality that our faith actually impacts very little of our life. But there's good news. As we're confronted, we are also comforted. Comforted by the truth that the God who gives faith is our God, that we can have a faith by being disciples of Jesus Christ that is dynamic and real. Christianity is not theoretical and abstract, it's lived out. So let's look at our outline today. Why do we need to be discipled? We'll look at who the audience of this letter is. And then what does a discipleer like? Who is James? What does a discipleer like? And then finally, what does discipleship look like? Let's look at these three points briefly. We could first, verse one, to the 12 tribes scattered among the nation's greetings. These are early Jewish Christians. In fact, it seems as though scholars say that this is probably the earliest New Testament letter, as early as 45 AD, maybe just a little more than a decade following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jewish Christians living scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Two things I want to look about the audience, and why they needed to be to disciple, and why we need to be to disciple. First, they are insiders. They are Jewish Christians. They are religious people. And the second thing we're going to look at is that they are struggling with each other. That's why they need to be discipled. Well, look at the first one. They are insiders. That's why they need to be discipled. They are religious. That is, they know theology. They know the Old Testament. They know the words. They know the buzzwords. They know the references that James is making in the Old Testament. But James is wanting them to take what is theoretical and abstract and put it into practice. Have them live in line with what they say they believe. No, it's insiders. This is from personal experience again. It is very possible to think you know something when you really just know about something. It's very possible to say that you know Christ when you really know about Jesus Christ. And the problem is with this word believe. The word believe in our day. When I say the word believe, it means to most of us. There I say all of us what we intellectually comprehend. So when I say you believe in Jesus and that you believe in the gospel, what that means most of the time is that you understand the message of the gospel, that you understand theology, and that you understand facts about Jesus Christ, that you are a believer in Jesus Christ. But the problem is that's not the way the Bible talks about belief. It does say that belief is intellectual. Belief does have a very real intellectual component. You must believe the truth, the facts about the gospel. But belief in the gospel is much more than that. Believing in the Bible means to believe not just with your head, but with your emotions and with your will all together. Believing is living in the Bible. And so when he is challenging them, he is trying to get them to believe what they actually say they believe. James 214, what good is it my brothers? If a man claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food and one of you says to him, go I wish you well, keep warm and well fed but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by actions is dead. He's saying, folks, we believe that people need a coat. We believe and agree with intellectually that people who don't have food need food. But what James is saying, if you don't actually give them a coat, then you don't actually believe it. What Jonathan Edwards said, when he said, you can say that you know what honey tastes like. You can say that honey is sweet, but unless you've actually tasted honey, you do not know that honey is sweet. Do you see the difference? That we can say we believe things about Jesus Christ and intellectually understand things about Jesus Christ. But until it is actually lived out, until it is practiced, it is only head knowledge. And one of the things that discipleship does is that it does to you and it does to me. There are areas in your life where you just think honey is sweet, but you don't know it. Now that's the bad news. That's the problem with insiders like us. The good news is that when we are revealed to not have the kind of faith that we want to have, going through this letter together, we come to the God who is the giver of all good gifts. And if you and I do not have the faith that actually knows what honey tastes like, that actually gives the coat, that actually gives the food, guess what? I know the place to ask. See, the problem with us as insiders is that we can know a lot about Christianity and not know Jesus. That's one of the reasons that they needed discipleship, that's why we need discipleship. The second reason is because they are struggling. They are struggling with each other primarily. It is actually a little bit early for outright persecution. But they are struggling in their relationships with each other primarily between the have, the have's Christians, and the have not Christians. How do these two people get along? Because when we begin to struggle relationally with each other, then what we actually believe is really challenged. I think, dare I say this, I think that I could be a really good Christian if I didn't have to deal with y'all. If I didn't have to go through all the relational difficulty and weirdness, then I could believe all this stuff. But the problem is God puts us in a community where we have to live out the gospel between things like who has money and who doesn't have money. What does Christ have to say about that? See what we do when we are struggling is we would have worked back to what comes naturally. And we would have worked to the way the world acts. You know how the world treats those with a lot and those who don't have a lot? Well guess what, they oppress each other. The rich look down on the poor. And the poor hate the rich. But James says, don't show favoritism, chapter 2 verse 1. Because of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Because now we are one in Christ. And what comes naturally is to treat people who don't have money differently than those who do have money. But you can't do that. He's saying, ah, theoretically we say we believe that we're one in Christ. But practically it's a different story. And this is where the struggle comes in. And this is why our faith is being tried. James is trying to challenge them like a good pastor, a good disciple or wood. It's kind of like my friend did when I was playing golf several years back. And let me just preface this. I am a terrible golfer, so do not ask me to play. If you were thinking that and this story will tell you why. I was playing golf, a friend asked me and he was a really good golfer. And then we get to the first hole. I don't think I'm okay. I can hit it down the fairway some. But I get up there and my swing is a sin. It's an abomination to the game. And I approach the ball. And the reason it is is because what comes naturally to me is that I have to contort my body just to make it go down this way. Because when I try to do it like everyone else does, it just goes everywhere. And overcompensate my swing and it's all like this. And my friend who was really cool and laid back, he's getting his club and I'm already approaching the ball. And he's getting his club and he goes like, whoa partner. Because I'm up there over the ball sort of hunkered like I'm about to do some weird dance. What in the world are you doing? It's like I'm going to hit the ball and he goes, you are not going to hit the ball like that with me here. Because that is an embarrassment. What do you do? And here's what James does. What comes naturally to us when we're not around other people can look really, really weird when it's compared to the right way. And what James is saying is, I know it comes naturally to you. And your struggles that you're having. But Jesus Christ is showing you a new way to treat each other. And by his Holy Spirit you can live in a new way and your swing looks weird sometimes. See we're insiders and we think we know it, but we really may be wrong. And then secondly we're struggling and we need to be encouraged that maybe our swing looks really weird. That's why we need discipleship, that's why they need a discipleship. The second thing I want to look at is what is a discipleer like? You know what a discipleer is like? A discipleer is just like a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And I want to look at James as a profile of that. What kind of person do we want to disciple us? And then what kind of disciples do we want to be? Do you see we're producing this? Let's look at James. James 1, verse 1, James, a servant of God and of our Lord and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are three James's in the Bible, in the New Testament. James the Lesser, we don't know anything about James the Lesser, sure he was a great guy. James the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, who was part of the inner circle, Peter James and John. Peter is another James, whom Paul calls in Galatians 1 an apostle. He is James the leader of the early church in Acts 12 and in Acts 15. And James, that is the brother of Jesus Christ. James was someone who first of all knew the Bible better than we do. So a disciple or someone who really knows the Bible, his letter is replete with Old Testament wisdom. It's dripping with the Bible. He knows it backwards and forwards. He knows the gospel and how the New Testament and the Old Testament fit together. How do I know he knew this? Well, not only from his letter, did I mention that his brother is Jesus? So he's a man of the Word. But he's also a man of prayer. There's a second-century document written by a guy named Haggessipus. And listen to what he says about James. He said, James was a Nazarite, just like his brother. He was in the habit of entering the temple alone and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people. He prayed so often that his knees became like those of a camel. He was constantly bending his knees to worship God. That is, what did James spend most of his time doing? He was always praying. Second, thirdly, he was a man of justice. James is known as James the Just. What does that mean? James is a guy that you could bring your problem to and you could discern it for you. You see him doing that in Acts 15. You see him coming and to the council there and he's been able to discern because of the wisdom that God's given him. So he's a wise man of justice. And he's faithful to Jesus, his brother. How do I know he's faithful to Jesus, his brother? Well, he was martyred. Josephus says that James was thrown from the temple and stoned to death. Now you may be here today and the deity of Christ may be something that is an enormous question mark for you. But have you ever considered this testimony that the person that grew up next to Jesus of Nazareth went to his death? Why? Because he said his brother that he grew up next to was and is God. What do you do with that testimony? I mean, what do you make of that testimony, especially in light of the fifth thing I'm going to tell you? James was first in line and those who denied his brother when Jesus was alive the first time. James was among those who said he is out of his mind in Mark 3. In John 7, he denied that his brothers, he denied that his brother Jesus was the Christ. He did not believe in him. Now can you imagine Jesus calling himself the Messiah? And if you're going to make a case for you being the Son of God, this is so supernatural by the way. If you're going to make a case for you being the Son of God, you're like, yeah, tell them on the Son of God and your whole brothers go like, I don't know what you're talking about.
What's the point, Richie? James knew what it meant to be a sinner and James knew what it meant to be forgiven because in 1 Corinthians 157, do you know who Jesus, his brother showed up to talk to after his resurrection? Paul said he appeared to James. I would have loved to have known what that conversation was about. What is a disciple or a disciple of Jesus Christ, folks? It is someone who's committed to the Word of God. It is someone who's committed to prayer. It is someone who is just. It is someone who is faithful to Christ even to death. It is someone who knows that they are sinful. And finally, it is someone who is humble. How do I know he's humble? If I were writing a letter to the churches and Jesus was my brother, I would have put it in all caps. Greetings, James, the brother of Jesus, bring it on. I would wear a t-shirt that said, Jesus is my brother and I would have photos of Jesus not together, because we're name droppers, right? And we like to say things like, I'm somehow related to George Washington, right? Have you heard people say that? Or I know Elvis Presley's chauffeur's cousin's best friend, more Memphis. But James is humble. James does not say anything about Jesus being his brother. Do you know what he says? Jesus, I'm a slave of him. Parents, do you know what kind of children that you really want to raise? That I really want to raise? Not just the best and the brightest and the top dogs. Do you know what I want to raise? I want to raise someone who's devoted to the Word of God, someone who prays continuously, someone who is faithful to Jesus even to the death, someone who's just, someone who's humble, someone who knows they're sinful. Do you know what that sounds like? It doesn't sound like James. It sounds like James's brother, Jesus. Though he was equal to God did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, emptied himself. See, a discipleer is actually the goal of discipleship, a mature Christian, which brings us to our third and final point, what does discipleship look like? And I'll say this rather briefly, it looks like a lot of things and there are a lot of details that we can fill in about what discipleship looks like, but I want to talk about the essence of discipleship and that is confrontation and comfort at the same time, two sides of the coin. James is going to get into our business. He is going to meddle. There is no growth without confrontation. We cannot grow without hearing the hard truth about ourselves. We cannot begin to grow in Christ unless we know our blind spots and folks, I can tell you from, again, from my own story, I'm being discipled right now by a man named Richard Siegel, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who is a converted Jewish man probably in his 70s. And I am a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant from Arkansas. And you want to talk about confrontation? You already said to me, and I share this with you. He said, Richie, we were talking the other day and he said, Richie, you know, you sound on to me. You sound like you have to be on right now. I was like, Richard, what do you mean? You sound like you're performing to me and you do that a lot. Like there's a Richie that is Richie and then there's a Richie that sounds maybe like a game show host. Like you're trying to talk to someone in your church. And he said, Richie, why do you feel the need to perform for people? Why do you feel the need to be on for people to sound a certain way to people to sound appropriate to people? Why do you do that? Crickets. And you know what I wanted to say to him? I know you are, but what am I? When we're confronted with our sin, I'm talking about not the way we want to sound, but the way we actually sound. We see things about ourselves that we can't see things about ourselves that other people see sins in our life. That you and I, folks, if we actually want to grow and we want to move from abstract theoretical to practical Christianity, it's going to get hard, but here's what happens when you're confronted. Here's what happens. You stop being a wooden Pinocchio, you become a real boy. The hard truth brings life. And in a lonely plastic world that we live in, or no one knows anyone and no one knows themselves, true discipleship looks like this. You sound phony. And in Jesus Christ, you're also comforted because you don't have to be phony-richy. God loves you. You are justified and you stand before Him righteous. And the reason we cannot be confronted is because we don't believe the comfort really is that good. There are areas in your life where you're afraid I'm going to get too close for comfort. And areas that you're protecting with every ounce of your being, sins that deep down you think, I don't know if those really can be forgiven, or areas in your life where you refuse to repent. James is going to drill down on those by the power of the Holy Spirit. I want you to think for a moment with me, what is that area in your life that you're so afraid to be confronted about? Bible says, in 1 John, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and he will forgive our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness. But if we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word has no place in our lives. What place in your life? What place in your life is God pointing out and he's saying, don't lie here. You see, he's trying to set you free. The gospel is really, really good news. There's no fine print here, folks. You can really be that broken that maybe it seems as though eternity. We're going to have the greatest laugh, the greatest most glorious, most worshipful laugh and singing, because we're going to look at each other when it's all laid out and all the masks are gone and all the dirty laundry is right there in front of the universe. And Jesus Christ said, I really did forgive you. That is how big this whole thing is. My blood really can forgive your sins. And we'll be able to look at each other and say, it really is true. See, what discipleship is doing is it is pushing us into an area that we do not want to go naturally, but it's making us real. It's letting us see that we have a hope. We have a glorious inheritance, Paul says in Ephesians 1.18. And as one writer says, this hope, do you know this hope? Look at me people, look at me. Do you know what this hope is? The hope is this, that you are not a frog, you are a prince. And you feel like a frog a lot, don't you? And you act like a frog, Christian. And the goal of discipleship is to keep telling you and reminding you you are not a frog, you are a prince. And it's going to be hard to hear that you're like a frog a lot. But you are a prince and we're becoming a prince and you're becoming a princess. What a glorious thing, let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we lift this up to you, strike from our memory anything that does not come from you because we long for you to be honored and for us to be fed for your glory in Jesus' name.