“1 ... to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.”
To become saved, a man must realize that he is not yet saved. He must see that there is an in-group and an out-group and that he is currently in the out-group. By grace, this man can be saved but grace will first show him that he must be saved.
Do you think the boundary between the saved and the unsaved is clear? People today like to talk about a faith journey. Let’s use that metaphor for a moment. Where on this faith journey does a man go from being unsaved to saved? Where is that boundary line? If you love people and you can identify that boundary line, you will want people to cross it. You will know what they must to do to be saved.
If you take salvation seriously and you love people, you will not be satisfied being vague on these matters. This evening’s Scripture is not vague on these matters. It shows us the boundary line with precise clarity.
It shows us a division between two groups, both of whom knew the Scriptures, both of whom were very religious, both of whom claimed to be the true people of God. In our age, we would say that both of these groups are the true people of God. Isn’t that the case? Imagine someone told you that there are two groups with a deep disagreement; they both know the Bible, they both try their best to follow its ways, but they both think they are the true people of God; they both think the other group is lost. I would be quick to shake my head in sorrow over this division.
James didn’t. He recognized that one group read the Bible rightly and the other read it wrongly. They missed Jesus. He recognized that one group was obedient and the other disregarded Jesus. He recognized that one group was saved, and the other was still lost. The boundary line between lost and found, between saved and unsaved, was clear to James. The Holy Spirit wants it to be clear to you.
The boundary line between the saved and the unsaved is clear. This line is faith in Jesus Christ. That is the claim of this sermon: the boundary line between the saved and the unsaved is clear. This line is faith in Jesus Christ.
We will see this in two points. First: the twelve tribes. Second: scattered among the nations. First: the twelve tribes. Second: scattered among the nations.
First: the twelve tribes. Last week we learned the Holy Spirit opened James’ eyes to the startling truth that his brother, Jesus, was also God. James came to Jesus the same way I hope that you have come—by faith.
James later became the leader of the church in Jerusalem. This church consisted mostly of Jewish believers. We first see this church in Acts 2, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… All the believers were together and had everything in common… the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” This church continued to grow until the deacon Stephen was killed. Luke tells us, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”
It seems that James wrote this letter to these scattered believers. These are, in the words of verse 1, “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.”
By calling them “the twelve tribes”, James was telling them that they were the true people of God. The Jewish leaders of James’ day disagreed. They knew their Bibles, they tried to obey the true God, and they were certain these Christians were guilty before God. We see that in their response to Stephen, “they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.” We see that in what Saul did to the church; “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.”
These Jewish leaders believed they were obeying God. They believed these Christians were blaspheming God. They believed that they were the in-group and the Christians were the out-group. They were the people of God; these Christians were heretics.
James disagreed. That’s why he called these Christians, “the twelve tribes.” James was referring back to the original twelve tribes of Israel to tell these persecuted believers that even though they were dismissed as false believers, they were in fact the true believers. They were more like their father Abraham than these Jewish leaders because they had faith like Abraham. They were the true people of God because they had faith in God’s promised Christ.
Both the Jews and the Christians believed they were the genuine believers and the other group was in grave error. The Jewish leaders thought they were the people of God and the church was leading people to hell. James thought that the church was the people of God and that by rejecting Jesus the Jews had rejected God. James wanted to see his Jewish brothers and sisters saved. The Jews wanted to see James and the church renounce this Jesus business and come back to Judaism.
Who was right? You live in an age that says it doesn’t matter. You live in an age that reads this first verse and thinks that James is being too narrow when he calls the church the true people of God. You live in an age that thinks the Jews were being too narrow by expelling the Christians. You live in an age that says, ‘Believing in Jesus worked well for James and that’s great for him. Faith in Jesus didn’t appeal to those Jews and Judaism worked well for them. I don’t see the problem.’
The problem is that there is such a thing as truth. Either Jesus was God as James thought or Jesus was a blasphemer as the Jews thought. They could not both be right. James saw that. The Jews saw that. Do you see that?
Please do not dismiss this disagreement between James and these Jews as a small matter. First of all, that would be arrogant. People were killed over this disagreement. People’s lives were uprooted over this disagreement. We would be arrogant to think that we could look back two thousand years and dismiss their decisions simply because we have progressed so far. A look at recent history will tell you otherwise.
More importantly, you need to take a side in this disagreement. If Jesus is God as James argued, you owe him what God deserves. If Jesus is God as James argued, then Jesus is able to do for you what he promised. He came that you might have life and have it to the full. He came to destroy the works of the devil. He came that even though you die, you might live.
If Jesus is not God, as these Jews argued, then James was terribly mistaken. These persecuted Christians lost their homes over nothing. They fractured their extended families over nothing.
Some of these Christians were starting to wonder if they had made a mistake by following Jesus. They didn’t like being rejected any more than you would. They didn’t like being scattered from their home any more than you would. They needed to hear that they were right to come to Jesus. They didn’t need to hear that it was okay for them to believe in Jesus. They needed to hear that they were right to come to Jesus and that those who persecuted them were wrong to reject Jesus. They needed to hear that the disciples of Jesus were the true people of God.
Do you believe that the disciples of Jesus are the true people of God and that those who reject Jesus are rejecting God? In other words, do you believe that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said, “whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him”? Do you see that if salvation is real, it divides those who are saved from those who are not saved? Do you see that to cross this boundary between saved and unsaved, a woman must come to Jesus?
Do you see that she must come to Jesus in a particular way? James was Jesus’ half-brother. He had a personal relationship with Jesus before he was saved. To say that in another way, he was unsaved even though he had a personal relationship with Jesus. For him to be saved, he needed a particular relationship with Jesus. He didn’t need to come as a brother. He needed to come as a sinner.
Have you come as a sinner to the Savior? “Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to the for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me Savior or I die.” Is that your song?
James didn’t need to come as a brother. He needed to come as a servant. Have you come to Jesus the way a servant comes before his lord? Paul told us, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Is Jesus your Lord? He cannot be your Savior if he isn’t also your Lord.
James recognized he was a sinner who needed not a brother but a Savior. James recognized that Jesus must be the Lord. Have you recognized that? Have you come to Jesus? Have you left the unsaved for the saved?
If so, you know what it is like to be divided from the world. Salvation can’t help but divide the saved from the unsaved. We see that in our second point: scattered among the nations.
James noted with irony that the true people of God were scattered from the land of God. The people who followed Israel’s Christ were kicked out of Israel. They were, in James’ words, “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.” Why should that be? Why were God’s people rejected by the people who professed to know God?
To understand the answer, you must look at Jesus. Jesus was also rejected by the Jews. The gospel of John put it this way, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
These Jews who scattered the first readers of this letter did not receive the God they claimed to worship. He lived among them and they rejected him. For a long time, James had lived in the same house with the Light of the World, and rejected Him..
If you find it strange that anyone would ever reject us Christians, remember what the word Christian means. You are a little Christ. You shouldn’t be surprised that the world rejects Christ’s people. Look what they did to Christ.
The good news of the gospel is not that Jesus was rejected by the world so that you could be accepted by the world. The good news of the gospel is that because of your sin Jesus was rejected by God sin so that you could be accepted by God. The good news of the gospel is not that you can now have peace with the world. The good news of the gospel is that you can have peace with God.
Jesus told us to expect some level of rejection. “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”
It isn’t surprising that so many in the world reject Jesus, but it is troubling. It is troubling that the leaders of God’s people saw God in the flesh as a problem. It is troubling that they were so judgmental towards a man who so perfectly spoke truth motivated by love. It is troubling that they killed a man who healed their sick. Jesus pointed out this oddity one time when they were trying to kill him. He said, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
It is troubling because by rejecting Jesus, they reject God. Jesus said, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects Him who sent me.”
The Jewish leaders claimed to be motivated by the best of ideals by love for God. They were zealous for holiness. How did those leaders with their zeal for holiness respond to the holy, holy, holy God when was visible with them in the temple rather than invisible? They crucified him.
The world today claims to be motivated by the best of ideals. It is zealous for love. How does it respond to God loving them by sending His one and only Son that whoever believes in him might not perish? Don’t be surprised when the world today rejects Jesus. Don’t be surprised that it scatters his people.
James’ first readers were scattered. Where was God in all of this? God was sending them on mission. Luke tells us, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.”
The world scattered the church and in turn the church spread throughout the world. Those scattered Christians were light shining into new darkness. They were salt in the midst of new decay. James wrote to believers who weren’t home; they were on mission. They were on mission because of Jesus and they were on mission for Jesus.
I don’t know your story, but my guess is that no one here this evening was scattered to Inwood because of persecution. In His providence that was not God’s choice for you. He doesn’t love you any more than He loved these early Christians who were scattered. He doesn’t love you any less than He loved those early Christians who were scattered. That is not the metric behind who is persecuted and who is not.
Even if you haven’t moved because of persecution, you have still been scattered among the nations. You live in this dark world as light. You live in this decaying world as salt. The darkness and decay look different in Inwood than they did in the cities where those early Christians were scattered, but the darkness and decay looked different where those early Christians were scattered than they did in Jerusalem. There was darkness and decay there too.
Those early Christians were forced to recognize that there is no home in this life. There is no location or people group that naturally and perfectly love God as they ought. Those early Christians didn’t find it in Jerusalem and they didn’t find it in the nations.
If you are looking for a home where the people naturally love the Lord their God with all their heart, all their mind, and all their ability and their neighbor as themselves, you will not find it in this world. You will not find it in this church. You will not find it in your home. You will not find it in yourself.
We are not home. We are like the men and women of faith in Hebrews 11. “…they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
Have you grown too much at home here? Have you begun to love the ways of this world because you don’t want the world to reject you? Don’t be afraid of the world’s rejection. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me,” said Jesus. “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
The Father knows how to bless you if the world rejects you. He isn’t ashamed to be called your God. You are His people. You belong to Jesus. You won’t be home until you are with him. Amen.