Pleasing Meditations

For Adoration of Christ April 2025, I want to briefly meditate on some of my favorite passages about Jesus in hopes of stirring us to adoration.

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” – James 2:1

I love the book of James. It is perhaps the earliest written of the New Testament books. It is immediately practical at every point.

But, James gets a bad wrap sometimes. He gets called legalistic. Worse, he is sometimes treated like he doesn’t belong in the New Testament at all. Luther famously called his book an “epistle of straw.”

Yet, as James makes a transition at the outset of his book’s second chapter, he makes a stunning profession of faith.

James, we should remember, is the half-brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3). Mary was his mother and Joseph was his father. He grew up with Jesus as a big brother. And, now living in light of His crucifixion and resurrection, James exhibits no sibling rivalry with Jesus. James’ insider information about Jesus’ youth does not dim his reverence for the Son of Man. Instead, when James thinks of Jesus, he sees glory!

Consider his phrasing. As he addresses fellow believers, he says that we are those who “hold the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” James marks Jesus as the object of our faith. This alone is a lofty claim about His divinity. But for all the Jewish flavor found in James’ book, the titles he gives Jesus are staggering.

We commonly call Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). Yet, “Lord” is the Greek way of referring to YHWH, to the LORD, and “Christ” is the designation for the Messiah, the anointed one of God. James, without blushing or hesitating, says that his half-brother according to the flesh is both the anointed one of God and the LORD God Himself. That alone should aways make our hearts soar.

But James is not done.

Jesus is, moreover, “the Lord of glory.” There can be no mistaking that James is perhpas merely saying that Jesus is an anointed servant of God, even a master we should look to. Jesus is the Lord of Glory, the God of Splendor Himself.

The Jesus of Christianity is the Lord of Glory.

Glory defines Him.

His divinity is glorious

Let Him be exalted!

James is often falsely depicted as the enemy of the Apostle Paul. The narrative of Scripture shows them to be respectful colleagues, if not friends (Acts 21:18-20). Paul is the only other writer in the New Testament to use this phrase, “the Lord of glory.”

At the beginning of First Corinthians 2, Paul states that his ministry is defined most sharply by his decision to always focus intently on “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Paul says that the contours of his ministry are so that the faith of his hearers rests not “in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5). He then describes what sort of wisdom does define faithful Christian ministry. He writes,

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).

The wily, worldly wisdom of the rulers of this age led them to crucify One who they thought to be yet another Jewish troublemaker. Yet, the surprising, astounding wisdom of God was on display in this. The rulers of this age, in truth, crucified the Lord of Glory.

They crucified the most perfect person, the most exalted person, He who is the loftiest person we could think on. He is the Lord of Glory.

And the Lord of Glory would die for His people, showing forth the surprising and surpassing wisdom of God.

When James wants to talk about Christians living fully in our faith, not exhibiting partiality, he lifts our gaze to the Lord of Glory. When Paul wants to highlight the fleeting folly of this present, passing, evil age, he likewise lifts our gaze to the Lord of Glory.

Despite whatever we may see in His estate of humiliation, Jesus is not merely a lowly person. He is the Lord of Glory. He is glorious in His person, character, and being. He is the Lord of Glory. Our thoughts about Him should lead us to this exalted truth.

When we lift the eyes of faith up to Jesus, our vision should be filled with glory!

A hymn for the Adoration of our glorious Christ: