Old Camel Knees
Tom Shrader works through James 1:9-12, presenting James's two contrasting figures — the brother of humble circumstance and the rich man — as illustrations of how trials take different forms depending on one's station in life. He argues that the trial of prosperity is just as real as the trial of adversity, because wealth and success can redirect a believer's trust and identity away from God toward temporary things. Drawing on Luke 12, 1 Timothy 6, and Romans 8, he calls both the poor and the rich to boast not in earthly standing but in their citizenship in heaven and their relationship with God, with the promise of the crown of life awaiting those who persevere.
“God has transferred possession of resources to you, but not ownership. Your time, your energy, your effort, your money — it's another word in my mind for life.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Blue Jean Theology (2006)
Recorded: 2006 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 43 min
Themes: trials, wealth, humility, perseverance, identity, contentment, trust, boasting, struggling with wealth, facing hardship, feeling financially insecure, successful professional, new believer, missionary, middle age, navigating prosperity
Scripture: James 1:1-12, James 1:2, James 1:5-8, James 1:9, James 1:10-11, James 1:12, James 1:13, James 2:5, James 4:13, Romans 8:16-18, 1 Peter 1:3, 1 John 3:1, Matthew 5:3, Matthew 16:26, Luke 12:13-34, John 14:1-3, Philippians 3:20, Ephesians 2:19, 1 Corinthians 1:27-31, 1 Timothy 6:17, 2 Timothy 4:8, Isaiah 40:6, Deuteronomy 10:14, Psalm 24:1, Psalm 50:10, Haggai 2:8
Theological Themes: soteriology, crown of life, eschatology, eternal reward, sanctification, temptation, divine testing, citizenship in heaven
Full Transcript
Introduction: Sending and Being Sent
Susan and I had a chance Friday night to join these folks in an evening of prayer, getting prepared to send them. Patrick put together a prayer list of things to be praying about — the glory of God, His work, and some of the needs. One of the things he wrote really got to me when I read it: "travel mercies, three planes, 14 bags, five kids." They are going to a town that has, as close as they can tell, four to six believers in it. There is certainly the potential for isolation and loneliness — almost a certainty of it.
Susan and I found ourselves driving home saying to one another, "I couldn't do that. I couldn't go do that." My sense is that Patrick and Alicia would say, "And I couldn't not go. I couldn't stay." It's not that one of those positions is more important than the other — that's the way the body of Christ works. These are people who have felt the call of God in their lives, and that desire has been confirmed by Jerry and by Mike, and now you have the privilege of joining with them.
There is a little warning I try to associate whenever we use the term "sending." I want you to be part of their sending team, but the danger is that you suddenly see yourself only as a sender and fail to understand that you are a missionary too. Your missionary work doesn't require a passport and a visa. You aren't going to Morocco, but you are going to Intel, or you are going to the town of Gilbert, or you are going to your neighborhood, or wherever God has placed you. We are all ambassadors for Christ.
In this particular case, God has called these people to something separate and different — not better, different. The easiest way to stay involved, because you will forget very quickly, is to make sure you are getting those emails. Let us know so we can add your name to the list, and you will begin to receive the prayer requests and everything they have need of.
Background and Context of the Book of James
Open your Bibles to the book of James. This is our third week in this study, and I want to do a little review because context is really important. Today is the culmination of this first section, these first twelve verses. The date we place on this book is somewhere between 45 and 50 A.D., which would make it either the first book written chronologically or certainly at the very front of the New Testament books if we were to lay them out in chronological order.
The author is James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that Jesus had brothers — four of them are named, and there obviously could be more. He also had sisters, plural, so there was at least a family of seven, including Jesus. Of these brothers, the oldest is James, the one who wrote this letter. He is also referred to as one of the pillars of the early church, along with Peter and John.
The church's first real crisis was over salvation by faith, or works, or works plus faith, and that was settled in the first council of Jerusalem. It was James who presided over that conference and served as its spokesperson. James plays a truly important role in the early church.
His audience is listed in verse 1: "to the twelve tribes that are dispersed." Some translations will say "scattered" — dispersed or scattered abroad. These are Jewish believers who had been scattered outside of Palestine, likely for a variety of reasons. It is probable that many were displaced out of persecution. Some, perhaps, out of obedience — much as Patrick feels a call to Morocco, they felt a call to go beyond Jerusalem and outside of Palestine. In any case, they are pilgrims and missionaries, and it is likely that they are suffering and that hardship and difficulty are associated with that.
Unlike Patrick and Jerry and Mike, who have had the opportunity to travel to Morocco several times, get the lay of the land, scout things out, develop relationships, and begin to build at least some network, these scattered believers had none of that. They were simply thrust into it. So it is not surprising, given that background, that James would immediately address trials.
Trials: Inevitable, Varied, and Purposeful
In verse 2 James writes, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." Given the background of these people, it makes complete sense that James would open here. He says a couple of things about trials. First, they are inevitable — "when you encounter various trials." There is not a one-size-fits-all testing package. It is not like an SAT, where everyone who is a follower of Christ takes exactly the same test.
God will bring certain trials and certain tests into one life, a different set of trials into another life, and yet another set into a third life. Every one of us has trials customized by God for us. They arrive unexpectedly — certain that they will come, but the timing is uncertain. And they have a purpose: to test our faith. The result is to produce endurance, so that we will become mature.
That is the whole idea of the Christian life — that you and I will begin to look more and more like Christ, will be conformed to His image, and will grow in maturity. J.B. Phillips, as he paraphrases verse 2, says it this way: "When all—"
Welcoming Trials as Friends
"When all kinds of trials crowd into your lives, my brethren, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends." I have to admit that is not necessarily my first response when a trial comes. A welcome friend. My initial flinch may be more of a resented intruder. But James says, "I want you to welcome them as friends." If that is not our first reaction, then what he is saying is you need to pause. As you encounter these inevitable, multi-colored, various trials that will for certain come into your life, he wants you to count them as friends, to embrace them, to put your arms around them and welcome them.
Now, you might not be able to do that. So he says in verse 5, "If any of you lacks wisdom — wisdom of how to handle this, wisdom of how to approach it — then ask God." If any of you, as you encounter these various trials, are having a difficult time understanding them, putting them in perspective, or getting your arms around them, all you have to do is ask. All you have to do is pray. What do you pray for? You pray for wisdom.
James says two things about that request when God receives it. Number one, He gives generously. Without bargaining, He gives. And He gives without reproach. Reproach is this idea of to severely reprimand. When I ask for wisdom, God doesn't remind me that I'm unworthy or undeserving. He doesn't say, "You were here at the wisdom bank yesterday. When I gave you that yesterday, what did you do with it? No more wisdom for you." He is not going down that road. He gives generously and without reproach.
The Qualifier: Asking Without Doubt
Now, there is a qualifier, and you see it in verses 6, 7, and 8. "Let him ask without doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." He has claimed this truth, he has understood it, and then he begins to waver. He begins to wonder whether God is really going to answer. James says that person is like one driven by the wind. "Let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, because he is double-minded."
So here is what James is saying. Trials and difficulties are coming into your life — the wear and tear of living, plus other things. When they come, don't push them away. Put your arms around them. Embrace them. Welcome them as friends. Why? Because we know something. We know that the testing of our faith produces endurance, perseverance, and steadfastness. We will be able to hang in there. We will grow stronger and stronger in our faith. That is what the testing does, and that is why we can welcome trials rather than resent them.
An Illustration: Two Men, Two Circumstances
Now, oftentimes when you are having a discussion with someone at this point, you might say, "Give me an example. Give me a picture. Help me understand it." And that is exactly what James gives us in verses 9, 10, and 11, with a summation in verse 12. Let's read it, and then we'll spend the balance of our time taking it apart.
"Let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position. Let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like the flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass, and its flowers fall off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So too the rich man, in the midst of his pursuits, will fade away. Blessed is the 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 says, "Let me give you an illustration of what I am talking about. Let me show you the importance of this, and how you can receive wisdom in the midst of trials." He presents two people. It is a clear and straightforward contrast. In verse 9, there is a brother of humble circumstance. In verse 10, there is the rich man.
Now, that contrast becomes a source of some discussion among those who study this passage. One group suggests that the second man is not a believer at all — just a rich man, with the tendencies of a rich man. Another group says this is a continuation of thought and that the second man is simply a wealthy believer. In reality, it probably does not make a huge difference. My assumption in presenting this is that both of these people are followers of Christ, and that will be the route we take as we apply this passage to our lives. These are people of two different statuses in the world, but the same status before God — and that becomes really important.
The Brother of Humble Circumstance
Look at verse 9. There is a brother of humble circumstance — someone who probably does not have much materially, someone of little significance in the world's view, who may even be oppressed or opposed by the world. One author describes him this way: "the one against whom life's tides seem to be running, who is lowly as the world reckons." This is a person who lacks resources. They do not have power. They do not have prestige. There is no status. We are looking at the world's evaluation of them — essentially insignificant, minuscule, inconsequential. The world thinks nothing of this person.
This would likely be a pretty accurate description of the majority of the people who were receiving this letter. They were scattered abroad, probably in the midst of suffering and persecution.
The Hope of Humble Circumstances
They are pilgrims or missionaries to a new land, or they are escaping persecution. This would probably accurately describe them. When they read verse 2, "count it all joy," and read about trials, they will say, "Got it." When they hear about the brother of humble circumstances, they identify with that and say, "That's me."
James says to that person, "Glory." The word translated "glory" could also be translated "rejoice" or "boast." Boast about what? Obviously not your status, not your earthly standing. Rather, rejoice that you are a child of God, a child of the King. The earthly king may not return your phone calls, but you have a direct line to the King of the world. That is the distinction he is making — the boasting, the rejoicing, is rooted in understanding that relationship.
There is hope in this. If you are in the midst of a trial, in the midst of a difficulty, we said last week that we have to keep the big picture, understand that God is in control, learn the lesson, and share the burden. We are to approach these things realistically. But in the midst of all of this, when we ask for wisdom, what God does is take our eyes off of this earth and onto His kingdom.
John MacArthur writes this, speaking of this person: "He may be hungry, but he has the bread of life. He may be thirsty, but he has the water of life. He may be poor, but he has eternal riches. He may be cast aside by men, but he has been eternally received by God. He may have no home on earth, but he has a glorious abode in heaven."
So here is how this flows. A trial comes — the trial of humble circumstance. He prays and asks for wisdom, and here is the wisdom. Where do we find wisdom? The beginning of all wisdom is found in the fear of the Lord, in understanding who He is through this Word, and in getting God's view of our life. When we look for wisdom, God says, "I am going to allow you to see things as they really are." You may be hungry now, but you have the bread of life. You may be in humble circumstances now, but one day — and frankly not too long from now — there is a palace prepared for you.
A Place Prepared
I cannot wait to get back to our study in the life of Christ, and when we return to it, we will be in John 14. It begins with Jesus saying to the disciples, the night before He dies, "I go to prepare a place for you. If it weren't so, I wouldn't have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I'm going to prepare a place for you, I will come and get you and take you to that place." And we say, "Jesus, come quickly."
No matter what you are going through, no matter how difficult things can be, we encourage one another by saying that no matter how bad it gets, it can only last a lifetime. And then we are out of here and with Him. There is simply no comparison.
Here is what Paul says in Romans 8: "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, for indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
Paul is saying that if you were able to place all of your suffering on a scale and quantitatively measure it, the scale would tip — until you placed the glory that is ahead of you on the other side, and it would tip completely the other way, for there is absolutely no comparison. He is not trying to minimize your trials, your difficulty, your hurt, or your pain. He is simply trying to put it in perspective.
The Gift of Discernment
Perspective is what we need. That is what wisdom is. That is what discernment is. I was teaching the other day, and every once in a while you have one of those wonderful moments. I was talking about discernment, and I said, "Let me give you a definition for discernment." And absolutely out of nowhere came this: the ability to connect the dots. That is what discernment is — to see the world, to understand the world, to connect the dots. God has given us the tools — this Word and His Spirit — to allow us to understand the world and connect the dots.
So in the midst of these trials, rather than becoming self-absorbed or overwhelmed, He says to ask for wisdom, and He will give it. The whole idea of suffering for a while and then comes the glory runs all through Scripture. We see it in 1 Peter 1:3, in 1 John 3:1, and in Jesus' own words when He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God."
God Chooses the Humble
In fact, James takes this theme and repeats it within his own letter. Look at chapter 2, verse 5: "Listen, my beloved brethren, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and the heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" God has chosen those of humble circumstance — the phrase He uses in verse 9 — to be the heirs of the riches of the kingdom to come.
This is exactly what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27, when he says God has chosen the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. God did not choose a lot of the rich or a lot of the powerful. He did not choose a lot of the intellectuals. And in 1 Corinthians 1:31 he says, "So let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."
Eugene Peterson captures it this way in The Message: "Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chooses men and women that the culture overlooks, exploits, abuses, chooses..."
Boasting in the Right Things
"These nobodies to expose the hollow pretenses of the somebodies? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have, right thinking, right living, a clean slate, a fresh start, comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have this saying, if you're going to blow a horn, blow the trumpet of God." That is what James is emphasizing here. That is the picture he is painting.
Consider verse 9. It is this person who is suffering, in low and humble circumstances. James says to glory in your high position. What is this high position? Philippians 3:20 tells us: "Our citizenship is in heaven." Ephesians 2:19 adds: "You are no longer foreigners or strangers but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household."
There is not this mythical idea of the universal fatherhood of God and the universal childhood of man — that God is the Father of all and we are all children of God. There may be some sense in which that is true, but in the relational sense we are talking about, it simply is not true. We are not all children of God. Is that not what Jesus said when He looked at the Pharisees and told them, "You are of your father, the devil"?
That is also what Paul speaks to when he addresses those who have been converted. He said you formerly were sons of disobedience, you formerly were children of wrath, but now you are children of God. And as a child of the King, you receive the entire inheritance of the King. You have the ability to have that relationship, the ability to call on Him as verse 5 indicates — if you lack wisdom, to call on Him, to pray to Him, to ask of Him. You can communicate with Him. You have an unbreakable relationship with Him. You have union with Him.
The vitality of that communion depends upon your obedience to Him, but you have the indwelling Spirit, and you can ask to be filled with the Spirit of truth. That is what James is saying in verse 9.
The Rich Man and His Humiliation
As noted, verse 9 probably resonated with the majority of people who first read this letter. But verse 10 presents a contrast. James turns to the rich man — the one who is probably materially well off, probably healthy, and doing well by every worldly measure. He should boast too, just like the other brother. He should boast not in himself but in the Lord.
Let the rich man — the one who has possessions and prestige and power, all the things the man of humble circumstance did not have — let that man glory, or rejoice, or boast. The same word appears in verse 9. But let him boast in his humiliation. That is his true position. Though he is a rich man in the world's eyes, his real position is one of humiliation, or servanthood — the very same way that James introduces himself in this book: "James, a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ."
This rich man is just like his brother. He is just like the man of humble means. He is dependent upon God. He delights in his position, in his relationship with Him. He delights in the fact that his citizenship is in heaven.
The Flower That Fades
James then turns to the nature of earthly riches and says the rich man should glory in his humiliation because, like the flowering grass, he will pass away. "For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass, and its flowers fall off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed." So it will be with the rich man — in the midst of his pursuits, he will fade away.
James is pointing to the temporariness of the things around us. It is a picture that would have been very familiar from Scripture. Isaiah 40:6 says: "All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall because the breath of the Lord blows them away. Surely the people are grass." There is a temporariness to life.
This brings to mind the flowers of the desert. When the desert is blooming, it is beautiful — and that is genuinely true for that day and a half that it blooms. When there has been a lot of rain and you are out driving through some of those areas, taking the old back road to Tucson, it is magnificent. Everything is blooming around you, and you are driving almost — there is a little hyperbole here — almost through a golden corridor. But you can make that same drive two weeks later and find yourself asking, where did all the flowers go? That is exactly what James is saying. The flowers look so beautiful, but they are seasonal. They fade away. And he says it is just like that with the rich man.
Why Wealth as the Illustration?
What is particularly striking is that of all the comparisons James could have used, he chose this one about wealth. He could have spoken about the trial of loneliness versus the person who has many friends. Or the trial of a struggling marriage compared to a wonderful relationship. Or the person who is sick versus the one who is healthy, or the person who dies young versus the one who lives to a ripe old age. There is something unusual, it seems, about this particular illustration.
James says to the rich man: you need to understand something. Verse 11 — you, this rich man, in the midst of your pursuits, literally in your way of life or on your journey of business, you will simply fade away. It is a theme he picks up again later.
Look at chapter 4, verse 13. It is the same thought, and perhaps one with which you are a little more familiar. "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and engage in business...'"
The Trial of Prosperity
Most of us represent the man in verse 10, not the man in verse 9. Most of you are not worried about where your food is going to come from this afternoon. You are worried about it coming from the right place, with the right seasoning and the right preparation. We go through the rigors of having to order. What would you like? We'll have an omelet. What would you like in the omelet? Do you want toast or a muffin or a bagel? White or wheat or sourdough? Juice — apple, cranberry? Water out of the tap? Here's special water, this water, that water. We have all of those things.
This second illustration, to me, really speaks to where we live. Not the trial of adversity, but the trial of prosperity. And I want to define "rich" because that is a tough term. Every time I use the term, we have a hard time, because you define it as anybody who has more money than you, and so we don't get very far in our discussion. Rich would be this: if you have food and covering and clothing and a little bit left, you are pretty rich.
James calls that a trial. Why? Because this temporariness can become permanent in our thinking. We might say, in our minds, "Yes, we are citizens of heaven. God has it figured out. I agree with you — this is fading away, that is forever." But the ebb and flow of life, the inertia of events, will help us — or almost force us, it seems — to focus on the temporary stuff rather than the eternal stuff.
What Paul Says to the Rich
In 1 Timothy 6, verse 17, Paul says, "Instruct those who are rich in this present world" — those who have power, prestige, status, money, food, clothing, options. He instructs them in two things. Number one, not to be conceited. It seems that when I have stuff, and the greater the level of achievement or success or recognition or power or prestige, I have a tendency to be conceited — to, as we say, read my own press clippings and be swept away with who I am.
Number two, not to trust in the uncertainty of riches. I have always taken that in two ways. One, that riches are fading, just as it says here — you have them, and then they are gone. It may not even take eternity to lose them. There is a blip in the stock market, or there is a 9/11, or there is a miscalculation, and all of a sudden it is gone. That is part of the uncertainty of riches. The other side is that when I have stuff, I have a tendency to trust and place my security in it. I talk about savings and securities — things I think will protect me.
The Parable of the Rich Fool
Keep your finger in James and turn to the left, to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12. There are 288 verses in the Gospels that deal with money or possessions — about 10 percent of the Gospel text. When Jesus wanted to make a particular point, He would tell a story. He would lay out a principle and then say, "Here is an illustration." He tells 38 parables in Scripture, and 16 of them deal with money. I believe the Bible talks so much about money because it is a magnificent barometer of your spiritual condition. That is exactly what happens here in Luke chapter 12.
Look at verse 13. A man comes to Jesus and says, "Tell my brother to divide my family inheritance with me." Jesus responds with a warning in verse 14: "Beware, be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has abundance does life consist of possessions." There is the principle. When I have possessions, I have a tendency to think this is what life is all about — that this is really living, that I find my identity and my security here, that I place my trust in the stuff.
Jesus says the same thing a little differently in Matthew's Gospel: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" It is the same idea He uses in this parable. There is a certain rich man who was very productive. This is not a loser — this is a winner. This is the man on the cover of Forbes and Fortune, the one doing seminars and everything that goes with it. And he has an extraordinary success beyond anything he has experienced to this point.
He needs advice from someone he can trust, someone he can get along with, someone he really likes — and he finds that advisor in himself. Look at verse 18. "He began to reason to himself," and notice the single personal pronoun running through everything he says: "This is what I will do, since I have no place to store my crops. I will tear down my barns. I will build larger ones there. I will store my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and be merry.'" But God said to him, "You fool, this very night your soul is required of you. And now who will own
God Transfers Possession, Not Ownership
So is the man who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Said another way, look at verse 34: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I want to make certain, as I said, I got distracted in the midst of this comparison by this second man in James, because I think he really accurately depicts us. Not the trial of low, humble means, but the trial of richness, of health, of success, of prosperity. Be careful. Don't begin to think that all of this is permanent.
God has transferred possession of resources to you, but not ownership. Do you get that difference? Your time, your energy, your effort, your money — it's another word in my mind for life. God has transferred possession to you. They are yours to use, but He owns it.
Let me share this from Scripture. "To the Lord your God belongs the heavens and the highest heavens." "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." "For every animal of the forest is mine and the cattle of a thousand hills." "The silver and the gold are mine, declares the Lord." God takes all of this and says, whether you go out to the universe or down to every single thing, it is all His. He has transferred possession to you, but not ownership. That is a huge difference.
Consider, for example, when you solicit the help of a financial advisor. You may even transfer possession of your assets to him, but you do not transfer ownership to him. If he misuses those funds, you would take him up and prosecute him on charges of embezzlement, because he has a fiduciary relationship with you. As the one who is in temporary possession of your assets, he is held responsible for how he stewards those assets.
The same is true of you and me in our relationship to God. Though He has transferred possession temporarily to us, He has retained ownership. We can embezzle the resources — the time, energy, effort, money, the life He has given us. One day we will stand before Him and be judged on how we stewarded the very resources He gave us.
What God Cares About Most
The most important of those resources, the things He is most concerned about, is your soul and the souls of the people around you. If you are saying you want to invest your time, energy, effort, and money in line with God's desires and God's investment strategy, then what does He care about? I can tell you. He cares about His Word. He cares about His people. He cares about lost people. That is where my time, energy, effort, and money should be going.
That is why something like what God is doing at Intel is so important. You cannot separate the different compartments of your life. You cannot live in a world of segmentation. Instead, you integrate all these areas of your life, and Christ is right in the middle of every one of them. He retains ownership. He transfers possession to you.
Do not get swept away pursuing these temporary things as though they are going to last forever. James says, here is a man — a rich man — who will simply fade away in the midst of his pursuit. I was reading a book and just finished it yesterday. It is the story of a man who is a hugely successful CEO, 53 years old. He feels a little twitch in his eye and in the left corner of his mouth — a nuisance more than anything. He goes to the doctor, the doctor runs some tests, brings him in, and says, you have 90 days to live.
The doctor shows him the MRI of his brain. On one side, perfectly normal. On the other side, the way the man described it is like looking through a telescope at a galaxy far away — all milky and just mush. Three tumors. He was 53 years old. He had maintained an 18-month to-do list, plus five-year plans and ten-year plans and all these goals. And right there, in the midst of all of it, he fades away. He sets out to record his thoughts, and then his wife writes the last chapter as he dies.
That is the warning. This good life that you have — and I know sometimes you think it may not be so good, but it is a very good life — this good life is a trial. It is a test. Of a sudden, the temporary becomes the focus.
The Crown of Life
And then here is the payoff, verse 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." The word "blessed" is the same term we see in Matthew chapter 5 in the Beatitudes. It speaks of happiness — but not merely circumstantial happiness. It speaks of real happiness, more than carefree living. It is a satisfaction that results from a right relationship with the living God.
It is the same thing Paul writes about in 2 Timothy 4: "In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, this reward, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." Those who persevere will receive this reward — and you may be in the middle of that perseverance right now.
I made a note to myself when I was reviewing this in preparation today. I do not think the Christian life is simply an unbroken string of undefeated victories and achievements. I think there are moments of perseverance, and then moments when I blow the test, and then moments when I come back, and then I blow it again. It is a battle and a struggle, but I persevere. And that perseverance is not what earns the crown of life. That perseverance is evidence of the fact that I am already His. In a mysterious, almost mystical sense, it is not even me who is persevering — it is Him who is persevering through me.
Persevering Through Trials
The wonderful truth laid out in these first twelve verses is that trials will come, and when they do, they can be overwhelming and they can confuse you. So you ask for wisdom. He will give it to you. He will give you the ability to understand life and the circumstance you are in, and how to respond.
Whether you are someone with little means or you have great resources, that is not the issue. We do not boast in those things. If we boast in anything, we boast in our relationship with the Lord. How wonderful is that truth — and one day we will receive a crown from Him.
Temptation and Sin
Now James begins to turn, because apparently in our minds we can confuse a trial from God and a temptation from Satan. That is why he says, look at verse 13: "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God." We will talk about temptation and sin, and how it works in a life, and we will take a look at that next week.
Closing Prayer
Father, help us see this truth as we leave this place. Let us be salt and light in the midst of this world. God, I pray that You would remind us that this earth is passing away. God, help us be good stewards of what You have entrusted to us — the time and the energy, the effort, the money, the life. You have transferred possession to us, but not ownership. Let us use Your resources in a way that brings honor and glory to You.
God, change the way we think, which changes the way we live, the way we act. God, let us be men and women, students, who are conformed to Your image, shaped, placed into the testing fires, and proven to be the real thing. God, we thank You and praise You. In Jesus' name, amen.