Humble Circumstances

A Pocket Paper
from
The Donelson Fellowship

January 20, 2008

______________________

 

Message by Robert J. Morgan, Senior Pastor

The Donelson Fellowship

3210 McGavock Pike

Nashville, TN  37214

615/871-4769

www.donelson.org

 

The newspapers in Canada are full of stories this week about a sensational trial taking place in Toronto.  Several years ago, a woman won $5 million in the lottery, but she subsequently kept her financial dealings so secretive that not even her husband knew what she was doing with her money, or what she was doing with his money (because she controlled the family finances).  He was a medical doctor and made a good living, so the two of them together were quite wealthy, or so he thought.  Now, according to the newspapers, he is alleged to have injected her with a deadly cocktail of drugs and killed her.  But after her death, he discovered that the cash was gone, the winnings were gone, his savings were gone, the bills are enormous, and no one knows what happened to the family’s money.  He is on trial for murder at the age of 71, and the family had to borrow money to pay for the woman’s funeral. (Complied from various media reports.)

 

Well, money does bizarre things to people.  Money turns people into strange creatures.  It’s a big part of everybody’s life, and it’s a big part of everyday life.  And things both wonderful and terrible happen every day because of the way money is managed or mismanaged.

 

The world says that we have to have the right philosophy about money.  For example, consider the philosophy of the great American thinker, Henry David Thoreau.  His most famous book was the one about Walden Pond, in which he has a great deal to say on this subject.  In fact, the first chapter is titled “Economy.”  You don’t have to read very far in Walden to know that rich people didn’t impress Thoreau.  He believed the happiest life was the simplest life.  He said that all of us should live so simply that if an enemy should appear at the outskirts of our city, we could walk out of the gate empty-handed and without anxiety.  He scoffed at people who went to estate sales to buy things from dead people, only to dust them for a few years and have them end up in their own estate sales.  A little cabin in the woods and a good fire was enough for Thoreau.  But of course, the prevailing philosophy of the world today is just the opposite.  The prevailing philosophy is that money is the key to happiness, and the more of it we have, the happier we’ll be.

 

Well, I’m not an advocate for any particular philosophy of money or materialism.  The world gives us philosophies, but the Bible gives us theologies.  We need the right theology on this.  The word “theology” comes from the Greek term Theos, or God, coupled with the word logos, which means word or thought or logic.  Theos + Logos = Theology.  Theos = God, + Logos = Logic.  Theology is God’s logic.  Philosophy is human logic, but we need God’s logic when it comes to money and goods and things and materialism.

 

In the Bible, God reveals His thoughts and His ways and His logic.  And when it comes to money and money-management, the Bible is remarkably consistent in what it says.  And that’s what I’d like to talk about today.  Currently on Sunday mornings here at The Donelson Fellowship, we’re working our way through the book of James, chapter 1 and 2, in a series of sermons entitled 365, on the subject of daily obedience, and today we’re coming to a little paragraph on the subject of money and materialism—James 1:9-11:

 

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.  But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.  For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.  In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his labor (James 1:9-11).

 

Now, James addresses the subject of poverty and wealth several times in his book.  He comes back to it again and again, but this is his starting point.  He has something to say to two different groups in the church.  He has something to say to Christians who are having a hard time making ends meet, and he has something to say to Christians who are relatively well-off.  So since James makes two points in this passage, those are the two points of my message today.

 

Poor Believers Should Be Aware of their True Wealth

Verse 9

First, believers in humble circumstances should be aware of their true wealth.  Let’s look at the actual words James uses here in verse 9.  We know that he’s talking to Christians by his use of the word brothers.  The Greek term adelphoi, literally means “brothers and sisters,” and it refers to Christians.  So James is saying, “The brother or sister in humble circumstances,” and I think that’s a very good translation.  The Greek word means humble, but in this context the emphasis seems to be on humble circumstances, because this person is being contrasted with the rich person in the next verse. 

 

James says that if you’re struggling financially and if you don’t have a lot of money and if you’re not very rich, you should rejoice and be glad and become more aware of your high position.

 

What does he mean by that?  Well, there is one commentary on this verse that is better than anything else you can find.  The very best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself, and the best commentary on James 1:9 is found in James 2:5.  Look at this verse in the next chapter:  Listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be RICH IN faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him?

 

The two words I want you to notice are:  RICH IN…. 

 

There’s more than one way to be rich.  We can be RICH IN money and houses and land.  But how much better to be RICH IN other ways.  We can be RICH IN faith.

 

Turn over to a parallel passage in Paul’s writings, to 1 Timothy 6.  Look at verse 6ff:  But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction…Command those who are RICH IN this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  Command them to do good, to be RICH IN good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.  In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age….

 

In Luke 12, Jesus told a parable about the rich fool who built larger and larger barns and accumulated more and more wealth, but suddenly he died and faced the judgment.  The passage ends with these words:  Jesus concluded, “This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not RICH IN God’s sight” (Luke 12:21, GNT).

 

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 (HCSB):  I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus that by Him you were made RICH IN everything—in all speaking and all knowledge.

 

2 Corinthians 8:7 (NCV):  You are RICH IN everything—in faith, in speaking, in knowledge, in truly wanting to help, and in the love you learned from us.

 

2 Corinthians 9:11:  You will be made RICH IN every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.

 

So if you’re a Christian and you don’t think you’re very rich, you’re not cognizant of the Bible’s valuation of your assets.  The Bible says that in Christ we are…

 

RICH IN…

 

  • Good deeds
  • God’s sight
  • Knowledge—what we know
  • Speech—what we have to say
  • Faith
  • Every way

 

How rich I am since Jesus came my way,

Redeemed my life and turned my night to day,

How very rich, how very rich I am!

 

And, in addition to being rich in faith now, we have an eternal inheritance ahead of us.  James 2:5 says:  Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him?

 

Rich Believers Should be Aware of their Transitory Lives

Verses 10-11

So the first principle in this text in James 1 is that believers in humble circumstances should be aware of their true wealth in Christ.  That’s verse 9, but in the next two verses, James tells us that rich believers should be aware of their transitory lives:  But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.  For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.  In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

 

I read about a man who was dying and he was quite wealthy.  On his deathbed, he told his wife that he wanted to be buried with his money, and he made her promise that she would put a million dollars in the casket with him.  And then he died, and at the funeral she took a large envelope and slipped it into the casket just before the lid was sealed.  Afterward, her friends said to her, “Did you really put a million dollars in the casket with him?”  And she said, “Yes, I always keep my word and I promised I would do it….  I wrote a check!”

 

Well, we’re not going to cash any checks when we die.  We’re not going to make any deposits.  We’re not going to need one thin dime.  And our lives are so uncertain.  In chapter 5, James is going to warn rich people that their lives are nothing more than a vapor that is here for a moment and then vanishes. 

 

A couple of years ago, I read about a man near Indianapolis who won the lottery.  He won thousands and thousands of dollars, and that very night as he was walking to the grocery store near his home where he had bought the winning ticket, he was hit by a car and killed.  He never received or enjoyed one dime. (“Lottery Winner Dies in Accident Hours After Show,” an AP story at www.cnn.com on January 24, 2004.)

 

Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.”  Paul said, “We brought nothing into this life, and it is certain we can take nothing out of it.”  So we shouldn’t become too enamored with the things of this world. Well-to-do Christians should boast in the fact that they aren’t going to be here very long to enjoy their wealth.  So we should use it and invest it and give it as faithful stewards who will have to give an account to God.

 

Some time ago when Jonathan and Teresa Snow were in Japan, I had the pleasure of visiting them; and one day we visited some missionary friends of theirs.  The missionary wife said, “My father has written a book about his experiences as a missionary in Vietnam.”  Well, that perked up my interest, and upon returning to the States, I found a copy of that book.  It’s entitled Servant on the Edge of History by missionary Sam James.  Near the beginning of the book, he told about his commissioning service.  Sam was about to take his family into a dangerous part of the world under the auspices of the Southern Baptist Board of International Missions, and the Executive Secretary of that Board gave the message.  He said, “You are going to Vietnam.  Things are not looking good there for the future.  Take whatever you want to take. Take your piano, your appliances, and anything else you want to take.  But take them in your hands.  If they ever get into your heart, you are through as a missionary.” (Sam James, Servant on the Edge of History (Garland, Texas:  Hannibal Books, 2005), p. 15.)

 

The apostle Paul says something about this in 1 Corinthians 7:  What I mean, brothers, is that time is short.  From now on those who have wives should live as though they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of this world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

 

Psalm 62:10 says:  Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

 

CNN recently carried a story of a 62-year-old man who was rushed to Cholet General Hospital in France, suffering stomach pain.  His family told doctors the man had a history of mental illness and a penchant for swallowing coins, but nothing could have prepared the doctors for X-Rays of the man’s stomach.  It was filled with 350 coins he had swallowed.  The doctors performed surgery to remove the mass, but the man died of complications twelve days later. 

 

“What a sick man,” you say.  But he’s illustrative of this world that is gorging itself sick on materialism when our real wealth is eternal.

 

The commentator J. B. Mayor makes a profound point when he said that this passage gives the poor self-respect and it gives the rich self-abasement.  Christianity—the message of Jesus and the church and the family of God—obliterates class distinctions.  In the early church, the people might gather from various economic strata, and the person who taught the lesson or served the communion might be a slave, and the one who knelt at the altar to give his heart to Christ might be a prince. 

 

In the early church, poor people found a basis for self-respect they had never had before based on their wealth in Christ.  They learned that regardless of their economic or social status, they were of incredible value to God, that Jesus Christ had died for them, and that they could be rich in faith and good deeds, and that their true riches were stored up for them in heaven and in eternity.  And the rich learned, as Jesus put it, that a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.  You can gain the whole world but lose your own soul.  You can have fifty billion dollars in the morning, and be on the undertaker’s table by the evening, cut down even while going about your business.  So James was teaching self-respect for the poor and self-abasement for the rich, which was a unique concept in the ancient world—and it’s not widely practiced in this one.

 

You say, “How can I apply this message from James to my life?”  Well, just do what it says.  If you don’t have very much money, rejoice in how rich you are in faith, in good deeds, in Christ, in eternal blessings.  And if you are getting along pretty well financially, think about how quickly it’s all going to be over and you’re going to face the Lord.

 

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.  But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.  For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed.  In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his labor (James 1:9-11).

 

Are you ready to meet the Lord?  What if your heart failed today?  What if you keeled over with a stroke and died on the floor before you even got out of this building?  What if you were in an automobile wreck before you got home?  What if an hour from now, you were facing the Lord in eternity?  The last thing on your mind would be your checking account.  All that would be gone forever, but you’d still have eternity to go.  The Bible says about Jesus Christ:  Consider His grace, for though He was rich yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might become rich.  Have you received Him as your Savior?  Are your ready to meet Him?

 

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