You got nicknames? I know some are you’re like, I can’t tell you my nicknames. I probably wouldn’t want to know. James became known as old camel knees because James was known to be such a fervent prayer warrior. Church history reports and records that James actually had callouses on his knees from where he spent so much time in prayer and so therefore he became known as old camel knees. I don’t know about you but that speaks of a life-changing experience, coming to know Christ having a desire to be in his presence some much. I mean when was the last time that you develop calluses on your hands and your needs for being on your face for the Lord so long and so often.
But he says, James I’m a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the word that’s translated for bondservant here is the Greek word doulos which simply means a slave or a bondservant. And so here’s a self-proclaimed title. I mean think about it you were the half-brother of Jesus how would you identify yourself? Hey this is James I’m Jesus’ half-brother. Right? I mean we would throw all of that out right there up front because we want to do what? We want to impress somebody just tell the truth. We want to impress somebody. It’s all about who you know and how you’re connected and so we would’ve written hey I’m James and I’m the half-brother of Jesus as if somehow that mattered. But James chose to identify himself not as the half-brother of Jesus but as a slave of Christ. He just came right out the self-proclaimed title; I’m a slave of Jesus. The problem is that in the kingdom of God and in the church there to many people that want a title but have no testimony to go along with it. We need a testimony we don’t need titles. They mean nothing and so a slave, a bondservant we define as one who has no rights. A person who was deprived of all personal freedom and totally under the control of his master. James says Hey I’m James I’m a slave of Jesus I got nothing I own nothing. It all belongs to God and to Jesus Christ and I’m cool with that.
Matthew 5:3 the first of the ‘Be Attitudes’ says that blessed or approved in the eyes of God. Happy are the what? The poor in spirit. Meaning better are the poor they got nothing. You see a slave the doulos was born a slave and James had become a slave by his new birth in Christ. James was a leader because God had placed him in that role not because James desired or derived any personal power. See the basic character of the Christian life ought to be servanthood. Was reading in my Bible reading plan to read through the Bible this year. There in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus laying out all these things and he says he says don’t do this and don’t pursue after this and Jeff this is what Jesus said he said do not do not claim to be a leader be a follower. And so I thought, you know what, if I’m going to lead somebody I must be a follower first. If I don’t follow Christ I can’t lead anybody anywhere and so an influential person in someone’s life by being a follower of Jesus Christ. So that’s what James says he says hey I’m James I’m a follower of Jesus. I’m a slave and I have no rights, I own nothing. It all belongs to God anything in my life that looks like it has any merit it all came from God the giver of every good and perfect gift and all belongs to him back in stewardship.
And so a slave lets define it there as one who has nothing so now let me describe it first of all a slave is going to be one with absolute obedience no rights of his own everything belongs to his master. But not only absolute obedience but absolute humility. A slave thinks not of his privileges but of his duties. A slave thinks not of his privileges but of his duties and in the culture and in where we find ourselves in Christianity today there is such an entitlement attitude. That is if somehow somebody owes us something. There’s not a single thing that is owed to me. Why I tell you what I deserve is death and hell and separation from God so anything short of hell is grace. But we have this entitlement attitude that somebody owes me something to somebody owes us something and if I’m a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ then it ought to be an attitude of humility that says it’s not about me anyhow. It’s not about my privileges. It’s about my duties and responsibilities and my opportunities and obligations as a follower of Jesus Christ.
But it also speaks of absolute loyalty. Slave, the doulos, the bondservant serves his masters interests above his own primary concern of life. When James says that hey I’m a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ, James said that my primary concern is that I serve him and that I glorify him and that I point others toward him and that everything I do everything that I have and everything that I say is all for him. That’s not the attitude of most believers. Listen we, with our lips we may say Matthew 6:33 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. We may say that but the problem is the most of our lives that does not demonstrate it and what James is going to do through this whole book as he calls us right here in the beginning a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Undivided loyalty to the Savior of his life and everything else flows out of that. That’s why people say that the book of James beats them up is because we read right past chapter 1 verse one. Right? Because that’s just the introduction. I mean how many of us really read the introduction to a book anyhow. Right? We look at it and say oh flip to the back how many, I did this when I was in school I said how many pages do I have to read? And so I would flip to the back and I’d look and the book would be 250 pages. And then the first thing I would think right of the top of My head is well I don’t have to read the introduction so how many pages will that lop off.
And so that’s what chapter one verse one is it’s the introduction. But most of them that just said well you know James bondservant of God…. Verse 2 consider it all joy but you can’t consider it all joy when you come into times of testing and trials if you don’t see your life as a bondservant and a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ because if I’m not a slave to Christ then I have this sense of entitlement and somebody owes me something but when I’m a slave to Christ I deserve nothing I’ve got everything I need and in his grace and so I can count it all joy. I’m telling you we’ve got to get this here at the very beginning James will call us to radical obedience and a radical demonstration of faith and of we haven’t settled the issue of being a bondservant of Jesus Christ it will tick us off. It will rub us the wrong way and we’ll just, we’ll be a hearer and not a doer. Galatians 2:20 Paul says I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Hear that again. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me. You want to know why there’s a wrestling in God’s people’s heart when it comes to radical faithful obedience because we’ve not sacrificed ourselves on the cross, of surrender to Jesus.
We want Jesus but we want to continue to be large and in charge. We want Jesus when we’re having a bad day because surely Jesus can make that bad day better. It’s an issue of identification. James is identifying himself hey it’s no longer I who live its Christ who lives within me. We baptize what we call the; we believe in believer’s baptism by immersion. And so what that means is that baptism is first and foremost a public testimony of identifying with Christ. Somebody will say, well preacher why do you baptize and why do you baptize the way you do? Why do you have to put somebody under the water? Well it may be the last time that I actually getting, I’m just kidding. It’s identification. I’m saying to the world in a public, the first public testimony of my salvation to the watching community is to say that I am identifying myself with the death the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so you can’t be baptized and identify yourself as a follow of Christ if you’ve never repented of your sins and placed your faith in him to begin with. And so we believe the person must come to faith and repentance in Jesus Christ and in the first demonstration of obedience and that life should be baptism to identify with the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so when I was baptized I identified myself as a follower, a bondservant, a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jeff, I think that’s how we need to start explaining it. I really do, I really think that so from now on when somebody’s baptize before their baptized this is what we’re going to tell them. In preparation for baptism you are saying not just to a watching world but to a watching Lord that you’re a slave, you’re a bondservant of Jesus Christ because you’re identifying with his death his burial and his resurrection. We used to have the T-shirt and the bracelets and bumper stickers had four letters on them. I’m going test your sanctification, I’m just kidding. And so W W J D. What would Jesus Do? Now to be honest with you that was kind of a fad. Right? But it really is anchored and rooted right here. If I’m a follower of Jesus Christ and I’m a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ and it all belongs to him and my life is for his glory now I really do have to ask the question in each and every situation each and every day of my life, what would Jesus do? Because if he would do this and not that then I must do this and not that. It really begins to define our life’s purpose and existence when we see ourselves and understand ourselves not just as hey I’m a Christian but I am a follower, I am a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hey this is the key to understanding James’ tough teaching. Calls for radical obedience now we see why right? Because he understands to be a follower you must be a bondservant. Well I don’t I don’t like that I’m not going be anything to anybody. Really? The bible says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, there will come a day. Surrender now or surrender later. You see it’s about a relationship not a religion. When he says he says, I’m a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We get all tore up. Well that means guess I’m going to have to, that means I’d have to do this and I can’t do that and then nonononono nononono. I’ve just just man that just going mess my program all up. It’s not about a set of rules it about a relationship. You see the reason that we want to define it as a religion is because this whole thing brings up servanthood brings up the issue of authority who gets to call the shots. You can control religion because you can set the rules and you can redefine the rules.
(You should see my kids) start to play a game and one of them is not doing well all of a sudden they have now decided that there’s a new rule to the game. Forget that, you ever played, you ever played card games with adults? The addendum to Rook is about that thick and that’s what religion is. Our attempt to control God. But a relationship controls us Galatians 5:22-23 the spirit. See James fond honor not in who he was but in whom he served. You see if we’re not careful we’ll come out of life circumstances and we’ll want our position or our stuff to meet our needs rather than Jesus. Jesus and Jesus alone is sufficient to meet the needs of your life. But when it is not about a relationship with him you’ll find yourself seeking fulfillment to anything and everything except him. Because the way of Christ is the way of the cross which is the way of of of the identification of coming back to realizing hey, I’m just a slave.
If you’re making notes write down this word, here’s the word surrender. Surrender. If I’m going to be a follower of Christ I must daily surrender my life to him. To surrender means to yield control to another. It means to give oneself over to someone or something as an influence. Colossians 3:3 says for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. The issue of surrender, to give oneself over to someone or something else as an influence. If we don’t surrender to Christ trust me we will surrender to something. We will surrender to someone, something or someone will be the single most influential person or object in our life. You say well preacher how do I how do I surrender to God in Jesus Christ? The first thing is that you need to admit that you’re a sinner, believe that Jesus died on the cross and confess your sins and confess Jesus as the Savior and the Lord of your life. It begins with salvation. And then it begins, then it continues, excuse me with what Jesus says to take up your cross daily and deny yourself and surrender unto him. That means taking every thought, every attitude, every behavior, every whatever of your life and pouring through this filter called the Word of God and only that which comes out on the other side is right. If what you’re thinking about doing does not match up to what the Word of God teaches, I don’t care how good it sounds, I don’t care how many people tell you that it’s a good idea, if it is contradictory to the clear teaching of the Word of God then you must surrender that there and draw near to God in Jesus Christ.
Secondly let me be really fast. Not only should my identity be in Christ but my life should reflect the spiritual maturity. I mean in James, the theme here of James is what? Grow up in Jesus. My life should reflect spiritual maturity. Listen life is fast and it can be challenging. I understand that is a reality. People say preacher you know my schedules just so busy. We’ve got so many things coming I don’t know which way. I don’t know if we’re coming or going just got so much going on. Listen I understand life is life is fast okay but that’s called an excuse. Christians talk about living under New Testament Grace. That’s what we’ll say, well you know life’s so hard but God understands because we’re under grace but so many Christians live like Old Testament Jews under the law and they whine and complain about everything. I mean if we are under grace there ought to be great joy in our life. If we’re under grace there ought to be great desire to obey God. If we’re under grace it ought to be easy to surrender to God.
James says I am bondservant of God Lord Jesus Christ and I don’t want you to think I won’t go all the way through the verse and he says to the twelve tribes who were dispersed abroad, greetings. Greeting. Literally rejoice, be glad, get happy. So you’re scattered abroad, be happy in Jesus. I’m a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ and I’m happy. It’s a common secular greeting is not a mere formality to James. James meant to gladden their hearts. He knew that it would comfort them to remind them of the goal, maturity in Christ, grow up in Jesus. Hey spiritual maturity is this, when we get to it. Spiritual maturity, John 3:30 I must decreased that he might increase, less of me more of him. All right?
Spiritual immaturity though was seen in Luke 22:24 it says in there also arose a dispute, how about that, there also arose a dispute among them, among the disciples, as to which one of them was going to be regarded as the greatest. Well I’m the greatest. No you’re not I am. Oh yeah Well I can beat you up. Oh yeah well I can run faster than you, you couldn’t catch me to beat me up anyhow so I’m greater than you. And so this dispute arose amongst the disciples as to who was the greatest and so you got spiritual maturity which is represented and identified in the life of Christ where it’s more about Jesus. I ought to be selfless, not that we think less of ourselves that we think of ourselves less often. Spiritual immaturity represented in the disciples, if spiritual maturity is about selflessness, spiritual immaturity is about selfishness. And so what is the difference between spiritual maturity and spiritual immaturity? It’s self. Can others see more of Jesus because of me or do I have to pray I hope that they will see Jesus in spite of me?
Challenges of spiritual maturity first of all is character. Character speaks of our capacity. Hebrews chapter 11 excuse me Hebrews 5:11-14 he says concerning him we have much to say and it’s hard to explain since you’ve become dull of hearing. For then by this time you ought to be the teachers you have need again for someone teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God and you’ve come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who takes only milk is accustomed to the to is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he’s an infant. But solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. So if we’re going to grow up in Christ then were going to demonstration spiritual maturity. First of all it begins with our character which is an issue of the capacity of our life to not only receive the Word of God but to understand it and to live by it. And so our character is deeply interconn, excuse me intimately connected with our study of the Word of God.
Not only character but there must be perseverance. Spiritual maturity needs perseverance which speaks of our confidence. I mean think about these Jews, their spread out, they’ve had to adapt. I don’t know whoas me what if I were on a bad streak or something. Bad day. Bad week. Whatever the case may be. James says greetings, consider all joy when you have a hard day. Perseverance, confidence God’s people don’t persevere anymore because were lazy. We read the bible says wait on the Lord and we go I don’t think so. I ain’t got time to wait.
So if our character will be developed to the capacity through the Word of God, our perseverance, our confidence will come as we pray. Then I, think about this, here’s what we ought to pray God speak into me so I’ll be able to speak into others. Hey if you’re not growing in the Lord, you’ve got nothing to say on anything. I wish more of God’s people would understand that.
And then gifts speaks of our conduct. This reflects our attitude. We have the concern that when a child is not developing to move beyond formula to a little rice cereal and from there to some baby food. It’s a little thicker, they got to work at it a little bit more and from there to table food. Is a concern when a person is not developing physically. Might I say it is a concern when a person is not developing spiritually.
So the first one I gave you was surrender the second word that I give you to write down is this word abide. Abide in John 15:4-5 Jesus says abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches and he who will abide in me and I him he bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. The word abide, it does not mean to sit by and be like a knot on a log. Some people, I realize that they’re happy they’ll sit there, I’m telling it on before, they will sit in church and they will be satisfied because they’ll say well I’m abiding. I’m here. That is not what the word, that is not what Jesus meant to abide in Christ means to be active in one place. Not like a chicken running around with his head cut off in and not like a schizophrenic Christian that can’t find the Word of God. You laugh. I got more gray hairs and less fewer black hairs because of schizophrenic Christians. Drive me crazy. Jesus says abide in me. Stop running around and just get active in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean if I wanted, if I could convince everybody that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that the Word of God is absolutely true and beyond that if I could just be a cheerleader to God’s people to just get active in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Means to wait, to endure without yielding. See the need of the day is for God’s people to be sold out bondservants of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can sing about it all day long victory in Jesus, what a friend we have in Jesus, from the inside out, Lord I surrender all, it is well with my soul, amazing grace my chains are gone, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. You can sing it all day long but real faith means putting flesh to the faith and putting faith to work. The need of the hour is for bondservants, slaves sold out to Jesus Christ.
