The Apostle James

It was in the 1930s and 40s that a family in Birmingham, Alabama was raising a boy. And that young boy was probably destined to follow in the steps of his father in the steel mills in Birmingham, Alabama. His father said, son, I would be glad to have you follow me in that honorable vocation. It would be a wonderful job for you to have, but there's not much future here for you. And certainly that was the case for this family. They were a black family in the 1930s and the deep south. He said, there wasn't much future for you here, son. And so I would encourage you to do everything you can to get out of Birmingham, Alabama, to make something of yourself. And that young man poured himself into sports in high school and became a star athlete in, I practically every sport that was played in that high school and made his way into a major league baseball and became one of the greatest players of all time. His name, Willie Mays. Willie Mays made his way out of Birmingham, Alabama and became one of the greatest players to ever live. Now, God wants to see spiritual greatness in us. He wants to see the kind of greatness that is not athletic or academic necessarily or any other kind of greatness, but what God is looking for is spiritual greatness. There's one of the apostles that we're going to look at tonight who demonstrates what it really means to be spiritually great and shows us how we might aspire to that kind of greatness, to spiritual greatness. It's the Apostle James. Now before we look at his life, we have to first of all make sure we know who we're talking about, which James. There are four men named James in the New Testament. Two apostles, one called James, the son of Alphius, who's rarely mentioned except for those lists of the apostles. We'll consider him later on. And then there is James, the father of one of the other apostles, the Apostle Judas. There are two apostles named Judas and this is the good one. So his father was named James. There is a third James who is the leader of the church in Jerusalem by Acts chapter 15. The counsel of the church there at Acts 15, James is the one who makes the decision, publishes the decision, proclaims the decision to the people. He is also the one who wrote the epistle of James. He is the half brother of our Lord. None of those three fit the description of the man we're going to talk about tonight. And James, we'll talk about tonight, is James the Apostle, James the brother of John, James the son of Zebedee, he is often called. Now a little bit about his family, which is of interest before we get into what the Bible says about his life, we know that his father's name was Zebedee. We'll find that in one of our texts this evening and his father was a fisherman. James went into the family business along with his brother John. So James and John brothers, their father Zebedee, but the Bible also talks about their mother. Their mother was a woman by the name of Salome. Now you have to put together a few scriptures to come to that conclusion, but his mother was one of the women who ministered to the Lord Jesus during his life. Look at these verses and we'll see that in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 56. This is on the screen for you to save you from having to turn to several passages. Talking about women who were at the cross among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of Zebedee's sons. Now one of the women at the cross is mentioned as the mother of Zebedee's sons. Now if you compare that with Mark chapter 15 verse 40, we find her identified. Some women were watching from a distance watching the crucifixion. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and the younger of Joseph and Salome. Here she is named, she is a process of elimination. The one in Mark 15 is the same as the one mentioned as the mother of Zebedee's sons in Matthew chapter 27. There's another little interesting insight as to who James' mother may have been, probably was, I think she was the sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Because there's a passage in John chapter 19 verse 25, notice again. Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of clopus and Mary Magdalene. Again four women mentioned and by process of elimination, the one who is Mary's sister is the same one who's the mother of Zebedee's children. In other words, James' mother was the mother, was the sister of Jesus' mother making Jesus and James at least on a human level cousins. It's an interesting insight into Jesus calling James and John and them being part of the inner circle, if you will, of the disciples as we'll see just a little bit later. There's some things that stand out about James in the gospels and I want us to look at the references to him in the gospels, the Bible tonight, so that we can understand what it means to be spiritually great. He evidences for us several marks of spiritual greatness and if we would aspire to spiritual greatness, we need these same characteristics. Characteristic number one, a willingness to follow Christ, a willingness to follow Christ. Now that could be said of any of the disciples, obviously Jesus called them all and they all followed him. But there's something about the call of James and John which stands out in the New Testament and it's actually used as an example of what it means to follow Christ. If you'll look with me please it, Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 to 22. Very familiar, most of you who were in Sunday school or vacation Bible school as a child heard this story and probably learned one of these verses in this passage in Matthew chapter 4, beginning in verse 18. As Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their nets. Jesus called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. His call to discipleship shows his willingness to follow Jesus. There is no record of James' salvation. Obviously before this time James must have known the Lord, been a follower of the Lord, at least new God as his Savior in the Old Testament sense, had faith in God and it was counted for righteousness like with Abraham. But now he is called to follow Jesus. This is evidently a call to service. As we saw before with Andrew, probably all four of these men were already acquainted with the Lord Jesus. We're to some degree disciples of Christ before this time, but this is a call to lay down their vocation and serve him. It's a call to service and notice it is a call to leave their job. It is a call to leave their home and to give their lives to following Jesus. Now that is a tremendous decision and a tremendous step for James to take. But James does not hesitate. He does not ask any questions. There is no faltering in his step when Jesus says come follow me. The Bible says immediately. He left his boat. That's his vocation. He left his father, that's his family, and he followed Christ. Now following Christ does not always mean that you leave all of those things behind. But it may mean that. And unless we are willing to do that, then we cannot really call ourselves disciples followers of Christ. Because the call of Christ on our lives may also mean for us to leave family and to leave job or vocation to leave any security behind and follow Jesus wherever he calls. It does not matter how old you are. It does not matter what vocation you may have, how secure you may be, or how long you've been in any particular location. God can do the same thing with any of us that He did with James. And that is to walk by one day and say come follow me. And the question is are we willing? Are we willing to give up whatever that call may entail, whether it be giving up vocation, family, ties, whatever it may be, convenience, whatever, and say, Lord, I am willing wherever you send me, whatever you want me to do, I am willing to go. Because you see, we also have a call to follow. Our call to follow is also addressed quite clearly in the New Testament. And it may not necessarily result in leaving your vocation and leaving the geographical closeness to your family. It may not necessarily mean that, but then again it may. The question is are we following Jesus? And if so, that does mean that we're willing to go wherever and do whatever He wants us to do. Look at these three verses, if you will, again to save you a little time and turning. I've put them on the screen. First of all, in John chapter 10 verse 27, the Bible tells us that we all are followers of Christ. My sheep, listen to my voice. I know them. And they follow me. If you are a sheep, if you are a believer, if you know Jesus as your Savior, then you are a follower of Christ. The two go hand in glove. They exist together and they cannot exist separately. You cannot consider yourself a sheep. One of Jesus' own, unless you are following Him. Now this is obviously a following Him in our personal life, a following Him with all of our heart, a following Him in our obedience to His Word, a following Him in what He calls us to do, how He calls us to live. But if we are sheep, we follow Him. We know His voice. It doesn't mean we follow Him perfectly. None of us do that. But it does mean when we hear His voice, we know it's His voice. And we have a choice to make. And we follow Him, generally speaking in our lives, we follow Him. Paul says it in a couple of other ways. Doesn't use the word follow, but he uses other words, which indicate the same thing. For instance, look at Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 1, be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children. So we are imitators of God. That means we follow His example. We see how He lived. We see the scriptures and what they say about God's character. And we mimic that, if you will. We follow that. We are imitators of that. That's what it means to follow Jesus Christ in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12, Paul said it this way. Not that I have already obtained all this, speaking of having Christ the focus of His life and center of His heart's ambition, not that I've already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Whatever Jesus took hold of Him for in salvation, whatever Jesus wanted for Him, Paul said, that's what I'm pursuing. That's what I'm pressing on to take hold. That's what I'm following Him for. So we have a call to follow Christ as well in our daily walk and our Christian life. Now please understand that the call is to follow Christ. And in Matthew chapter 4, where we were earlier, you see that sometimes we get things backwards a little bit here. We get the cart before the horse. We say, go witness to people and you will be following Christ. Do evangelism and you will be following Christ. Jesus says, if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. So the real question is not, are we witnessing to people? The real question is, are we following Christ? And if we're doing that, then we will be fishers of men. He will make us fishers of men. We will take opportunities as they are in our path to witness for Christ and to share the gospel with other people. The real key for us is to follow Christ. And if we're doing that, then we'll be more sensitive to opportunities to share the gospel with other people. Do you have a willingness to follow Christ? Do you have a heart's desire to follow Him? If you're one of His sheep, certainly that heart desires there. Are you living that out? Are you acting obediently in the Scriptures command to follow the Lord Jesus and to pursue after that which He has taken hold of you for in salvation? Are you following Him? Every day of your life, are you seeking to find out what the Scriptures teach? And how do you be obedient to that in your character and your thought life and how you expend your energies and time in your life? Are you following Christ? Willingness to follow Christ is a mark of spiritual greatness. But there's a second mark that James shows us and that is a close fellowship with Christ, close fellowship with Christ. You see, James is seen as prominent among the disciples and that's seen in a couple of different ways. His inclusion in the inner circle of disciples is an indication that He had a close fellowship with Christ and had a desire to have a close fellowship with Christ. Now by inclusion in the inner circle, what I'm talking about is, okay, you've got 12 disciples, but among those 12, there were three who seemed to be kind of an inner circle, kind of a group of special confidants of our Lord's. Peter, James and John, you find them mentioned together consistently in the New Testament. And there are several occasions where Jesus calls them into his confidence, where the other disciples, as close as they may have been to Christ, did not share those events. At least three times, Jesus invites them to witness something or to be a part of something that the others do not see. When Jairus's daughter was raised from the dead, Peter, James and John were there to witness that. When Jesus went up on the mountain and was transfigured, demonstrating all of his glory as it will appear when he comes at his second coming, Peter, James and John were invited to witness that. When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane and their prayed, agonizing before God, before the cross, Peter, James and John were invited to go with him deeper into the Garden. Now why is that? Is it that they were better than the others? Not necessarily so. I think there must have been something, though, of a desire, something of a heart-passion to be close to Christ, to walk with him through those difficult times, and to be closer as close as they could be to the Lord Jesus. Jesus invited these three into ministries and opportunities that the others even could not share. His inclusion in the inner circle, his evidence that he was close to the Lord and desired wanted that close fellowship with God. But there's another evidence of his close fellowship with Christ, and that is his martyrdom. Look with me, please, if you will, Acts 12, the Book of Acts, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, Acts 12, verse 1. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. And then verse 3 says, when he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to see Peter also. Now it's very interesting what you see happening here. Herod, the King of the Jews, is deciding to try to stamp out this movement that is causing so much trouble in Jerusalem. This movement of what was called in the Book of Acts the way after the Lord Jesus, the followers of Jesus. And this band of disciples is growing so quickly and Herod decides he will try to put an end to this. And so he sits down one evening and he maybe gathers his chief counsel together or whatever, and he says, we need to take preemptive action against this new group and to try to squash this new group. Now let's think if we were to pick one person that we would go after first, who would that be? And I don't know if it was unanimous, I don't know who suggested, I don't know if it was just in Herod's mind, but the person who rose to the surface as the first most likely suspect, the one that they could do the most harm to the church if they took out was James. Now that says something about James. His rising to prominence among the apostles made him conspicuous as a leader and if Herod is going to go after the top leadership, he's going to go after James first. Now that shows again his closeness to Christ, the fact that he passionately longed to be close to the Lord Jesus, to follow him with zeal, with commitment that would stand out front and would rise to leadership and would not be afraid of what might happen to him. Here is James, the most conspicuous leader of the early church. That's who Herod will take first. It's interesting that Peter, that we often think is the leader of the 12, Peter is next. James was first and of those three that were closest to Christ, James is the first one to be attacked for his conspicuous leadership in the church. I think we should all strive and desire to be conspicuous leaders for God. Such close followers of Jesus Christ that when people around us are looking for Christians, who comes to your mind? Maybe it's not necessarily for persecution, although that wouldn't be a bad thing. But when people are trying to think of who represents Jesus the most, if I were to pick out one person, who would I pick out? Would they think of you? Would they think of me? People you work with, are you conspicuous for being a leader for Jesus Christ, standing out by your testimony for him, letting it be known where your colors fly and who your master and the Lord is by the things you don't agree to or by the things you do say or by the testimony you give. Do you fly your colors high for Christ? Is it clear that you're a follower of His? What sure was clear with James? And when Herod said, let's take one guy out that we can do the most harm to the church by taking this guy out. He picked out James, one who was close to the Lord Jesus, conspicuous leader for Christ, close fellowship with Christ, a desire to walk so close to him that we're like him and that our character and our lifestyles being molded to be more like him. That's the kind of disciple we should be. That's the kind of greatness we should aspire to. But there's a third characteristic of James' greatness and it's the one I want to spend the rest of our time on. One of the most fascinating studies in the Bible is to look at this man's development in his character. The third quality that he shows is the growth of the character of Christ. Here's a man who started at a very real place in his Christian experience, his walk with Christ, and you can literally see him developing. Now let's find out a little bit about this man. Where did he start? I want to talk a little bit about his personality type. If you'll look with me please at Mark chapter 3, the passage where we noticed early on that Jesus chose his 12 apostles. There's an interesting description of James and his brother John which really gives us some insight into his personality type. Mark chapter 3, verse 17. He has already chosen Simon in verse 16, verse 17, James, son of Zebedee and his brother John, to whom he gave the name Boenair Gs which means sons of thunder. Now what is sons of thunder? What is that about? It's kind of a nickname. It's a name that Jesus gives to them which is descriptive of them. It describes what they are like, sons of thunder. What does it mean? Does it mean is it a testimony to an unruly past? I mean is it a testimony to the kind of wild living these guys had in the past? Maybe but I kind of doubt it. Does it mean he had an uncontrolled temper and tongue? Maybe but I think maybe there's more to it than that. Most probably Jesus is pointing to these two brothers as people who had a fiery temperament. It showed itself in their zeal. Whatever they did, they did. Wide open. They were not ones to hold back. It's by no coincidence that James would quickly rise to a position of leadership because he never did anything halfway. He was a son of thunder. You could hear it in his voice. Today we would call them colarex. If you follow Tim Le Hays description of the temperaments, a colarex or if you've taken the disc profile, he would be the domineering type, the D type in the disc profile. Because James is the kind of person who is hot tempered, impulsive, cellus and everything he did. He jumps into everything with both feet. It's quick to take control. It's quick to lead. He is that kind of strong personality. Now one of the most remarkable studies of the word of God is to see in people like this but in other Bible characters as well, how God took people who had great strengths and great weaknesses and molded their character to become more like him. You see all of us in our temperament, our personality type, all of us have strengths that if they are yielded to Christ, he can use. It's not that he's saying, no, you can't depend on your strength. You can't have any strengths at all. Well, we're not to depend on our strengths apart from him. But Jesus does want to sharpen our strengths and direct our strengths so that they are used for his glory. But then all of us have some character weaknesses too. Some personality weaknesses. We all have them. For you, it may be that you have a hot temper and you just, oh man, you just get upset so easily and so quickly and then you wish, oh, wish I hadn't said that, wish I hadn't done that. But it happens again. It's just your temperament. You're kind of wired that way. For some of you, it may be that you procrastinate and you wish you didn't, but you do. And you know you need help, but you're going to get that next week with that issue. And so you just procrastinate everything. For some of you, it may be impatience. You just can't stand someone who doesn't do things your way. So you may be impatient. For some of you, you may have mood swings. Times you're very happy and at times you're very low and it's just part of your personality, temperament type. We all have weaknesses that go along with our temperament. And the Lord Jesus wants to strengthen those areas of our lives. He wants us to see that we need his strength for areas where we're weak so that we grow stronger in those areas. And we learn how to control that temper. That we learn how to make decisions rather than putting things off and getting to the things that need to be done. He wants us to learn to be more patient with people or to be more even tempered and even keeled when it comes to our emotions. The Lord wants us to, He wants to help us with those areas of our lives. And so looking at someone like James is a great encouragement that he can actually do the same kind of transformation with us. Let's take a look at James temperament and how it reveals itself in the gospels. Let's take a little bit, take a look at a little bit of that thunder as it booms in his voice and it comes through in his lifestyle. So let's look at a couple of weaknesses that he had. Two weaknesses that James had. Number one, intolerance. He was intolerant. Look with me please at Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, where we find a very fascinating story that involves James and his brother John. Luke chapter 9 verse 51. As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him, but the people there did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? And I'm going to read what is in some translations, not the most of them, but in some translations, if you have a marginal note, you'll have this or if you have the King James version, you have this verse 54 again. When the disciples, James and John saw this, they asked, Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them even as Elijah did? But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and he said, you do not know what kind of spirit you are of for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. What an interesting story. Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, as evidently was his custom, did not skirt Samaria, did not go around Samaria like most Jews did because remember that Jews hated the Samaritans, but he went through Samaria. It's evening, it's time to stop, it's time to find a place to rest for the night, and so he sends some of his disciples into a village to ask if they can spend the night there, and the people say, no, we don't want you in our village because you're Jews. I wonder if Peter, James and John were the three that went into the village. Not sure if they were the ones that got that report, but when they heard it, that thunder began to rise in Peter and James or James and John. And those sons of thunder, their approach is Lord. You want us to call down fire from heaven like Elijah did? Well, here remember that story, Lord, when somebody didn't like Elijah, Elijah called down fire from heaven. He zapped him, you know, it was the second kings too, when the kings sent three groups of troops to arrest Elijah and Elijah called down fire from heaven and burned him up. Point out to you, they remember that story, and so they want that to be done. Lord, we call down fire from heaven. We'll zap that village, we'll burn him to a crisp for rejecting you. Jesus says, hold on guys, hold on, back up a little bit. You don't understand what spirit you're up. Give yourself a check on your attitude right now. Now there was a reason why God had Elijah to do that. We're in a different situation. You need to understand the things I've taught you about doing good, good to those who despitefully use you, about praying for your enemies, about being kind to those who mistreat you. You haven't learned that spirit yet. Check your spirit. You don't know what spirit you're up. Now, just go to another village. That's hard to do, isn't it? It's hard to just turn to go to another village when you've been insulted. The way you've been insulted, and especially when the insult has been at your Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, and Jesus says, cool your jets, fellas. Let's just go to another village. Just go to another place. Just let it go. Let it go. Now for sons of thunder, it's hard to let things go. For sons of thunder, we want to take action. We want to make things right. We want to give people their do. We want justice to be done, and we want it to be done now, and we want them to feel it. That's sons of thunder. And sometimes Jesus just says, back off, just back off. We just go to another town. We just go to another place. Just let it go. Let it go. You know, God takes care of things much better than we do. And here is a man who in his weakness is intolerant of others. Jesus is teaching him a lesson. We'll see later how he learned that lesson. There's a second weakness that is demonstrated in James' life, however, and that is selfish ambition. Selfish ambition. That's a part of this sons of thunder, thinking again, that's a part of his caloric, domineering kind of personality. He is ambitious, and his ambition revolves around himself, and what he will get. It's seen so clearly in that familiar story in Matthew chapter 20. So let's look over there real quick. Matthew chapter 20. These stories bring smiles to our lips, a little after, maybe to our heart, unless we are guilty of the same thing, unless we see ourselves in these men, and maybe we need to. Matthew chapter 20, verse 20. Then the mother of Zebedee's sons, who's that? James and John, right? The mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons, don't forget those words, with her sons, and kneeling down, asked a favor of him. What is it you want? He asked. She said, grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom. Stop right there for just a moment. Go back to chapter 19, verse 28. Jesus had just told them, verse 28 of chapter 19, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the son of man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thorns judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, that's not enough for James and John. By the way, one of the other gospels says that it's actually James and John that did the talking. I think their mother came with them. I think she may have started the conversation, but I think she was kind of put up to it by James and John. James and John may have actually jumped into the conversation at this point. Jesus has said, you will rule with me on 12 thorns judging the 12 tribes, and James and John are already figuring out which thorns they want. If there's going to be 12 thorns, we want the first one's closest to Jesus. Now, I'm not so sure that was because they wanted close fellowship with Jesus. This is a different issue. I think they wanted the greatest position of power. One on the right, one on the left, secretary of defense, secretary of state, if you will, the two biggest people in the cabinet, that's what we want. Notice what Jesus says. By the way, they have no problem with modestity, do they? The sons of thunder typically don't. The sons of thunder say, this is what I want. I'm going for it, man. I'm ambitious. Sometimes that ambition is self-centered. Notice what Jesus says in verse 22. You don't know what you are asking. Jesus said to them, can you drink the cup? I'm going to drink. We can. They answered. There's that ambitious spirit rising. There's that thunder coming out again. Oh, yeah, we can. Just give it to us or bring it on, man. We can do whatever. We'll take whatever. That self-confident spirit. Jesus looks at them. Verse 23, Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink from my cup. Now, the cup is a cup of suffering. It's the cup Jesus prayed to be delivered from in the garden. You will indeed drink of suffering. You see, it's people who are willing to suffer who get to sit at Jesus right hand, Jesus left hand. The glory doesn't come without suffering. Growth doesn't come without suffering. Character doesn't come without hardship. He says, you will indeed drink from my cup, but he says in verse 23, to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they've been prepared by my father. In other words, I'm not handing out thrones. That's God's place to do that. God is sovereign over what he does with our lives. God is sovereign over where he places us, what he does with us, whatever place of prominence or lack thereof he gives us. God's sovereign in that. He's sovereign in that. It's God's right to choose that. It's not our right. And when we try to kind of angle ourselves so that we get a little more of the lime light than what he's given us, we're acting like sons of thunder. And we need to be reminded of God's sovereignty. Now at verse 24, when the 10 heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Well, I wonder why they were so mad. You think maybe it's because they didn't think of it first. They would like to have been there asking for those thrones first. They're afraid, well, maybe those guys are going to get those thrones and we aren't. Yeah, maybe that was it. I don't know. First, 25, Jesus called them together and said, and here's the lesson. You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lauded over them and their high officials exercised authority over them, not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. In God's sight, those who deserve the crown drink the cup first. In God's sight, those who have power are those who are bonds lays. In God's sight, those who are the greatest are the ones who serve. You see, God looks at things totally differently than man does and that's why Jesus said, you're looking at things like Gentile rulers do. I want this position. I'm going to position myself and get this, I'm going to angle myself into that position so that I can eventually get to this position and be noticed by that person and eventually work my over to this position and you just see the thing working out. You see? Jesus says, it's not the way my kingdom works. Try to position yourself, try to put yourself where you get noticed, try to climb the ladder and you're showing you're not a servant and you will never be great in God's eyes that way. Never, never. So he had a weakness and that weakness was selfish ambition. But you know, James also had some strengths and I'll just mention them. They're already evident in the stories that we've seen. His strengths, number one, zeal. Zeal. I mean, here is a guy who has an all-consuming zeal and passion for Christ back to the story in Luke 9. Sure, his attitude is not right. He wants to burn everybody to a crisp in this village, but his motive. Why does he want to do that? Because they offended Jesus. They offended his Lord. They would not receive his Lord and you have to admire at least to some degree the motive behind that. Can't condone his attitude, but at least it did spring from righteous anger at the insult which was given to Christ. And there's a bit of zeal mixed with that intolerance here. And what Jesus does and what he's a master at doing is working on the intolerance to help us get over that while at the same time stoking the fires of that zeal and channeling it in the right way. Because God wants zeal, God wants people who have some fire. It's not all bad when you're a son of thunder, but if it's channeled in the right way and directed towards serving God to where nothing can stop you and your ambition is for him and your zeal is for him, you think maybe that's the reason he ended up being the first martyr? I do. I think he learned how to channel his zeal. And it was channeled into leadership that was effective for the church and for Christ. And he rose to the top, yes, but not because of Selfish Ambition, because of zeal for Jesus. So zeal was a strength. Second strength was devotion to the Lord. He could not be moved. You see that again in Luke 9, you see it in his martyrdom. Nothing would stop him. He was that devoted to Christ and his third strength was leadership. This guy was a born leader. It was part of the way God had wired him. He was quickly a leader among the twelve. He was quickly a leader in the early church because that's the way God had made him. Built him for a leadership. There's some people that have that strength built into them by God, but we God made them. It's built there. It's made there. Some people don't have to work real hard on that, but some people are born leaders. I believe James was one of those. What I want to just mention in closing is his wonderful transformation because God did transforming. Now, I want you to understand God did not change his temperament. God did not say, you're a caloric. I want to change you into some other kind of person. No. God said, you're a caloric. You're a strong, domineering kind of leader. There's good in that. There's strength in that. I want to help you develop those strengths while at the same time, kind of smoothing off the rough edges and dealing with the weaknesses of your intolerance spirit toward others and your selfish ambition. Let's take the ambition and focus it toward me and my church and my kingdom. Let's take the intolerance spirit and learn to temper that with patience and grace and a recognition of God's sovereignty. He molds his strengths and gives him the power to overcome his weaknesses. Just one example of it and then we'll close. Early on in the book of Acts, Peter and John are arrested in the temple for preaching. Now, James wasn't there because I think James was kind of doing some administrative work among the 12. He was the leader type. So he's doing some work among the 12 evidently. He wasn't there with them preaching, but when they came back, the Bible says in Acts chapter 4 that they reported to all the disciples what had happened. They'd been arrested and then they'd been let go with a threat and a warning from the leaders not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore. And if you read that passage in Acts 4, you find that the 12 apostles gather in the upper room and they pray. Lord, give us boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus. Give us boldness to resist the persecution and to stand strong for you. And they pray for God's strength to have their zeal directed toward effective service. And nobody, not even James says, Lord, could we call down fire from heaven and burn them all to a crisp? He doesn't say that. Nobody says that. James doesn't say it. John doesn't say it. They're all together in their prayer. Lord, give us boldness to stand for you and proclaim your word. And there is not one word of spite or vengeance or intolerance toward those that were persecuting them. I think a man by the name of James is beginning to learn the character of Christ. And you see, whatever your weakness is, God wants to give you strength to become more like Jesus in that part of your life. And whatever your strengths are, he wants to use those for his glory so that that strength is harnessed for his church, his kingdom, for his glory. That's what James teaches us. And here's a man who by Acts 12 is taken on to glory and martyred him. But he leaves behind such a wonderful testimony of the transforming grace of God, the same grace and power that can transform you and can transform me. Let's pray together. Father, we all need transformation. We all need to see you continually working in our character to channel, use our strengths for your glory and dependence upon you, but also, Lord, to work on our weaknesses so that we no longer let those stand in the way of becoming like you. What you did for James, Lord, we ask you to do for us. Help us to be willing to follow you, help us to desire a close fellowship with you, but help us most of all to be transformed in the character of your son, the Lord Jesus. May we give you the freedom to do that in our lives. Without restriction, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.