LIFE LESSONS
JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS
DR. JIM DIXON
JAMES 3:1-13
APRIL 24, 2005
In April of the year 2002, archeologists discovered an inscription in Israel, an inscription on a 1st century AD ossuary. In the 1st century, ossuaries were used by the Jews to store the bones and the remains of their loved ones who had passed away. This ossuary had this inscription written in Aramaic, “Ya’akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua.” Those words mean, “Jacob or James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” The archeological world was stunned. The biblical world. The Christian world. The Jewish world. This ossuary’s inscription claimed that the ossuary once held the bones of James the Apostle, James, the brother of Jesus Christ, James the great Head of the Jerusalem Church. Initially many archeologists examining the ossuary said the inscription was authentic. Then some archeologists and scientists began to say, “Well, the ossuary is indeed 1st century AD. It comes from the time of James and Jesus but the inscription may be a forgery. Then other archeologists came forth and they said, “Well, part of the inscription might be a forgery and part authentic. Then so-called experts disagreed as to what part would be authentic and what part would be forged. Now, more experts have arisen. Some of them saying it is authentic and so the debate rages.
I have at home a book called “The Brother of Jesus,” and the book examines the James ossuary and all the controversies surrounding it. On the front of the book and on the back, there are quotes from TIME Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times all claiming that the authenticity of the James ossuary or the lack of authenticity is critical, critical for the Christian world. And of course that’s just media hype. I mean, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether that ossuary once contained the bones of James the Apostle or if it didn’t but it is a curiosity. It’s a curiosity because James was great. After the death of Christ, all historians agree the church of Jesus Christ was led by three people—Peter, Paul, and James. In Jerusalem there was no one greater than James.
This morning we look at the life of James. From his life we have two life lessons and the first life lesson is this. If you would follow Jesus Christ, then you must seek to be fair and pure. If you would call yourself a Christian, if you would bear the name of Christ, you must always, every day, seek to be fair and pure.
The Bible tells us that James was a brother of Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus had four brothers. They were named James, Joseph, Simeon and Jude. These were the four brothers of Christ. The Greek word is “adelphoi,” “brothers.” Now, there are a few scholars who have suggested, “Well maybe these brothers were really cousins of Jesus Christ. Maybe James was really the cousin of Jesus Christ.” They point out that this word “adelphos” is capable of meaning “cousin” but, you see, there were other Greek words for cousin. The word “anepsios” means “cousin.” The word “sungenis” means “cousin.” But in the Bible “anepsios” and “sungenis” are never used to describe the brothers of Christ and the normative meaning of “adelphoi” is “sibling.” Therefore most scholars conclude indeed James was the brother of Jesus.
It appears that Mary, after the birth of Jesus, gave birth to four more boys, Joseph, James, Simeon and Jude. Now, the Bible tells us that the brothers of Christ did not believe in him until after his death and resurrection. We’re told in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, that Jesus resurrected and alive appeared to his brother James. There’s no doubt that converted him and thereby his brothers were converted. You see, the Bible tells us that the brother of Jesus never followed Him, refused to follow Him prior to His death and resurrection, but afterwards James arose and he became the great Head of the Jerusalem Church.
We know a great deal about James. We know a great deal. We know much from the Book of Acts in the Bible, much from the Book of Galatians in the Bible. We know much from early historians like Josephus and Hegesippus. They tell us much about James. We also have other early writings like “The Protoevangelium of James” and “The Gospel According to the Hebrews.” These books describe much with regard to the life of James, the brother of Jesus, Head of the Jerusalem Church, and we know that the early church gave James a title. The city of Jerusalem gave James a title and that title was “James the Just.”
The words related to the word “just” in the Greek are “dikaios” and “dikaiosune,” words which mean, “righteous” and “righteousness,” so it’s “James the Righteous.” That’s what they called him, “James the Righteous.” This word “righteous” means, “fair and pure.”
There’s no doubt of this. We know from everything we read that James longed to be fair and he longed to be pure. He sought to make the community of Christ a fair community, a community that would treat other people with fairness and justice. Therefore in his epistle, the Epistle of James, James writes, “Show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, for it a rich man in gold rings and fine clothing comes into your assembly and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in and you say to the rich man, ‘Have a seat here, please’ while you say to the poor man, ‘Stand over there’ or ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not become judges? Have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” He wanted, rich or poor, people to be treated fairly. Even our passage of scripture for today with regard to the tongue and the sin of gossip and slander all has to do with fairness. It all has to do with treating people fairly. I think you know we live in a nation that has not always treated people fairly.
In the year 1860, there were 4 million slaves in the South and by law they were not allowed to own property. By law they were not allowed to bear witness. By law they were not allowed to get married. In the year 1831 a law was passed that made it illegal for a slave to be educated. They could not learn to read or write. Society felt that if slaves were educated they might suddenly become disgruntled with their lot in life. Another law was passed which declared that children were born slaves if their mother was a slave. This enabled Anglo white men to have sex with slave women and be confident that they wouldn’t create freed black men. It’s hard to believe we lived in a nation like this. Hard to believe, and you know not all Christians came down on the right side of this issue. You know that. Christians are not always fair. Christ calls us to seek social justice.
In 1920, that was the year women were first allowed to vote. The 20th century before women were allowed to vote in America and the 19th Amendment was ratified. Christians didn’t always come down on the right side of that issue because we’ve not always sought what’s fair. Even the way we treat the earth has to do with justice. The way we treat the environment has to do with fairness. The Bible says clearly, “God gave us dominion over the earth.” That dominion will one day be judged. Your dominion. My dominion. It will one day be judged by the Lord of all and our stewardship over the earth and the environment will one day be judged. As evangelicals we’ve kind of missed the deal here.
Of course we all want to be treated fairly. I know many of you probably saw in the newspapers a couple of weeks ago the 200 C.U. professors took out a full-page ad supporting Ward Churchill. Ward Churchill of course is the embattled professor at the University of Colorado. He’s been accused of demonizing the victims of 911. He’s been accused of falsifying his ethnicity and race. He claims to be I/16th Native American Indian. There are a lot of people who think he’s a “wannabe” Indian but not a genuine one. He’s been accused of plagiarism. Some of his scholarly works apparently used other people’s scholarly works. But, you see, these 200 C.U. professors took out a full-page deal saying that “If Ward Churchill were fired by the University, it would be a violation of freedom of speech, a violation of academic freedom.”
Strangely enough, Phil Mitchell, professor at C.U., after 21 years, didn’t have his contract renewed. He had received the Soar Award, voted by the body at C.U. as one of the best teachers but they didn’t bring him back. He’s a conservative politically and he’s an evangelical Christian. It seems sometimes like evangelicals are not treated fairly in the academic world. You want to say, “Hey! Let’s just be fair,” and yet remember, as followers of Jesus Christ, we’re not called simply to seek fairness for ourselves. We’re called to seek fairness for others. We’re called to seek fairness for all people. We’re even called to seek fairness for people with whom we disagree. This is the call of Christ upon us. There’s every indication that James, the brother of Jesus, the apostle, the Head of the Jerusalem Church, treated people fairly. He was respected by Jew and Gentile, by Jew and Christian. He was respected by all.
James also sought to be pure. He longed to be pure so he was called “James the Just,” “James the Righteous,” “James the Pure.” I don’t know how he felt about that. Maybe he was kind of embarrassed being called “James the Righteous.” He knew he was not without sin. He knew that he was not pure. Of course in our scripture for today he said, “Let not many of you become teachers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness for we all make many mistakes. James knew. He knew. Not righteous, not pure, but he longed to be pure in the sight of God, longed to be righteous.
I know many of you have heard of the Piltdown Man. The Piltdown Man was discovered in Piltdown, England in the year 1912 by Charles Dawson. The Piltdown Man for 40 years was kept in the British Museum and it was said to be 250,000 years old. The Piltdown Man was said to be the “missing link,” “the bridge,” “the link between animal and man.” In the year 1952 an amazing discovery occurred as the scientific world had greater forms of testing. They discovered that the Piltdown Man was a hoax and it had the jaw of an orangutan and that the teeth and the jaw had been filled in to make it look human and the skull was the skull of a 12th century AD European male. The whole thing was a fake, a phony man, the Piltdown Man. The Bible says there are a lot of phony people. That’s what the Bible says. That’s what Jesus tells us. There are a lot of phony people.
In the year 50AD a book was written called “The Psalms of Solomon,” not to be confused with the “Song of Solomon,” an Old Testament book. The Psalms of Solomon were written by the Pharisees. In the book they declared that in the world there are only two different types of people, Pharisees and sinners. Is it any wonder that Jesus had a problem with these guys? Is it any wonder that Jesus saved all of His wrath for them because they were phony. They actually thought they were righteous. They actually thought they were without sin. Jesus wants all of us to understand we’re sinners in need of grace. I’m a sinner in need of grace.
Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. He said, “You’ve heard it said of old, ‘Thou shalt not kill. Whoever kills will be liable for judgement.’ I say to you, ‘Whoever is angry with his brother or sister will be liable for judgement. Whoever insults his brother or sister will be liable for counsel. Whoever says to his brother or sister, ‘You fool!’ will be liable for hellfire. You’ve heard it said of old, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ I say to you, ‘Whoever looks upon a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.’ You’ve heard it said of old, ‘Love your neighbor, hate your enemy.’ I say to you, ‘Love your enemy. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you.’” It is a higher standard that you be righteous, righteous in the sight of God. You’ve got to fulfill the Sermon on the Mount. Everybody falls short but, you see, if you’re a follower of Jesus you long for it. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Do you? Do you hunger and thirst to be pure before God?
James lived in a difficult time. I mean he lived when the Gospel was going forth from the Jewish world to the Gentile world. In the Jewish world there were many laws. There was the moral law and the moral law centered on the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, but in truth the moral law was found throughout the Torah, throughout the sacred scriptures. But in addition to the moral law, there was also the ceremonial law and the ceremonial law consisted of those laws that regulated everything from circumcision to the rights of purification. The ceremonial law regulated diet. The ceremonial law regulated the feasts, the festivals, the holy days. The ceremonial laws regulated the Sabbath.
We know from all of the literature, the protoevangelium of James from the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Book of Acts, Galatians, Josephus, Hegesippus… We know from all these sources that James lived in submission to all law. He lived in submission to the moral law, and he lived in submission to the ceremonial law. He did not want to offend God, but he did not want to offend the Jews either. Even though he had become free in Christ, he sought to be pure in every regard. We know from the Book of Acts that sometimes James called even Peter and Paul to submit to ceremonial law in particular circumstances and situations. But James understood that as the Gospel went forth to the Gentiles, there had to be a decision with regard to the call of the Gospel and the law under the Gospel and so the Jerusalem Council was convened and he headed that council up. They decided that as the Gospel went forth, only the moral law would be binding, no longer the ceremonial law, not for the Gentile, but the moral law. The moral law would still be binding.
How about you? Is the moral law binding in your life? You’ve heard the Gospel. Many of you have responded to Jesus Christ. He said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Do you submit to the moral law? Do you submit to the Decalogue? Do you submit to the Sermon on the Mount? Do you submit to all the instructions of Christ in the Word? Do you, every day, seek and long to be pure?
Let me give you an example. Jesus oftentimes spoke of porneia. He warned His followers of porneia. He warned His followers to avoid porneia and the sins related to porneia. The word porneia is sometimes translated, “fornication.” It is sometimes translated, “immorality.” In general porneia refers to sexual sin, sexual immorality in all of its diverse forms so Jesus warned His followers to avoid porneia, all sexual immorality. Of course porneia in its primary meaning referred to fornication which was sex prior to marriage. Jesus didn’t want His followers to have sex prior to marriage. You know He’s not just trying to make our lives miserable. He’s not trying to take away all of your fun but, you see, Jesus has a very high view of sex. He knows that it is a great gift from God with great significance, with great beauty, with great meaning. It’s a gift meant to be opened only within the context of marriage. It’s a gift that, when it is opened in other contexts, it is tainted and it is cheapened. It’s a gift that is meant to express on the physical level the union of two people in marriage. And so Jesus has given His followers this instruction.
We live in a culture and nation and world that has discarded the moral law, thrown it out. In the year 2002, the National Center for Disease Control in the United States issued the results of a study which concluded that 41% of women in the United States between the age of 15 and 44 either have cohabited with a man or are cohabitating with a man—41%! I’m sure that men are equally culpable in cohabitation. According to the 2000 Census, from 1960 to 2000- this is a government census—cohabitation has increased ten-fold, 1,000% in America. You don’t think things are changing? People living together having sexual relations but not married to each other.
I know what I’m saying is not politically correct but I don’t care. My only responsibility as a pastor is to be faith to the Word, faithful to Jesus. But, you see, that’s your responsibility too. You have that responsibility to be faithful to the Lord, faithful to Jesus. We all have this responsibility.
Of course we live in a hard time. Even the Ten Commandments have become very controversial. Our government and our judicial system are examining whether the Ten Commandments should ever be exhibited in the public square. Can they be exhibited in public school classrooms? Can they be posted on government buildings? Do the Ten Commandments posted in a government office… Does that violate the First Amendment—the so-called Church and State. Of course, there’s no question that the founders of our country and the framers of our Constitution had no problem with posting the Ten Commandments. The First Amendment was simply crafted to prevent the State from controlling a church and literally leading a state-sponsored church such as was seen in England when the State controlled the Church of England and the State, the government, persecuted Catholics and Protestants who disagreed with the Church of England. But our founders had no desire to create a soulless government. They had no desire to remove all matters of the soul from public education. They did not want this. Of course, the courts today are interpreting the Constitution in ways that the very framers of the Constitution never envisioned. That’s the world we live in now.
I had to almost laugh this past week when Focus on the Family was accused by a congressman of kind of creating a theocracy in the United States of America. It really doesn’t matter what you think of Salazar. It doesn’t matter what you think of Focus on the Family. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican. How could you possibly think that we are becoming a theocracy? I wonder sometimes, “Do people know what a theocracy is?” Iran is a theocracy. That’s a state government that is constitutionally Islamic that imposes Sharia Law top to bottom on the people. That’s a theocracy. We’re not even close to being a theocracy. We’re a democracy. We believe in democratic freedoms. We believe in civil liberties and just because evangelical Christians have decided to speak out in a democratic process does not mean we’re becoming a theocracy. The truth is this nation is far further from being a theocracy today than it’s ever been as religion is being pushed further and further to the periphery by our judicial system.
What really matters though that in your heart there’s a theocracy. Is there a theocracy in your heart? Does God rule there? Does God reign there? Do you long in your heart to be pure? Do I long in my heart to be pure? Do I rise every morning seeking to be pure before God, submitting to His moral law? I’ll tell you what Focus on the Family is. It’s a voice crying in the wilderness. That’s what it is; just like John the Baptist. Those kind of voices are needed in a culture where Judeo-Christian values are eroding. It’s very much needed.
Well, today there’s also a second teaching although we really don’t have time, but very briefly we know that James also was a man of prayer. The second life lesson is that if you would follow Jesus Christ, you too must be a person of prayer. We can look at all the sources of information regarding James—biblical sources, Para biblical sources. We know this, that the early church had another title for James. They called James “Camel Knees.”
I don’t know a lot about camels. I’ve been to the zoo a few times. I know that camel knees are kind of ugly. I know that they look kind of scabby and scaly. Maybe that was true of James. Maybe James, the Apostle, the Great Head of the Jerusalem Church, had ugly knees but if so we know why because all of the literature tells us that he was always on his knees in prayer. He was a man of prayer and he just persevered in prayer. Camel Knees they called him. He prayed that the power of God might come upon the church. Is there any wonder that the 1st century Church went forth in power?
We look at the Book of James, the Epistle of James, and we see the words of James. He says, “Is anyone amongst you sick? Let him pray. Does anyone lack wisdom? Let him pray. You pray and you do not receive because you pray wrongly.” Of course we see his famous words, the prayers of a righteous person, a person who longs to be fair, a person who longs to be pure. “The prayers of a righteous person have great power in their effect.” Do you know? Are you aware of the power of prayer? I think if we were more aware of the power of prayer we would pray more often.
In the 18th century, on August 27, in the year 1727, there was a prayer meeting on a German estate in Bavaria, a prayer meeting that was a very, very unusual prayer meeting composed of Moravian Christians. This prayer meeting that started on August 27, 1727 was a very long prayer meeting. You’re not going to believe this… The prayer meeting didn’t last 24 hours. It didn’t last a week. The prayer meeting lasted for over 100 years. Can you imagine? A prayer meeting that lasted more than 100 years? What happened that night, August 27, 1727, these Moravian Christians came together and they made a vow—24 men, 24 women—they vowed that they would commit to praying one hour a day in that room every day the rest of their lives so that prayer would never cease around the clock in that room and it moved from generation to generation for over 100 years.
That night, August 27, 1727, an amazing thing happened. Seventeen other Moravians committed to go and give their lives in the service of Christ in world missions. Two years later, 14 of those 17 had died, but it didn’t matter because the prayer meeting was still going on and they were replaced by others. Those who died went to glory and they were replaced by others faithful in their time as long as they drew breath. The world was impacted. The Moravian Christian missionary movement was bathed in prayer and it was so powerful. Ultimately the Moravians led John and Charles Wesley to Jesus Christ, the founders of the Wesleyan Movement, the Methodist Church. Ultimately they established the great awakenings in Europe and ultimately in the Americas. Absolutely incredible. By the time William Carey, the so-called “Founder of Modern Missions,” came on to the scene. Three hundred Moravian Christians had already gone to the ends of the earth bathed in prayer.
Of course here in America in the year 1858, we had who some called “The Great Awakening” and it too began with a little prayer meeting on Fulton Street in New York City. On Fulton Street in New York City there was a new pastor, a young man in his 20’s. His name was Jeremiah Lanphier. He came to this church on Fulton Street in the downtown business section of New York. He decided to start a prayer meeting at the lunch hour one day of the week at 12:00 o’clock. He sent the word out. At 12:15 there was nobody there; just him. He prayed, “Lord, send somebody.” In another half hour, three people had come and there were four of them in the prayer meeting. They made a vow that they would be faithful and that they would never cease to pray. That was the beginning of something huge. Pretty soon, lunch hour prayer meetings in New York City were going on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, every day of the week. Businesses just shut down.
I’m telling the truth. These prayer meetings were simple. They sang a few songs. They shared some testimonies about answered prayer and the power of prayer and then they asked for prayer requests and they prayed. The movement just swept through New York. It swept into Boston. Over a million people gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. It established this great awakening. It established the greatest benevolence giving movement in American history. Money just poured out to churches and to the poor. The social indexes were changed. Crime dropped. Church attendance rose all over America in those early days. Incredible.
Could it happen again? God only knows but I know this. We’re called to prayer. We’re called to persevere in prayer. Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you.” In the Greek those words are all present imperatives. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. Blessings will come.
So, we have these lessons from James the Apostle, the Great Head of the Jerusalem Church. If you’re a follower of Jesus and you bear His name, you must seek every day to be fair, even to your enemies. You must seek every day to be pure in all of its biblical meanings, submitting to the moral law, and you must be people of prayer. Who knows what God would do in this church, in this city, in this nation and in the world if we would be faithful to pray. Let’s look to the Lord in a word of prayer.