Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: James was writing to them and sharing with them about trouble and trials and testings as well as problems in their own churches. And yet it's so beautiful the way he actually writes with that beautiful pen as he's writing this great letter, the book of James.

James also wrote to help us to understand that it's only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved. Same thing that Paul the apostle had shared with each one of us individually in the book of Romans, which is so beautiful. And yet the epistle of James is also a practical book that is actually sharing with each one of us individually about living faith, not dead faith.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Continuing our series in James, Raul will encourage you to consider the testimony of your life. Every person’s spiritual journey is unique, but the common denominator in all of our stories is Jesus.

Stay with us for a challenge to serve as a living witness for Christ, holding fast to him in every season and proclaiming his praises in every word and action. Today’s lesson is taken from James chapter 1 beginning in verse 1. Here’s Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: James was a type of a shepherd when he spoke and when he wrote his little epistle of the book of James. Only five chapters long, and his brother only gave us one book, one chapter in the book of Jude. It’s amazing that these two brothers of Jesus were not believers when they lived with Jesus.

They came to know the Lord when Jesus died and rose again from the dead. To me, it’s just amazing when you think about this man by the name of James that wrote this tremendous letter given to us and became the leader or a leader of the church in Jerusalem according to the book of Acts.

He was a devout Jew and he wrote to Jewish believers scattered throughout all of the Roman world to let them know about Jesus, to let them know what God wanted them to actually know in their hearts. And yet they were not only informed, but when you read the book of James, you begin to see that James was writing to them and sharing with them about trouble and trials and testings as well as problems in their own churches. He was dealing with people within the church that were troublesome people.

And yet it’s so beautiful the way he actually writes with that beautiful pen as he’s writing this great letter, the book of James. James also wrote to help us to understand that it’s only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved. Same thing that Paul the apostle had shared with each one of us individually in the book of Romans, which is so beautiful.

And yet the epistle of James is also a practical book that is actually sharing with each one of us individually about living faith, not dead faith. How we put our trust in Jesus Christ and what Christ can do in me and through my life. And yet when you read this little epistle of James too, it actually contains little echoes of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7.

And also it relates to the book of Proverbs, which we should be reading every day. There are 31 Proverbs. Every day you should read one of the Proverbs, whatever the date may be. And then reading the Psalms at night before you go to sleep, so you can have rest and peace in your hearts in the Lord as he brings comfort to us from the voice of David, as the Holy Spirit allowed him to write down those words in the book of Psalms so that we could learn from David too.

And yet if we really truly practice our faith in Jesus Christ, then it will be seen according to the scripture how we face the trials that we’re facing today. I know that many of us here are facing great, tremendous trials in our lives. And that’s why it’s so important, and I’m so happy you’re here for the book of James.

In the book of James, he not only is going to speak to us in chapter 1 about this whole thing that we do have trials, but in chapter 2, he will actually talk to us about how to treat people in the Lord, especially if they’re believers, so we’re not rude to them, but we love them.

In chapter 3, he’s going to show us the way of the tongue, the way we have to use our tongue and to be careful how we use it, because it could bring great problems to your life in Christianity. In chapter 4, we’re going to see how he deals with sin in our lives individually.

And then in chapter 5, he will deal with us in our prayer life. Are we truly men and women of prayer? Are we praying to God? Are we praying for others? Are we truly believing that God answers prayer when we communicate with Jesus Christ himself?

Now let’s look at the epistle beginning with chapter 1 verse 1 as we see him being introduced here tonight, James. He says, “James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings to you.”

It’s amazing that here we have the introduction. Whenever in the New Testament people would write letters—when we write a letter, we write “Dear Sonny” or “Dear Mary.” We write our words and at the end we sign our names. But in the New Testament in Greek culture, they would always insert their names at the beginning of the letter.

And here James inserts his name. He says as I insert my name, James or Jacob, which he uses here in the Greek, Jacob. When you think of the name Jacob or James, we go back to the Old Testament. Because we remember that Jacob in the Old Testament, he was one that was born in due time, and his name was Jacob which meant heel catcher, or conniver, or troublemaker, or schemer.

And remember when he actually met the Lord when he was coming back from his uncle Laban’s house after 20 years, after deceiving his brother and deceiving his father? He had to run away because Esau wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him for deceiving his father and taking the birthright.

And so his mother sent him to uncle Laban. For 20 years he went to live there, and God blessed him with all kinds of goats and sheep. He became a very wealthy man. And as he became wealthy he was coming back to meet his brother, and the scripture says that his brother was coming back with 400 men.

So if you hear that your brother is coming with 400 men, it’s not a good reception. You’re thinking, “He’s going to kill me.” And instead of Jacob—heel catcher, conniver, schemer—what does he do? He takes his family and all the people that God blessed him with, and he sets up ranks.

Just in case his brother is coming to kill him, he’ll kill the first file, the second file, the third, but I’ll be the last one with my family. And not trusting in God, by the time he meets his brother, his brother doesn’t come in revenge but he comes in love and embraces him. Imagine that, embraces him.

How many times in the presence of the Lord, like Jacob, when we’re going through something or maybe we’ve done something to somebody and we’re expecting revenge, and we don’t understand that God already has worked in the heart of Esau or that person that you’re actually afraid of. Trust in the Lord. Jacob didn’t trust the Lord. That’s why his name was Jacob.

But when his brother finally left, it took a couple of weeks for Jacob to get to where his brother was. But as Jacob went across the river and the Lord called him to come to Bethel, he returns back to Bethel that night, and there in the 32nd chapter of the book of Genesis, the Lord comes and meets Jacob.

And what does he do? When you read the book of Genesis it says that Jacob was wrestling with the angel of Jehovah. How do you wrestle with the angel of Jehovah? He’s God. I thank God for the Bible because in the book of Hosea chapter 14, he tells you the interpretation to the true story.

It wasn’t really Jacob that had the actual angel of the Lord pinned down; it was the angel of the Lord who had Jacob pinned down. And Jacob was holding on to the angel of Jehovah saying, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”

And the angel of Jehovah said, “What’s your name?” Not that he did not know, no way. He knew. But he wanted Jacob to answer. He said, “My name is Jacob. Heel catcher, conniver, schemer.” He says, “From tonight on your name will be changed to Israel.” In the Hebrew: governed by God.

The Lord took his right hand and touched the hollow of his thigh and Jacob went, “What are you doing God?” Israel. As the angel of the Lord departed, Jacob walks back to his wife and his children and he’s limping now for the rest of his life. Israel, governed by God.

Many of us need to be broken by God to become Israel. Because when you study the Bible and you have a strong concordance, look up the word Jacob and look up the word Israel and see how many times after Jacob was broken into Israel that God continued to call him Jacob. It’s really important that we submit to the Lord. He wants us to be submissive to him.

And imagine here Jesus’s brother bearing the name Jacob, James. Bondservant of God. If I was Jesus’s brother, I would be bragging about Jesus. But he didn’t. What’s amazing about James is that he was the son of Joseph and Mary. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph consummated their marriage and they had other children. Boys and girls.

The Bible tells us this in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 13:55-56. What’s amazing to me is that here Mary and Joseph have these children and they’re not believers until Jesus is actually dead and risen from the dead. Jesus appears to James and James becomes converted at the resurrection. So all his life he goes through not knowing Jesus or God, and yet Jesus lives in the same home. Imagine, he’s my brother.

Jesus never forced himself on anybody, not even his family. And we need to be careful never to force our issues on other people. Salvation is not a forced issue. Salvation is the free gift of God to anyone that believes in Jesus Christ and comes to true repentance. Then his name will be inserted in the Book of Life. That’s the only way.

So for me it’s just a blessing to be able to study this great epistle. Because James not only is a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of Jesus, but remember also that James rejected Christ’s claim in Mark 3:21. He rejected it.

And yet he becomes a believer in Acts 1:13 through 14. And then we see James as the Lord is rising from the dead in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3, and James inserted his name in there as he came to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his life.

And then he becomes one of the great counselors in the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15 verse 13 to 23 where they were actually arguing in this council that we’re saved by faith and not by works or circumcision. It was an issue in the early church where Paul, James, Peter, all of them were arguing the point and they finally decided it’s by faith in Jesus Christ. Everybody believed that.

So it’s amazing as we read the history of these men and women in the Bible. And then Paul the apostle confesses with James as he’s talking to James in the book of Galatians chapter 2:9 and verse 21 as he rebukes Peter to the face. “Peter, you’re a hypocrite.”

Because Peter was eating with the Gentiles and then he would eat with the Jews. He was actually walking two sides of the street. And Paul says to him, “Peter, don’t do that.” And then we see also that he wrote this great epistle of James and then his brother wrote the book of Jude.

We did that study many years ago, an in-depth study. It took me 52 weeks to do just one chapter. It’s amazing, the little epistle of Jude for the last days. But yet think about who James is even tonight in your own personal life as we look at this great book of James, which has so much history to it.

Here in chapter 1 again, look what he says. Verse 1: “James, a bondservant of Jesus Christ.” The word bondservant here is found 125 times in the New Testament. *Doulos*. A bondslave of Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament in the book of Exodus, in order for me to become a servant to my master, I would serve him for six years, and on the seventh year I would have the freedom to say, “I love my master and I want to stay with him forever and serve him for free because I love him.”

And if my master would receive me, he would take me to the doorpost of his door and they would take a little pin and they would drive it through my right ear and they would make a hole in my right ear and they would put an earring on my right ear.

Wearing an earring in your right ear meant I’m a slave. Willingly, willfully, I love my master. The question is: who’s your master? Satan or Jesus? People that wear earrings in the world, their god is who? Satan and the world. That’s who they serve.

And if you’re a child of God and if you’re young and you like to wear earrings, there’s no problem with that. But just make sure you know what that earring means. It means you’re a bondslave to whoever you worship, whoever you serve. And you serve them because you love them.

So we see here James, a bondservant of God himself and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings in now his stepbrother. He’s not boasting, he’s not bragging. He’s just writing his introduction to the book. You have the actual writer, James, and his occupation: he's a bondslave to God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he writes and he says, “to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” So he’s writing to these Jewish people that have been actually kicked out or they’re actually oppressed by Rome and they’ve gone to other places to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s who he’s writing to, to the twelve tribes.

Notice not the twelve lost tribes. Notice what he says here: “the twelve tribes which are scattered.” God knows where they’re at. They’re not lost. God knows where they’re at. You know why I love this? Because in the book of Revelation, it talks about the 144,000 in chapter 7.

The 144,000 that are going to be coming in the tribulation period are going to be all Jewish and they’re going to be all virgins. And they’re going to be used in the tribulation period to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And every one of them it says they’re from this tribe and that tribe and that tribe. They all know what tribe they belong to and they don’t fornicate, they don’t commit adultery, they are virgins. They never touch a woman. And they’re going to be used in the tribulation period to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To me it’s amazing how God’s Word is so powerful when you come and you see what God has for each one of us individually. And yet secondly, we see the greeting. Paul uses grace and peace because we can’t really experience peace before grace. Here he’s using just the word greeting as to be cheerful in the literal language of the Greek here.

And yet think about how James, the brother of Jesus, not only knows the Master, the Savior, but now he’s proclaiming him to the world in the same way that we have come to know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. When we were touched by the Holy Spirit.

To me it’s exciting to hear different testimonies, to see how long you’ve been in the Lord and where did you find the Lord and how did you come to know the Lord and what happened. It’s really beautiful to hear people share their life stories. Every one of us came in a different way.

Some people were born in a home with a Christian family and they were taught Christianity and they came to know the Lord through their parents. Others got messed up in drugs or alcohol and they were persuaded by the world and Satan and they were dragged out for many, many years.

And then all of a sudden they’re getting ready to overdose or die and the Lord comes to them and they repent and they receive the Lord. God heals them, and then God uses them. Imagine that, every one of us here from different walks of life.

And yet we have one common denominator: Jesus Christ. He’s our Lord, he’s our Savior, he saved us. And we’re on our way to heaven before the Lord. One day we’re going to stand in the presence of the Lord, every single one of us, and there are going to be people from all over the world, every country, every city.

And we’re going to know each other by name. And we’re not going to say, “I wonder if they speak English or Chinese.” No, it’s only going to be one language in heaven. It’ll probably be Hebrew. That’s a beautiful language, Hebrew. How God speaks to our hearts in that way.

Guest (Male): How amazing it is to know that one day we will sing God’s praises with the choir of millions of people from all walks of life from all over the globe. You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries.

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