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JAMES:

An Apostle Tempered by Jesus

Victor M. Eskew

 

INTRODUCTION

 

A.    Jesus initially chose 12 men to be His apostles (Matt. 10:2-4).

1.    These men were Galileans.

2.    These men had not been trained in the rabbinical schools.

3.    These men, however, were faithful Jews.

4.    These men came from different backgrounds:  fishermen, a tax-collector, a Zealot.

 

B.    These men were only with Jesus for 3 to 3-1/2 years. 

1.    They had to be taught.  They would become His voice.

2.    Too, they had to be tempered. 

a.    They were His ambassadors.

b.    To see them was to see the Christ.

 

C.    Jesus had three men who were part of what some call His “inner circle.”

1.    Peter, James and John were their names. 

2.    They were with Jesus on some very special occasions:  the healing of Jairus’ daughter, the Mount of Transfiguration, and the Garden of Gethsemane.

3.    These men are the focus of both the Gospels and the book of Acts.

4.    Each of them had to be molded into the type of men who could carry on the mission of Jesus after He ascended to the right hand of God.

5.    NOTE:  What Jesus did in the lives of these three, He did in the lives of all of His apostles.

 

D.    James was a man of zeal who was tempered by the Christ.

 

I.             A MAN OF ZEAL

 

A.    James, along with his brother, is called a son of thunder (Mark 3:17).

 

And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he surnamed them Boangerges, which is, the sons of thunder.

 

B.    This name indicates the zeal and the intensity these two men possessed.

1.    Intense, fervor, passionate, bold, outspoken, ambitious, impatient toward evil

2.    Others in the past had possessed zeal.

a.    Elijah the prophet.

b.    John the Baptist

c.     Jesus Christ (John 2:17).

 

And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

 

C.    Zeal is not an evil trait. 

1.    Zeal (2 Cor. 9:2; Col. 4:13).

 

For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.

 

2.    Zealous of good works (Tit. 2:14).

 

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

 

3.    Fervent in spirit (Rom. 12:11; Col. 4:12).

 

Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.

 

D.    “But sometimes zeal is less than righteous.  Zeal apart from knowledge can be damning (cf. Rom. 10:2).  Zeal without wisdom is dangerous.  Zeal mixed with insensitivity is often cruel.  Whenever zeal disintegrates into uncontrolled passion, it can be deadly.  And James sometimes had a tendency to let such misguided zeal get the better of him” (Twelve Ordinary Men, MacArthur, “James,” p. 80).

 

II.          VENGEFUL ZEAL

 

A.    The first evidence we see of James’ untampered zeal is in Luke 9:51-54.

 

And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face:  and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

 

1.    This village had not received the Christ.

2.    Too, there was precedent from the Old Testament to rain down judgment upon evil doers.

 

B.    Three points were made to these men.

1.    They had the wrong spirit (Luke 9:55).

 

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

 

2.    They needed to understand the mission of the Christ.  “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them…” (Luke 9:56).

3.    There were other villages that would receive the Christ.  “And they went to another village” (Luke 9:56).

III.        AMBITIOUS ZEAL

 

A.    The second example of the zeal manifested by James involves his ambition.

 

B.    He and his brother had heard the Lord proclaiming a coming kingdom (Matt. 4:17).  Too, He had told them that they would sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:30).

 

C.    To sit upon one of these thrones was not enough for James and John.  They longed for positions of power on the right hand and left hand of Jesus.  Thus, they requested those positions and involved their mother in the process (Matt. 20:20-21).

 

Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.  And he said unto her, What wilt thou?  She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.

 

D.    These men were taught some things on this occasion.

1.    The fact that they would suffer for the cause of Christ was more important than their ruling upon these thrones (Matt. 20:22-23a).

2.    These seats of authority were not His to give (Matt. 20:23b).

3.    Ambition like this only angers other followers of Christ (Matt. 20:24).

 

And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

 

4.    Greatness comes by being a minister and becoming a chief comes from being a servant (Matt. 20:26-27).

5.    To be like Jesus, the position of a minister needed to be chosen (Matt. 26:28).

 

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

 

IV.         ZEAL DOES NOT CONQUER FEAR

 

A.    The disciples exhibited fear on several occasions.

1.    When the storm came upon the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 8:25-26).

2.    In the Garden of Gethsemane, they all forsook Jesus and fled (Mark 14:50).

 

B.    One would think that a zealous, bold individual would not let fear overcome him, but James did at least on these occasions.

 

V.           TEMPERED ZEAL

 

A.    By the time Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, James had become a tempered man.

1.    He along with the other apostles preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14; 37).

2.    We find John manifesting boldness as he stood before the Jewish council (Acts 4:13).  Surely James would have had this same quality.

3.    They are all taken before the Sanhedrin in Acts 5 and were bold in their defense (Acts 5:29-32).

4.    They were all beaten on this occasion as well (Acts 5:40).  Their response is found in Acts 5:41-42.

 

And they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.  And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ.

 

B.    In Acts 12, we read about the martyrdom of James (Acts 12:1-2).

 

Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

 

1.    The sword was usually used to behead an individual.

2.    Why James?  Could it have been that he was one of the bold, outspoken leaders of the church?

3.    If Herod could kill the most outspoken leaders, the movement might lose its power and fail.  (NOTE:  In Acts 12:3, Herod “proceeded further to take Peter also”).

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    On page 79, MacArthur makes this statement:  But by God’s grace, he was transformed into a man of God and become one of the leading apostles.”

 

B.    The “sons of thunder” became different men.

1.    The bold James became meek, that is, strength under control.

2.    The vengeful John came to be known as “the apostle of love.”

 

C.    This is the mission of Jesus in the lives of all men.  He wants to transform them into His image (Rom. 8:29).

 

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to the conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.