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Scripture:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers , when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:1-4      (World English Bible)

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Life 101: Lessons for a Practical Christian Life  
A study in the book of James
lesson #1: Even difficult times can have joyful results.
James 1:1-5

Bible Study:

When we started the study on James, the first lesson became a kind of experiment. So there was never a written lesson, and for the same reason no accompanying CD. We won’t go back and retrofit the entire lesson, but here are a few points from the study, just to fill out the set of lessons for the web site.

The first few verses of the book send us scurrying through the Bible for some history. There are tribes mentioned. They are James’ readers, and so they deserve some definition. And then there is James himself. It might be helpful to know if something else is written about him anywhere.

First to James. There was a disciple by that name, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, one of the Sons of Thunder, as they were called. He was a good man, and he found himself in the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. He would be an excellent candidate to write this book.

But his career as a church leader was brief. He died in the first wave of persecution that swept over the church in Jerusalem. Later scripture in Acts reveals another James who also became well known and well respected in the church. He was the leader of the Jerusalem council when Paul came to explain the expanding ministry of the Gentile church. (check out Acts 15) 

This James is apparently Jesus’ own brother. In the gospels, he was not a follower of Jesus. But at the time of the resurrection, Jesus showed himself to James in particular. And this James becomes an ardent follower of Jesus and a teacher. (see First Corinthians 15)

This book was apparently written by that James, the brother of Jesus, a wonderful leader of the church, who would have carried a particular burden for the Jewish church and a particular ministry to them.

Here he directs this letter to Jewish believers. They are the twelve tribes, scattered by the persecution that has scattered all of Israel. The Roman occupation turned ugly in the middle of the first century. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple torn down. People were scattered across the Roman Empire and beyond.

Of all the dispersed people, this letter is directed to Christians, a smaller subset of the larger Israel. They are all dispersed, but James will pastor the believers who understand the working of God through Jesus and through the Holy Spirit.

He is quite clear about that from the beginning. He is a servant of God, but he is also a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He uses three titles, Jesus the man of Jewish lineage, Christ the Messiah promised by God in the Old Testament, and the Master or Lord who holds authority here on earth and in heaven.

God the Father is Lord, and Jesus holds the same title, so he speaks with that same authority, a claim that separates James from much of his Jewish culture. To the church, it is the gospel that defines them. Jesus is Lord and Messiah, and that will affect the way they deal with their exile.

The first word to these scattered people is that they can experience a joy in their lives, even in the midst of persecution and exile. In a way, he is challenging them to choose joy. But it is not simply a matter of changing their frame of mind to make the most of a bad situation.

God is working, even in the difficult times. He can take the challenges, even though some of them are quite severe, and he can use those challenges to affect a change in the lives of these scattered Christians. They can develop an endurance, and that endurance is a necessary ingredient in any mature character.

The suffering that they encounter, then, can be an important step in growing to maturity as Christians. In fact, it may be an essential step. Even if things were much more stable for them, culturally or financially, they might still encounter challenges or even suffering in the process of growing spiritually.

In one way, then, the book begins with very encouraging news. God is still at work in the lives of the church, even though it is scattered and suffering. The bad news is that there will be more suffering, but that will be explained later in the book.

For now, we will leave the study right here, with joy and suffering intertwined. But a warning is in order. This is no call to blissful resignation, and there is no hint of blind denial. Suffering can be painful.

The theme of the passage, then, is that the result can be good, even if the process seems pointless. God is in the exile, so the work of God in their lives never stops. That’s the cause for celebration. God is there. He is working. And what comes of all the suffering can be cause for joy. 

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Life 101: Lessons for a Practical Christian Life  
A study in the book of James
lesson #1: Even difficult times can have joyful results.
James 1:1-5

Paraphrase:

Greetings from James, a servant of God and a servant also of the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who have trusted in Christ and are now scattered around the world by the oppression that has dispersed the Jewish people from their homeland.

In the midst of these trials that test you, know that your faith will result in endurance, which when it performs its work in you will make you complete, mature, and lacking nothing. So be joyful, even as this difficult work goes on, knowing that the result will be precious to you.

James 1:1-4      (paraphrased)

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