Chapter 1 introduction.

The book of James is a book that is tough and uncomfortable but if you carefully read the book of James it’s life changing. I want to start off with an introduction. For this introduction, I want to cover the format and author of the book, and two reasons to study James. The format of the book is a letter though it’s not written by Paul who you probably know wrote many of the letters in the New Testament. It’s written by James, who was the half brother of Jesus. Now two reasons to study it. One, to examine the relationship between faith and works. On one hand, James refers to faith 14 different times. On the other hand, this letter from James is filled with commands to obey. The point of the book of James is trials, suffering, and the relationship between faith and works. Something that gets mixed up all the time is the difference between faith and works. People think that good works is the way to be saved but because God died for us and we believe in him we are saved. People also have this idea that good works pleases or makes God love you more. There is no way to make God love you more because God loves everyone the same. Then, people think that all we have to do is believe in Jesus. People think they don’t have to do good works. James 2:17 says, “in the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.” So it’s vert important for us to examine our faith and works. Second, to explore the impact of our faith on the life in this city and in this world. Faith doesn’t only impact you, it impacts other people and the world. What this is saying is our faith doesn’t just matter to us but it matters to others. Brothers and sisters we are living in a day of age where there’s more unbelievers than believers. Think about the world around us. There are many people who don’t know Jesus and God calls us to share the gospel. The gospel was not made just for you to believe and nothing else. The gospel is made to be shared.