Sermon for Sunday May 31st, 2009

A CHANGE IN JAMES by Bruce Ball

Acts 1:12-1:14


No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, you did not just suddenly appear there. No, you started as we all start; becoming aware of a need inside your heart that you probably could not explain. Then, you became aware of Jesus Christ, the One known as the Savior and how He could give you all the things you needed but did not have.

And then, with continued information and education, you started to know more about Him and you could start seeing that this was a different kind of journey you were on, and you liked it! You got excited and began looking forward to the next step of your Christian walk. And how far you go on this path depends only upon your love, trust, and obedience, to Jesus.

And you are not alone. There was another man who was quite close to Jesus. Actually, it was one of his brothers; the brother named James. James was not a believer in Jesus and actually joined others in scoffing at Jesus. But in the natural progression of the Christian walk, James went from scoffer to very powerful preacher; from non-believer to totally devoted. We are going to talk about him today, to show that what he went through we go through; and where he ended up we can end up, if we only choose to.

Let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about James, the brother of Jesus. Most people know that he was an important member of the church in Jerusalem, but that’s about it. And some may not have even known that.

There are only about a dozen passages that mention James, but the picture of James these few passages reveal tell us quite a bit about him. For one thing, he is one of the few people, other than the apostles, who is mentioned many times in the Gospel.

There is a time when Jesus is well into His earthly ministry and He returns to Jerusalem. Let’s begin there by turning to:

MATTHEW 13:54-57

‘He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished. They said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

‘And His sisters; are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.’

We learn in this passage that Jesus had at least two sisters, as well as four other brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. We also learn in this passage that the people of Nazareth did not believe in Jesus, and other than his mother, neither did the rest of his family.

We can read more about this in:

JOHN 7:2-5

Now the feast of the Jews was near. Therefore His brothers said to Him, ‘Leave here, and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. ‘For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world. For not even His brothers were believing in Him.’

So far, you get the picture of James, a man who mocks his brother Jesus and who Jesus professes to be. This is most clear in this passage out of JOHN 7, where his brothers tell him to show himself to the world as they are all going to the Feast of the Jews.

I’m sure James and his siblings grew up hearing about the angel visiting their mother and everything else about how special Jesus was. No wonder there was some distance between them and Jesus as far as their believing all these stories. After all, it would be akin to having your parent always praise your brother or sister while never praising you. It would be very hard to take, wouldn’t it?

But all that changed drastically right after Jesus was resurrected. We are going to switch now from a non-believing perspective of Jesus to one of great exaltation and love.

Let’s look at what Paul told us about the number of people who saw Jesus after, that’s right – after, Jesus was raised from the dead.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-7

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

‘After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

James knows that his brother had been crucified. He knew everything else, too, like how he had made fun of his brother and how he had disbelieved Jesus. But now that he was standing here seeing his brother stand before him, what do you think went through his mind? How do you think he felt?

How would you feel? I’ll bet it was the “gulp” heard round the world. Right then, I imagine James was thinking about all the times he had mocked Jesus, just to find out now that Jesus was right all along.

And looking back, we know that, sometime after Jesus visited his brother, James believed, because it gives this account in:

ACTS 1:12-14

‘Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying.

‘They included Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

‘These all, men with one mind, were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.’

By the time Peter preached that first gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost, James had already a devout believer in Jesus, as the Christ sent to be the Messiah. From there, we have to skip ahead a few years. And during these few years, James had come to embrace his faith that his older brother was indeed the Son of God.

During this time, the apostle Paul was converted, and James had already become a very prominent person in the church of Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul confirms James’ true belief in Jesus in:

GALATIANS 1:18-19

‘Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.’

Here, Paul is calling James an ‘apostle’. An apostle is one who has been called out and separated by the Lord to lead other Christians and leaders into the pathway of Christ Jesus. We must remember that James had become a very important person in the early church, and this is shown when the story of Peter, who was in jail was released by the angel.

Let’s quickly go over the story of why Peter was in jail in the first place. First of all, we know that, as Christians, people will hate us. We read about it in the Bible, and we can see the same thing happening in our very nation today; people persecuting Christians. They mock us, confront us, and all the while they say it is because we are intolerant of them when, in truth, it is because they are intolerant of us.

But King Herod arrested some Christians, and intended to persecute them. The other James, the brother of John, was killed. He saw this pleased the Jews, so the king had Peter arrested, intending to do the same thing to him.

People say the Bible has no excitement or suspense! Listen to this. Peter was put in prison and guarded by 16 guards. King Herod was going to put him on a public trial right after the Passover Celebration.

The night before this was to happen, Peter was in his cell praying. I am sure he wasn’t praying the type of prayer we often offer to God, you know – the prayer of ‘I want this’ and ‘I want that’. Peter was actually communicating with God just as I am communicating with you right now – fervently, passionately, and for real.

Later, when Peter was asleep, between two soldiers and bound with two chains. More soldiers stood guard at the entrance. And suddenly, an angel appeared and his cell lit up with a bright light. The angel struck peter on the side and said, ‘Quick! Get up!’ And as he said this to Peter, the chains fell of him.

The angel told him to get dressed and follow, which Peter did. Peter didn’t understand it, because they kept running by more guards who apparently did not see him. And when they got to the city gates, the gates opened by themselves! As they walked down the street, the angel disappeared.

At this point, Peter understood he had been rescued by God’s angel. He immediately went to Mary’s house. This was Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark. There were many believers gathered there. When he knocked on the door, a servant girl named Rhoda heard Peter’s voice and got so excited she ran back to the others and told them who was knocking.

Here is how it is recorded in;

ACTS 12:16-17

‘Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison.

‘And he said, ‘Report these things to James and the brethren.’ Then he left and went to another place.’

In a large part, because of James, the brother of Jesus, the early church grew in strength and numbers. This caused more and more people to become aware of the saving grace of Jesus Christ as their Savior. And because of the strength of the early church, the church has lasted thousands of years, and has grown around the globe; always reaching more people for Jesus.

There are some today who think the local churches should have no leaders; that everyone should be seen as nothing more than Christians. I agree that all of us have to be seen as Christians from our very basic foundations, but God has set up a kind of ‘pecking order’ for the church to adhere to.

These positions within the church are not for self-exaltation, and certainly not for any personal authority, but for a very deep responsibility. A responsibility to you, the congregations; that you might have what you need to stay focused on your own Christian walk. See, leadership within the church is not for man’s glory but for God’s glory. It is not about authority, but about servant hood.

And so, James was in high authority in the early church in Jerusalem. But his job was not about him – it was about those he could help.

There are people who say a church shouldn’t be too big because they won’t know everyone. You can only know about 25 people on a close basis anyway, so what does it matter if you know those 25 people in a 30-member church or a 1,000-member church? There is only one argument I have for these people: The more people who will attend any service about Jesus, the more people who will come to the Lord, so there is nothing wrong with a small or large church.

James settles disagreements among the other church leaders and answers questions about the Old Law. And the men listen to him and acknowledge his wisdom. Because of his absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus, he was given great authority.

In GALATIANS 2:12, Paul says that Peter even had the authority to send men to check on and help other congregations. In this day and age, many denominations refer to that position as the position of a ‘Bishop.’

In ACTS 21, we read the story of where Paul had made a collections of funds from the different churches he had visited, and he returns to Jerusalem to present the offerings. The Bible says Paul went in and spoke to James and all the elders, and he began telling them what all the glorious things God had done in the ministry to the Gentiles, or the non-Jews.

And this is the last time we see James, the brother of Jesus, being mentioned in the Bible. He did write the book of JAMES, a book to the Jewish Christians who had been dispersed throughout the Roman Empire, where the church had been severely persecuted.

So, we have a brother of Jesus who went from non-believer to a pastor. What are some of the things we should try and take away from this story that would help our walk with Jesus today? Since James gives us so many valuable tidbits of information, too numerous to talk about this morning, let’s talk about a few of my favorites.

In CHAPTER 1, James begins by telling us that we should rejoice when we are faced with many kinds of trouble. To understand this, we must understand that our walk with Jesus is not based upon our comfort level of having no problems, but on the level of having absolute faith in God when we have problems. When we have problems, it gives us yet another chance to put our faith to work, making it stronger than ever before. So rejoice in your troubles, and depend fully on our God to help you.

Again, in CHAPTER 1, James tells us that we had better be totally focused on our Lord. Part of our focus on Him and the rest of our focus on the world around us is a very dangerous thing, because a lack of focus on God will lead to doubts and confusion.

In JAMES 1:6-7, it explains it this way;

‘... he who doubts is like a wave of the sea – blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is double minded and unstable in all he does.’

How focused are you on God? Are you more focused that James was before he became such a strong believer in Jesus? Are you trying to be as focused on the Lord as James was after he became a believer? Unfortunately, most people are still more focused on the things they are involved in than they are with their walk with Christ.

In Chapter 1:22, James gives us some of the best advice a Christian can receive. He tells us not to lie to ourselves by just being willing to listen to the word, but to actually do what it says! Jesus reiterates this when He tells us that to be His friend, we must do what He commands.

Do we try to do what Jesus says, or do we just pay homage to Him on Sunday mornings and pretty much forget about Him the rest of the week?

If I could get each one of you to read 12 verses in the Bible this week, it would be JAMES 4:1-12. These verses talk about submitting ourselves to God. In verse 4, James says something that should shake every Christian to his or her core.

‘You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend to the world becomes an enemy to God.’

And what I find some of the most comforting words in this book is found in;

JAMES 4:8 - ‘Come near to God and He will come near to you.’

And then in JAMES 4:10, he gives us a Father’s promise: ‘Humble yourself to God and He will lift you up.’

And finally, in Chapter 5, James gives us some very important information about how to pray. And, again, he is not talking about the type of prayers most of us are used to saying. He is talking about the type of prayer where your heart is involved in a very deep and personal talk with God’s heart. The kind of prayer that nothing seems to exists at that point but your conversation with God.

JAMES 5:13 says that if we are in trouble of any kind, we need to pray. But along with praying we need to pray while believing we will get God’s answers. Maybe not exactly when we want it or how we want it, but we will receive it in His way and in His time.

Let me give you an example of praying really hard for something and believing that, just because you prayed hard, you would get what you want.

I had a good friend in high school. We hung out a lot together. One day, we saw a beefed up 1953 Ford 2-door for sale. I forgot what all it had on it, but it was hot, and we could tell by the dents that pretty much surrounded the car, plus it was a low-rider with fender skirts. It was cool beyond cool. It was two-tone paint, and if you didn’t look at all the scratches, it was really a beautiful paint job!

I prayed and prayed that God would let me have that car. I just knew God would give it to me because I had asked so hard. But my friend came up with the money first. He got to own the hottest car in town, while I continued to walk.

A couple months later, my dad took me down and let me buy a Fiat 600-D. It is smaller than a V.W. by the way. I liked it because it beat walking, but it sure wasn’t that ’53 Ford in any way.

Not long after I got my Fiat, my friend was driving home one night near a place called Huffman Dam in Dayton, Ohio. The rear axle snapped and his car went out of control, sending him into a tree. He died that night, through no fault of his own.

I had prayed as hard as I could for that car. Had God gave me WHAT I wanted - WHEN I wanted it, it could have very well been me who died. But I got what God knew I NEEDED; dependable transportation, and I lived on to be here today.

Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in a God who takes care of His children and who answers their prayers in the way that only He knows is best.

In JAMES 5:15, God promises us that a prayer offered in true faith will even make the sick person well. Let’s take that model of prayer and hold it up against the way we pray today. Most of us, being honest, pray something like this: ‘God I want you to make me well.’ And then in the back of our minds, we are saying, ‘I sure hope He does, but I don’t know if He will for me!’

Let me assure you once and for all: Jesus, the Great Physician is still in the miracle-making business, and if you go to Him in a truly fervent and believing prayer, He has already promised that He will answer! Why? Because He loves you and you have shown you trust Him enough to believe Him! But the answer will still be in His way and in His time.

I don’t want to leave anything out here, so (and especially for the teens sitting here this morning) let me get back to King Herod for a moment. He was a very evil and wicked man. He had an audience with some of the people he ruled over. He read a decree he had written and the people shouted out that these words must have come from a God, not a mere man.

And when the king didn’t give glory to God, an angel instantly appeared and struck him down dead, and worms appeared and ate him.

This is what eventually happens to people who do not give God His rightful place in their lives, and who spend their time scoffing at him and making fun of Him. Oh, maybe they won’t be eaten by worms, but they will die, and the place they go to will be so much worse that there are no words to describe the horror that will await them.

We need to live as real Christians, not just people who live the way they want and then go to church on Sunday mornings. We need to get serious about this business we call eternity. We need to get real about where our very soul is headed for.

In 2 TIMOTHY 4:7-8, Paul wrote,

‘I have finished the course and have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord – the Righteous Judge of us all – will award to me on that day: And not only to me, but also to all who have loved Him enough to live for Him.’

Paul went from being a killer of Christians to knowing he had a crown in heaven awaiting him.

Can you say the same thing? Is there a crown waiting for you in heaven? Let me ask another way: What have you ever done that would deserve your getting a crown? Let me answer that for you. There is nothing you could ever do that would be good enough to earn you a crown. There is only one thing, and that is learning to live your live according to the principles Jesus set forth in His life. Not because you are following rules, but because you want to please Him.

And that is the key to this whole ‘church thing’; your just wanting to please Jesus more than anything else you could possibly want.