Do you ever find it interesting, concerning some people who claim faith in the same Lord that you do? If you were to ask them, "If you die today, are you going to heaven?" they would say, "Yes." Yet, there’s so much difference in the level of commitment, such a vast difference in the way they live out the faith they claim to have in Christ.
Several years ago when it was safer to do this, a man picked up a hitchhiking serviceman in Florida. When the young sailor got in the car, he said, "Forgive me. I’m hungover. I’ve got a bad headache. I’ve been drinking all week." He began to brag about his sexual escapades over the weekend, and the man driving the car began to pray, "Lord, help me share Jesus with him." He began to witness to the sailor, and the sailor stopped him and said, "Oh, I’m a Christian." The man said, "You’re a Christian?" The sailor said, "Oh, yes. When I was ten years old, I accepted Christ, and our pastor said if we accept Christ, we’d go to heaven. I accepted Christ then." The driver of the car asked, "Do you ever tell anybody about Christ?" He said, "No." "Do you ever read the Bible?" "No." "Do you ever pray?" "Only when I’m in trouble." "Do you ever go to church?" "No." The man said, "Tell me, just what did you accept about Christ? You didn’t accept His way. You didn’t accept His Word. You didn’t accept His work. You didn’t accept the way He feels about other people. You didn’t accept how He feels about your body as a temple of God. Just what did you accept about Christ?"
Now contrast that with one the story of another man. He owned a liquor store. One day, the liquor store owner met the Jesus. He poured all of his inventory down the drain. That’s called disposing of your liquid assets. And he owed a lot of money on some of that. He worked for along time paying off that debt. He started another business ... a roadside hot dog stand. After a few years, he was owner, CEO, and president of one of the largest moving and storage companies in that part of the country. He drove with an open Bible in the seat of his car and looked for people to pick up so he could tell them about Jesus. As you came into his office, you would always see an open Bible. His first word to you was a witness of what God had done for him and what God could do for you, too, through Jesus Christ. He was never ordained as a minister. He was ordained as a deacon. He loved the church and served as chairman of deacons at one time. He did everything he could to honor Jesus with the days of his life.
What’s the difference? Why the difference?
On Which Side Of Easter Have You Met Christ?
I think the answer is Easter and on which side of Easter you met and followed Christ. I believe there’s an answer in a man called James, one of the people of Easter. Previously in 1 Corinthians 15 it talks about how Paul brought the Corinthian church back together. He said, READ 15:1-8 Who was this James? He’s the only unbeliever that Christ appeared to after He came out of the grave. He is the first convert after the resurrection. James became the most prominent believer of the New Testament church. If you and I had lived in the first century, we would have known more about James than we know about Paul, Peter, or John. James was a leader of the church.
In Acts 12, there had been a prayer meeting. Simon Peter had been captured and put in prison. They were having a prayer meeting, praying that Peter would be released, and as they were praying, Peter knocked on the door. Rhoda went to the door and saw that it was Peter, and she went back and told the people, "Peter’s standing at the door." They said, "No, he can’t be. He’s in jail." They were praying for his release, but they couldn’t believe it was going to happen.
When she went back to tell Peter, he said, "Go tell James that I’m free."
In Acts 15, the church is having its first dispute. There are people saying, "In order to be saved, you accept Christ. Then you must submit to the Jewish rituals." Others were saying, "No, the only thing you must do to be a Christian is commit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the totality of salvation."
They called the Jerusalem Council. Those leaders of the first century church came and argued those points, and James was in charge of that meeting. He was the one who wrote the statement that was adopted unanimously by that meeting, saying, "Christ and Christ alone is salvation, and in Him and Him only can you find the salvation you need."
Then James was the one who appointed Paul to make sure that was spread to all the Christians all over the world of that day. In Acts 21, we find the Apostle Paul coming back to Jerusalem from a missionary journey. The Bible says that he went first and reported to James, but that’s not the first time he reported to James.
In Galatians 1:19, we read Paul filling us in a little bit more on what happened when he first received Christ. He said, "I came to know Christ, and I spent three years in Arabia. Then I came to Jerusalem, and I looked up Peter and James. Those are the only two people I talked to."
James is also mentioned in the gospels. He’s mentioned in Matt., Mark, and John,
and he’s identified as an unbeliever. He’s identified as someone who does not know Christ and will not believe or follow Him.
First century historians talked about him a great deal. You read a lot about him in history books as you read first century history. Josephus talks about how he was called James the Just, because he was a holy man. He lived a holy life. They said his knees were callused, because he prayed so much in the temple. In fact, one historian called him "ole camel knees."
A third century historian using first century sources reports that the high priest was displeased greatly with how effective James was in sharing the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, he had him sentenced to death. They took James to the highest pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem and pushed him off to his death. That’s how James met his death, still committed to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Who was this James?
Who is he .... this one who didn’t believe and then who did believe and rapidly became the outstanding leader of the church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, he is the half-brother of Jesus. He and Jesus had the same mother.
They grew up together. They studied together. They prayed and played together. They worked together. From the time James was born in the house of Joseph and Mary, he had this big brother Jesus.
So why didn’t he believe in Jesus until after the resurrection?
Let’s think about it.
Who Was Jesus?
I want us to think about why this man would not be a believer in Christ until after the resurrection. He grew up with Him and saw the perfection of Jesus Christ. Probably, one of the reasons that James was known as such a holy person is because he had a godly mother, in Mary, and a godly father in Joseph, and a perfect brother in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was an older brother who always set the example. I’m sure he thought holy living was just a natural way to live.
He grew up with Jesus, but remember that the kind of perfect Jesus was … never offended or called attention to Himself.
The worst kind of people could feel so comfortable in the presence of Jesus. His goodness never offended anyone. James watched Him and, I’m sure, admired Him a great deal. He saw how Jesus would wrestle with the boys but never hurt anyone. He’d laugh at good jokes and tell some of His own. He’d listen to you as though you were the only one in the world and as though He had all the time in the world. He cared about people … forgiving and accepting. He was a wonderful person to be around.
One day, Jesus left home, saying something about His calling and being about His Father’s business. James knew that it wasn’t Joseph the carpenter or carpenter business He was talking about. Then word from Capernaum and other cities began to come back about how popular Jesus was and how He made these speeches that "wowed" the people. They never saw one in Nazareth, but there was word He was performing miracles.
Then in Luke 4, we read He came to Nazareth and visited with His family ... his mother Mary and his brothers Joseph (I guess Joseph, Jr. as people believe His father Joseph was dead by now), Simon, Judas, and James. They went to the synagogue. The Bible says it was Jesus’ custom to go to the synagogue. He always did. Wherever God’s people were found worshipping, He was there with them. There He was, the young preacher come home.
In spite of the fact that I am middle-aged, I can still go out to where my mother was raised and I am introduced as Ruth’s preacher-boy. To this day, I am still called Bobby by my brother and sister. They have called me that all my life, and I’m sure that will never stop.
I’m sure Jesus faced a lot of that, but since He was home, they said, "Why don’t we let our preacher read the scroll and speak to us today?" So they gave Jesus the scroll of Isaiah, and He rolled it to Isaiah 62:1-2 about the Messiah’s coming to relieve the people’s needs and be their Savior, Lord, Healer, and Helper. Then Jesus said, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." They said, "Isn’t that wonderful? Look how He reads. See how He preaches. Isn’t it great the way He preaches? Is this Joseph’s and Mary’s boy, the kid we thought was going to be a carpenter? He has no education. How did He learn to speak like that?"
Jesus continued to speak, and He read some things to them from their Bibles they didn’t want to hear. He read about how they couldn’t put boundaries around God and make Him exactly just what they wanted Him to be. He read about how they couldn’t put boundaries around their race, saying that they were the only ones God cared for. He said, "God is a God for all people." The more He spoke, the madder they got. They became so angry they finally chased Him out of church and town. They were going to throw Him over a cliff, but the Bible says He passed through them and went on His way, probably back to Capernaum.
He could leave, but what about Mary and His brothers and sisters back home? They had to live with that, and I’m sure the officials of the church came to them and said, "We’ve got to do something about that boy of yours. He’s embarrassing you, us, our synagogue, and our town." James being the oldest brother, probably had the chore of deciding what they were going to do. So he thought about it: "What about this half-brother of mine, this brother who says these strange things?"
What Are We To Believe Of Jesus?
There were three logical things he could think of about Jesus.
First of all, "He’s lying. He’s not telling the truth. He’s like these other religious con men that go around the country, making these claims, getting people to follow them and give them money and things."
I heard about a rabbit and a snake meeting in the forest. The rabbit said, "We don’t know how we look. Why don’t we describe each other to the other so we’ll know how we look?" The snake said, "Good idea. You’ve got a pink nose, long ears, and a fluffy little tail." The rabbit liked that, and he said, "I’m a rabbit! I’m a rabbit! I’m a rabbit!" The snake said, "Okay, you describe me."
The rabbit said, "Well, you have a forked tongue, shifty eyes, and diamonds all over you." The snake said, "Oh no, I’m a televangelist." I hope you understand that everybody on radio and television is not like that.
That was one option. James could say, "My Brother is one of those people going around, making these claims, manipulating people to love Him and support Him. He’s lying."
The second thought was, "Maybe He’s telling the truth. He says He’s the Messiah, the chosen one of God, and the Deliverer of Israel. He may be telling the truth."
He couldn’t believe that. He couldn’t believe that of His Brother who was so common (and you have to understand that if Jesus was growing up in your neighborhood, you probably wouldn’t notice Him either).
In Isaiah 52:2, it says there was nothing about Him that would attract us to Him. He had no majesty or beauty that would make Him appealing to us. He was common, and James could not believe this assertion of this common Brother of his.
The third option was: "He’s crazy. He’s telling the truth, but what He believes is not real. He just thinks He’s the Messiah. He has delusions of grandeur.
He just thinks He’s who He says He is."
In Mark 3:31, it says the family got together and decided that Jesus was out of His mind, that He was three sandwiches short of a picnic. So they made the choice that they would go to Capernaum, get Him, and bring Him back. The Bible says they went there to "take charge of Him." Of course, they failed in this, and they didn’t take charge of Him. Jesus continued His ministry, but all through that ministry, James never believed. Even through the crucifixion, he never believed.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to him, and once again, James had to face those possibilities. Was He lying? No, James never believed Jesus was lying anyway. That’s why he decided that Jesus must be crazy. James knew that Jesus didn’t lie and never would lie. Is He crazy? No. Is He Messiah, Lord and King? Yes.
The Reality Of Who Jesus Is
Because he made that kind of commitment, he quickly went to his brothers and apparently won all three of them to faith in Christ. We know this, because we read in Acts 1 that James, his three brothers, and Mary are there praying with the apostles for the Spirit to come at Pentecost. James became the greatest leader of the church of Jesus Christ in the first century.
The book of James was written to people who were dispersed all over the country by persecution. In that book, James began by saying, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He referred to himself as a servant of Jesus Christ.
James was there the day when they tried to push Jesus off a cliff and kill Him.
That’s interesting, because years later, the order was given by the high priest that the people would push James off the highest pinnacle of the temple. He would fall to his death, and he was willing to do it.
In the first century history, the historians said the people so loved James that they fired the high priest for doing that. After three months, they took his job away from him. And when the Romans came and fulfilled the prophecy of Jesus concerning the temple’s destruction, some historians say it was widely believed that God was doing that to Jerusalem because of what they did to James.
So what?
What does this story of James mean to you and me? I think it talks to us about our level of commitment to Jesus. For in this kind of culture of ours, we grow up with a tame, nice, little Jesus. He’s our Friend. He always forgives us. He’s there to love us. He’s not much to us. He really isn’t. We don’t live like He’s much to many of us.
Maybe it’s because we have this weak idea that James had in growing up with Him" "He’s a nice guy and a good example. He always did the right thing. He’s a wonderful person." Here and now, we don’t have to do what James had to do. James had to face up to the claims of Christ, but we can sort of fuzzy around that and "culturize" our religion. James couldn’t do that. He had to face the fact that Jesus was saying: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take us his cross and follow me ... I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me ... Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." What do you with that?
Then when He dies on the cross … He’s hanging there and dying a real death … and this death is saying, "This is how serious your sins are, as well as how great God’s love is." What do you do with that? He comes out of the grace and you see Him alive and living. You know He is alive. What do you do with that?
We Must Face The Truth And Live Like It
You have to face it. C. S. Lewis faced it. He was probably one of the greatest minds England ever produced. He was a don at both Cambridge and Oxford. He was a long-time atheist, a short-time agnostic, and a committed Christian for the last years of his life. One day, He said, "To say, ’I accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I do not accept His claim to be God,’ is something we simply must not say. For a man who was only a man to have said the things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be a lunatic after the order of a guy on the same level that would think he’s a poached egg, or he would be the devil of hell. You must choose about Him. You must make up your mind. You can lock Him up for a fool. You can spit on Him and kill Him as a demon. Or you can fall at His feet and worship Him as Lord and God. But away with the patronizing nonsense which says Jesus was just one of the great moral teachers."
He didn’t leave that open to us. He didn’t intend to.
I want to ask you: On which side of Easter have you met Christ? How much to do you love Him? How much do you want to know Him? How much of your life does He control? What are you going to do about Jesus? Is He lying? Is He crazy? Is He Lord and God? Those are the only options you really have when you face Him.
