James, chapter number one. Let's read verses one through to verse number 12. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 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. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 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. Let us pray. Lord, we come to You. We ask now, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, that You would lift up our eyes that we might behold Christ. Oh Lord, I pray that you would send Your spirit to give us the revelation of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, that we might all the more rejoice and have our boast in Him. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we have considered up unto this point verses 1 through to verse number 8, and we have considered God's wise purposes in trials. Verse 2-4 reminds us of the fact that God brings trials or allows trials in our lives so as to help us to be steadfast in our faith, to produce what is called the perfect man, that we might be complete and lacking in nothing. And we considered also, following that sermon verse 2-4, verses 5-8, which reminds us of the fact that we need God's wisdom in the midst of trials. Trials and testings create a sort of confusion, a cloud that comes over our minds and hearts. And we need to remember and and and and and believe that if we come to God in faith and ask Him, He is the giving God who loves to bestow good gifts, and particularly the gift of wisdom to His people so that we might navigate our way through difficulties in life. And now we come to verses 9 to verse number 11 with some exhortations to the rich and poor. And in the same way that verse 2 and 4 and verse 5 and 8, James doesn't provide a very explicit link between the the the verses. Um, there is still no doubt a connection between the verses. And what's evident about this whole portion of scripture is that verse two, which reminds us of various trials and various kinds of trials, that that theme of trials is reintroduced so clearly again in verse number 12. "Blessed is the man that endures trials." which makes us, or should cause us to stop and reflect upon the fact that James here has one whole coherent message for us that relates to trials, although he doesn't make the links very clear, they are still nonetheless there. And look, there are many portions of scripture, this is just a side note for for those of us as we read our Bibles and we try and think, "How does verse two and four relate to verse five and eight?" and you know, and all that. The portions of scripture, the wisdom of God in scripture, the way that God has given us the scripture, in some places what you will find is that it could be likened to like the mechanics that are found in a watch. You open up a watch, I'm not sure if you've ever done that before, but you've probably seen a clock that's got a see-through sort of thing, um, cover. And what you have is distinct systems. You know, you have the mainspring, the gear train, the balance wheel. And every one of those systems is a distinct system that operates and functions. Um, but nonetheless, all those systems are interconnected and interdependent upon one another, all to serve the one end, the end of telling accurate time. And so James does a similar sort of thing in verses 2 to verse number 12. What he wants us to see is that verses 2-4, verses 5-8, and verses 9-12, even though they may function as a distinct system, having their own information and exhortation and application, a whole sermon can be done on wisdom, and a whole sermon can be done on trials, and a whole sermon can be done on the exhortations to the rich and poor. But each one of those truths are serving together the greater end of verse 12. And what is the greater end of verse 12? He wants the believers to have an eternal perspective on trials. He wants them to live their lives, not holding on to the things of this world which will perish, verses 9 to 11. He wants them to live their lives in trials, knowing that trials are for our good and for God's glory, and He wants to form us into Christ's likeness, verses 2-4. And He wants us to go through life's trials and endure trials understanding that God is there to give us the wisdom that we need through trials. And so at the end in verse number 12, he encourages us saying, "Blessed is that man that endures trials." The one whose heart is not set on riches that are perishing and fading, but one whose heart is set on God. One who has that sort of faith that can lay hold of God and seek God's wisdom. The one that can see that trials serve good ends in our lives. And James is saying, "Lift up your eyes." You're troubled, you're afflicted, you're going through difficulty. Lift up your eyes and endure trials because trials are only temporary and they are serving God's good ends. And one day we will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. And therefore the blessed ones of verse number 12, which says, "Blessed is the man that 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," the blessed ones of verse 12 are not the ones whose outward circumstances are easy or comfortable. They're not blessed in that sense is what he's referring to here. They are blessed with the faith that endures trials. Meaning that although their possessions may have been robbed from them or taken from them, their faith rests in God. Blessed, the happy ones, the ones who are truly contented, the ones that are truly satisfied, are the ones that endure trials because they have found their satisfaction in God. Therefore, there is nothing in the world that can rob them of this joy, nothing in the world that can rob them for this boasting. They've got their eye towards the crown of life, knowing that God has promised that eternal life to me as I walk and journey here below, and I will lay hold of it by faith. They are the blessed ones. Now verses 9 to verse number 11 introduces us to two kinds of people found in every Christian church, but at least in the scattered believers here, and James has exhortations for them. They are the rich and the poor Christians. Verse 9 says that let the lowly brother, and verse 10 says, "and the rich." And the lowly brother is regarded as the poor brother, the one who leads, as we would say, a humble life. This is referring to low socioeconomic conditions. These are the ones that are weak, perhaps, and more helpless, or the poor and the powerless. And then he introduces us to the rich, which is the opposite of the poor, which are those who could be regarded as what we would say, rich and powerful. And James contrasts them together and gives exhortations to each one of them so that they know how to live in the church together and live in the world. And what he says to them in in verse number nine is that the lowly brother should boast in his exaltation and the rich should boast in his humiliation. Now this is obviously a very clear, stereotypical contrast, isn't it? A cultural one. More relevant as it were to James's day than to ours. I mean, most of us today would fall in that richer category compared if we were to compare it with James's day. And what I mean by that is there was 10, 10 to 15% of the Greco-Roman world were regarded as the middle class. But in Australia, that's 60 to 70%. So you understand the cultural contrast was much more severe than it is now in in our day. But nonetheless, it still applies to us. But but understanding this condition of what it was like. And the the disparity between the rich and the poor was extreme. I mean, there was a different justice system for the two. There was such a polarization, a two-tier justice system system, there was a monopoly on political power, there were limitations on education. So the word or the rich in scripture often has the connotations of of evil associated with it. And Douglas Moo points it out quite helpfully when he puts it this way, he says, "The rich were often linked to godless oppressors who trusted in their wealth for deliverance." That's the way in which the Bible refers to the rich, particularly in this text of scripture, and as we will see throughout the book of James later, verses 2 to chapter 2 verse 5 and chapter 5. But doesn't that lead you to think, then, why the stereotype? I mean, if not all rich people are oppressors, why just say the, why are the rich and the poor? You know, why why create this sort of stereotype? Well, the Bible does show us that the rich are poor in spirit as well. You have Lazarus of Bethany, in case you haven't wondered, or there was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was a of of of royal figure. There were many that accompanied Jesus that provided for His needs that had money, and you can go to the Old Testament and see many cases where this is still the same. But why then does James use the stereotype? Well, the stereotype serves us and serves his hearers in this way. The stereotypes helps us see the particular temptations of each. The poor have their particular set of temptations and the rich have their particular set of temptations. And so it helps us understand that these are the things that the rich must be mindful of and careful of. That's why they must boast in their humiliation. And the poor, they must be mindful of the temptations that come with poverty, and therefore they must boast in their exaltation. And so James wants us to see that there are particular temptations for the rich and for the poor, and the exhortations to boast or to glory or to rejoice in or to make it your joy are there to help remedy those particular temptations for each. Both rich and poor, says James, should make their boast in God and in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 9 says it this way: Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation. What on earth? The lowly brother is the least exalted person on earth. He's of a humble status. He is perhaps a slave in his society. How is it that James can say to the lowly brother that is despised and rejected by the society and looked down upon and sneered upon and not cared for and uneducated? How can he say to him, "Let him rejoice and let him boast in his exaltation." Makes no sense. Yes, well it makes no sense apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, does it? Because the poor that died with Christ have also been raised with Christ. Raised where? Raised to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You see, the Bible teaches us that those that are poor, those that are believers in Jesus, whether they are poor or rich, they have been exalted through Christ, through the gospel. They've been united in his resurrection life. And therefore, Christians, whether poor or rich, are of a very high spiritual status, even though they're of a very low status when it comes to their relationship to the world. A very high spiritual status they have because they have a new name. They are now the children of God who is the king of the universe who owns all things. Not only do they have a new name, but they have a therefore a new identity. They're not marked by poverty as much as they are marked by their union with Jesus. As those that are forgiven and loved and cherished, those that are provided for by the God of heaven and earth. They are those, although poor in the world's eyes, and though they have no power in the world's eyes, they are co-heirs with Jesus Christ, according to James chapter 2 verse 5. And they have in their possession the immeasurable and the unsearchable riches of Christ. James says they're exalted. They are those that are rich in Jesus Christ. And therefore the poor man has an identity that is in Christ Jesus. Despite the social socioeconomic condition of the poor, despite the way that the world perceives him, he must receive his identity through Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ. So when the poor is tempted by his socioeconomic condition, you say, "How so?" Tempted to thoughts of worthlessness, tempted to thoughts of having no value, tempted to thoughts of being unproductive, as one that that is that is uh unimportant. So when when the poor have these thoughts of insecurities that come into their minds as they compare themselves with those around them that are more comfortable than they are, James says to them, "Stop thinking of yourselves as those that have nothing, but think about yourselves as those who have everything if you have Christ. You have the gospel." So don't let the way that your socioeconomic condition is in the relationship to the world, don't let that define who you are. You are who you are in Jesus, says James. And Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 21 to 23. He says, "Let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future, all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." What is Paul saying? Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to you. But everything that belongs to God belongs to Christ, and therefore belongs to you if you belong to Christ, you belong to God. Amazing, isn't it? Revolutionizes the way that you think of yourself. Ordinarily, we look at ourselves through the world's eyes and lenses. They set the measuring stick of how we determine how we should feel and how we should function in the world. And the poor get the shorter end of the stick. But what James wants his hearers to understand and what God wants us to understand, no matter how much money is in your bank account, you are exalted in Christ Jesus if you know Him. And therefore, James says, "Boast in that. Rejoice in that. Glory in that. Be happy about that. Be satisfied in that." But the rich, he says, "in his humiliation." You know, it's the very same gospel that tells the poor and and helps the poor not fall into the temptations of worthless thoughts of himself, reminding him that he is exalted, it's the very same gospel that keeps the rich from falling into those particular temptations that they have with regards to the way that the world perceives them. So he says, "Let the rich exalt and boast in his humiliation." Why? Because the rich must never forget that not only they have been united with Christ in His life, but they have been united with Christ in His death. He must glory in how the cross reminds him of how powerless, how low, how weak, how poor, how miserable, how wretched, how blind, and how naked, and how needy all of us are without the gospel, without Christ. The rich must remember more often perhaps than the poor that he was lost and that he was on his way to destruction, despite his property portfolio or amount of money that was in the account or where he lived and what car he drove. And his condition was one of poverty spiritually. And apart from Jesus Christ, he has nothing to recommend himself to God. And so James says, "Let him boast in his humiliation." The same sort of thing. He's saying, "Let him get his identity from the gospel of Jesus Christ." Let the gospel remedy the temptation that is his. What is his temptation? Well, his socioeconomic condition leads him to think of himself as the world thinks of those who are rich. Thoughts of pride, thoughts of invincibility, thoughts of self-importance and value that is measured by power and possessions, the temptation of having a comparing mindset. The rich must remember, we must remember that the ground is level at the foot of the cross and no matter how much money one has, no matter what family or whether we come from royalty from the king's palace, we are wretched sinners without the gospel of Jesus Christ, and all the ground is level at the foot of the cross, no matter how popular or famous or rich you may be. And when the rich comes to Jesus, he comes on his knees, and when the poor comes to Jesus, he comes on his knees. And so they both define themselves by how the gospel tells them who they are. And therefore, he should constantly rejoice in the fact that he has been humiliated by the grace of God. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? You ever thought about that? It's so important for us to come to face to face with. You know, we need to remember when we get proud thoughts of ourselves, which we all have, don't we, from time to time? More than time to time, daily. That the very gospel that has exalted us in Christ Jesus has also brought us low to know who we really are. It leads us to the place of humility and brokenness where our dependence is now on Christ. We're not looking for the power that we have to move the world. We know that we got no power outside of Christ. The power to get wealth comes from Christ. The power to breathe comes from Christ. The power to live comes from Christ. And the rich should remember, as well as the poor, that none of us have anything apart from Christ. No exaltation and we have no humiliation apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. And James gives an illustration to help serve the rich. This illustration is found in verse number 10 and verse number 11, when it says, "Because like the flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass and its flower falls and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the middle of his pursuits." He gives an illustration rooted in the natural order, taken from Isaiah 40 verse 6-8, something that would be visible to all the eyes of those and the experience of those who lived in the Middle East. This this experience year by year demonstrating the fading nature and the brevity of life. A warning to the rich who boasts in his riches and not in God. And he talks about this sun rising with this burning heat. And what would happen in the springtime in the Middle East, it's quite different to what springtime is in Australia. We have three months of wonderful blossom and bloom. It's what's happening now. Harrington Park's going off with these beautiful blossoming flowers. I'm loving it. And uh, you know, and it's just getting better and better as as the weeks go on and it's so glorious to watch. But in Israel, they experience what they call the sharav, or in Arabic would say the khamsin, which is means 50, because it's the the season, you know, 50 days sort of a thing. Um, and and it basically references the heat wave. And it was this scorching east wind that we hear of in Jonah. Remember when Jonah and the scorching east wind that came and bothered him like nothing else? That was the sharav. That was what it was. The scorching east wind that comes, and the temperatures rise significantly to 35 to 43 degrees. And the air becomes dry and moistureless as the sun rises and carries the the hot Sahara desert winds into the land of of of Israel into the Middle East. And as the sun rises and the wind blows and it peaks at midday, that there is hardly any moisture in the air. And the glory of the recently budded flowers and the springing grass that has just come because the winter the the spring season has come. When this hot east wind comes, and it only comes for a couple of days, maybe even for a week or so, and when that comes, those flowers that have just blossomed and budded, in a matter of hours, droop, fade, and some of them even just die. It's almost like this unexpected, volatile, oppressive wind that destroys the beauty and the blossom of these flowers. And in just a matter of moments, droops, fades, withers. And James says, "Such is the swift fading glory of the earthly rich." The entire glory of the rich, the entire kingdom of the rich. As Johnny Cash puts it, "The empire of dirt." You can have this empire of dirt, because that's all it is. When the hot east wind comes, when the trials of life comes, when death comes to both poor and rich, all the beauty that has been invested in is robbed immediately from their lives. And then what do they have in that day? It's amazing how it says "in the middle of his pursuits, the rich fade away." It's this unexpected sort of, "I'm pursuing life and I'm living the dream and I'm climbing the ladder" and all of a sudden, the ladder falls, the dream vanishes. And the rich man fades away in the middle of his pursuits. As Alex Motyer says, "Those who worship wealth perish with their god." We see this in Alexander the Great. In the middle of his pursuits, conquering kingdom after kingdom, with still more to go, ambitious, serious, unstoppable as so it appears. Then the hot east wind blows, and some infectious, severe infectious disease kills him. That's the rich and the powerful fading away from microscopic organisms that are outside of their control. This is the humbling reality of life, isn't it, for all of us? This is the next one who makes that great innovation, who has the 10-year and 20-year and 30-plan that looks like it's unstoppable, the big business deal, as it were, or the large project. And then all of a sudden, there's the cancer diagnosis. There's the heart attack. There's the stroke. There's the car accident. And all that ever shaped that person's identity and their status and that apparent beauty which was just merely superficial, it is taken from them in a moment of time. In the middle of their pursuits. And we could go through history after history. Look at Princess Diana and you go on and on and on and you can hear the stories, you can see them, you know them in your own life, when trials have come your way, and you've perhaps climbed somewhere and God has brought you low, and this world is is futile. It's volatile. And James says that the rich remember that that's exactly how life works. And never forget that. And so what is the call? The call of the passage is for you and I to boast in our in the gospel of Jesus, in the rich, to boast in our humiliation. Because when trials come and rob you of these things, if you have set your trust in riches, if you have rejoiced in and made your boast in and gloried in the accumulation of wealth and comfort, when you lose all that comfort, you won't endure in trials. Remember Job, the rich man who lived in Ur of the Chaldees? Job, he lived he lived in in in in the ancient times. What what does he say in Job? He lost everything in a moment of time and he says, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked I will return thither." That the Lord blesses, gave and the Lord taketh takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. What is Job reminding us of? He's reminding us of this reality. Although he was rich, he still had his boast in God, so that when God removed everything that he had, it proved that he was not relying on those things, was not depending on those things, but what he loved the most was God. That's why the Bible describes him as a perfect and upright man, you see, just right like the man in James here, which trials are meant to make us. And so we, like Job, should boast in our humiliation. When trials come and things come, we should remember that our life is but a vapor. Now, I don't know about you, but do you see the wisdom of God here in the gospel? I do. I mean, this is an amazing thing. The gospel of Jesus Christ keeps us from a false sense of security. Both poor and rich do not have to work to the meter of this world standard and the measure of this world standard, and they don't have to be, as it were, in the rat race of trying to climb the ladder. What James wants them to realize is that you have already climbed the ladder in Christ to the poor. And to the rich, be careful as you climb, just remember that truly you are down here with all of us at the foot of the cross. And the gospel remedies these temptations like nothing else really does. It keeps us from a false sense of security. It fixes our value and it fixes our worth, not on economics but or on popular opinion, but it fixes our value upon the solid rock of Christ and His gospel. We're going to sing the song in a moment, but it says, "Two wonders here that I confess: my worth and my unworthiness. My value fixed, my ransom paid at the cross." I rejoice in my redeemer, I boast in my redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my life, my soul. I will trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone. What what are the what is the songwriter telling us? They're reminding us of this reality. Make your boast in the gospel. Your value is fixed, your ransom is paid at the cross. Derive your identity from Jesus. Be satisfied in God. Don't take your measure from the world and be running around on this this this uh hamster wheel of dissatisfaction and despair, which one day will break down and destroy you. Rather, we should take our identity from Christ. What brings you greatest joy this morning? Where is your boasting? Where is your glorying? What do you love most? What are you striving for? What is the great goals and ambitions of your life? Is it like Paul, "that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings?" What is the great drive? What is the thing that gets us up in the morning and motivates us to live? I tell you, if that is pegged and rooted in anything other than Christ, you will one day not be able to get up in the morning. And you'll be dissatisfied and discontented. And would find, whether you're poor or rich, that the world has nothing to give to satisfy you. We should not let the world dictate where we should place our rejoicing. This is the whole system of the world, the whole system of the evil one is designed to make you feel your worth in the things that you own or possess or the accomplishments that you are having or not having. And we should be mindful of that. Our our positions, our relationships, our looks, our our figure, our fitness, our cars, our houses. Yes, God has given us all things richly to enjoy and we should be as those that live our lives enjoying the creation and the blessings that have come to us from the hand of God. But one thing James is telling us here that we should never forget is do not boast in those things, because they are fleeting. What are you boasting in this morning? You know, our great world's problem is a problem of boasting and glorying. Think about it. This whole world system is designed that way, and our whole world is anxious and troubled and dissatisfied and agitated because they are boasting in temporary things that are perishing. And so when the hot east wind blows on a person's life that has not held on to Christ, there's this frantic sense of loss of control and fear because they have anchored their hopes in the perishing. But the Christian should live above the world. We should not allow ourselves to be taken by what the world says is is is our identity, but we should find our identity in this other worldly reality, this reality of Christ and his gospel. And if you have a misplaced glory this morning, I tell you it's only a matter of time when the hot east winds begins to blow that you will start to feel deeper and more empty than you've ever felt before. But I tell you, if you have anchored your hopes in Jesus and you're rejoicing and boasting in him because you've seen to him who died and gave himself for you, you will be able to stand in that day when the hot east winds blow. Because you'll be anchored on that solid rock which is Christ. And when the world tells you you're good for nothing, you can remind the world and the devil that I have been saved by grace through faith, and I can do nothing of myself, but everything I have comes from God. When the world tells you you are of no value, you can say Jesus died for me. How can that be of no value when I've been fearfully and wonderfully made and a savior like God himself gives his life for me. You tell me there's no value. When the world tells you just get rid of your life because you're getting old and there's no point to living, you can be reminded of the fact that you've been made in the image of God. You see, this whole world system is shifting our identity to earthly and perishing things. And the world is lost. We don't know who we are anymore. But James is saying, "Don't let that be true of you who know Jesus Christ. He is your treasure. He is your purpose. He is the reason why you live." And you see the great wisdom of the gospel here in the way that it makes the church the most beautiful place on earth. Where else do you have the rich and poor eating at the same table? Where else do you have the rich and poor sitting under the same word, singing the same praises, humbling themselves together under the side of God? Where else do you have the rich and poor exalting and glorying in Jesus Christ together? Where else do you have the rich and poor living life together and doing life together in this way? Where else but in the church of Jesus Christ? You see, this is the wisdom of God, that we must never forget that the ground being leveled at the foot of the cross and all of us coming to Christ with our identity and fighting our temptations by humiliation and by exaltation, we will rejoice in God together. And we will set our eyes on Jesus, and we will remain united in this world of sin and trial and difficulty, because to the rich you say, "Look to Christ," and to the poor you say, "Look to Christ," and together we look to Christ and worship Christ. This is the place where the rich and poor meet together, sit in the same seats, eat at the same table, and both searched by the same word of God. It's an amazing place. The church is an amazing place. And only the gospel of Jesus Christ can accomplish that because when Jesus died, what He did was, He took the most polarized in society, men and women, rich and poor, slave and free, Jew and Gentile, and He broke down this middle wall of partition that was between us, this great dividing, separating wall that was so evident in the society, and he broke it down. And he made them one in Christ, one new man, as the Bible says. I mean, that's glorious. Where do you get that? Who who can even think of an idea such as this? It's an amazing truth and reality. And this is what the church is. It's the most beautiful place on earth, a place where there should be no polarization among us, but a unity together as we both behold Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so the entire challenge of this text for us this morning is that you and I make our boast in the gospel and say with Paul, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world was crucified to me and I to the world." Humble yourselves in the side of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Be exalted, oh one who is downcast this morning, because we have a savior who loves us. Strive for the crown of life because this is where we set our hope on. And Jesus has promised that those who love Him and endure by holding fast to Christ will enjoy everlasting life forevermore. This is what we're called to, brothers and sisters. And when the hot east winds blow, let us band together and remember that Jesus Christ is our treasure. Let us pray. Lord, you have given us Your Son who has both humbled us and exalted us, made us to sit be seated in heavenly places. Oh Lord, we don't deserve such love. Lord, the world knows not this wisdom. I pray, Father, that You would bring those dissatisfied with the world, with sin, that You would bring them to this great feast and they would eat and drink of Christ and know the joy and satisfaction that He alone can bring. I pray that you would keep us, oh God, from trusting in worldly pleasures that are all vanishing and fading like the wind. Oh Lord, help us. Help us to lay hold of You and to know and to rejoice every day in what we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.