Grace Community Church Summer Series: Introduction to James

My plan for the summer months will be to take us through the book of James on Sunday mornings. Some people struggle with how the Epistle of James fits into the overall ethical perspective of the New Testament. Specifically they stumble over how James' expressed theology fits into the idea that salvation is by grace and through faith alone. 

Some Biblical commentators have correctly pointed out that James' Epistle can almost be treated as a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. I think that's a good analogy. The Sermon on the Mount, while giving a very high pattern for ethical behavior, isn't intended to give anyone a path of performance to earn their own salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5).

My premise is that James' intent was to show people who were committed to following Jesus how to live out their faith in society. Grace is our deliverance. God was in Christ reconciling us to Himself, not accounting our trespasses to us, but to Jesus His Son (2 Corinthians 5:19). But obviously, that doesn't free us to be scoundrels. As God empowers us, disciples are committed to internalizing Biblical truth so that it becomes our behavioral default setting. 

Dallas Willard wrote a book called The Great Omission in which he points out that there is a deficit of mature Christian practitioners. He says, "The governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be 'Christians' forever and never become disciples." He maintains (correctly) that there is a "quality of life" that ought to be reflected in us because of our transformation through Christ. Authentic Christianity ought to be transformational.

My assumption about James is that the earliest recognition of authorship is the correct one: this was Jesus' brother and the recognized leader of the church in Jerusalem during its earliest development. He was the James who the disciples conferred with in helping shape the Gentile mission when the Gospel was becoming global (Acts 15). It is interesting that James apparently only became a follower of Jesus after the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7).

James wrote to a group of people who were a somewhat harassed, minority population in the Roman world. Perhaps we can identify with that. I try not to overstate the extent of persecution in America. The reality is that following Jesus will always occur in somewhat inhospitable circumstances. An encouraging thought is that historically adversity was conducive to building robust Christian character!

Looking forward to getting going on July 4th!

Pastor Bobby