As you're having a seat, I invite you to take your copies of God's word and open up with me to the New Testament book of James. We're beginning James this morning. James chapter one and verse one. Our sermon is entitled The Slave of the Lord. James one and one. in our new sermon series, walking verse by verse through the epistle of James, entitled Loving Wisdom and Living Well. Loving Wisdom, Living Well, we're at the very beginning. Verse one, James 1.1, which states, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Very excited to begin this book this week. It's been called by others poignant, powerful, a blessed and beloved book. And as we dive right in, and see the very first word of the book, James, we're confronted with the author himself. And to understand the book itself, we need to understand who this author is, who it is that is writing to us so that we might see and understand the gospel. So that begs the question, Who is this James? And really what I want to do through the sermon this morning is just kind of answer two questions. Who is James? And then secondly, like, what is James? What is James as the book? Who is the author? What is the book? What's the flavor and character of this book that we are looking at? So we'll begin just by asking the question, who is James? Now, first we look and we see that whoever we determine this James to be, that the early church, Recognize that name James that the early he was he was known well enough By the early church that just putting James a servant of God in the Lord Jesus Christ without further Indication or further description that they knew who this James was now there are three people in the New Testament by the name of James that might qualify to be the person who is the writer of this book. Two of those guys are apostles of Jesus Christ. One of them, you know, as James the brother of John. who often appears in the trio of James and John and Peter. Peter, James, and John, those two sons of Zebedee, James and John, fishermen from Capernaum, you'll remember. And that James was one of the sons of thunder, as it were, so he walked closely in the inner circle with Jesus. The problem is that that James was martyred by Herod very early on. That he was run through with a sword not long after or early into the book of Acts, and so almost certainly cannot be the James that is here intended. The other apostle that is also named James is sometimes called James the Less, or James the son of Alpheus. And outside of those lists of the apostles themselves, we know very little about this James. Now I think it's clear who the author of the book is. This is James, the brother of the Lord Jesus. This is James, the half-brother, if you will, of the Lord Jesus. We know as we look at the Gospels, that when people are trying to figure out who this new person on the scene is, when it comes to Jesus and the beginnings of His ministry, this miracle worker that is there, they're asking themselves in Galilee, especially around Nazareth, around Capernaum, who is this? Is this not the carpenter's son? Do we not know his mother and his brothers, his mother and his sisters. For instance, we can see that in Matthew 13, 55 and 56, it says, is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where did this man get all these things? Similarly, Mark in chapter six and verse three, they ask, is not this the carpenter that Jesus had lived under his father's trade for a little while as a carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon and are not his sisters here with us? So we know that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, and his mother Mary gave birth to him, and that Joseph was his adopted father. But after Jesus was born, that Mary and Joseph began a normal life. marriage relationship and they had children after him and it seems that James is the next born after Jesus for he is always mentioned first in this so James then is the biological son of both Mary and Joseph, Jesus's younger brother in the household. Now let's just kind of use some sanctified imagination for a minute and think what that must have been like. Both blessings and curses, right? growing up in the family relationship with Jesus as your older brother. I don't know if Mary and Joseph ever said it, but you know they were at least tempted to say, why can't you be like your older brother, Jesus? Well, nobody can live up to that standard, can they? And so certainly there may have been some sibling rivalry, some jealousy perhaps, in the heart of James. We don't know. But we know brothers, don't we? We know brothers and sisters. We know that those things happen. We know, for instance, early on in Genesis, we see these kind of, when there is sin in family relationships, that Cain rose up and killed his brother Abel. And this is a theme throughout Genesis. There is a rivalry between Ishmael and then Isaac, between Esau and then Jacob. And we know Joseph was then seen as the favorite of the twelve tribes or twelve sons of Jacob. And so his brothers hated him because of the way that he boasted about God's, or just talked about this favoritism. They hated him so much that they threw him in a pit, eventually sold him into slavery, nearly killed him over this. So we don't know all of the family dynamics of the early years of growing up, but James is there, and he is the next in line under Jesus. It appears the way that they talk in the Gospels that Joseph himself must have already been dead at that point and that Mary is the only parent that remains alive. We see as we do see Jesus start his earthly ministry there in John. You remember that the first miracle that Jesus ever did was at a wedding. but they're in Cana. This is where Jesus turned water into wine. And we're told in John that not only are Jesus and some of his disciples there, we know that his mother is there because she puts Jesus forward as the one who is able to do whatever needs to be done to make more wine that they've run out. But also we find out that his brothers, were also there initially. So they were aware of him having some apostles or some disciples, some friends that were seeing him as a rabbi, of him having the power to do certain things. But we also see that as Jesus's ministry begins to increase, as crowds start gaining, as there is a large following, as Jesus's name is being spread around the countryside, as his popularity and his fame increases, that there is an increasing animosity from the brothers towards Jesus. That we find, first of all, his mother and his brothers while Jesus was teaching in a crowded house so that there was no room to even get into the building. This is when the friends are gonna go up in the roof and lower the paralytic down before Jesus. That there's also there some mothers, his mother and his brothers, that come to try to interrupt the service. They want to get Jesus to bring him out of there. and they're not able to get to Jesus himself. So word gets to Jesus there as he's teaching that your mother and your brothers are outside. And Jesus, already knowing this animosity that's growing there between his family, looks around the room and he asks the question, who are? my mother and my brothers? Is it not those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven who are my mother and my brothers and my sisters? So he is distinguishing those who would obey the Lord from his mother and brothers, this spiritual union which is stronger than the blood relationship that he has there. Later on, six months perhaps before Jesus is going to be crucified in Jerusalem, the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles is going. And usually, a good Jew would travel three times a year to Jerusalem for the Feast. The Feast of Tabernacles is one of those. And so his brothers began to mock him because he's up there ministering, doing most of his ministry in the backwaters of Galilee and the small towns and villages there, and not down in Judea and in Jerusalem, in the city itself, that he's grown great fame, but he's not, he's doing it as it were in secret, they said. and not publicly and out front. And so his brothers began to mock him. His brothers began to scoff at him about this. Said, now the Jews' feast of booze was at hand. This is John 7, two through five. His brothers said to him, leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may 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, they're saying. So they're mocking him, they're scoffing at him. And it says, the reason they do this, for not even his brothers believed in him at this time. So James is there, James being the oldest or next oldest after Jesus, may be the oldest left of the brothers, may have been even the spokesman of the brothers that are doing the mocking and the scoffing of Jesus at this time, that they did not believe him as he's gaining these things. We also find in Mark chapter three, and verses 20 and 21, that when Jesus called his apostles, when he's gaining this large following, when he starts to attract a lot of negative attention from the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, that the family began to think, we need to get a hold of our brother Jesus, because he's gone mad. that at best, they're thinking that he's gone a little loony. And they go to handle him, go to seize him, go to pull him away, try to get him in his right mind, as it were. They want to rein him in. Mark says, then he went home, the crowd gathered again, and they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, he is out of his mind. We find that at some point the brothers just seem to break off all communication with Jesus himself. Mary begins to believe, she has pondered all these things for a long time. in our heart and she's following along and she is with the disciples and with the believers and we look at the crucifixion we see that Mary among other women is there and her the the sword pierces her own heart just as was prophesied by Simeon and we know that from the cross As the Lord Jesus is dying, he looks and he sees not only Mary, but John, the beloved disciple, the beloved apostle. And he says to John, or to Mary, woman, behold your husband. your son, and to John behold your mother. And John begins to take care of Mary from then on. Why does he do that? Because at the crucifixion of their brother, not one of those brothers were even there. They're not there when their brother is being crucified under Rome. But then if we look at the book of Acts, as the disciples and the apostles and the women are there in the upper room praying and waiting for the Holy Spirit as they're going to anoint a replacement for Judas, we find that the brothers of the Lord are there too. The brothers of the Lord are also with all of the young Christians in the early church. They're praying, waiting for the giving of the Holy Spirit. What has changed? Well, Paul tells us, we don't, we don't ever see record of this. We don't ever know what passes between the brothers. But Paul says, as he describes his own apostleship and the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus appeared to all after his, in his resurrection, that Jesus appeared to all the apostles and to James. that his brother appeared to him. That the resurrection from the grave made all the difference in the belief. And I don't know if James goes and tells his other brothers, Jude and Simon and the others, that their older brother, Jesus, their savior, is alive. and leads them to faith, but we find all of them there in the upper room just before Pentecost. And it's not long before James, as the half-brother of the Lord, rises to prominence in the church. He rises to prominence as an elder in the early church. He never claims this status for himself, but he is considered, essentially, an apostle. Not one of the 12, he's not put forward, but he's considered on that level. And he is the main most elder of the early church in Jerusalem. that Paul's first visit to Jerusalem after he is converted there in Damascus. We're told in Galatians 1, 18-19. After three years, Paul says, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, that's Peter, and remained with him 15 days. I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Do you remember when Peter's gonna be arrested early on in Acts, and an angel appears to Peter at night and sets him free from the jail after the earthquake? Do you remember that the early church has been meeting together, having an all-night prayer meeting, as it were, that Peter would be released from prison? And Peter goes up to the gate and knocks on the door of the house where they're all praying. And there's a servant girl by the name of Rhoda that comes and she says, who is it, basically? Because they're all a little afraid of the authorities at this point. And Peter says, it's me. She's like, no, it's not. He's like, it is. Well, she doesn't even let Peter in. She runs and tells everybody else, Peter's at the door. And they say, no, he isn't. We prayed for it, but it's not happened. No, it's not them. But this is what he ends up saying. He said, tell these things to James and to the brothers. And then Peter departed and went to another place. When Paul is writing to the Galatians, and he's confronting those who are Judaizers, those who are saying that in order to be a Christian, you have to become a Jew first, essentially. That in order to become a Christian, you have to be circumcised and to eat certain foods and these other things. Paul talks about where he got the gospel. That His gospel didn't come from men. That His gospel wasn't given to Him by the other pillars of the church, as it were. That His gospel came from the Lord Jesus Himself. That they were not in disagreement. He says that when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, He's talking about the early church. The brother of the Lord is considered right there along with John and Peter. as pillars of the early church. They perceived the grace that was given to me. They gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me. They welcomed the gospel that we preach to the Gentiles. You know, sometimes you hear, because of liberal scholarship, that they argue that the founder of Christianity is not the Lord Jesus, but that the founder of Christianity is Paul. And that James somehow represents a conflict or an alternative view of a different kind of Christianity than the one that Paul preached. And that James and Paul are at war for what the gospel is or fighting over that. And I want to tell you that there's nothing that could be further from the truth than that. James is a friend of Paul, has the same gospel as Paul, and James is a champion of Paul's ministry. And we see that in Acts chapter 15 at what it comes to be known as the Jerusalem Council. You remember the church is enthralled in this controversy of whether or not, in order to become a member of the church, a Gentile must first be circumcised in order to become a Christian. And so, Paul talks, Peter talks, they describe the same gospel, that the Gentiles are saved by faith in Christ alone. and not by any works that they do. That the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit just as we did, by faith alone. And James gets up and echoes, kind of as the final word, as the elder of the church there in Jerusalem. James says, Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for His name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, after this I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it. that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who makes these things known from of old. James says, therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him. For he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues. And it appears that James may have been the author of the letter that the Jerusalem council sends to the church at Antioch and the Gentiles there to show that they do not need to be circumcised. Years later, Paul would be making a special trip to Jerusalem. We're talking about Acts 21. He's bringing with him several members and representatives of the churches all over the Roman Empire. He's bringing with him a chest of gold, essentially, that is a collection for all of the poor saints of Jerusalem. And James champions Paul. James meets with Paul, welcomes him. James is also concerned because Paul's reputation has been tarnished among the Christians of the Jerusalem church. His reputation has been tarnished by the unbelieving Jews there in the area. who are saying that Paul is thrown off Judaism, that Paul doesn't care about being Jewish as it were. So James recommends to Paul that Paul, in order to show himself and show that he cares about the traditions of old, that he would enter into a Nazarite vow, that he would pay for some other brothers who have done that and would show himself in good favor with the those who care about the old traditions of Judaism as it were. So James is a peacemaker and the champion of Paul, so far from being against Paul. They all glorified God when they heard about all the Gentiles coming to faith in Christ there. Having talked about how James is the half-brother of the Lord, was a skeptic that then believed after the Lord's resurrection, how he rose to prominence as an elder in the Church of Jerusalem, a champion of Paul as well. That's not how James describes himself in our passage, is it? He says, James, a slave of God, a servant, or more appropriately translated, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't talk about being the half brother of the Lord. He doesn't boast in being the half brother of the Lord. He doesn't say, James, the brother of Jesus Christ. No, says James, a servant of the Lord Christ, a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. That the man who was the brother of the Lord considered himself a slave of that brother. and that he calls himself not only do you see now the way that he writes a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ that he elevates Jesus to the status of divinity as he as he demonstrates that he confesses the lordship of Jesus the deity of Jesus Christ and that he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises and prophecies and expectations of the Messiah that is to come. For that's what it means to be the Christ. That Jesus is Lord. That Jesus is Christ, Messiah. And that Jesus is God. He confesses these things to us. That's the way that he describes himself as a slave, as one who says, what do you want me to do, Lord? What would you have me to do? A.T. Robertson says, James places Jesus on par with God and uses Christ as part of the name. He identifies his brother Jesus with the Messiah of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of the hopes and aspirations of true Judaism. But our second question this morning is, what is James? In that, who is James in the author of this book that we have? This book that we call the Book of James is first of all an epistle, a fancy word for letter. is overwhelming a letter. And as as the author of the letter, he puts his name for. I already noted that there are similarities in some of the language and the wording here in the theme to the letter written by the Jerusalem Council to the Gentile churches there in Acts 15. He mentioned specifically that this letter is addressed to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, or in the diaspora, the 12 tribes that are scattered among the nations. The most natural reading of that description, the 12 tribes in the dispersion, the dispersion was something that described the Jewish people on a whole that had come about after the fall of the northern 10 tribes, as well as the exile there in the Babylon. so that the the people of God who remember after the exile was over that some came back to the promised land some remained there that throughout the Roman Empire there were enclaves of Jewish people and whenever Paul would go into a new town there in the Empire he would find wherever the Jewish people were first, the enclave, the synagogue, wherever they met for worship, whether it was by a riverbed or whatever it was, he would go there for the gospel is to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So the natural reading, the most natural reading of to the twelve tribes in the dispersion is this is all of ethnic Jews spread across the empire. Now, first of all, let's just note that if you're the postman in the ancient world and James writes a letter to all of the ethnic Jews scattered throughout the world, how do you deliver that exactly? How does that happen? But there are evidences here that we're not just talking about all ethnic Jews, but specifically Jewish Christians, right? First of all, because James is not just primarily a Jewish leader, but a church leader. a church leader there in Jerusalem. And we look at chapter 2 in verse 1, James says, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. So he's writing to those who hold faith in Jesus Christ. He's writing to those who are Christians. Now clearly, as we read the book, evidence comes that they may be scattered among the nations, as it were, but he's writing to people that are familiar with the land of Israel herself. For he mentions, for instance, two rainy seasons, an early and a later rain. And this is a phenomenon that is specific to that region of the land of Israel. He also calls the meeting place of the early church a synagogue. So he uses the word synagogue for that place of assembly. He also clearly assumes that the people that are his audience are monotheists. You believe in one God, good, he assumes that they believe that there is only one God, whereas if he's writing to unbelieving Gentiles, let's say, then they would have been polytheists, believed in many gods. And yet we know that this term dispersion, though he's limiting it perhaps to Jewish Christians. He may be even intending that to be more than just Jewish Christians, but a wider audience. He's writing early on in the early church, when the church is still primarily Jewish. Yet we know that Peter in 1 Peter is going to talk to the elect exiles of the dispersion that sounds like Jewish people scattered throughout the nations, and yet, clearly, the audience of 1 Peter is not mostly Jewish, but Gentile, Christian Gentiles who have believed, and they're called the dispersion. So this is an epistle and a letter, and it's written to primarily Jewish Christians, maybe even wider than that, and the church at large. We know that it's to the church at large. We're evidence that it is written to the church at large. This also, this book, is part of what we call the wisdom literature of the Bible. Now in the Old Testament, we have certain kinds of writing that are known as wisdom literature. I'm thinking of Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and Job, and the Song of Solomon. Those books are known as the wisdom books of the Old Testament. Whereas James is also in that same vein, in that same line. In fact, many have called James the Proverbs of the New Testament. And so that you see this idea of wisdom literature. Now wisdom has been defined as the discipline of applying truth to one's life in the light of experiment, of experience. It is the knowledge of God's world and the knack of fitting oneself into it. It's why we've entitled this Loving Wisdom, Living Well. This is what it looks like, mature Christianity. Many of the same themes in the books like Proverbs and the Psalms and Ecclesiastes, or even Job, come up in the book of James. An encouragement to endure trials, not unlike Job, right? A concern for the poor. A reminder of the fragility and the shortness of life, like Ecclesiastes. A warning about the temptation of riches and of wealth. An indictment against our speech and the use, misuse, and abuse of our tongue. the blessings of obedience and the judgment of disobedience. One commentator says, James can sound more like a prophet or a wise man than he does like Paul. He is a man passionate for the law of God. A man who loves Moses is full of the Old Testament Scriptures. He doesn't quote the Old Testament Scriptures. He doesn't say, as it is written, very much. But he alludes to them in all types of Old Testament heroes and imagery. James is concerned with righteousness. In fact, and even justice, he's nicknamed James the Just by the early church. We also note, as we look at the book, that James is a preacher first, even before he is a writer. The writing is excellent, smooth, Koine Greek, but he's a preacher. It reads like a preacher and a sermon. There's a sermonic quality to the book. through the letter. There's some similarities here between the Sermon on the Mount and the book of James. That James is meditating on that great sermon that has been preached by the Lord Jesus, his brother. There's an emphasis on prayer, like the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, one later historian called James Elder Camel Knees, because he was so much in prayer in the temple, on his knees before God, asking that God would save his people. that like the Sermon on the Mount, that they endure tribulation, that we make peace, that we obey God's law, the relationship of the rich and the poor, warnings against hypocrisy, against worldliness, against prideful boasting, the threat of judgment for disobedience, about speaking truth in our speech. James' sermon on equality is warm and pastoral. No, he doesn't say James the brother of the Lord, but he does throughout the book to those he's writing say, my brothers, brothers, my beloved brothers. Again and again and again, he talks about other believers as his family. Just as Jesus said, who are my mother and my brothers and my sisters? There are, his book is direct, it's pointed, it's practical. Just as he says, brother, brothers, my brother, sometimes he says, you rich, or you adulterous generation. Sometimes preachers have to do both, right? He uses rhetorical questions, exposing his audience's misunderstanding. Do you not know? Do you want to be shown? Do you want evidence? What good is it, he asks questions like this, devices that are calling attention to his point. Know this, behold, come now, don't be deceived, he says. He uses everyday vivid illustrations, flowers, mist. ships with rudders, mirrors, forests and fires, horses and bits, waves of the sea, salt water, fresh water, grapevines, thorn bushes, gardeners planting seed, farmers waiting for the rain. He's like his brother in that respect. That just as Jesus uses these parables and these everyday illustrations. He'll throw some shocking statements in there to grab your attention. Count it joy whenever you face trials. Even the demons believe and they shudder. He can chase rabbits like we all can. He can abruptly switch topics. The topics and the themes are like threads in a tapestry. You see the colored thread for a moment, it's on top, then it goes down beneath in the tapestry, and then it pops up somewhere else. And the topics, he'll deal with prayer, and then he'll leave it, and it'll pop up somewhere else, and he'll leave it, and it develops as he goes along. Okay, so James is a preacher. And he's written a book of the Bible. Is he a gospel preacher? Is he a gospel preacher? Because one thing that some noticed, and we've said this is wisdom literature, this is a letter, and Paul has written letters, but it's not necessarily a letter like Paul's. What I mean by that is there's no real talk of the crucifixion here. There's no talk of blood atonement. There's no emphasis on the resurrection other than the fact that he believed because of it. There's no lengthy doctrinal formulations, no systematic theological arguments. He talks a lot about faith, but he doesn't use the vocabulary of justification by faith alone. He doesn't speak of the word redemption or the vocabulary of reconciliation anywhere. Such descriptions made Martin Luther criticize the book of James and call it a right strawy epistle. And Daniel Doriani warns, he says, if we want to hear the gospel of James, we must first consider who James was, that the hasty reader might read it and come to the wrong conclusions. But if we look at more closely at what is said in James, we see that the gospel is very clear here. James wants us to know that God's law is what God requires of us and who we are. And we're talking about the moral law of God that embodied in the Ten Commandments. He's not talking about the ceremonial and civil laws when he talks about that. It's what we must do, what the standard is, who we must be, but also who we fail to be. Listen for instance to James 2.10, whoever keeps the whole law but fails at just one point becomes guilty of all of it. James 4.17, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. How are y'all doing on those two? Anybody keeping the whole law? Or has anybody failed at least on one point? I will in the next hour. Anybody know the right thing to do and fail to do it? For him, that person, to sin. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Do you see how he doesn't lower the standard at all? He shows the standard for what it is. This is what God requires of us. But also, he puts it up to us and says, you can't keep this. You must keep it, but on your own you can't. He shows that good deeds are the mark of true religion. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, that person's religion is worthless. And then at the same voice he says, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. So if you don't tame your tongue, your religion is worthless. True and undefiled religion, it ought to show in the way that we speak. And yet, we can't tame our tongues, can we? He says to us in James 1.27, religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. To keep oneself unstained. That's true and undefiled religion. And yet, he says in James 4.1-4, what causes quarrels? What causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. Then he says, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. And yet we've all got some worldliness in us. That's because the gospel is ultimately a gospel about grace and a gospel about mercy. And James talks about, James 2.13, mercy triumphs over judgment. James 5.11, the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5.16, therefore confess your sins to one another, pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5.20, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Ultimately, he says, this is the key in James 4.6, the Lord gives more grace. Therefore, it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Let us humble ourselves before the Lord so that when the law comes up against us and shows us that we're not right, that we're crooked, that we need a savior, that we ask God for grace, that we ask God for mercy. And those who have done so will not only be saved and forgiven, but be transformed and changed so that we live in this world different. We live in this world separate. There is a change. There is the true marks and the true fruit of faith that produces good works in our lives. James and Paul are not in conflict. They say the exact same thing, just using different words. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, thank you for your truth. Thank you for this great book. Bless, Lord, the reading of your word. Bless our time as we study through and walk through these chapters of the book of James. Lord, I ask that you would teach us many things that we, oh Lord, would reflect your holy character, that you would give us religion that is true and undefiled. that you would give us living faith that is full of good works, that, oh Lord, our lives would be vibrant and full of the Holy Spirit and full of grace and humility. We pray, Lord, that we would walk in righteousness just as you have created us too we thank you oh lord for your great mercy which triumphs over judgment which forgives the hardened sinner we pray oh lord asking that we will come and see oh lord if we've doubted if we've been skeptical that christ is alive and that we will confess with our mouth that jesus is lord just as james did and believe in our hearts that he's been risen from the grave We ask, O Lord, all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.