This is Connect with Skip-Heitzig. Thanks for joining us for today's program. At Connect with Skip Heitzig, we're all about connecting you to the timeless truth of God's Word through verse-by-verse teaching. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others. Before we get started with the program, we encourage you to check out connectwithskip.com, where you'll find resources like full message series, weekly devotionals, and more.
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Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. My oldest brother was named James. Jim. And one of his frequent admonitions to me as the youngest of four boys. was Grow up.
He would love to say that to his younger brothers, especially me, grow up. Yeah.
Well, essentially that is what The book of James says to us. That as believers we should reach maturity, we should grow up. You know, having a baby is exciting. Uh if how many How many parents do we have that have had babies before?
Sort of a trick question. How many of you once were babies? Raise your hands.
Okay, some of you just are not engaged at all. Um Sort of like the class that we just saw on the video. But when you have a baby and you hear that baby's first sounds. First words. You record it, you take pictures of it, you share it with family and friends.
Because it's so exciting. Fast forward 25 years. If a 25-year-old is saying mama, dad, dad, and holding a bottle. Not so excited. Because you figure by that time there should be maturity.
That child should grow up.
Somebody once said a baby is a digestive apparatus. With a loud noise at one end and no responsibility at the other end.
So you want that to change. It's appreciated for what it is. but not for the long haul.
So how do you know when You're an adult.
Well, a few people took a stab at it and said this: you know, you're an adult when the bills in the mailbox start coming in your name. You know you're an adult when 4:30 a.m. is early in the morning instead of late at night. You know, you're an adult when the heater kicks on, and the first thought you have is how much it's going to cost. You know, you're an adult when you start hearing your favorite song.
In an elevator. Oh. You know that you're an adult when jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as dressed up. You know, you're an adult when your car insurance goes down. and your car payment goes up.
You know, you're an adult when dinner and a movie is the whole date, not the beginning of one. You know, you're an adult when you actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time. You know you're an adult when ninety three percent of the photos on your phone are of your pet or baby, and the rest of the pictures are things you're trying to sell on Craigslist to make room for your pet or baby. And finally, you know you're an adult. When the thought of buying a new sofa or kitchen appliance makes you as giddy as a 12-year-old at a Justin Bieber concert.
Welcome to adulthood.
Now just as Having a baby is exciting. A spiritual baby, a born-again individual, is even more exciting when you see someone make a decision. To follow Jesus Christ and experience the thrill of salvation, the joy of forgiveness, the feeling of peace and joy that comes over them. Having a brand new start is infinitely more exciting. But there's more.
You see, there's two great themes that run through the Bible from cover to cover. The first theme is how to get to God. The second theme is how to walk. With God. The first theme is directed to lost humanity.
The second theme is devoted to saved humanity. Once you know God personally, You grow in him continually. Both of those themes run through the scripture.
So Jesus said to Nicodemus, You must be born again. But that's just the beginning. After the new birth comes growth, growth is expected. And so James is the adult in the room. The older brother, if you will, saying to younger brothers and sisters, it's time for you to grow up.
in all things in Christ Jesus.
Now Today, as we begin the book of James, I'm going to look with you at one verse, just James chapter 1, verse 1. That probably doesn't take some of you by surprise. But I have managed to break James 1 into four separate pieces. By the way, there are 108 verses in the book of James. If we were to take just one verse a week, it would take us over two years.
So I will speed up as we go. But today we want to look at verse 1 because I want to give you the introductory material so you understand who this guy was, why he wrote it. and just the basis of what we're getting into.
So we're going to look at four things. The author, The autobiography, the audience, and the address. Let's begin with the author. The first word in the book is the word of the author, James.
So we know who wrote the book. James wrote the book of James. Yeah.
That's typically how people in the New Testament wrote letters. They didn't write their name at the end of a letter like we do. Say dear so-and-so and put our name at the end so that the first thing we do when we get a letter is look at the very last page to find out who wrote it.
So they saved you the time in antiquity and put the guy's name or gal's name at the beginning.
So James begins. With his name. The problem is, though it says James, we have to ask the question: which one? Because there weren't just. One or two, there were no less than four different men named James in the New Testament.
So let me give you the first three that we can push aside and end with the author of this book. The first James in the New Testament, the most famous James, was the brother of John. James and John, both disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, both sons of Zebedee. Fishermen up in the Galilee region.
Sons of Zebedee, nicknamed Sons of Thunder by Jesus. Remember that? Because they wanted to nuke a Samaritan village that didn't receive Christ as readily as they thought they should.
So James and John, sons of Zebedee, that James did not write this book because he. Died too early. He was martyred in Acts chapter 12 by Herod, who put him to death with the sword, so we can push him aside. The second James in the New Testament is James the son of Alphaeus Also, a disciple of Jesus Christ, but besides that, we don't know anything about him. We just know he was one of the twelve.
And because we don't know anything about him, he is often called James the Less. James the less, not because he's a Less. Significant person in the eyes of our Lord, but simply because we know less about him than we know about the first James. He was never seriously considered by any scholar to be the author of this book. Second or third is James, the father of Judas.
not Iscariot Let me explain that. James the father of Judas, not Iscariot. You may not know this, but Jesus did not have one follower named Judas. He had two named Judas among the twelve. We know less about this guy than we do even about the second guy.
And James, the father of Judas. is only mentioned because he is the father of a disciple.
So we have three men named James. We're pushing them aside, and we're ending on this fourth person named. James, and this is James. The Blood Brother of Jesus. Actually, related to Jesus by blood.
The oldest half-brother. The natural sun of Mary and Joseph.
Now we know that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb of Mary. But after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph, being married, had. Several Children together. We read that in a few places in the New Testament.
One is when Jesus went to Nazareth. Remember when he went into the synagogue and he stood up and he opened the scroll of Isaiah? And he quoted from it: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to open the prison doors to those who are bound. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord, he closed the scroll. Handed it back to the moderator and said, Today, This scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
And they didn't like that. They got all upset, saying, who does he think he is? And they said, Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James? Joseph Simon and Judas, and aren't these his sisters?
So, Joseph and Mary had a large family after Jesus was virgin-born. James is the One who occupies number one on that list, so he is the oldest, second. or oldest half brother of Jesus. Yeah.
So James grew up in the same home as Jesus.
Now just imagine. Having an older brother who was perfect. Imagine having an older brother who never sinned. That would be intimidating, wouldn't it? How come Jesus never gets spanked, Mom and Dad?
But James grew up in that home.
Now James was not a believer in Jesus. During Jesus' whole earthly ministry, he did not believe he was the Messiah, he did not believe he was the Lord of all. John chapter 7, verse 5 says, even his own brothers. did not believe in him. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Before we return to the message, consider this. Abraham's life was full of ups and downs, but God was in every moment. In God print, The Life of Abraham, Pastor Skip unpacks seven engaging messages from the book of Genesis to show how God shapes the hearts of those who trust him. Through trials and triumphs, Abraham learned what real faith looks like. And this powerful seven message series will encourage you that you can too.
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Now, let's rejoin today's teaching.
So James grew up in the home but when jesus launched his ministry james said i don't believe it I'm not going to be a follower. In Mark chapter 3, when our Lord had crowds of people coming to him in Capernaum, and he wasn't even. Taking a break to eat, it says, when his family heard about this, They went to take charge of him, for they said, he is out of his mind. Man, our brother is crazy. Telling everybody he's the long-awaited Messiah.
So they definitely didn't believe in him. And James held that opinion. Through all the years of Jesus' ministry until something changed his mind. Anybody know what that might be? The resurrection.
And Paul describes that. In 1 Corinthians 15, he says, Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. He was buried, raised on the third day according to the scripture. And he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brethren at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
Then He appeared. To James.
So James got his own post-resurrection appearance interview with the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was that post-resurrection event that changed James' mind. He became a believer. We know that because in the opening chapters of the book of Acts, James, the brother of Jesus, is with his mother Mary in the upper room with the 120,000. Followers of Jesus when that church started.
Okay. And evidently, James became very prominent very quickly. He became the Head of the church at Jerusalem. He was the one that superintended and directed the Council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15. When we get to Galatians chapter 1.
Paul refers to James as the brother of our Lord. And also, as a pillar in the church at Jerusalem.
So James was a late bloomer. But he flowered well. He grew very quickly in his faith. He became very deeply spiritual, so much so that though he was not one of the original apostles, he is seen as the head of the church in Jerusalem.
Now as time went on, He became known as James the Just. That's how early church historians write about him. James the Just. Because he was deeply spiritual. Eusebius, an early church historian, writes this James used to enter alone into the temple and be found kneeling and praying for forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel's.
Because of its constant worship. of God. And he became known as that old camel knees. He'd always be praying. Deeply spiritual.
So that James Wrote this book. And one of the reasons we believe that is not just because the other three don't qualify, but also because the language in the text of the book of James is very similar to the language in the text of the letter in Acts chapter 15, written by James to the Gentile churches in Antioch. The language is similar, and James wrote that one, and so we believe that James wrote, that James wrote this book of James. A couple of other quick facts about him. Tradition says that he died around AD 62, and he was pushed off the temple.
landed on the hard ground. still alive, was beaten to death. By the Pharisees. Until he died. One other fact that you may find interesting, in 2002.
An ossuary was found in Jerusalem. An ossuary is a little. Box made out of stone. Ossuary is where they put bones of people.
So they would bury, the Jews would bury people in a sepulcher. The flesh would corrode over time. All that would be left are the bones. They would take the bones, put it in a box, a bone box called an ossuary. In 2002, they found an ossuary in Jerusalem.
That says James The son of Joseph The brother of Jesus.
So that's a recent archaeological discovery.
Some are disputing it, some are holding to it being authentic, but I thought you should know.
So that's the author, James. He is the half-brother of Jesus. But notice what he calls himself. This is now the autobiography. James.
A bondservant of God. And meaning and a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I'll be honest with you. I think if Jesus were my brother. I probably would have mentioned that in the beginning of my letter. But there's no trace of it here. Um He could have easily said, James the just.
Or James from the sacred womb of Mary. The congenital sibling to Jesus Christ The Lord of the Universe. I mean, talk about Name dropping. That would be the name to drop. If you are related to Jesus.
He doesn't do that. He just says, James, a bondservant of God and of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's significant because Few people knew Jesus as intimately as James knew him. Ate at the same table, played at the same places, raised in the same synagogue, probably shared each other's clothes. I did.
I got all hand-me-downs. I was number four, and I got all their clothes because I washed them, they're good. I'm not going to buy you new ones. But James the just Is James the humble? And probably he is still regretting the fact that he was an unbeliever for so long a time.
And so he begins his letter very humbly as a bond servant. Let me tell you a little bit about that word and what this indicates that James knew. James knew his rightful place. James knew his rightful place. He uses a very particular word here for servant.
It's the word doulas. Doulas was the word for a common slave in the Roman Empire. William Barclay says there were probably about 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire at that time, about 120-plus million. People altogether, so about half of the population in the Roman Empire were slaves. Slave labor ran the empire.
And the common term for a common slave was a doulas. One in permanent servitude. another. He calls himself that, a slave, a slave of Jesus. a bond slave of Jesus.
In calling Jesus, the Lord Jesus, and in my English Bible it's capitalized. He is recognizing the lordship. of his half-brother. as the Lord of all. I'll tell you why I think this is significant.
Because today There is a trend. To um Have celebrity pastors. and superstar pastors. And you know, this guy's something special and something awesome. And we even love all the titles.
Call me Doctor. Reverend Bishop. How about slave? All the New Testament authors began their letters with this word. Paul a bondservant, Peter a bondservant, Jude a bondservant.
Incidentally, Jude was the other half-brother of Jesus who wrote a New Testament book. Paul, a bond servant and James as well. Another James Jim Irwin, who was an astronaut, eighth person to walk on the moon, said this. As I was returning to the earth, I realized that I was a servant. and not a celebrity.
So I am here. As God's servant on planet earth, to share what I have experienced that others might know the glory of God. One of our astronauts, Jim Irwin. Said, I'm not a celebrity, I'm a servant to show you the glory of God. That's how James felt about his life.
He knew his rightful place. He's the master, I'm the servant. Also, in using this term, he knew his notable peers. James was Jewish. Grew up in a Jewish home.
Knew his Old Testament, and he must have known that some of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament were referred to as servants of God. Moses was called a servant of the Lord. Joshua was the Lord of the Lord. Caleb. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Job.
And Isaiah were all known as servants, slaves. of God. So, the first question in adulting 101 is this. Are you willing to serve him? Are you willing to serve him?
Are you willing to be his tool, his instrument? Paul will Write in Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable service. It makes sense.
It's the right thing to do. It's your spiritual act of worship. Let God have your body and work through your body. Let your body be his instrument to touch people on the earth. That's a Dolton.
Is when you are willing to be a servant. For him. You might have tremendous talents. Tremendous gifts. Awesome.
How are you using them for his glory? There was a visitor to a mission hospital overseas. And it was the first time that this person went to a mission hospital, and this person noticed a nurse in the mission hospital tending to a person with leprosy. And as this person got closer and saw the nurse dabbing the oozing wounds of the leper, she sort of recoiled and said, I'd never do that for a million dollars. The nurse said, Neither would I.
But I do it for Jesus for nothing. I do it for Jesus for nothing. You know you're an adult when you are willing to use your life to serve him. We're so glad you joined us for Connect with Skiff Heidzig. Before we go, we want to remind you to request this month's featured resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham.
This seven-message series from Pastor Skip traces Abraham's walk with God and invites you to discover how faith can grow even through fear, doubt, and delay. It's our gift to you when you support Connect with Skip Heitzig with a donation of $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithk.com slash donate.
Thanks for spending time with us today. And we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connect. Yeah.
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