”Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation.“
-James 1:9 (ESV)
There’s something in this verse that I want to point out that actually struck me one night while I lay in bed reading. Due to the broad range of wealth in our society, both the possession of wealth and the presence of poverty prominently figure into our view of the Scriptures and of our relationship with God. There are a lot of people in our country who hold fast to the Prosperity Gospel, the belief that God will ALWAYS reward those who follow Him by giving them the desires of their money-hungry hearts. They believe that if you are faithful to God, He will fill your bank account with money, your house with treasures, your family with children, your body with health, and your needs with a life of ease. Not only that, but if He doesn’t fulfill these things for you, you must not be faithful enough. To these individuals, trials, tribulations, and suffering are all seen only as tools that Satan uses to keep you down.
Therefore, in the mind of the Prosperity Gospel Scholar, it is madness that the lowly/poor brother could boast in his exaltation and the rich brother boast in his humiliation! For the brother to be lowly, he had to have done something rebellious enough to deserve to be in the valley; for the rich brother to be humiliated, he had to have been faithful enough to be on the mountaintop. If neither earned their respective places, how can they boast? The answer is simple! The rich man is not to boast in himself about being brought down nor is the lowly man to boast in himself about making it to the top; rather, each is to boast in Christ, Who led them there! For does not Scripture say “He works ALL THINGS for the good of those who love Him”? Whether one is being brought down in humiliation
or being brought up in exaltation, wherever He leads us as His people is where we NEED to be for our own good which God only knows!
Few would argue that Satan uses the afflictions and tribulations in our lives as his weapons to lure us away from God, but there is another tactic he uses is one he uses more subtly and probably more effectively… Pleasure! Satan can kill your soul just as effectively with the promise of luxuries, treasures, and comforts as he can with poverty, plagues, and pain. There’s a reason why the Scripture cautions us about our wealth. Yes, it can be a great blessing from God, but material riches can also become a deadly curse. Paul warns us in 1 Tim. 6:10, “10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” A pure example of this is the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18:18-23.
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
I would like us to analyze a few crucial points that speak to God’s expectations for us.
First is that morally, the rich young ruler seemed to be on the right track. According to his testimony, he had kept all of the commandments and he, as well as others, probably looked to his wealth to back up that claim. Being at one with the Father, Jesus, of course, saw past that. He didn’t look to the outside, but the inside. He looked beyond the young man’s morality and saw his spirituality.
Another observation is that Jesus does not command him to work even harder, sow and reap more. He told him to “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor.” The young man’s obedience to Jesus might leave him homeless, but certainly not hopeless. Instead, He gives the ruler the greatest hope one possibly could have. (As well as the answer to his initial question.) “And you will have treasure in Heaven; and come follow me.” Many people would look at this and say, “Jesus went a little too far here!” To that accusation, I say, “Absolutely not!” What He bid of the rich young ruler is the same to which He bids you and me in our day: leave the gods we make and come to the God who made us. The young man worshiped his fiscal and moral wealth, but was spiritually bankrupt.
Now, let us take up a third point. What was the reason for the young man to go away GRIEVING? “…for he was extremely RICH.” There is no prosperity gospel apologetic who could give a defense for that simply stated fact, folks. Therefore, do not look to wealth as God’s sign of favor. Look to faith, for if a homeless beggar has but a mustard seed of faith to his name, he has more treasure than a king! He is not a mere beggar for blessings, but the blessed beggar!
Allow me to leave you with one last verse to summarize the message that I believe God has for you and me here. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount tells us this, “ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt. 6:21) When examining our own lives, there is no clearer indicator as to who we are than that which we treasure most. If in your relationship with Christ, you treasure His blessings the most, it is not Christ with whom you have relationship with but His blessings. You may have a mansion, but you have built it on sand and it will crumble once the storm comes. However, if in your relationship with Christ, you treasure HIM above all else and place Him before the very world… You may have only a shack, but it is a shack built on the rock and you can be assured that not even the gates of Hell will prevail against you! For Christ is yours and you are His!