“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” – James 1:1

Do you have family members who have yet to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Perhaps you have been praying for them for years, but still no result, or things are looking worse, they are going further away from the LORD? If so, I hope to encourage you from the life of the author of the book of James. Many people would think that he is apostle James, the brother of John, author of John’s gospel. However, the Bible indicates that the apostle James was one of the first disciples to die as martyr, as he was killed by Herod in AD 44 (Acts 12:2). Hence, many Bible scholars think that James here is the half-brother of Jesus: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55).

Jesus’ unbelieving brother

Can you imagine what it would be like to live with a big brother who never disobeyed parents, who could impress all the rabbis in the temple with his questions or answers (Luke 2:46 – 47)? Although they were one of the closest to the divine Son of God on earth, James and Jesus’ other brothers did not believe in Jesus during His earthly ministry (Mark 3:31 – 35; John 7:1 – 5), worse, they even thought that Jesus was losing his mind (Mark 3:21). However, later down the track, the Bible indicates that James and other Jesus’ brothers were together with other disciples praying in the upper room (Acts 1:14). How did this happen? Apostle Paul tells us that James was one of the people Jesus appeared to after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:7). Can you see the grace and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ? Although James rejected and mocked him, He still appeared to him after resurrection. This probably was the turning point in the life of James, and another brother called Jude, who wrote the second last book of the Bible.

 Perhaps some of us have been broken hearted by a loved one’s unbelief, and we’re beating ourselves up, wishing that we could be a better example or to explain the gospel better in order for our family to know Christ. Who could be a better example than Jesus Christ Himself? Let us be encouraged by the life of James, knowing that salvation belongs to the LORD (Jonah 2:9). Let us not give up our hope for our family members who are still lost, knowing that it is God’s will for all people to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and God does work through one person who is saved so that the whole household is saved as we have seen in the city of Phillippi (Acts 16:15; Acts 16:31). Let us keep planting the seeds of the gospel into their hearts, by our words and deeds, putting our hope in God, that in His timing, will make it into fruition (1 Corinthians 3:6).

 One of faith heroes in the past, George Muller, is a great example of a persistent prayer warrior. He wrote, “In November, 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second, and prayed on for the other three. Day by day I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remain unconverted”. Those two men, sons of a friend of Muller’s youth, were still unconverted when he died in 1897, after having prayed daily for their salvation for fifty-two years. His prayers were answered, however, when both those men came to faith in Christ a few years after the great intercessor’s death.

James the slave of Christ

From the one who mocked Jesus, James became one of the pillars of the early church in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:9). It was James who moderated the church conference regarding the Gentiles in Acts 15. When Peter was released from prison, he sent a special message to James (Acts 12:17); and when Paul visited Jerusalem, it was to James that he brought greetings and the special “love offering” from Gentiles (Acts 21:18 – 19).  Despite he was one of the important people in the church, and also the fact that he was half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, he calls himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”, so does Jude, his brother: “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James” (Jude 1:1). If you check the original Greek text, the word servant is “doulos”, which means slave. We can reflect on this truth: what is the thing that we are most proud of in this life? James could have started his letter mentioning his credentials, but instead he was content on the humble identity of the slave of Christ, someone who has surrendered his rights to His master, who totally owned him.

 It is not written in the Bible, but tradition tells us that James was martyred in AD 62. The story is that the Pharisees in Jerusalem so hated James’ testimony for Christ that they had him cast down from the temple and beaten to death with clubs. The story also tells us that when James was dying, he prayed the same prayer that Jesus prayed on the cross for his murderers, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. The grace of God that saved his life is the same grace that sustained his faith through the sufferings until the end. Soli Deo Gloria!