Are we to be ashamed of our poverty?; or are we to glory in our high position? Are we to glory in our monetary riches?

My Financial State is Great as I Persevere Under Trials

James 1:9-12

Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church

Please turn to James 1:9-12. We are continuing our verse by verse study in James chapter 1. As you are turning there, I want to tell you an interesting story about a young man named Henry Johnson. Henry was in love with a young woman named Beth Taylor. Henry had been courting Beth, and they had spoken of marriage, and so Henry went to Mr. Taylor to ask permission to marry his daughter. Mr. Taylor gave his blessing, and so now all that was left was for Henry to formally ask Beth for her hand in marriage. He planned it out. He secretly found out her ring size. He went out and bought a nice engagement ring with a pretty diamond on it. He saved up for it. It wasn't a big high quality diamond, because Henry couldn't afford anything else, but it was nice; it looked good, and it was sufficient to get the job done. Then Henry made reservations at a fine restaurant. He asked Beth to go out to eat with him for a special occasion. She suspected what was going to happen, but she never said anything. Henry had the ring in his pocket when they got to the restaurant. As the evening proceeded, Henry talked to Beth about how they had spoken about marriage in the past. He told her how special she was. He told her that he loved her with all of his heart. He reminded her, that there was no one else in the whole world that he would rather spend the rest of his life with. He was nervous as he spoke. He said,

"Beth, I'm not a rich man. I'm a man of humble means. I'm not like Samuel Masters who lives down the road, with his over 800 million dollars in assets, with his mansion in Colorado, his vacation property in Bermuda, plus that crazy yacht, and his top floor condominium in Southern California; all those servants, and all of that kind of stuff, but I work hard, and I love you."

Beth looked into Henrys' eyes and said,

"Dearest Henry, I really love you too. but, before we proceed any further, can you tell me a little bit more about Samuel Masters?"

The story I just told is a joke, but isn't it amazing that according to our world, someone's financial status seems to be their defining attribute of importance? If you think about it, such a fact really isn't a joke. We may even try to deny that someone's financial status is something that the world uses to define the importance of certain people, but the fact remains that this is an attribute of the way the world thinks. The point is that we put way too much importance upon money. We put way too much importance on whether we are poorer than the guy down the street, or how great we think life would be if we were richer than we are right now. It is a huge problem. Just so that I am clearly understood in the point I am making, let me word it a little differently for clarity. The problem is that our tendency in our human natures is to make poverty and riches into something that is more important than they really are. This tendency is why the joke I told seems so funny to us. But, this tendency that we have is also why the joke really isn't so funny after all. God knows this about us. James knows this about us, and so he is imparting wisdom to us concerning this in our passage. Please read our passage with me, starting with verse 9,

"9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. 12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." James 1:9-12

Let us make sure our hearts are prepared for the preaching of God's word. We are going to dig into this passage in the classic preaching style of the verse to verse manner. The title of the sermon is,

"My Financial State is Great as I Persevere Under Trials" [pray]

I think it is incredible how much Biblical revelation we take for granted. What I mean is that there is so much spiritual knowledge that we have and believe, and yet it is so amazingly different than the way the world thinks. It is rightness. It is truth. It brings clear thinking in the midst of the spiritual darkness all around us. I ask you,

Have you ever considered how phenomenal it is that after we learn Scriptural precepts, and all the various Biblical doctrines that God has provided, it becomes part of our own thinking?

It's like all the food we eat. It is so different when we collect it. It is so not part of us when we see it in all of its various shapes and packages in the world. It might be animal. It might be vegetable; beans, seeds, and leaves. But it is food, and so when we eat it, what we saw beforehand, becomes part of us now. The spiritual nourishment of God's revelation is the same way. We take it in, and then in some sense, it becomes part of us. God's thoughts become our thoughts. Since Biblical revelation is part of our thinking, I don't think we always realize just how much biblical revelation our mind uses as we go about our Christian lives. We think about marriage differently than the world does. We think about giving to meet needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ differently than the world does. We think about eternity; we think about our own meaning; we think about our value as eternal people who are special people because we are Christians. We think about our significance during our quick existence on earth in a much different way than the world does. We think about morals, and entertainment, and our circumstances according to Biblical revelation, and so this is what I mean by taking all of this precious knowledge for granted. Once God's revelation to you becomes part of your thoughts, then it is you thinking God's thoughts, but at the same time, those thoughts are your thoughts as a matter of normality that hardly requires much effort to process. But, if we consider this for a moment, we realize that we believe a lot of things that absolutely don't make any kind of sense to the natural mind. James is giving us this kind of revelation here when he says,

"9 But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;"

This is not typically a piece of business, or social advice that we are getting from the culture of the clueless without Christ. We need to learn from this, and so we need to consider various things about it.

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As a first consideration, we need to keep in mind that James is continuing his point about encountering various trials. It is the point that he has started out this epistle with. We know that James is continuing his point because of two main things;

a) He clearly continues talking about the blessing of persevering under trials,

and

b) He starts this whole part with "but," indicating that he is still on the same track concerning where he was before.

Where was James before in his point? James was, and still is at this same point--on the subject of the trials that the early Christian Israelites are experiencing as Christians in a lost world. James has been indicating that various trials for Christians don't occur according to the false philosophy of naturalism. They occur for a spiritual reason (as we discussed a little bit last week). As the trials are encountered, they are to be considered as joy, knowing that the testing of our Christian faith produces endurance. So the Israelite Christians need to let the whole experience have its perfect spiritual result. It takes wisdom to understand all of this. So if a follower of Messiah doesn't get it, then the brother must ask God for the wisdom to understand the blessing of the winepress of life as a Christian. It is not natural to recognize the things that James is teaching us. In fact, what is natural is for a non-Christian to think it is just fine to persecute Christians--right? Aren't you the weirdo because you actually live the Bible rather than just pretend that the Bible is an interesting book? But when a Christian is thinking out of, and aside from wisdom by doing so according to an unrenewed mind, the Christian will want to reject the working of God in the winepress of life. Ignorance of God's word does this. If you don't know these things are in the Bible as teaching for you, then logically, you won't have wisdom to understand them. False doctrines that become competing doctrines will also do this to you. The false doctrines of the prosperity crowd emulate a carnal understanding of trials. When someone buys into the junk food garbage that prosperity preachers are feeding them, then when they face trials, they think that they are being persecuted because they have sin in their lives, or because they don't have enough faith to not be persecuted. They think they lack the faith to believe that trials should go away so that they can be immune to them, and so they think the trials are there because they lack the faith to make them stay away. What a shame, because the trials of us citizens of the Messianic kingdom who are salt among the citizens of Satan's kingdom, when understood in wisdom, are faith builders that produce endurance. Christians who fall for all of that kind of false health, wealth, and prosperity indoctrination are also known to think that somehow they willingly, or even unwillingly, gave Satan a demonic stronghold in their life, and so now this is why they are going through trials. In fact, they go on to think that since they are poor, or sick, then they must be out of God's will. I'm not talking about being a fool with your money, or failing to live on a wise budget, or being lazy and so you won't get a job. I'm talking about the false doctrine of condemnation. After all, prosperity preachers teach you that you must be rich to be truly blessed. You must be completely absent of any ailment to be truly blessed. But listen; all of this kind of doctrinal mayhem is a devastating lack of wisdom that has spread like a bad disease in the body of Christ in our age. Lack of wisdom begets more lack of wisdom, and so what you end up with is foolishness that is passed off as truth. Unfortunately, most of this kind of foolishness started in the United States, and from here, it has been exported all over the world, where poor people in countries of low per-capit income, are seeking to be blessed by God, and the measure of their blessing is supposed to be financial success by becoming rich. That's the big benchmark. What a shame, because we United States Christians could have learned something from our brothers and sisters in those poorer countries if they had been allowed to untaintedly live out the victorious life of James 1 for us as living examples of God's revelation in action. Instead, we exported our own foolishness as our great corrupting missionary message to the world, and so now the broader church is infected with our foolishness. James says, "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God;" God is very interested in healing us from this self inflicted disease. I'm talking about a real divine healing, where we must mine the riches of this revelation out of God's word in our day as part of the church that is considered out of step by our deceived brothers and sisters who teach differently. Amazingly, the clear understanding of this passage used to be the norm in discipleship. Now it is the exception, which makes it even tougher on us to be wise in respect to these truths. It is hard to be wise as a Christian when you have so many other Christians treat you as if you believe something like you are the one who is really the fool who believes something false, even though it is they who are deceived in their blind ambition to emulate a contrived doctrine of the flesh.

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This leads us to look at the next important point we need to recognize as we glean from this section. It brings us to the essential core of the point; James is talking to both poor people, and rich people here. Both groups are Christians. Some commentators try to say that the rich people here are not saved, but that doesn't contextually make sense. James is talking to Christians. Something we immediately notice about this is that James intentionally brings both groups together by using the family term that we all know so well as saved people. It is the term that has been passed down through the church from generation to generation. James refers to the people in this section as, "brother," starting with the poor, and then says, "so too" you rich folks, continuing his point to the rich brothers--all of whom will get the crown of life as true lovers of God. Brother (which is adelfoi in the Greek for siblings) is a term, in this context, that incorporates all Christians, whether males or females.

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This leads us to recognize the big point of the doing side of things for Christians. It is clear. The persecuted brother of humble circumstances is not to get depressed in his low estate. He is not to complain about his low position. He is not to believe a false doctrine in his low position. The brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position. Make no mistake about it--this is the true definition of the Biblical prosperity doctrine. The NET renders this as "take pride" in his high position. The ESV translates it "let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation." This is really a huge revelation, and it has a lot to do with the fact that poverty is wrongly considered shameful. Think about this. You have the false teachers telling you that God wants you rich, and that there is something wrong with your Christianity if you are poor, but the base issue behind all of that, which drives all of that, is the man-made philosophy that believes that poverty is shameful. There are people who work two and three jobs a day, and they can not make ends meet because they still don't make a whole lot of money. Unfortunately, they are made to feel ashamed even though they are hard working spiritual Christians deserving of full respect. How many of you know that shame is a powerful motivator for doing and believing things that are wrong? So, what this means, when James says take pride in your high position--boasting in your exaltation, is that you do not accept that your lot in life is shameful if you think that you are poor financially. James is saying that we are not to merely resign ourselves to look at our circumstances as our fate, and so we think,

I don't understand. I am poor. Either God doesn't like me, or I am in some kind of sin that is making God mad at me.

I didn't give that man who was crying and dancing all over the stage the other day on TV, my money. He told me that God told him that I need to give it to him, but I didn't, and so that must be why I am so poor.

... and all these other lies. Listen, God does not want people who are financially hard hit, especially those who are considered poor on the status-scale of our worldly society, to think that it is all happening because God has turned His back on them in some sort of spiritual condemnation. And then there is the other one that is just as easy to do. It is just as insidious. What I am talking about is the fact that God does not want His people who are financially strapped, to look at their situation and think that they will just have to deal with it and get by. You know--

It's just the natural course of life, so I'll resign myself to just live with it.

But, you say,

What do you mean? I thought I was supposed to deal with it and get by. Isn't that what we do as Christians?

What I mean is that God is telling us that He wants more. Though poor, God wants you to have pride in your high position. Though financially strapped, God wants you to boast in your exaltation. You see, God wants us to do this while we are getting by. This is wisdom from God. It is definitely counter-wisdom to the so-called wisdom of the world. You don't go to the Self Help section of the bookstore and find books about glorying in your high position as a poor person.

There are a number of reasons for James to write this. More than likely James is referring to the humble state of Christians who had become poor as a result of getting saved. The context practically dictates that this is what James means. In the trials of persecution, the early Christians had great difficulty making a living. Some of us may be having a difficulty in making a living, even in doing a good job, and living on a tight budget, but this is not the context of the early Israelite Christians. Many, if not most of them, had been rejected by the Jews and their families who had refused Messiah. The trials, persecution, and destitution that early Israelites experienced for following Christ is difficult for us to realize in our own culture. Persecution for us typically takes on a different shape. So, it truly takes wisdom from God to recognize that such a humble state is producing a greater weight of glory. It takes wisdom to recognize that being a Christian means to be someone special even though it seems like your world is falling apart. God's children of the Messianic kingdom can take pride in their humble state while knowing the reality of the way God understands things. The way God understands things is that we are hated by the kingdom of Satan when we get saved, and we are being molded by God's sovereign hand when we get saved. That means that your life is spiritual. It is supernatural. And yes, that means that no matter what trial we go through as Christians, it is not according to naturalism. So salvation isn't the winning lottery ticket for a life of comfortable smoothness. Again: The way God understands things is that we are hated by the kingdom of Satan when we get saved, and we are being molded by God's sovereign hand when we get saved. Another reason for writing this is that James is getting across that both the rich and the poor are in the same boat--meaning we are all on the same level. James says in the next chapter,

"5 Listen, my beloved brothers: did not God elect the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" James 2:5

Being in Christ, is the great equalizer that smooths out any so called cultural class distinctions that people make based upon material assets. In Christ, such distinctions are meaningless. They are meaningless, unless of course you are wealthy; in which case, you have a greater responsibility before God to give to those brothers and sisters in Christ who are in need, according to Ephesians 4:28. That's right, we have a stewardship to give out of the abundance of our hearts, 2 Corinthians 9:6-8; and for the rich, that means to give more abundance out of their financial abundance.

We need to think about all of this for a moment.

What does all this mean for you and me?

Think about that shame that society tries to place upon the poor. Think about the elevated celebrity status that is placed upon someone simply because they have a lot of money. Think about this, because the point I want to bring out here is that what is really the true shame is to do the damaging work of making class distinctions among Christians, where one group is thought of, and treated as, honorable, and the other is thought of as not quite as honorable as the other, and the whole humanistic distinction is based upon financial wealth, or financial lack. This kind of thinking is the real shamefulness, and anyone who thinks this way, or acts this way, should be ashamed of themselves for not judging the body of Christ rightly. But let this simmer on medium in the sauce pan of your mind with me for a moment. When we don't judge the body rightly in the shameful act of honoring the rich and dishonoring the poor in a false dichotomy, we are purposefully trying to shame the body of Christ. So what happens is that we have become active participants in tearing down the body. This is the great problem that we don't want to be part of. We end up tearing down the body, rather than being tools in God's hands to build up the body to attain to the full stature of the measure of Christ. Folks, we must be careful how we think about ourselves and our own financial states, and we must be doubly careful concerning how we think of other members of the body in respect to classes. We need to get honest with ourselves and not pretensively ask whether this kind of thinking has crept into our own minds, but rather,

to what degree is it there?

The bottom line is that according to the mind of Christ, there is no room to allow such thinking to lay around and clutter the sanctuary of our thoughts. Another thing we can surmise from what James is writing is that both kinds of classes of people are being persecuted by Romans and apostate Jews. Evidently there is not much of a distinction of regard being made by the antichrist's of that age concerning whether a Christian is rich or poor, and so in a very real sense, we find that these trials are also a kind of leveling agent among classes in respect to the persecution. In other words, the same whip that comes down on the pauper, is the same whip that comes down on the prince. But, the level that is of supreme importance for the brother of humble circumstances, (and James gets to it quickly), is a high level of the high position that we all have in the Messianic kingdom of God. Our high position is to be a child of God in Christ. As a Christian, all Israelites of that first generation who would be considered of low estate, were of a royal priesthood and a holy nation in Christ. This is really a very special place to be, and I think way too many Christians today downgrade their specialness to the detriment of God's work. What I mean is that we have bought into the lie that if you think you are special in Christ, then somehow you are having a sinful pride in yourself. But that is not the case at all. You are glorying in your high position, which is what you are supposed to do as a matter of faith, and it is only your high position because of unmerited favor from God in saving you in Christ who is our all in all. Remember the world wants you to be ashamed of yourself in Christ, because the world lives in the shame of sin and separation from God. And so the world will try to hang cliche's on your head that are supposed to be put downs. The world lacks the wisdom that James urges us to get, so the world says,

Oh, look at you. You are a Christian, and so I guess that means you are holier than thou.

Now that is supposed to be a put down, right? You know, many Christians are disarmed by this jab, and what happens is that they shrink back in a kind of shame that was put on them that isn't really shame at all. You see, the word holy means to be set apart. It is the same exact Bible word called sanctified. Holy and sanctified are both English words that are from the same Greek word. So, the point is that not only are you more set apart than the world because you are set apart in Christ, but you need to know that you are. In other words, you absolutely need to recognize that you are holier than thou when it comes to your high position in Christ who is the Holy One of God. Our glorious blessing in salvation is our position in Christ who is our all in all. We are the body of Christ. No matter how poor we are now, we are rich in Him right now. And our riches in Him right now get even better in the afterlife where we have a great inheritance in Him. It is the crown of eternal abundant life with Christ forever, and ever. Intimately married to all of this, James more than likely also has in mind another great high privilege of the elect, which is a position that is only recognized as a blessing according to the wisdom that God gives. We find it in Acts 5:41, where the apostles, after experiencing the trials of persecution,

"41 ... went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name." Acts 5:41

Okay, I hope you have your wisdom hat on. Now notice the words, rejoicing, worthy, shame, and suffer. These are all the things I have been preaching on this morning. And so in this respect then, the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position, because it is there that his humble circumstances are considered to have great worth. To be considered worthy to suffer shame for Christ Jesus, is a very high privilege of worth to have pride in. Wisdom knows this is a high position. Further, in the process of suffering shame for Messiah's name, you are demonstrating to everyone like a giant high definition screen, that you are positionally in the body of Christ, and so what you are doing is demonstrating that you are in the highest position of all. It is a position of witness and testimony to the same world that is trying to shame you. The apostle Paul understood this in a personal way. He speaks of filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Paul has the revelation. Paul has the mindset. Paul rejoices according to the wisdom, and so he says,

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." Colossians 1:24

Paul has an extra measure of wisdom that God wants us to have. Paul understands that the position of all Christians is that they are in Christ. In fact, their position in Christ is such an amazingly high position that we are called His body, which is His church. In shorter terms, you and I and all Christians are the body of Christ. But Paul understands something else according to wisdom. Paul understands that his position is in Christ too, and in his high position, he does his share as a minister for the church's sake in filling up what is lacking in Christ afflictions in being afflicted in his own flesh through trials and tribulations. For you and me, being in Christ, our great high calling is that all who desire to live godly in Christ will be persecuted. Knowing these things diminishes any earthly poverty and any trial that must be endured in this short stay on earth before going on to the glorious and highest position of all, which is our promotion into the afterlife. And this is James' point. He wants us to get our minds off of what we are going through now, and put our minds on what we actually are right now. The wisdom of doing this produces endurance, which leads to the next point.

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The next point is that this right, edifying, and wise way of thinking is not just for poorer Christians. It is also for rich Christians. James says,

"10 and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away." James 1:10-11

The great equalization of all Christians is seen here again. But here in this respect it has to do with the fact that the rich are humiliated in trials and persecution for Christ even though they seemingly have the blessing of existing in the status of being rich. So really, what the principle is, is that the very same experiences that exalt the poorer Christian, and bestow upon him a new sense of value, are the same experience that humble those who are wealthier, helping them to realize that their real value is found in Christ. I think I need to point out that there are some commentators who suggest that James is chiding the rich here. They misinterpret what James is saying as being a sarcastic put down of people who are financially wealthy. They typically do this because of James' rebuke of the rich that comes later in this same epistle. But, to suggest such a thing at this point makes about as much sense as saying that James is supposed to be talking to unsaved people at this point. In other words, it makes absolutely no sense to arbitrarily jump to this conclusion at all. Keeping this in mind, I want to encourage all of us to recognize that each section of any epistle, must be taken in its immediate context, within the broader context. To suggest that James is putting down wealthy Christians would be to suggest that being rich is a shameful thing, but being rich is not a shameful thing, but neither is being poor, which was James' prior point. Instead of a put down of sarcasm, (like some have wrongly supposed), at this point in the epistle, James is actually encouraging the wealthy saints with an edifying reminder concerning their shortness of life, and the brevity of enjoying riches in this temporal world. So, the point is that the rich man is like a flower. The sun, and hot wind eventually shrivel the flower, and it no longer keeps the temporal beauty it once possessed. This seems in some way like sad news, but this really is great news. But again, it takes spiritual wisdom to understand it, because the same goes for all rich people who are blessed with fine things that bring an apparent beautiful life of opulent living, fine clothes, good food, and all the flower petals of wealth. All those things can disappear in an instant. And so all of us need to be aware of this when we get wrapped up in material things and the greed that so easily weighs us down. Temporal opulence is a diversion that can quickly move us away from thinking godly thoughts all the time. Greed effects everyone. But once greed consumes your thoughts, then you will find that you will pursue your desire at all costs. But, the big point that James is making is that life is here for a season, and then it is gone. The word of God is thorough, so James reminds His audience that riches fade right in the middle of the pursuit itself. This is a sobering reminder for all of us not to get too consumed with the affairs of life that revolve around the pursuit of things. It is a wake up call for people who act like they must have the latest gadget to be happy. It's a sobering slap in the face by the hand of reality for people who are striving with all of their energy to become what the world calls successful. There is nothing wrong with hard work and wholesome goals, but James is preaching the balance. So much of our pursuits have to do with satisfying temporal lusts, which is what brings the imbalance. James says that earthly riches are destined to perish anyway. So, James' point is to encourage the rich to pursue the eternal riches of wisdom and continue to glory in the humiliation that comes from being a follower of Christ. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. Your life is spiritual. Your trials don't just happen because of naturalism. You are in the eternal kingdom of God though you are quickly passing through the temporary kingdoms of the world. And so God wants us to focus upon Him. God wants us to pursue Him by worshipping Him with our actions in purposeful thoughts of what pleases Him. God wants us to pursue Him by worshipping Him with our mouths. God wants us to pursue Him by reading and assimilating His word into our minds. God wants us to honor Him by honoring His body--the church. These are the eternal riches and wealth that go on forever. It is so easy to get distracted by seductions that define success for us and tell us that we don't have it, and so we need to pursue it. Whether we consider ourselves to be rich, or whether we consider ourselves to be poor, the wisdom is that we have contentment knowing that our life is short, and no matter how bad it gets, and no matter how good it can possibly get, none of it compares in any remote way to the real riches of heaven. Paul instructed Timothy in the contentment of pursuing godliness, when he explained that there is,

"5 constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. 6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6

In the context, Paul is instructing Timothy on how to be a man of God. Timothy is not to be distracted by temporal lures that are snares. They are traps that bind us spiritually. Lack of contentment within the poor who have food and covering leads to foolish and harmful desires. Lack of contentment within the rich who have food and covering leads to foolish and harmful desires. Being content protects both classes from the imbalance that plunges men into ruin. The definitive statement in what Paul says is what magnifies what James is saying,

"godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either." 1 Timothy 6:6-7

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And the wisdom of contentment is that we do not want to take anything out of this sub-perfect world anyway, which leads to the next point, where James says,

"12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." James 1:9-12

James is finally giving the big edifying statement that sums up all the hard, tough, straightforward instructions that he has been preaching. He is capping off His intense, but necessary, words to count everything he just said as joy. It is difficult to imagine that such things are joy, but in wisdom we know that they are. It all finally makes sense when James gets here to this point. It is as if he grabs his audience and embraces them with a big bear hug, and tell us the comforting wisdom words of assurance that we all need to hear. He basically says that all people who persevere under the trials, will in the end, demonstrate God's approval of them by their perseverance, where perseverance shows the reality of their salvation, and it is a reality that has been tested through the hard hits that come to those who love the Lord. This is the finishing touch for imparting perfect wisdom. Everyone who perseveres is one who loves the Lord. Whether poor, or rich, all saved people are approved in Christ. So, after all the drudgery, the crown of life has been promised, and it is waiting at the end. It is waiting in the end, even for the rich man who is fading away on earth. The contentment and the joy that all of this is counted as, really makes sense when we look at our crown that is off in the distance. It is waiting there, and we see it. We see it here in the Scriptures. Our vision of it is like looking in a dimly lit mirror, but nevertheless, we see it there, and no matter what happens, we know that the pricelessly valuable glory of that crown awaits us. We may lose everything. We may weep and cry because of our loss, but through the tears we see the crown. We may even lose our families. A lot of Christians lose their families. We may lose our jobs. This is typical now-a-days. People who thought they had a secure job, a secure career, a secure business, are losing those things like someone loses a scrap of paper. It is hard and it hurts. But even if we can't stop crying, and even when we find it very difficult to count it all joy, we love the Lord, and that is the final point. James says that the crown of life is promised to all who love the Lord. Knowing this fact should be joy in itself for anyone who is in Christ, and for anyone no matter what they go through.

Questions for you:

Are these things joy for you?

Is your eye more on your financial state than on the heavenly estate that awaits you?

If so, then I urge you this morning to put on the mind of Christ. Put away the shame of perceived poverty. Put away the glory of perceived wealth. Put all your glory in your high position in Christ.