James: Finishing Details
SUMMARY
In this sermon, Karl Ihfe draws on the life of James, son of Zebedee, to show that Jesus is not surprised by our immaturity — He is committed to our maturity. Through James' journey from wanting to call down fire on enemies and seeking seats of honor, to ultimately drinking the cup of martyrdom with faithfulness, Karl reminds us that transformation happens in the ordinary, everyday moments of following Jesus. Before God calls us to do anything great, His first invitation is simply, "Will you follow?"
TRANSCRIPTION:
We don't know the words to this song yet, or maybe some of us know this song, but it's called the Blood. But I was thinking about it this morning as we were on our way to church. We listened to it, but it begins with, everything's changed. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to.
I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside out. I think that song is very apropos for the series that we've been in together here this summer called behind the Ministry. We've been looking at the lives of the twelve apostles and thinking together about what we might learn by these first disciples that Jesus called to follow him. We begin in week one with Judas thinking together about the reality that you can be really close to Jesus without ever surrendering to him.
You know, Judas followed him around for three years. He ate meals with him every day. He slept in the same place. He. He heard him teach, he watched him heal and do incredible miracles, and yet still wasn't changed from the inside.
Now what's interesting to me, even at that last Supper, when Jesus tells those that are sitting around that table with him, somebody's gonna betray you. One of you is gonna betray me. That nobody immediately looked over at Judas, right? He was close enough, and he was part of the crew enough for them to not even suspect him. And so we wrestled some that first week to say that's not how we want to be as followers of Jesus.
This morning, we're going to look at another disciple who was maybe as close or closer than any other disciple than we know of. Judas shows us what it's like to be proximity without surrender. This disciple is going to show us, I think, what it looks like to have proximity with surrender. But strangely enough, we don't know a whole lot about this guy. His name was James.
Now, to get it straight in our heads, remember, this is not James Jesus, brother, who would go on to be a leader in the early church in Jerusalem and write the book of James. It's not James the son of Alphaeus, who was one of the 12. We'll look at his story here in just a couple of weeks. This was James, John's brother, the son of Zebedee. He was the other half of the Sons of Thunder, right?
We looked at John's story earlier this summer. If you start paying attention to where James name falls into Scripture. And we know if you've studied much of scripture, you know, when Names occur. That's often a sign of importance. James name is always at least third in line.
Sometimes it's second, but most often it's third. He's one of the first three in every single list there are in Scripture. When Jesus chooses a smaller group of disciples to come and be with him, he has the 12. But then he chooses the three. James is one of those three.
When Jairus, little daughter dead. And he comes to Jesus pleading, would you please come and help my daughter? Jesus won't let the crowds into that room, but he does let Peter, James and John in. Not long after that, he goes up on the side of a mountain and the transfiguration happens. And who is there to witness that?
James. He's there. James watched the appearance of Jesus change right before his eyes, right? Moses and Elijah show up and he hears these words echoing. This is my son, whom I love.
With him I'm well pleased. Listen to him.
He's also one of the ones that Jesus says, come and pray with me in the garden that last night of his life. And this time he sees a change in Jesus. But it's not his glory like it was on the mountain a few weeks or months before that. Instead, it's anguish. Then Jesus said to them, my soul is deeply grieved, even to death.
Remain here and stay awake with me. And going a little further, he threw himself on the ground and he prayed, my father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want. You know, James saw Jesus do incredible things. He saw him raise the dead.
He saw him be transfigured in front of him. He saw the pain in his eyes. He saw the sweat of blood and the tears. James saw side of Jesus that most didn't get to see. And Jesus just kept bringing him close, bringing him close.
And we don't know why. Scripture doesn't tell us a whole lot about James. He doesn't say exactly why Jesus kept calling him close, right? It certainly wasn't because he had it all figured out. And in just a moment, we're going to look at a couple of stories where we see James is clueless, just like the other 11.
And yet Jesus wanted James close. It's almost as if James, before James ever did anything, Jesus wanted him to be with him. Before James ever does anything important, Jesus invites him to come close. Maybe that's what some of you need to hear this morning before you do anything for God. God's first invitation is, would you just be with me?
Would you Follow close to Jesus. You know, we spend so much time thinking about, what's my calling, what's my purpose, and what am I going to do? And our college students. You're chasing those questions. Those are great questions, and I hope we'll hear this morning.
That's actually not the first question. The first question is, will you follow? Will you follow? You see? Remember, as we've been thinking together about discipleship, one of the most important things we've learned is the.
The most important thing God gets out of your life is not the stuff that you do, and it's the person that you become before you do anything. Jesus cares more deeply about who you are becoming. And the closer that James got, the more obvious and clear it seems, at least to me, and I think to all of us, that Jesus had some work to do on this guy. And we've already talked some about James and his brother John and this nickname, Sons of Thunder. It's an important nickname.
It stuck with him his whole life. Back in Luke 9, when the disciples are traveling around with Jesus and they're going to go through a Samaritan village, and they are summarily unwelcome in that place, and James and John are not happy. Lord, do you want us to call down fire? Destroy them? I love how this question comes.
As if they could do that. Lord, we got this. He wants to call down fire and heaven, right? Channeling our inner Elijah. Let's do this right, Lord, I'm all over it.
I'm ready. I'm prayed up. Let's go. But Jesus rebukes him, and he says, guys, haven't you been paying attention? If you flip back in chapter nine of Luke and just notice the stories that lead up to this moment, Jesus has fed 5,000 people in one moment.
Peter has declared him, you are the Messiah. Not only that, the transfiguration happens in Luke 9. Jesus heals a demon possessed boy right before this moment. And he talks to all disciples about what it really means to be the greatest, to be important. And literally in the next Moment, in Luke 9, James and John are ready to call down fire.
It's hard to find good help. Sure, Jesus was thinking at times, but notice, Luke tells us, after Jesus rebukes him, this is what we're told. Then he and his disciples went to another village. They just keep moving on. James wants judgment.
Lord, let's call down fire on these guys. And Jesus says, keep walking, pal. Just keep walking. But there's another story, I think, that gives us a little more insight into Who James was The passage Jackson read for us just a moment ago. If you have your Bible, invite you to turn over to Mark, chapter 10.
It's an important passage. John and James come to Jesus with a really important request. Jesus, let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory. I mean, it seems simple enough, right? I mean, Jesus, we're part of the 12, but can we be honest?
We're really part of the three. I mean, yeah, Peter. Peter, yeah, that's Peter. But me and my brother John, could we be on your right and on your left? And apparently being close enough, being in the three wasn't close enough.
They wanted to be even closer. Now there's something painfully human about this request, I think. You know, James loves Jesus and he believes he's the Messiah. He's willing to follow him. He's given up everything to follow Jesus.
But somewhere deep inside, there's still this ego. There's still this. This ambition. They're still James. James is still James.
I remember starting in ministry. Kayla and I moved to Austin in 2000, and I had grand visions of what it was going to be like, you guys, because no one had ever seen a teacher like me. No one had ever gone to church with a minister like me. I was ready to rock and roll. I was ready to call down fire.
I was ready to do all the things. And it didn't happen. And it didn't happen, and it didn't happen. This story feels a little too familiar to me. You see, it's possible to genuinely love Jesus and to still need Jesus to do a lot of changing in your life.
Those two things can coexist. They're not mutually exclusive. And so I'm very thankful that Jesus responds to James and John's request with the heart and the grace that. That he chooses to respond in. He doesn't say, that's it.
That is it. Enough with the fire, enough with the ego. Come on, man, knock it off. He doesn't say, give me your apostle card. Give it to me right now.
Right? He doesn't say, go stand by a tree and think about what you've said. All the things that I would be tempted to do instead. What we learn is Jesus wasn't surprised by James immaturity, and he was committed to his maturity. Jesus wasn't surprised at his ego or his ambition.
He knew about that and he called James anyway, which I think is really significant. Not because James could do a lot of great stuff, but because Jesus knew who James could become. So Instead of belittling him or shaming him or shunning him or casting him away, he simply says a question, right? Can you drink the cup?
Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with and I love? James response, no problem. We got it. I brought a cup with me today. This is my cup.
There are many like it, but this one is mine. If you follow me around the office much, you're going to see I have a cup with me all the time. I wonder what James thought was in that cup that Jesus asked him about. I mean, they're talking about the kingdom of heaven, right? So it's got to have something to do with glory and power.
Okay, I'm with you. Strength, honor, right there. You sure you can drink from this cup, Jameson? Oh, yeah, not a problem. I'll have what he's having.
Jesus responds, oh, James, James, you're going to drink the cup. You will. You're going to drink the cup and you're going to be baptized with the baptism I'm going to baptized with. But as for those two positions that you asked about, that's not mine to give. Those are.
Those are for them being prepared. And friends, honestly, this week as I'm reading this passage, all I could see was dumb and dumber going, so you're telling me there's a chance that's all I needed, Lord, that's all I needed. And Jesus is kind of scratching his head. I wonder if those words ever came back to James. I wonder if he ever thought about that conversation later.
You know, Jesus had told him something about his future, something that he couldn't possibly understand all the implications of. He'd given it to him right there. And, you know, James wanted a crown, but Jesus offers him a cup.
Can you drink the cup?
James spent years following Jesus, trying to get closer to the throne, only to realize that Jesus wanted him to get closer to his heart. And he walked around and followed Jesus. He listened to him teach. He failed. And he learned a lot of lessons.
He got rebuked. But he watched Jesus serve and he watched him forgive. And he watched him spend time with people that most had written off and left out. And then he watches Jesus suffer. And day after day, moment after moment, Jesus was changing James little by little.
Because that's often how transformation works. If you're like me, I personally would rather the transformation all happen at once. Could you just, boom, done. But that's not usually how it happens. It's day after day.
It's moment after moment, conversation after conversation, failure after failure. You see, spiritual formation happens over time. It's all these everyday, ordinary moments stacked up one on top of the other. Until one day you realize everything's changed. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ.
See, like the story of many of the other apostles we've looked at so far, James story starts to fade. In fact, he's only mentioned in lists the rest of the Gospels. And at the end of John, we see him at the beginning of Acts. He's there, but it's, it's just listing of a name, just his geographic location. That is until Acts chapter 12.
And almost as quickly as James story begins, it ends. We're told in verse one. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. And he had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
That's it. There's no speech, there's no explanation of how he got arrested. No telling of the story of a trial of any kind. There's no last words, no miraculous escape. Two verses and James is gone.
Now something strikes me about this specific story. You know, I told you before, James is always mentioned early on, but he's often, in fact every time he's mentioned, he's mentioned with somebody else. It's never just James, it's always James and John or Peter, James and John or Peter, Andrew, James and John. But here James is alone, right? He's mentioned, given a John's, a shout out there as his brother.
But, but this is James moment. You know, years earlier, Jesus said, can you drink the cup James?
And in this moment James says, I can drink it.
Back then he had no idea what Jesus would be talking about. And now he does.
You see, when faithfulness required everything, James was ready to drink the cup. Now remember Acts 12. Somewhere probably around a decade or so after the resurrection has happened. But isn't it fascinating? We don't know anything about James life during that time.
Very, very little. There's no amazing sermons that he preaches, he doesn't write a book, he doesn't go on this incredible missionary campaign or journey we don't hear much about. Just everyday ordinary moments day after day for 10 years until that one extraordinary moment shows up.
You see, Acts 12 wasn't the moment that James became faithful church. Acts 12, that's the moment that years of faithfulness and became visible to all those around him. You see, his decision had been formed over years and years of learning how to follow Jesus and failing and getting back up and trying again in the house with Jairus daughter, watching this moment come out and then turning around and immediately saying, can I have a place of honor or glory? When Jesus challenges his ambition and his ego, and then he watches Jesus wash feet and carry a cross, you see, it's in the ordinary, everyday moments, those moments of following Jesus that were preparing James for what would come in his life. Now, see, chances are most of us will not have a moment like James had here.
But I can promise you, this church, you're going to have a moment. You're going to have a moment. Every one of us will have a moment. When following Jesus costs us something, right? When learning how to really forgive someone, it costs us to tell the truth to someone, maybe to somebody in power.
It's gonna cost us. When the whole crowd that you are with is going in one direction and Jesus is calling you to go in another direction, there's gonna be a moment. And in those moments when they come, what we discover is what comes out of us is what's been put into us over a long period of time. That's not the moment that we rise up and discover our faithfulness. No, that's when our faithfulness actually becomes visible to everybody else around us.
I mean, that's why the ordinary days of discipleship matter so much. That's why we talk about the power of prayer, learning how to be a person of prayer. That's why we talk about the power of gathering together in small groups to get into God's word and study and think together. That's why we talk about the everyday discipline of gathering in circles, right, in groups where we can share life, where we can know and be known and love and be loved and serve and be served. Because every moment matters.
I mean, we don't know what tomorrow will bring, but God does. Growing up, I told you a story a couple of weeks ago about Hallie, but one of the other things I love about her was there weren't too many times when Kayla and I would say something and we'd end it with, well, who knows? And in the backseat of the car, this little voice would go, God does.
We'd say, okay, God does, right? We have another conversation, talk about, I don't know. Who knows? God does.
So when I come across these stories and I think about, man, we don't know the future. Who knows? God does. God knows.
Maybe that's. Maybe that's why you're going through some of the things you're going through today, God knows he's preparing you. He's shaping you. He's forming you into the kind of person that he knows you can be. So, church, will we stay close to him in the everyday and in the ordinary when nothing's really written much about us for 10 years and we feel like it's just another day?
Friends, it's not. You never know what might be coming around the corner. You see, the one who began, as I want to call fire down on someone is now at the end of his life. He's willing to stand in it for the sake of the King. The one who wanted a place of honor and a place of glory is now willing to.
To take the place of suffering and shame. Well, that didn't happen overnight. That happened because James chose to be faithful and Jesus transformed him. So, church, let's be faithful in the ordinary. May we take from the story of James that Jesus is not gonna be surprised by our immaturity.
He's not gonna be surprised at the things that you struggle with. When he sees you struggle with it, he doesn't go, oh, come on, still. Give me your card. Give me your Christian card right now. That's not how Jesus works.
He's committed to your maturity. He's committed to you becoming more the son and the daughter that he created. The husband or the wife or the single person, the student or the teacher, the worker, the boss. Whatever role he's placed, he's forming you every day. Will we be committed to stay close to Jesus?
You see, we've learned proximity is not enough. We've got to open up our hearts and our lives that Jesus might do his transforming work in us again. James wanted a throne.
Jesus offered him a cup.
His response changed everything. Well, may it be true for us as well. God, as we go about our week this week, there's so much happening, so many changes are coming. So we invite you, Lord, would you open our eyes and our ears to what it is that you want us to hear and see as we step back into the classroom as a student or a teacher, a staff, faculty, whatever role we may be serving in God, would you give us eyes to see that you would help us to be faithful to you each day, to spend that time with you in prayer and reflection, to jump into your word, even if it's just a couple of verses a day, knowing we're. We're playing this long game, trusting and believing, you're shaping us and forming us for that moment where we might, as James did, be willing to drink the cup God thank you that we don't have to walk this road alone.
We don't have to face the world around us on our own. Thank you that we get to do this together. So God as we move out this week may we go in the knowledge knowing that Jesus you're already at work changing and forming us. You're not disappointed in our immaturity. You're calling us into a deeper maturity.
So God give us grace, give us humility, give us courage to face what we need to face whatever that might be to ask for help to know that we get to do this life together. So then those moments, what's revealed in us God is that transformation work that's been happening all along. One prayer, one study, one conversation, one mistake and one gift of grace. God you are resurrecting us once again. Oh God would you do that transformation work in us again this week we pray in Jesus name Amen.