Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass[a] he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. (James 1:9-11)
Two Different Kinds of Brothers
There is something unique about the relationship of brothers. If you are a man or a boy and you have a brother, you most likely know just what I mean. It’s a great joy to have a good brother. A lot of times people think of brothers as looking like each other, talking like each other, acting like each other, and end up having the same type of careers as each other. And that is true for many brothers, but there are some who, despite being very close to their brother, are worlds apart in how different they are. If you have never seen my brother, imagine this – you know how I look, my brother looks nothing like me. He’s tall, fair-skinned, and red-headed. Yet, somehow we both look like our dad, but not like each other. But not only in looks, many sets of brothers may take quite different careers and life paths, one may be wealthy and the other lives paycheck to paycheck, and yet they are still brothers who have a great relationship.
Well what we have before us in our text today are two different kinds of brothers. We have the lowly brother in verse 9, and the rich brother in verse 10. Now of course I recognize the word “brother” is not present there in verse 10, but it is the word “rich” which qualifies the word brother in verse 9, showing us there are two different types of brothers in view here with two different things that they are to boast in. So we have two different types of brothers, which are in quite different circumstances of life, and yet they are brothers. “Brothers,” is of course the favorite term of James throughout his epistle in referring to the believers to whom he writes. So in this scenario James gives us, there are two different conditions of members in the church. And that is the lowly brother and the rich brother. I like the way the King James Version puts it, “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low…” I believe the King James rendering of this actually helps us to see the continuity of thought in the first chapter thus far. The theme is rejoicing and enduring through trials. The King James Version helps us see this thought and theme continued.
Two Different Kinds of Trials
So not only do we have two different kinds of brothers, but from these different kinds of brothers we have two different kinds of trials. This brings verse 2 back to mind: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…”
There are many who believe that the world’s problems are found in not having enough resources, or money, or standard of living, or material things. And many think that if they can just get more money or higher wages then all their problems will be solved. This may be a temptation to us, to think that if we just had a little more money then that would solve our problems and we would never worry, we would feel more secure, and our anxieties, lack, and trials would go away. Obviously it is good to work hard and seek more pay to provide better for your family. But to think our trials and testing will go away with more money and things is to create an idol out of it. And thus we find that it is not only the rich who can be guilty of greed or the love of money, but even those who do no have it. Simply having more money does not relieve us of our trials or solve all our problems. This is because both poverty and wealth are their own kinds of trials. They contain various trials of their own. And either lacking or having plenty may each be a testing of our faith with its own temptations.
Instead of saying that the lowly should escape their trial by becoming rich or that the rich should escape the trials of their situation, they are each instructed to boast in their exaltation or humiliation. In other words, they are to each count their various trials as joy. Both the rich and the poor can rejoice and are called to do so.
Now, having stated that these are two different kinds of brothers, there was a particular trial which many of the early Christians faced. Many of them faced great persecution, and those who persecuted them were rich and powerful. Particularly they were faced with persecution from the unbelieving Jews who controlled Jerusalem and held power and possessed great wealth. And many of the early Jerusalem Christians sold their possessions, having no great status, as we see in Acts 2. So the Church would have been tempted to believe that their poverty, lack of riches, and lack of power was an indication that they were mistaken or had made a wrong choice. But James encourages them to remain steadfast in this trial, and that it is not a sign of error, but it is a testing of their faith to count as joy. And further, James encourages them by reminding them that though those who persecute them are powerful and wealthy, they are just men who will fade and wither like the grass and springtime flowers. So take heart, and rejoice.
We see this very scenario with the church in Smyrna in Revelation 2:9-11, “I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” Now this sounds not only like what James has shown us thus far, but also like verse 12 in James 1, “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.”
So James encourages the lowly brother to rejoice and remain steadfast in trial which is the testing of their faith, even if it comes at the hands of those who are their kinsmen according to the flesh.
So often when we are in the midst of trials and tribulations we can be so consumed by them and caught up in them that we can lose a proper perspective on them. But in these verses James reorients the brothers in trial by reminding them of the proper perspective by saying that the rich will pass away like the flower of the grass. And as a flower falls and its beauty quickly perishes, so will the rich man in his pursuits. So if the rich man is your persecutor, do not think that his power and persecution will last forever, for man is but a breath and vapor. He will fall and fade away.
These very themes are given to the church to sing throughout the Psalter. And these very images are part of divine song for God’s Church for perspective and encouragement to endure and be steadfast. Consider Psalm 37: verse 1-2, “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” Verse 9-10, “For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.” Verse 20, “But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish – like smoke they vanish away.” And verse 35-36, “I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.”
So consider this encouragement today. It can be so easy to look at our world and be discouraged and lose hope when we see the proud evil seem to flourish and the evil wealthy elites harm our world by their wicked schemes and plans, which seem to close in around us – they are just men. They will soon wither and perish like the flower of the field and the grass of the pasture. Be patient, be meek, be steadfast, endure with rejoicing. Indeed, boast in your exaltation.
Two Different Kinds of Boasting
So we have seen that there are two different kinds of brothers, two different kinds of trials, and with these come two different kinds of boasting. How do we understand this boasting? I mentioned the King James Version, how it says “let the lowly brother rejoice.” One early church father says as much, “The boasting referred to here is not vain glory but joy in times of temptation.” So this is not a sinful, prideful boasting – “Look at me and how poor I am or at how great I am” – these are sinful attitudes to be avoided, as Proverbs 27:2 tells us, “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” So we do not boast about our earthly status or accomplishments (or lack thereof). In fact, James here tells us to boast in the opposite of what our earthly status is – the lowly brother in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation or in his being made low. And this is to say, let them rejoice in their trials, or glory in them.
So what is the exaltation and the humiliation in which the lowly and the rich brothers are to rejoice, or boast? There are two ways I understand this, and the first is their exaltation and their humiliation in Christ. Each of us have exaltation and humiliation in Christ, but James assigns the opposite of their respective earthly condition for boasting in as an antidote to the trial and temptation of our earthly condition.
The lowly brother is to boast in his exaltation in Christ. This itself is quite counter to the thinking of the world, which does not find any reason for the poor to rejoice, they are in a poor and sad condition from which they must escape or because of which they must demand more rights and privileges to be granted to them from the rich. But such is not Christian. As Thomas Manton says, “The most abject condition does not justify grumbling; you may yet rejoice and glory in the Lord.” But how can this be done? It comes first through an acknowledgement of our poor and sinful condition before God and in light of the work of Christ on our behalf. The poor condition of some on earth is but a symbol of all of our wretched condition before God, and yet, it was God’s design that Christ put on human flesh, and humble Himself, even to the point of death on a cross, to be put in our place that the justice and wrath of God for sins be poured out upon Him that we might be saved and be made right with God through faith, and so exalted to heavenly places with Christ. This is to say we rejoice in the reality of the gospel and we can do that no matter our earthly condition, for we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, Ephesians says. Though we may not have the ear or the care of any powerful person on earth, if we are in Jesus Christ, we are seated with Him in the heavenly places. And it was through the humiliation of Jesus Christ that the poor and lowly are exalted and seated with Him on high, made as freedmen in Christ, though they may be slaves on earth. I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” Christ became poor for our sake, so that in Him we might become rich. The Son of Man had no place to lay his head. So the lowly brother is to glory in His exaltation in Christ, that He is a freeman in Christ, seated with Him in the heavenly places, made a son. And he can endure all things now for a crown and pleasures forevermore await him in the joy of his master.
What then of the rich man who is to boast in his humiliation? This too is found in the gospel, for Christ was humiliated and exalted. The King of heaven became poor and became a servant to all. Isaiah 50:6 tells of the suffering humiliation of Christ, saying, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” The rich brother is to recognize his sinfulness, his frailty and shortness of life before God. That the cross shows that all men are leveled and humiliated there, that there is none righteous, no not one, and no other way that man can be saved but through the cross of Christ, and so he must be humbled and humiliated in his sin and lowliness and come to Jesus Christ as a poor and lame beggar right alongside the poor and the lowly, for the cross shows him that he too is among the poor and the lowly. And then, as a man of wealth on earth who has been redeemed by Christ, he is to see Christ’s humility and follow Him, becoming a servant to all just as Christ. And he is to recognize what Proverbs 16:19 teaches, “It is better to be of lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
James sounds here also like the prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’”
One Church, One Lord
The second way that the respective exaltation and humiliation is understood and played out is in the fact that these two different kinds of brothers with two different trials and boastings have one Lord, and are members of one church. In what other sense is the poor man exalted? He is exalted to the same “level” before God and in the church as the rich man. In what sense is the rich man made low? He is humiliated to the same “level” before God and in the church as the poor man. There are no classes of church members in the church, there are brothers. The rich man is made low in his association with those of a lower class, and the poor are exalted in association with those of higher classes that they would not associate with outside the church. For in Christ, all are made brothers before God and to one another.
The Fleeting Nature of Riches
I want to leave you with two thoughts, one being implied and the other stated in our text. First, the fleeting nature of riches is implied here. Riches are not to be trusted in, they may be good tools, but they are terrible gods. We can be deceived into trusting in riches thinking that they are stable and steadfast, when they are not. We are called to be steadfast, because the things of this world, like trials and riches, are not.
Think of the story of Job. He loved God, he was his faithful servant, and one of the wealthiest men on earth. But then a great time of testing comes. In a moment his family is gone. His servants are gone. His possessions are gone. His animals are gone. His health is gone. His friends give bad advice. Yet he endured. He knew God. He blessed God. He boasted in his humiliation.
Riches can be a fleeting thing. Sometimes, through good stewardship and wisdom we are able to leave an inheritance to our children’s children, other times, they are gone in a moment. This is something to think about and consider that we do not become those who boast in our riches and that we do keep our trust in the Lord.
Thomas Manton comments, “If we want to be made low in the middle of worldly enjoyments, we should think how uncertain they are.” Again, this is perspective, an antidote to our testing. Manton again comments, “It is good to think of famine and want in the midst of plenty. The Lord knows how quickly your situation may change; when it seems to flourish most, it may be near to withering.” Certainly this is good for us today, considering the uncertainty of the dollar and the markets, and the unstable nature of our politics in the world. We truly have no rock upon which to rest, but Christ. How great a testimony steadfast Christians may be in a world that is as unstable as the wind?
The Fleeting Nature of Our Lives
But alas, James here merely implies the fleeting nature of riches, for what he actually states is the fleeting nature of our lives. Verse 10 does not say the rich man’s riches will pass away, but it says, “HE” will pass away. James compares man to flowers of the grass that pass away – and how the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; the flower falls, the beauty of the flower perishes in the heat, and it is gone as quickly as it came, so is the rich man in the midst of his pursuits, says James. Our lives are short. Our lives are short and the only antidote is the life of the Lord Jesus lived and given for us, so that we might live forever. Our lives are short, but they are turbulous so that we must endure, though the enduring is for a short time.
I love how James gives us the illustration of the flower and the grass. It is essentially springtime now, the flowers are beginning to bloom and the winter grays of the ozarks are being colored in with life. It’s a beautiful season, a gift from God. And yet, that summertime heat is not far away. It’s going to get scorching hot, those flowers are going to wither, the green grass will be browned and then things will turn to fall. God has given us life, creation, this world, as living parables for our lives, that we might have wisdom to observe these things and consider the frailty of our own lives, and thus our own need for eternal life in Jesus Christ. Life is short, but this is not reason for doom and gloom, but for steadfast rejoicing in the Lord who does not wither and fade like the grass, and who makes all things new. Life is short and so we can rejoice and endure with gladness, for the various trials are very short. They don’t feel like they are in the midst of them, but this perspective from James shows us that they are. So as you are gardening or farming, or just observing this spring, think about these things, gain this wisdom of biblical perspective that our lives are short, and that that is an occasion for joyful endurance in the Lord. He was made low, that we lowly withering people may be raised to eternal life, as we even now are seated with Him in the heavenly places. Boast in that. Glory in that. I’ll leave you with Isaiah 40:6-8, which James seems to hearken to, “A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Amen.
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