Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the letter of James, the letter of James. Lord willing, we will make our way through this letter in the months ahead. You'll find it tucked in between Hebrews and 1 Peter, here in the Pew Bible, page 1-2-8-8. 1-2-8-8. And I want you to mark that spot. That's where we're going to be coming back to when we begin in earnest here. But I'll also be reading from three other texts that you may want to follow along. They're a little bit longer, and I want you to not just listen to me follow along. So I encourage you to find them now as well, and place your fingers there. You have enough, and we'll come to them in time. So first, I'd have you turn to Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6, that's on page 1069. You can thank James for this. Mark chapter 6, page 1069. John chapter 7, John chapter 7, page 1,136, 1,136, and finally 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, on page 1,222, 1,222, that should leave you one finger left over, you can rest. Now, as we approach the letter of James, we need to know, if we don't already know, it's not always been highly appreciated, highly valued. When it was first translated in the Reformation period by Erasmus, he thought it lacked apostolic majesty and authority. Martin Luther had serious concerns, saying it had nothing of the nature of the gospel in it. A comment he would later withdraw. But he disliked James' emphasis on good works that seemed to contradict Paul's doctrine of justification by faith alone. But Calvin offered this cautionary reminder. He says, though James seems more sparing in proclaiming the grace of Christ, it is surely not required of all to handle the same arguments. In other words, it's not fair to expect from James what we've received from Paul, or from Peter, or from John. And he goes on to give a really helpful example. He has us think in terms of the comparison between the writings of Solomon and the writings of David. Solomon, think of Proverbs, was intent on forming the outward man and teaching us how to live. David, think of the Psalms, spoke continually of the spiritual worship of God, peace of conscience, God's mercy, and his grace and salvation. And he reminds us that by their difference should not make us to commend one and to condemn the other. In other words, the Word of God has place for many things in many ways who have us here, but He would have us here. And James comes to us much like Solomon. He puts emphasis on the visible evidence of the invisible reality of union with Christ through faith. He wants us to pay attention to how we walk and express the faith that we talk. He doesn't deny the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Rather, he comes to us with an echo of Jesus himself who warned us that not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And Jesus who commanded that if you love me, you will keep my commandments. So you see, James and Paul agree. Justification is by faith alone. but not by a faith that is alone. In other words, saving faith will find expression in good works. It will show in our life. Which is why we confess in Heidelberg question and answer 91 that good works, those things that conform with God's law and bring glory to His name, can arise only from true faith. And so we turn our attention to James. a voice of wisdom calling to us, calling for us to live for Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, a faith that bears good fruit. James' manner is very direct, perhaps more direct than we would like. He'll waste no time in bringing us into wisdom's deep waters, beginning in verse 2. He's going to dive right in. But he pauses just long enough in verse 1 to greet us. and in a way that orients us to who he is and what he's about and helps us get the right attitude, the right stance as we approach what he has to say to us. And that's enough for this morning. And there we read in James 1, verse 1, this greeting. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Not much, but a lot. From James' greeting, we want to consider three things. If you're a note-taker, these are the points we're going to cover today. First, his notable reputation. His notable reputation. Secondly, his humble approach. His humble approach. And third, his sanctifying purpose. His sanctifying purpose. By way of his introduction, James mentions only his name. And he expects his readers to know who he is. They expect his notable reputation to have preceded him. The original recipients of this letter knew James. We need to know James. But James was a common name then as it is now. If I called out James right now, I should get at least seven answers. And when we look at the New Testament, there's four James of note, four James listed. Three in relationship to the twelve apostles, three that seem right away to be very significant. Least of those is James, the father of the apostle Judas, who's mentioned only once, and that's to make sure we don't confuse his son with Judas Iscariot. Of greater note is the apostle James, son of Alphaeus. He's listed every time the twelve are listed, but primarily to distinguish him from the one of greatest note, the most notable, and that's the Apostle James, the brother of John, the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called the sons of thunder. And of course we know that they show up all over the place in the gospel. They had a way of making themselves known. And of these three, we might expect this James, the son of Zebedee, to be a writer. Like his brother John, who wrote a gospel and three letters in the Revelation. But he was not. He was not, for Acts chapter 12 tells us that Herod killed him by the sword. He was martyred for the gospel. And so we turn our attention to the fourth James. James who had nothing to do with the twelve. James who was the son of Joseph and Mary, the brother of Jesus. The people of his hometown, Nazareth, point him out in Mark chapter 6. And let's turn there to hear from Mark what he has to say. Mark chapter 6, beginning in verse 1. Jesus went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hand? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household. And he could do no mighty work there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. When Mark says that Jesus marveled because of their unbelief, he means that he was disturbed. Disappointed is not strong enough a word. Those that were closest to him dishonored him. They questioned him. They did not believe in him. Not only his neighbors, but his own family. He marveled because of their unbelief. And of that family, James was the closest in age to Jesus. He grew up with Jesus, and for nearly 30 years, he spent time with him, playing, working, worshiping. Boys and girls, can you imagine James' frustration with Jesus, his perfect brother, I mean really perfect brother, that never did anything wrong, that never said anything wrong, that always did what he was supposed to, and who never responded to all the buttons James would push. Can you imagine? Is it any wonder that Jesus' family might think that Jesus was out of his mind? He didn't fit. He was too good. But when Jesus started his ministry, his family traveled with him. They followed along from the very beginning, and James was there. And James heard him preach, and James saw his miracles. He was part of Jesus' entourage, kind of like the hip-hop artists today. They'd all come into town with Jesus. They were basking in his limelight. They were ready and willing to be swept into power if Jesus was king. But the Apostle John calls out James and his brothers in his gospel, chapter 7. Let's turn there for a moment. John, chapter 7. Again, beginning at verse 1. Now, as we read this, we need to bear in mind that this comes on the heels of Jesus feeding the 5,000. and after he fed the 5,000 what happened the crowds rose up and they wanted to make him king by force and Jesus departed from them and soon after we read that after this again with that mostly in mind Jesus went into Galilee went about in Galilee he would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him now the Jews feast of booths was at hand and children that means that all the men in Israel were to gather in Jerusalem it was a requirement of the law Every man would go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths. And so his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may also see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. And then John tells us why they said this. For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I'm not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet come. And after saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but in private. His brothers did not believe in him, and yet they wanted him to go public. They wanted him to step center stage. It's clear that they thought he was the man who would be king, and they wanted to go along for the ride. And for the most part, Jesus parted from his brothers that day. When Jesus was arrested, they were not there. When Mary, the mother of James, stood at the cross and went to the tomb, James was not there. James was an unbeliever all the way through Jesus' life, his death and his burial. Why should we expect a letter from him to be in the Scripture? He seems the most infamous, the most ignoble, the most unworthy. And he is. But the reason we find a letter from him in the Scriptures is because Jesus Christ did not leave James in his unbelief. He didn't leave him there according to none other than the Apostle Paul whom so many would pit against James. Jesus appeared to James after his resurrection. He confronted James with the truth of the gospel in his person. And he made James a witness to his glory. But have you turned now to 1 Corinthians 15 where we hear Paul's account. And I read this beginning in verse 1 again to remind us that this gospel that Paul proclaims is the gospel that Jesus portrayed to his brother. Now I remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and which you stand, and by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. James doesn't ever seem to speak about that day. In fact, James doesn't have a lot to say in Scripture about himself or about his faith. But in many ways, his actions spoke louder than his words so that he became known as James the Just. But we hear about him. We hear about what the Lord used him to do. We hear about him in Acts chapter 1 where now after the resurrection and after the ascension we find him in the upper room with the apostles waiting for Pentecost. In Acts chapter 12, it is James that Peter wants to make sure, knows that he's been set free from prison before he leaves town. In a short time, James becomes known as a pillar of the church in Jerusalem, a central figure, an important authority. And just three years after Paul's conversion, when he went to Jerusalem to meet Peter, he met James, the Lord's brother there. And while Paul then went on his missionary journeys, James wrote this letter. Paul had gone to the apostles, James wrote to the Jews. When Paul returned for the council in Jerusalem, Acts chapter 15, that very important council in the history of the church, we find that it was James who moderated the discussions. It is James who offered the wise judgment limiting the burden on the Gentile Christians so that circumcision was not required. And it likely was James who wrote the letter that we find recorded there in chapter 15. Like his letter here, it's direct, it's to the point. And together with Peter and John, James gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul and to Barnabas and endorsed their mission to the Gentiles. And when Paul returned to Jerusalem with the offering from the Gentile churches, it was James and the elders that received it. James the just. Not much to say, but the record shows that the Lord used him to do a lot. And it is this kind of notable reputation that preceded James in this letter. His hearers knew it. We need to know it. No further introduction was necessary, but James added more. He went on revealing his humble approach. In the next phrase, he revealed that his approach to his hearers was one of humility. And that's our second point. James continues, he says, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. What James says is striking enough, but what is even more striking is what he doesn't say. James says nothing about his personal status or authority. He doesn't pull rank on his readers. He doesn't marvel them with his pedigree, the brother of Jesus. He doesn't pull rank with his reputation, James the Just. He doesn't lord it over them with his office, It's a pillar of the church in Jerusalem. So the only thing James claims for herself is servanthood. He's a servant. And he comes to them as a servant. A servant to the one true God of his fathers who has come in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a servant. From his brother, from his Lord, he had learned this lesson well, that whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus showed James that he had ransomed him. He'd given his life for him. And he called him to be a servant. And that's how he comes to the churches. He doesn't speak for himself in this letter. He writes as a servant of our Lord, and he writes as a fellow servant of those who will hear. James knows that he's not his own. He belongs body and soul and life and in death to his faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord, who has fully paid for all his sins with his precious blood. And he writes to brothers who have likewise been bought. And it's the Holy Spirit who makes him wholeheartedly willing and able to live for the Lord and to serve him. And he writes to urge brothers who are likewise empowered to live for the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ had humbled James. He brought him low. And he had exalted him. He had lifted him high. What did James have? What do you have? What do I have that has not been given to us? Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights. It comes from above, James says. And how could he boast? How can we boast? Except in the Lord. and it's important for us to remember that this is how James comes to us as a fellow servant of the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to urge us on in the life that we're called to the life that he is called to because he's going to speak to us rather directly and rather frankly and we might want to think he's being harsh but when he does we need to know that he's come alongside us as our brother and you'll hear him call you brother over and over and over again and he wants us to understand that he comes to us with a sanctifying purpose a sanctifying purpose and that's our final point this morning and James gives us some insight into his purpose when he addresses this letter to the 12 tribes in the dispersion the 12 tribes in the dispersion and here we have to remember what the Jews have always known that God's purpose for his people has always been to sanctify them to set them apart from the world for himself, to set them apart to be holy as he is. He foreshadowed his sanctifying purpose when he rescued the 12 tribes of Israel from Egypt. He did so with this promise. He says, I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God. And with this command that you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. Now, if we've read our Bibles, which many of us have, we know that Israel failed to keep the command and the Lord cast them out of his presence to the four corners of the world into what is called the dispersion. The 12 tribes of Israel cast into the dispersion. That's the picture that God has given us and he accomplished his sanctifying purpose when he sent his son, Jesus Christ. He sent him here in the flesh to perfectly obey the command and to inherit in full the promise so that everyone who trusts in Him will be added to God's people, joined to the twelve tribes. Through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are justified. The Lord is our God and we are His people. That's done, can never be undone. At the same time, through the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we are sanctified. We're set apart as holy. We're set apart from the world. That's what the sign of baptism shows us. And we're being sanctified. We're being conformed to the holiness that is ours in Christ, more and more motivated, more and more able, more and more willing by the power of the Spirit to be holy as He is holy. That's a fact, whether we feel like it or not. And the application of God's sanctifying purpose will only be fully realized when Christ comes again in glory to establish the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells and righteousness alone. But in the meantime, in the meantime, the twelve tribes must continue in the dispersion, far from home, and the going is difficult. It's not smooth sailing. Now when James wrote this letter, he had in view Jewish Christians, Members of the 12 tribes who were away from Jerusalem in the dispersion. Most likely had in mind Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost, had heard and believed the gospel and went home Christians. What are they to do? And others who had been driven away from Jerusalem by the persecution of Herod and of Saul. How were they to proceed? And so much has changed since James wrote this letter. But the reality remains the same. we are like they were in the dispersion we're waiting for glory and we like they are members of the twelve tribes through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ James said to them and in there he says to us here and now so as we make our way toward home his voice of wisdom warns us against the same enemies trying to frustrate God's sanctifying purpose in us you know these enemies the world, the devil and our own flesh the world that hates Jesus hates everyone joined in Jesus and loves nothing more than to keep us from becoming like Jesus it never stops seducing us to love what it loves and to be like it is it wants us to be comfortable right where we are the devil will oppose us even attack us and he'll put before our face all of our failures and our sins he'll seek to undermine our trust in Christ he can't do that we can't be separated from Christ but he would see us worn out from striving in our own strength rather than in the strength that God provides in Christ and then there's our own flesh sinful habits and how we think and what we say and how we act they weigh us down I should be done by this time I shouldn't have to work this hard it should be easier that's our flesh as we make our way toward home James, a voice of wisdom reminds us of who we are we are his brothers and fellow servants of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ and he reminds us of the resources that our good God provides for us. Resources like direct access to him in prayer. The visible church that he's established for us. And wisdom for all who will ask for it in faith. And through it all, James keeps us focused on the big picture. God's sanctifying purpose. To make us holy as he is holy. That's what this life is about, Christian. That's what God is up to, Christian. And whatever the circumstance, whatever the challenge, James reminds us that God is at work in it. God is at work through it. And reminds us that it takes heat to refine the faith that he's given us. And it takes pressure to make our holiness shine with the brilliance of diamonds. And to us, as he prepares to bring us along this way, he brings greetings. Just greetings. Letting us know that whatever he says to us, he desires our good. And for us to rejoice as brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you this day that you brought down to us in your word the letter of James. we pray father that we would be mindful of him who wrote it that he wrote not as one who is holier than thou but as one who was shown the depths of his sin and brought to the heights of salvation in christ who man who would be great who was brought low and was made great in your service to the benefit of your people we pray lord that we would receive him as your servant and know that this is your word that we would be mindful of the gospel throughout even though james will say much will not say much of it he will remind us in his own way help us lord to always bear in mind that he comes to us in the gospel for the gospel and he directs us by your law be with us as we approach this in the coming months lord we pray that you would encourage us with these words of instruction along the way against our enemies and turning to you for all that we need for life and for godliness. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.