The Letter of James (Part 1) | A Servant of Jesus Christ | James 1:1 | Dallas Herndon

Why is he murdered? Why doesn't he renounce his faith? Because he has a master. And he's so committed to his master. He's so committed as a servant to the Lord Jesus Christ, he's even willing to lay his life down for his master.

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Amen. Amen. Amen. If you have your Bibles today, I want you to go ahead and go to the book of James. The book of James or the letter of James.

You know, what's really weird is that, it's May 31. Tomorrow is June 1. Okay. Again, I say this and I've said it too often, especially now that I have kids. Where is time going?

Right? I thought it was just Christmas. I just got over the Christmas hustle and bustle and now it's June? I I forgot to, get my summer body ready for the beach this summer. I don't know about you all, but I kinda missed that memo and kinda behind the curve.

And, I don't know. Is anybody back in the day, did y'all ever used to get your summer bodies on, get ready for the beach? Anybody here? Dreamer said, yeah. Come on.

She ain't lying. I know my mom used to back in the day. And summer's already upon us. And, I have lots of good memories about summer. Summer growing up, my parents would always take us to the beach.

We would hang out on the beach. We would fish. Brother Glenn, I can't fish, save my life. Good thing I can preach, I guess. Right?

But we would always enjoy going to the beach each summer. And summer was always very special for me. But there was something else about summer, particularly for a large part of my life, that I dedicated lots of time to, and that was to football. And let me tell you what. I don't miss two a days.

I do not miss being out in the sun in July and August sweating with my coaches yelling at me anymore. But this past week, I got a chance to go back to my high school alma mater. I graduated ten years ago. It's crazy. Am I right?

And, I got to watch it was really weird, like a really weird feeling. I got to watch the lacrosse game, the men's lacrosse, the William Byrd Terriers were taking on the Salem Spartans at Salem High School. And what was so weird is I looked across the field at the head coach at the William Byrd Terriers. I saw Caden West as the head coach of the lacrosse team. And I really got to thinking where has time gone?

Now obviously Caden and I aren't aren't that much different in age, but I remember when Caden was small. And I'm like, he's the head coach now, and I don't have much to say. I got four kids running around like, where has time gone in ten years? But it just brought back so many memories of being in high school and playing football specifically. And a lot of you all know this, and probably pastor Tino knows this more than anybody else, growing up because I lived in Salem, if you're aware with the dynamics of this area, I grew up talking a lot about how good Salem was, how good Salem football was.

And I always was very proud, even when I was a young kid, sister Patty, of how good our football team was and how bad the other teams were, including the one right here in this city that I'm now a fan of. But one thing I learned was this. Growing up talking about how good Salem is is one thing. But when you become a high schooler and now you are responsible for carrying on the legacy of the football team, you, yourself, and your teammates, that's a different thing. Because again, I would talk about how good we were and how many championships we've won and all the rivalries and all these things.

Talk way too much. You know, as a kid, I talked way too much anyways. And I talked way too much about this thing. But when I get to high school, specifically varsity football, it was my turn to not only talk the talk, but it was finally time to walk the walk. And thankfully by God's grace, our football team wasn't bad.

We were able to win a state championship, my senior year, which was very special. And that was really what put the icing on the cake. Is that I spent all these years growing up talking about people telling me how good our football team was. Now I got to actually show people. Display people.

I got to walk it out, which was a very, very special thing. And as we dive into this book of James, as we dive into the letter of James, that's actually what the book of James is all about. It is about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Look at your neighbor and say, walk the walk. Over the next few months, actually, we're going to be digging deep into the book of James.

We're really gonna go line by line, section by section through this five chapter book. This book in the New Testament is actually called the Proverbs of the New Testament because within its five short chapters is so much wisdom for us today. And in the book of James, like I just told you is not, is about not just, it's about walking the walk, not just talking the talk. It's about being a Christian and not just saying you're a Christian. And don't we know those two things are very different.

Right? I've met a lot of Christians, quote unquote, and that I'm very confused when I see their lives look completely different than what they actually talk about with their mouths. And in our culture, specifically, it's very easy to confuse the two. Because of Christianity's influence in the West, many people assume that they know God just by association with God. Do you ever notice lots of our culture's songs have God mentioned in the song?

Specifically, our country music songs. Any country music fans in here? Anybody like country music? Growing up, I listened to a lot of country music with my mom and dad. But as I was thinking this week, I I I got a little confused because I remember this song by Brooks and Dunn.

Anybody ever listened to Brooks and Dunn back in the day? I remember the CMT music video channel was always on the TV on Saturday mornings while we would be cleaning. I remember this song called Red Dirt Road by Brooks and Dunn. It goes something like this. That red dirt road, it's where I drank my first beer.

It's where I found Jesus. It's where I wrecked my first car. I tore it all to pieces. I found the path to heaven is for sinners and believers. And I was sitting there thinking this week, I'm like, what does that mean?

Wait. You you wrecked your car. You had your first beer. You found Jesus, and you can go to heaven if you're a sinner and a believer? What is going on in this song?

It's just kind of confusing. And there's so many songs and so many people who just mention God in this very generic way, but they really actually don't know him. Now, I don't know Brooks and Dunn personally, so I don't know if they have a personal relationship with the Lord or not. The point is our culture makes it confusing. Because, again, we meet a lot of Christians who say they love God, but their lives don't line up with that reality.

Actually, what's crazy is James has something to say on this topic. This is what it says in James two nineteen. James two nineteen says, you believe that there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that and shudder.

People you can say I believe in God all day, but the demons do too. The difference is, do you walk the walk, or do you just talk the talk? Right? Because acknowledging God, just acknowledging who he is doesn't make you godly. It's a much different thing to actually know and walk with God personally.

It is about knowing and doing God's will. Can you look at your neighbor and say doing? Doing. This is important. This is something we need to really focus in on before we get deep into this book, or I might lose you altogether.

So the book of James has actually created lots of conversation and actually provided a little bit of confusion for people. Because James says something like this in James one twenty two. James one twenty two says this, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. And in another verse, James says in two twenty four, you see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

Have y'all ever heard the phrase faith without works is dead? By showing faith without works is dead? And so here's a problem that we have to address before we get too far into this book. Because many people will read this verse that talks about good works, that talks about our faith. And it seems to indicate that if we don't have good works, then we don't really have faith or that our faith's not real.

And so this has led lots of people to just do as many good things as they possibly can in life thinking that's going to save them. Do you see the difference? A lot of people think if I just do enough good works, then I will make sure I have faith and that's how I'll be saved in the end. This is the biggest problem with Mormonism. You might know some friends who are Mormons or, they're called Latter day Saints as well.

It's one of the biggest Christian cults in the world. And there's a reason why you always see young gentlemen or young women knocking on your door in the Mormon culture, in the Mormon religion. It's because their goal is to do as many good works as they can because within Mormonism, the only way you're going to be saved is if you have enough good works. If I don't do enough good things, if I don't do enough things for the poor, if I don't do enough things for this, if I don't give enough money, if I don't do this, that, or the other, then I won't be saved. So their faith is built on doing good works.

And hopefully, it pans out in the end. And this is obviously not only in Mormon, this is one of the greatest greatest, lies in our culture. Because I've heard it said more than once, oh, he was a good man. Oh, he he really was a good man. He did lots of good things, but did he know God?

You can do a lot of good things because we've been made in God's image and God's world is beautiful and it's good, but just being good is not the same as knowing God and being saved. Hear me today. And so just to help you to not get too maybe worried about this is that that that faith and works live together. The two go together and let me show you why. Let me just make it very clear.

This is what it says in Ephesians two eight. This is what the apostle Paul says. He says, for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. This is a gift from God.

The scriptures make it clear, sister Marissa, that our faith is not based on good works, but off the work of one man, which is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and our faith in him. So we are saved simply by our faith in Jesus. That saves us. Nothing else. Our faith in who Jesus is and what he's done.

We repent of our sins as Peter said in his Pentecost speech in Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two thirty eight through 39 make it very clear. Peter replied, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. We are saved by our faith in Jesus, period.

Look at your neighbor and say, saved by faith. Get that in your heart and your head today. You cannot be saved other than your faith in Christ Jesus our lord and the grace he gives us. And thank god he saved us by grace. But but once we come to that knowledge and once we come to a relationship with Christ and we put our faith in Christ for who he is, what he's done, and we give our lives completely to him, that is when James begins to make a lot more sense.

And this is what James is addressing altogether in his five chapter book. He is addressing the disconnect many Christians experience that their actions do not line up with their beliefs. James grew frustrated potentially and he saw a need in his day. He said, I've met a lot of Christians who talk like they know God, but their actions don't back it up. I had this lady in college.

Her name was Justice Ming, and I thank God for her. She said this line that I'll never forget. She told all of us college students. She said, actions minus intentions equals squat. Okay?

She said actions minus intentions equals squat. Meaning, if I intend to fix my garden bed because it doesn't look good at all and I need to fix it. And if I have, you know, the actual oh, I'm gonna do this but I don't really, you know, do anything about it, then I've I've done squat. Right? And so, these things work together.

So it's actually, I'm sorry. Sorry to confuse everybody. It's intentions minus actions equals squat. Now it makes more sense. Just because you intend to do something and you don't do it doesn't mean And so here's the point and here's what James is trying to get ahold and this is what I want us to grab ahold of.

If you, like me, are interested in any way and you want to learn how to become more obedient to God, if you wanna learn how to follow God practically, I don't wanna just follow God generally, I want practical ways. Right? I don't know about you husbands in here, boyfriends in here. When my wife asked me to do something, she just say, hey Dallas, hey honey, can you do something for me? You know what my usually my first response is?

What do you want me to do? Right? Like specifically, tell me what you want me to do. Do I need to change a diaper? Do I need to make the meal?

Do I need to run to the store? Right? I want specifics so that I make sure that I'm doing what she wants me to do properly. And I don't know about you, I love specifics. In the book of James, it's full of simple, specific, practical ways for us to follow God obediently.

Not just think we're following God, but if we do these things, we are truly following after him and his will for our lives. And so, if you've been thinking to yourself, I want to follow Christ more faithfully, but I don't know how, then this series is for you. And I don't know about you, but I just want to follow Christ more obediently every single day. Some of the major topics that James deals with in this is is persevering through trials. Raise your hand if you've ever been through a trial or you're gonna go through another one.

Alright. Everybody should have their hands raised. Right? We're all gonna go through that. I wanna learn how to be obedient and faithful to God through that.

Raise your hand if you've ever had a problem with your mouth. Sometimes I yap too much. Sometimes I've gossiped too much. Sometimes I have blessed God but I've cursed others with my mouth. And I need to learn how to submit my mouth to the word of God.

Sometimes I've shown favoritism. Right? It makes it really difficult. I have two twin boys. Which one do you love more?

I love them both. Right? And something favoritism's another topic that most of us don't think about, but a lot of us actually struggle with in some ways. We favor certain people over other people for what they can do for us or what they can't do for us. And there's tons of other topics in the book of James that we're gonna hit, but here's the point.

It's gonna give us very practical ways to follow after God faithfully and obediently. I love how the bible project puts it. Let's see if I got that quote up there with me. It's a little small, but read along with me if you can. The bible project says this, following Jesus is not about It's not only about agreeing with theological information.

Jesus' followers become truly wise by living according to Jesus' summary of the Torah, to love God with everything you've got and love your neighbor as yourself. Our culture talks too much. Our social media on our phones, it makes it easy for everybody to have an opinion, for everybody to talk about what they think. I'm more interested in walking the walk instead of just talking the talk about talking the talk. I actually wanna walk this thing out practically.

And if we do this well, my friends, I think it would be very good for ourselves and for our culture. I've said it before, there was a famous, Hindu secular, man named Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi once said, I like your Christ, but I don't like your Christians because your Christians are so unlike your Christ. And so I think if we walk together through the book of James, it's going to help you become a Christian who not only talks the talk, but who walks the walk. But there's three things that you need to know as we start this book.

Can you look at your neighbor and say three things. Three things. Number one, the author. Now, any book you read, it comes from an author. It came from somebody's mind or somebody's heart and they put it on paper.

The first thing that you need to know is who the author of this book is And no big surprise, the author of this book is a guy named James. Alright? In Greek, his name is pronounced or it could actually be translated as Jacob. So the name Jacob, like the one in the Old Testament, the guy that had, you know, 12 sons, and that guy, Jacob, Israel in the Old Testament, it's the same name. So Jacob and James have the same meaning, same name.

And for the sake of not confusing everybody, I'm just gonna call him James throughout this series. Cause we probably should call him Jacob more more honestly to the scripture but we're gonna call him James. But we run into an issue because in the New Testament, we meet three different guys named James. Okay? We meet a guy named James, the son of Zebedee.

This is James, the brother of John. You remember the sons of thunder? The big three Peter, James, and John? This is James, son of Zebedee. Then we encounter another disciple Jesus named James, son of Alpheus.

And he's one of the original disciples, apostles of Jesus. And then we run into one more James, and this is James, the half brother of Jesus. And through scripture and through church history, it's been made clear that the writer of this book is specifically James, the Lord's brother. It says in Galatians one nineteen, Paul says, I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. Acts 12 makes a reference to James.

And James, the half brother of Jesus, or he was better known as James the just, was one of the first pastors or one of the first leaders in the early church in Jerusalem. In James though, you would think that James had, you know, believed in his brother his whole life. I mean James was literally the brother of Jesus. Can you imagine Jesus being your older brother? How tough that might have been in that house?

You would look at your mom, Mary, and say you love Jesus more than, you know, everybody else. He's perfect. And she's like, well, he is perfect, right? Right, that would be difficult. And James and his brother Jude had a problem with this.

They even mocked Jesus during his earthly ministry. I love what it says in John seven three through five. Jesus' brother said to him, leave Galilee and go to Judea, so your disciples that may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret since you are doing these things. Show yourself to the world.

And listen to this closely. It says, for even his own brothers did not believe in him. Can you imagine? Your own brothers don't even believe in you. They mock you.

However, thankfully, sometime after Jesus says death, burial, and ascension to heaven, James and Jude both put their faith in the risen lord, not as their brother, but as as their lord and savior. There's a difference. It's not just trusting in who my brother is, but it's trusting that Jesus really is who he says he is. So the point of all that was to give you all the backstory is that James the just is the author of this book. Secondly, the thing you need to know is that James references Jesus and the Proverbs a lot.

James, more than anybody else in the New Testament, quotes almost directly from the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of Jesus over and over and over again. And this is why I want you to know this. So as we work through this book and we read a topic that James presents, we're probably gonna look back to what Jesus said originally in the four gospels, which are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's cool because James really does believe that Jesus was God, he was Lord, and that he wasn't just a good teacher, but he was the greatest teacher ever to ever live. And he literally quotes from him all the time, which is just a beautiful thing, meaning we can truly trust in the words of Jesus, and James truly does.

So if a lot of James' teaching sounds familiar, it's because he's quoting from his brother, Jesus. And the third thing that you need to know about this, this is the hardest one to accept. So with a big deep breath, breathe out, get ready. Number three, you need to embrace the strong pastoral tone that aims to help us grow in obedience and righteousness. James is going to step on your toes, mom.

He's gonna step on your toes. He plays no games. He pulls no punches. James is very interested in the people of God acting like the people of God. And so when you read James, you can almost be a little offended.

You're like, woah, James. You don't know the whole story? You don't know what those people said about me? This is why I'm talking bad about them. James doesn't care.

James, in a lovingly but firm pastoral way, is trying to help these people become more like Jesus. He wants to help them again, walk the walk, not just talk the talk. This is why again, he says in James one twenty two, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. And so I want to encourage you. As we work through this book, I want you to prepare your heart.

Again, we're gonna be in this book for a couple of months. We're gonna go section by section. We're really gonna break it down so that we can all understand it very well. But the thing you just gotta be ready for is you're gonna step on your toes. And you got two options.

You either can hear the word and run away from it, or you can hear the word and accept what the word of God is saying. And that's what James wants you to do anyways. He wants you to put into practice what the word of God says and not just talk about the word of God. And with all those things laid out, I'm gonna read our main text for the day. It's very short.

We're only gonna do one verse today. James one one. James one one. This is what James one one says. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the 12 tribes scattered among the nations, greetings. My friends, this is the word of the Lord. Very simply today. James. He opens up the book and he tells us who he is.

Right? I'm James, and I'm writing this book. And like we just said, this is James the just. This is James the half brother of Jesus, and he's writing you a letter. Now, here's the thing.

There's no one in this room that loves getting mail more than me. I desperately cannot wait to get to the mailbox to see if someone's written me a letter with a little bit of money in it. It's a good feeling. Am I right? But here's the thing though.

I don't know about you but sometimes, a few times, I've gotten a letter with no name on it. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, who's this letter from? I wanna know who it's from. And this is why James puts his name here. Because his name provides authority.

This is not from some Joe Schmo up the street who doesn't know God or maybe he does. No, this is from James, the half brother of Jesus who used to mock Jesus but now is a faithful follower of Jesus. He's saying hey, it's me. It's James. And I love how James describes himself.

Look what he says. This is very powerful and this is where we really need to focus in. He says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pause there. Servant.

Look at your neighbor and say servant. Servant. It's the Greek word doulos. It could also be translated as slave or bond servant. And this is used to Paul.

Paul says in Romans chapter one one, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus. This idea of being the servant of the Lord is also used in the Old Testament. It says of Moses in Deuteronomy thirty four five, and Moses, the servant of the Lord. James calls himself a servant and or slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. By calling himself a servant or a slave, James is acknowledging his lowly status and he's exalting the status of Jesus.

Before this, not many other writers had been connecting the idea of God and the Lord Jesus Christ on the same playing field. And James is making it very clear that I believe that God and the Lord Jesus Christ are one and the same. And I am his servant. And what does it mean to be a servant? What does it mean to be a slave?

This is what my daughters do in the house. Somebody's the queen and someone's the servant. And usually Semi is bossing around her younger sister. And she'll say, she'll make up a name, say come here Anna, you know, do my hair. Get me a snack.

You're my servant. Right? They play. It's so cute. And I love when kids play.

And we don't really have this idea of servant and slave. And thank God that slavery was dealt with a few hundred years ago even though there's still millions of slaves in the world in some regions. I'm thankful that that the the slavery and all the the horrible things that have transpired in light of that have been put to rest. And because of that, we kinda lose the disconnect of what that means. But to be a servant or to be a slave means you're fully submitted to the will of your master.

If my mom is my master and she tells me, hey, go feed the cows, do you think I have an opportunity to talk back to her? This is my mama anyways, you don't talk back to mama. But I would say, yes ma'am, I'll go feed the cows. If she says, hey, I want you to go to the city and I want you to sell this thing, I'll say, yes, ma'am. I'll go do that.

She says, hey, hey, servant. I need you to clean the toilets. Then I'm gonna clean the toilets. Whatever the master says, the servant or the slave is supposed to do. Right?

We get that idea. And James is saying to all of us, and he's saying to his audience, which he calls the 12 tribes scattered among the nations, He's saying, hey, look, I'm just a servant. I'm just a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are too. We are all servants of God.

Amen? Would you raise your hand say, I'm a servant of God. Here's the thing about being a servant of God. You don't get a choice to choose how you wanna live your life. Jesus says in the Gospels, I've came to give you life and life abundantly.

Or life to the full. And we a lot of us think that when we come to know Jesus, we are free. Well, he freed me of my sin. Now I'm free. Yes, you're free of your sin, but now you're enslaved to Jesus and his word.

You're gonna be a slave no matter who you serve. You're either going to serve God in his will or you're gonna serve the enemy in his will. You're gonna be a slave to something. We get to choose who we're gonna be enslaved to. But when I read the scriptures, there's no one else I would rather serve or be enslaved to other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Because if I enslave myself, if I give myself completely over to my Lord and to my master and I obey his word, I am guaranteed to live life and life to the full if I obey him and his word. But I don't get the choice whether I want to listen to Jesus or not. Jesus is teaching on sexuality, I don't get a choice to argue with him about it. His word goes. Right?

I don't get a choice to argue about what Jesus says about money. His word goes. I don't get a choice to deal with Jesus about dealing with hard relationships. His word goes. He's my master.

I do whatever he says. And James is saying I'm a servant and so are you all. And James is really laying out because James again over five chapters he's gonna step on our toes. He's gonna get in our business because he wants us to walk the walk and he's just reminding you hey I'm a servant just like you. Everything I'm about to tell you I have to do it too and it's not easy.

But I'm willing to do it because Jesus is my Lord and my savior and my master. Again, he says that he's writing to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations. Now there's a little debate as to what this really means, but more than likely what James is saying, this is his audiences he's addressing. He's addressing a general Christian audience that was primarily Jews, but who had come to know Jesus. But because of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities and exiles back in the Old Testament, there was Jews dispersed all across the world, all across the nations.

And James is really writing a letter to the majority of these Jewish Christians saying, hey, look, you know God and you know him well, but now that you're a Christian, we gotta walk these things out together. And so, like Paul. Paul for example, he writes letters to very specific churches. He writes a book called Ephesians, which is to the church in Ephesus. He writes a book called Galatians, which is to the church in Galatia.

He writes a book, two books called first and second Corinthians, which is directly to a church in Corinth. And these were specific churches in specific cities, but James is writing to a large group of people that are dispersed over a large region. He's writing to a general audience. And because he's writing to a general audience, this makes it even the more applicable to us. Because we are a part of the seed of Abraham.

We have benefited from Abraham and the 12 tribes of Israel. We are a part of God's family. So James, the servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, is writing a letter not just to them, but it's to us. So you can't just read James and say, you know what, that was a letter for them, they had those issues, I don't deal with that. No, this is a letter for us, my friends.

And then the last word he gives us right there at the end of James one:one, it says greetings. And we might brush past greetings because we say greetings or we say good morning, but this term greetings was in a way of just saying, hey, may the Lord bless you. May the Lord bring you peace until I, you know, I want the Lord to bless you even though I'm about to give you this powerful word that you need to obey, right? Keaton, would you please come up? He's saying greetings to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm here to love on you, I'm here to help you. I'm not here to hurt you or make life more burdensome. I want you to walk the walk and talk the talk. So let's go back to the note on serving. Look at your neighbor one more time and say servant.

And this is where we're gonna end our time together. Servant. Here's why that's important and here's why you need to see yourself as a servant. Because James is writing a letter and he's about to give you all these pastoral exhortations. He's about to tell you how to stop running your mouth.

He's about to tell you to stop showing favoritism. He's about to tell you to stop trusting in money. He's about to tell you not to lose faith. He's about to tell you all these things that are very hard to comprehend. And he's reminding you, I'm just a servant, I'm just a slave.

And here's the really hard beautiful thing about James. James, Later in his life, in the year sixty two AD, James doesn't get a choice because James is a follower of Jesus, amen? Whatever Jesus says goes. And on the last day of his life, some people come up to James and say James, are you a Christian? Yes.

Are you a Christian? Well yes. You believe in Jesus? Yes I do. And James is killed.

He's murdered for his faith in the year sixty two AD. Why is he murdered? Why doesn't he renounce his faith? Because he has a master. And he's so committed to his master.

He's so committed as a servant to the Lord Jesus Christ he's even willing to lay his life down for his master. Here's the point. James is not asking you to do something he's not willing to do. James loved him so much. He loved the Lord so much and regarded him as his master and his God and his Lord and Savior so much so that the servant is willing to die for the master.

And James is inviting us to do the same thing. Now my friends, we live in a very different time than James did. And I really hope none of us experience the potential of dying for our faith here in our country. It could happen. It happens all around the world.

There is Christians in The Middle East who are killed and beheaded just because they love and follow Jesus. And that could happen here. I hope not. I pray for the peace of the land. We're supposed to be praying for our leadership and our government that we would live in a peaceable environment so that the gospel continue to grow peaceably.

But regardless though, we have to choose at some point if we are truly going to be a servant or slave of God or not. And that's what James wants to let us know in this very first verse before he tells you anything else in this book. I am just a servant, I am just a slave. Would you stand with me this morning if you can? If not, stay seated.

And as we wrap our time up together, with your eyes closed, that's what I want you to ponder for just one moment. And obviously if you need prayer, if there's something, you're sick, in need of prayer, in need of healing, we'll be up here ready to pray for you here in a moment. But as we are getting ready to work through this beautiful book that has been given to us, I want you to just consider that fact that I am a servant. I am a slave. And I want you to maybe just ask the Holy Spirit in your own way.

Just say, Holy Spirit, is there any place in my life right now where you don't have lordship? Is there any place in my heart, my mind and my body that I'm not obeying you and your word? My friends, you are bought at a high price. The blood of Jesus was very costly. And we don't just get to follow Jesus and get all the benefits.

We follow Jesus, we get all the benefits, but we're also enslaved to whatever he says. And sometimes doing what he says is not easy, but it is the right thing to do. So just ponder to yourself in your heart. Am I a servant or a slave or do I just think I'm one? I confess to you today that I don't think every single area of my heart's committed to the Lord.

There's certain areas of my life that I haven't come into full obedience to Christ. And I want to though. I want to become fully obedient just as Jesus became fully obedient even unto death. I want to be so obedient to him that whatever he says, whenever he says it, I'll do because I love him and I trust him. Do you love and trust him today?

Do you really trust that he's a good master? Do you really trust him with your life? Your full life? The whole thing. The whole kit and caboodle.

The whole thing. Lord, we're your servants. Lord, as we work through this book in James, Lord, I pray, Lord, you would teach us to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.