Song: Give Thanks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMTmZKotTYw
Let the poor say I am rich. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XJpVV0iZJk
Prayer: Lord thank you for this time. Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for this place and this time when we can gather together and sit at your feet and learn of you. We bless you in this day and thank you for the gift of life. Please help us to set aside the cares of life at least for this hour and simply REST in you and your Word. We ask in Jesus name amen.
We have been looking into the book of James. James was a half brother of Jesus. He was writing this letter to the dispersed Jewish people and instructing them on how to live life the “Christian” way. Or more likely at that time as Followers of Jesus the Messiah.
In the first four verses we read: 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Have you spent time remembering those instructions? Or even better doing them? Trials? Joy? And yet we want faith that is steadfast and we want to become mature in the Lord and His ways. And then we looked at wisdom:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Dodi Note: I have a love-hate relationship with the book of James. I LOVE the way he so clearly tells us how to do life. For many years it has been implanted on my heart and in my mind. But I hate how often I do not fully embrace it or forget. However that just sends me back to try again and thank God for grace and new beginnings.
Tonight we are going to ponder one or two more concepts from the book of James.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
Dodi Note. This kind of makes sense, but what does it really mean? Probably most of us are not really lowly as in poor and most of us are not really rich. We all, I think, have houses, food, and even Internet and technology. It is just as likely that none of us live in a mansion with a whole bunch of servants waiting on us. Or maybe we are both “rich” and “poor”. According to commentaries James was addressing the rich of his time and the poor of his time. But on another level, we are also both.
I wanted first to investigate the cross references for verses 9 and 10.
For verse 10 I saw: Isaiah 29:19
The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
And, Luke 14:11
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
I believe we see both the monetary sort of poor and the spiritually poor. Remember what Jesus said? "Blessed are s the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That is the very first Beatitudes. In Amplified it says: Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous-- with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
I rather like that and always have. What Jesus is telling us is the same as what James is saying, I think. We will have joy and satisfaction, favor from God and Salvation when we humble ourselves before the LORD and admit our need. Don’t you think James is reminding us of the same thing?
It is so much easier for the literally poor to see their need of the LORD. It is generally much easier for us to see our need of Jesus when “life” is difficult. When we have need and recognize those, we are more likely to cry out to God. That could be for comfort or some sort of provision. Kind of sad but also true.
So when James said…Let the lowly brother exalt in his exaltation it means boast in what the LORD does and has done for us every time we come to him and admit our need we are exalted or lifted up.
That makes me want to see how Amplified states the two verses: 9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position [as a born-again believer, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God];10 and the rich man is to glory in being humbled [by trials revealing human frailty, knowing true riches are found in the grace of God], for like the flower of the grass he will pass away.
Nice isn’t it? And much clearer. What the Amplified version does is add the meanings of the original Greek or Hebrew words. Their language had such rich meaning in single words. The words represented an entire concept and that is how the Amplified version translates it for us.
“Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position [as a born-again believer, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God]” reminds me…of other verses. Other paradoxes in the way we are instructed to live life.
We are being reminded that as born again believers in Jesus we are heirs to God’s eternal kingdom. We have fellowship with God and other Believers that is much deeper than anything the world offers us. So when we are poor, then we really are rich. Heart is way more important than big house or fancy car. A few deep friendships are way better than many casual ones. Sometimes even better and deeper than family bonds. Because in a sense as brothers and sisters in Christ we ARE family.
Paul said in 2 Cor. 12:9-10 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Dodi Note: This is when Paul was telling us about that “thorn in his flesh” he had implored God to remove but God had not. I wonder?!? Do any of us have a thorn or a sort? Does it keep us dependent upon and hence closer to God?
Matthew 20:16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
That is Jesus speaking at the end of the Parable of The Workers where the first hired were given what they were promised and the last hired were given the same wage. Everyone agreed that wasn’t fair. But Jesus used it to show his authority and the right to be generous to all. And this was right before or actually when Jesus was on the ways to Jerusalem where Jesus was going to be condemned to death and knew it.
Let’s look at a few other verses on this topic.
Romans 5:3
Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
Dodi Note: Very similar to the earlier passage in James. Must be a theme. One of my pet peeves is a preacher who tells people “Come to Jesus and all your problems will go away.” I sure do not see that in Scripture. Do you? What we DO get is comfort and the Holy Spirit to walk WITH us through the problems, as well as promised eternal outcome.
Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Dodi Note: This is another of my favorite verses. When things are seeming impossibly hard it is one I go to. Nothing not-one-thing, not anything will ever separate us from the LOVE of God. Comfort from God is wrapped in his love too.
Dodi Note: The final one speaks of Jesus, himself. You know God does understand whatever we are going through. Jesus suffered. And He never asks us to do that which He did not do. Look at the reminder in this next verse.
2 Corinthians 13:4
For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God's power. And though we are weak in Him, yet by God's power we will live with Him to serve you.
Dodi Note: Therefore, like our song said, Let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich. Because of what God did for us.
Don’t you also love it that the rich do not get a free ride? Well in some ways they do, but not in the Way of the Cross. It said, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. In Amplified it says, 10. And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.
Rich people have problems. I know a few moderately rich people. They get sick. Their loved ones die. The one in particualr I am thinking of is very generous and loves to help others because she was not always rich. But she is a widow, just like me. She has health issues, just like us. When she was younger, she miscarried chldren. Rich people are at core the same as poor people and when they recognize their common humanity, they can be lovely people. All people need the LORD. As James said, all of us will one day die. After that we are the same, there is not rich or poor.
Matthew 19: 22-23 says: Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
The eye of the needle, referred to a small night gate in Jersaleum. At least that is one explaination. Gotquestions says, Some theorize that the needle Jesus was speaking of was the Needle Gate, supposedly a low and narrow after-hours entrance found in the wall surrounding Jerusalem. It was purposely small for security reasons, and a camel could only go through it by stripping off any saddles or packs and crawling through on its knees. The problem with this theory is there is no evidence such a gate ever existed. Beyond that, what sane camel driver would go through such contortions when larger gates were easily accessible?
Others claim that the word translated “camel” (Greek: kamelos) should actually be “cable” (Greek: kamilos). Then the verse would read that it is easier for a cable (or rope) to go through the eye of a needle. To believe this, however, brings up more problems than it solves, namely casting doubt on the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture.
Jesus’ message is clear—it is impossible for anyone to be saved on his own merits. Since wealth was seen as proof of God’s approval, it was commonly taught by the rabbis that rich people were blessed by God and were, therefore, the most likely candidates for heaven. Jesus destroyed that notion, and along with it, the idea that anyone can earn eternal life. The disciples had the appropriate response to this startling statement. They were utterly amazed and asked, “Who then can be saved?” in the next verse. If the wealthy among them, which included the super-spiritual Pharisees and scribes, were unworthy of heaven, what hope was there for a poor man?
Jesus’ answer is the basis of the gospel: "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God" (Matthew 19:26). Men are saved through God’s gifts of grace, mercy, and faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Nothing we do earns salvation for us. It is the poor in spirit who inherit the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3), those who recognize their spiritual poverty and their utter inability to do anything to justify themselves to a holy God. The rich man so often is blind to his spiritual poverty because he is proud of his accomplishments and has contented himself with his wealth. He is as likely to humble himself before God as a camel is to crawl through the eye of a needle.
https://www.gotquestions.org/camel-eye-needle.html
Wasn’t that interesting? Bottom line: Rich or poor we ALL need Jesus. And we all have reason to rejoice. Amen?
Another source explains it like this:
Whatever economic state in which we find ourselves, the perspective of faith tells us that we must boast only in Jesus and the status that His kingdom grants us. Among His people, neither wealth nor poverty makes us better in His eyes. Rather, we must treasure Him alone and the new life He offers to us in our adoption as His children. On this point, John Calvin writes, “Since it is incomparably the greatest dignity to be introduced into the company of angels, nay, to be made the associates of Christ, he who estimates this favour of God aright, will regard all other things as worthless.”
Coram Deo
Without faith, we could never boast in our position in Christ. Rather, we would find other things, economic or not, in which to boast. Poverty and wealth are both trials that the Lord may send our way (James 1:2), trials that we must view properly from the perspective of faith. Whatever your economic situation, go before the Lord today, and ask Him where your boasting lies. Then, begin to allot your resources in a manner that reflects your boast in His kingdom.
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotion ... -boasting/
Verse 11 is part of the previous two and says: For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Dodi Note: Comments or questions? What is this making your heart (or mind) think?
I think we have time for verse 12 which is a little bit of turn for us, and yet relates very well to the ones we just pondered.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
Dodi Note: Steadfast. That is an interesting word. It is a word I happen to like a lot. One of my favorite verses has it in it. We need to try our best to remain steadfast in our hope in God. (Hope is an interesting word too, we will come back to my thoughts on hope.). Isaiah 26:3 says: NIV You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
ESV You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
KJV Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
ISV You will keep perfectly peaceful the one whose mind remains focused on you, because he remains in you.
AMP (my favorite) You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.
Paul is saying pretty much the same thing as Isaiah did. We will be blessed (which leads to peace regardless of the circumstances that surround us) when we are steadfast (in trusting God) when we are under trails (hard things, seasons of life) because we WILL receive the crown of life that GOD has PROMISED to us as children of God.
Did you know there are, according to Gotquestions 5 crowns we are promised? Want to see what they are?
There are five heavenly crowns mentioned in the New Testament that will be awarded to believers. They are the imperishable crown, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, and the crown of life. The Greek word translated “crown” is stephanos (the source for the name Stephen the martyr) and means “a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally.” Used during the ancient Greek games, it referred to a wreath or garland of leaves placed on a victor’s head as a reward for winning an athletic contest. As such, this word is used figuratively in the New Testament of the rewards of heaven God promises those who are faithful. Paul’s passage in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 best defines for us how these crowns are awarded.
1) The Imperishable Crown – (1 Corinthians 9:24-25) “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate [disciplined] in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown” (NKJV). All things on this earth are subject to decay and will perish. Jesus urges us to not store our treasures on earth “where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19). This is analogous to what Paul was saying about that wreath of leaves that was soon to turn brittle and fall apart. But not so the heavenly crown; faithful endurance wins a heavenly reward which is “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
2) The Crown of Rejoicing – (1 Thessalonians 2:19) “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4 to “rejoice always in the Lord” for all the bountiful blessings our gracious God has showered upon us. As Christians we have more in this life to rejoice about than anyone else. Luke tells us there is rejoicing even now in heaven (Luke 15:7). The crown of rejoicing will be our reward where “God will wipe away every tear . . . there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
3) The Crown of Righteousness – (2 Timothy 4:8) “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” We inherit this crown through the righteousness of Christ which is what gives us a right to it, and without which it cannot be obtained. Because it is obtained and possessed in a righteous way, and not by force and deceit as earthly crowns sometimes are, it is an everlasting crown, promised to all who love the Lord and eagerly wait for His return. Through our enduring the discouragements, persecutions, sufferings, or even death, we know assuredly our reward is with Christ in eternity (Philippians 3:20). This crown is not for those who depend upon their own sense of righteousness or of their own works. Such an attitude breeds only arrogance and pride, not a longing, a fervent desire to be with the Lord.
4) The Crown of Glory – (1 Peter 5:4) “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” Though Peter is addressing the elders, we must also remember that the crown will be awarded to all those who long for or love His appearing. This word “glory” is an interesting word referring to the very nature of God and His actions. It entails His great splendor and brightness. Recall Stephen who, while being stoned to death, was able to look into the heavens and see the glory of God (Acts 7:55-56). This word also means that the praise and honor we bestow to God alone is due Him because of who He is (Isaiah 42:8, 48:11; Galatians 1:5). It also recognizes that believers are incredibly blessed to enter into the kingdom, into the very likeness of Christ Himself. For as Paul so eloquently put it, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18 NKJV).
the kingdom, into the very likeness of Christ Himself. For as Paul so eloquently put it, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18 NKJV).
It was Jesus who said, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Just as things such as air, food, and water are vital for our physical lives, Jesus provides us what is required for our spiritual lives. He is the One who provides “living water.” He is the “bread of life” (John 4:10, 6:35). We know that our earthly lives will end. But we have the amazing promise that comes only to those who come to God through Jesus: “And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life” (1 John 2:25).
James tells us that this crown of life is for all those who love God (James 1:12). The question then is how do we demonstrate our love for God? The apostle John answers this for us: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). As His children we must keep His commandments, obeying Him, always remaining faithful. So, as we endure the inevitable trials, pains, heartaches, and tribulations—as long as we live—may we ever move forward, always “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) and receive the crown of life that awaits us.
Just an interesting aside tidbit. We are not going to discuss it but it will be posted if anyone wants to consider it and look up those verses.
Let’s pray: Father God thank you for this time we had with one another and with you. As we go bac into real time, help us to remember what we are learning from James and give us grateful hearts. Help us to set our heart and mind on your love for us. When we are in need, help us when we are having a smooth time, help us also to remember to thank you. We bless you Lord and ask you to go with us and be with us in small and big ways this week. Also with those we love. We ask in Jesus name amen.