James 1:9-12
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation,
10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away.
11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation (or trials); for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
If there is one thing we have learned so far as we have studied the first few verses of James’ letter it is that trials are inevitable. Every one of us can expect to fall into some kind of hardship, difficulty, or trial or trouble.
We have also noted that the ultimate purpose for which God allows us to fall into various trials and hardships is to perfect us, mature us, to complete us, to make us more like Jesus. So without the trials and hardships, what are we? We are immature. We are incomplete. We require still further work before God is finished with us.
When you cook a meal or bake a cake or something. You mix everything up and put it in the oven and set the timer. And time passes and then you hear the timer go off. You go and look into the oven at what you are making and it looks good, looks like it’s done. But you don’t really know until you stick a fork into it or, in the case of a cake, a toothpick into it to see whether it is really done. Because on the outside it looks done, but you really don’t know because you can’t see the inside and it may require a little more time before it is complete, and perfect, lacking nothing.
James is teaching that God is doing a work in your life like that. And often we go through the oven of various trials and troubles. The “heat is on” as we often say. And the work God is doing is not always obvious on the outside because God’s work is done primarily on the inside. God is doing a work on the inside of us, building character within us, teaching us how to stand in the face of adversity. And so he knows how it’s going inside of us and he knows how much more time we need to become mature, complete, lacking nothing. So trials are both inevitable and beneficial.
James now discusses two trials into which Christians may find themselves, trials of poverty and prosperity.
I’m not sure we’re prepared to place both of these states in the same category. We may see poverty as a trial; that seems clear enough, but if poverty and prosperity are both considered hardships, and were we to have a choice in the matter we may say, I’ll choose prosperity! Give me that trial! I think I can handle the trial of wealth, so bring it on!
But the trial of prosperity may be more difficult to overcome than we think, especially if we live in a prosperous country. If trials are considered especially challenging because we have difficulty getting through them—acknowledging that we may be tempted to take our eyes off Christ and look elsewhere, relying upon the world rather than the Lord (the very thing we looked at in the previous chapter)—then perhaps we can see how easily we may stumble when we find ourselves in a trial of prosperity. It’s a matter of perspective.
Stay Focused with a Heavenly Perspective
A recurring theme in James’ letter is the division between heavenly thinking and worldly thinking. We will see him will flesh-out this teaching more fully as we progress through his letter. He warns later, for example: “Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).”
Christians must guard against their natural, fallen tendency to have a worldly perspective of success. This is especially true regarding money and material possessions. There are helpful truths James wants us to understand about material possessions, or lack thereof.
God honors the poor (showing true prosperity)
James writes, “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation.”
Contextually we see that verse 9 is meant to be contrasted with verse 10 where James addresses the rich. So we know that this word “lowly” or “lowly brother” in verse 9 has to do with “low economic condition,” or poverty.
In James’ day there really was no middle class. For the most part, one was either rich or poor. So if a Christian were poor, he may be tempted to think, “Well, I’m just the lowest rung on the ladder in this world.” Yet James comes along and says, “Hey, God sees this thing entirely differently and you need to see your situation entirely differently, too. You’re looking at your situation from the wrong vantage point, you have merely a worldly perspective.”
From a heavenly perspective, no Christian occupies the lowest rung on the ladder! Christians have a very high position. This is the sense of James’ exhortation in verse 9: “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation.” God honors the poor Christian, showing him his true wealth, his true prosperity, his spiritual riches in Christ.
If you are a Christian who is poor, remember that you are Christian who is rich. You may be poor from a worldly perspective, but you are rich from a heavenly perspective. What could be better than to be saved from the penalty of sin and to gain an eternal inheritance? You are spiritually wealthy!
James’ teaching is similar to Paul’s teaching elsewhere:
“Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).”
Stay focused with a heavenly perspective. Don’t stumble and fall through your trial of poverty by thinking you are on the lowest rung of the ladder when you are actually on the highest rung of the ladder.
In the same way, James turns his attention to the rich and warns them. It is as though James were saying, “And you guys who are rich, you also be sure to keep a heavenly perspective. Be sure to view your riches with eternity in view and, when you do that, you won’t expect your riches to last and you won’t look to your riches for ultimate security and ultimate happiness.”
This is probably the greater challenge for most of us reading this book. Most of us are very wealthy compared to global standards of living. Most American Christians are doing very well by world standards. So James issues a warning for those who are wealthy. If in verse 9, the “lowly brother” is to “glory in his exaltation,” we read in verse 10: “but the rich in his humiliation.”
God humbles the rich (showing true poverty)
See how James address both rich and poor insofar as trials are concerned? The wise Christian understands that God works through both trials of poverty and prosperity to strengthen faith, to strengthen trust, to strengthen our dependence upon Him.
James teaches here that the rich Christian should glory (or thank God for) not his exaltation, which is what we may have expected if we were thinking in purely secular or worldly terms, but in his humiliation, his low standing from God’s viewpoint, from a heavenly perspective.
Too many of us are tempted to believe that riches are everything. Get riches and you’re on top of the world. This faulty thinking creeps into the church, even the most conservative, Bible-believing, Christ-honoring churches.
Some self-examination may be helpful here. Do you have a greater tendency to desire to be around wealthy Christians or poor Christians? Don’t answer too quickly here, just be honest with yourself. Do you hope some of the “worldly success” of the rich rubs off on you or that your status may be somehow elevated if you are around them?
James teaches that those who have much don’t have as much as we may think. What they have may pass away in a moment, or they may pass away in a moment. This is the point of verse 10 and following. James says the rich Christian, the wise rich Christian, humbles himself by understanding that a dependence upon his worldly riches is wrong because his life is relatively short and unpredictable.
Of course what is true for the rich person is true for every person. Every person will die. Compared to eternity, our lives are short whether we live to be a hundred years old or older. James describes our lives are like a beautiful summer day when the sun is shining and it is warm and we smile and everything feels just right but then, in a moment, “no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes.”
James is speaking metaphorically, which means he’s talking not so much about the grass dying suddenly as he is talking about people dying suddenly, Christians dying suddenly, not just poor Christians dying suddenly, but also rich Christians dying suddenly. His teaching here is similar to the question he asks later in chapter 4: “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away (James 4:14).”
See what great a tragedy it is for a person to live merely for riches! Christians must hold onto their wealth loosely, knowing the joy of giving to others, giving to the church, giving to support missionaries, and other kingdom work.
True poverty is not having little in this world. True poverty is not even having much in this world. True poverty is having much in this world and living only for this world.
So often James sounds like his half-brother, Jesus. Jesus taught this same way of regarding material things in His Sermon on the Mount:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also—Matthew 6:19-21
James frequently echoes the teachings of Christ. In fact, his letter contains no fewer than 26 allusions to the words of Jesus. Even James’ teaching on the “double-minded man (James 1:8), sounds a bit like our Lord’s teaching on divided loyalties:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and [money].”—Matthew 6:24
When it comes to trials of poverty and prosperity, we must maintain a heavenly perspective. And there is something else here:
Stand Firm for a Heavenly Promise
We noted earlier that God means to work through our trials and hardships, testing our faith, strengthening our faith so that we may be perfect, or complete, mature, and lacking nothing. God means to work through our trials to make us more like Jesus, more greatly conformed to Christlikeness. Standing firm throughout trials and hardships, then, leads to reward, greater Christlikeness.
James now reminds Christians that their persevering through trials and hardships culminates in their receiving a “crown of life,” a crown “the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
So no matter how great the trial, remember where you are headed. One day you will receive a crown, not an earthly crown, a worldly crown given to winners of athletic games. Nor will you receive merely a golden crown, such as those worn by earthly kings. Rather, you will receive the “crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” This “crown” is not so much a thing to be worn as a life to be lived—eternal life. It is a life that given to us through faith in Jesus Christ, a life we begin to live in this world now, but a life that is enjoyed long after we die, a life that finds its greatest expression in the final state of heaven.
There is a reward awaiting Christians who keep the faith and persevere during trials. There is a promise from God to be fulfilled one day, a promise God makes to Christians who stand fast in the face of hardships and difficulties. Stay focused on Christ and stand firm in your trials and one day you will receive the “crown of life.”
As Paul writes in Romans 8:18: “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.”
What About You?
• What do you think is easier for a Christian to handle: riches or poverty? Why?
• Would you describe your financial stewardship as “close-fisted” or “open-handed?”
• Are you certain you will one day receive the “crown of life?” On what basis?
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