Sermons

James: A Letter from Jesus’ Brother
Social Status -- James 1:9-12

Let’s turn to James chapter one.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring one to you.  James one is on page 1011 in the Bibles we are passing out. 

We’re into our third week studying the book of James, which is actually a letter written by James, Jesus’ brother.  At first James scoffed at Jesus.  But after Jesus died on the Cross, He rose from the dead, and then personally appeared to James.  As a result, James’ heart was completely changed, and he received Jesus as His Savior, Lord, and Treasure.

James was a key leader of the church in Jerusalem, and he wrote this letter to Jewish believers who had to flee Jerusalem to escape persecution.  They fled Jerusalem with what they could carry in their hands or on camels, and had to leave behind homes and possessions and land and orchards and vineyards.  They ended up as refugees in northern Palestine and Syria.

So James writes this letter and sends it north to them.  And we’ve seen that his main point is to bring them encouragement in their suffering.  So in vv.2-4 he urges them to count their suffering as pure joy, because suffering can purify their faith.  Their suffering will show them how insecure homes and businesses and land and orchards are – so they will put all the more of their trust in Jesus.  The result is that their faith will be stronger, which means they will have the steadfastness they need to persevere all the way to glory.  That’s why they can count their sufferings as pure joy.

But James also knows that as they face these trials, they will wonder what they should do.  How will the men feed their families?  Where will they live?  Should they work as slaves for survival, or hold out for the kind of work they had in Jerusalem?  So in vv.5-8 James encourages them that God will give them all the wisdom they need, if they will ask Him.  If they will come before God, and earnestly ask Him, with faith that whatever God leads them to do will be good -- they will have all the wisdom they need.

But now in vv.9-11 James talks to them about the issue of their social status.  He knows that one of the reasons it will be hard for them to rejoice in their sufferings is because they have experienced a terrible loss of social status.  And James knows that if they are going to be able to trust Jesus and rejoice in their trials – they’ve got to understand what Jesus says about social status.  That’s the point of vv.9-11.

So let’s dig into this by asking: how important is social status to us?  Every culture has markers by which people measure social status.  In the Amazon jungle men put bigger and bigger discs into their lips; whoever has the biggest lip – he’s the man.  When we were down in Nicaragua, a young girl asked how many vaca – cows -- we had.  Because in rural Nicaragua your status was measured by the number of your cows.  Here in Silicon Valley status is often measured by education, job, salary, car, and house.  So every culture has markers by which people have higher or lower social status.

Now here’s why this is so important to understand.  When your social status is increasing – you tend to feel important, significant, pleased.  But when your social status is decreasing – you tend to feel discouraged, humiliated, ashamed.

And James’ readers had just experienced a terrible decrease in social status.  Imagine having lived in Jerusalem with a home and land and possessions – but now living as refugees in Syria.  Can you feel that?  That would be like if you were laid off and the home you owned with your family was lost to foreclosure and now your whole family is living in a one-bedroom apartment.  It would be hard enough adjusting to the inconvenience, but there would also be the shame and humiliation you could feel from having a decreased social status.

Or imagine having owned land which produced grapes, or having worked as a chariot-builder or as an innkeeper.  And imagine that now your are only a refugee, and the best you can do is work for someone for a roof over your head and 3 meals a day for you and your family.  That would be like someone today having a management position, and being laid off, and not finding any work, or finding only an entry-level position.  Again, that would be hard enough in terms of making the budget work – but there would also be the shame and humiliation you could feel from having a decreased social status.

Now given that scenario, can you feel what James’ readers were going through?  Can you feel how hard it would be to consider it all joy as you are a refugee in Syria?  Or to ask God for wisdom regarding employment with complete surrender, leaving it to him whether you would ever have a decent job or not?  The issue of social status makes that difficult.  So James knows that he needs to help them understand social status.  He wants to tell them the truth about social status.  And we need to hear this, too.

Think about it.  How important is social status to you?  How much of your identity do you put in your job?  How much of who you are is tied up in your career?  How much of your meaning and joy is found in your house or car?  How often do you think that you are higher or lower than other people depending on those things?

So how should we followers of Jesus view social status?  Jesus Christ came to the earth 2,000 years ago.  He died on the Cross to pay for our sins, and rose from the dead, so when we receive Him as Savior, Lord, and Treasure He forgives us, changes our hearts, filling us with His love.  And he calls us to form counter-cultural communities which help others come to know Jesus, and which follow Jesus’ teachings.

And one of Jesus’ most counter-cultural teachings has to do with social status.  And here at Mercy Hill Church we want to be a counter cultural community showing San Jose a different way to view social status. 

So let’s look at what James tells us about social status in vv.9-12 --

9              Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10            and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass 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.

12            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.

In v.9 he focuses on those with low social status, so let’s start there: what does James say to believers with low social status?  Read v.9 again --

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

If you are in a low social status, he tells you there’s something you should boast in.  Now in English this word “boast” usually implies sort of a cocky pride of feeling you are better than other people.  But the Greek word “boast” refers to an intense rejoicing and celebration.

So what are lowly brothers supposed to rejoice and celebrate about?  They are refugees in Syria.  They have lost their homes and livelihood.  What are they supposed to boast in?  James says they should boast in their exaltation.  They are lowly now.  But in the future they will be exalted.  And they are to boast now in their future exaltation.

So what is this future exaltation?  The best way to answer a question like this is to look at the immediate context: look at verses before this verse, and at verses after this verse, to see if we can find anything that sounds like exaltation.  So I read the before verses– didn’t find anything.  But then I read the following verses – and bingo – right there in v.12 I read something that sounds like exaltation.

Look again at v.12 –

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.

Here James says that because we trust Jesus, which means we are steadfast in trusting Jesus during trials, then in the future we will receive the crown of life. 

Receiving a crown means being exalted.  If I had a real crown, and the authority to give this crown to someone, and I walked down here and placed a crown on your head – I would have just exalted you before all these people.

So -- if you are trusting Jesus and being steadfast in trials you will receive the crown of life.  I don’t think this is a literal crown, because James says it’s the crown of life.  Which means that what you will receive is a full experience of life – the life of knowing Jesus – beholding Him face to face, seeing Him with your own eyes, status right in His very presence.

Now we don’t need to wait until then; because you are trusting Jesus now, you have partial experience of this life now: you have times when you feel the very presence of Jesus.  But in this life it’s only partial and occasional – it’s not full and constant – although it’s still infinitely more satisfying than anything else in reality.  But still, it’s only partial and occasional.

But when Jesus returns your experience of Him will move from partial and occasional, to full and constant.  And you will be completely and overflowingly satisfied. 

But not only will you be satisfied – you will be exalted.  That’s the point of the crown metaphor.  And it will be like receiving a crown – being exalted by receiving a crown.  The point isn’t that you are better than anyone else.  But the point is that Jesus is telling all of humanity that He is pleased with you, that you were faithful to him, that you followed His will even when it brought you suffering. 

So think of those Jewish believers living in tents in Syria with just the clothes on their backs.  They were living in homes in Jerusalem, working regular jobs, respected in the community.  Now they are homeless refugees.  James says – boast, celebrate, rejoice in your future exaltation.  The day is coming when Jesus will call you up before all of humanity, and crown you – stating to all of humanity that He is pleased with you, that you were following Him even when it brought suffering, that your sufferings came in the path of obedience to Jesus.

Or let’s apply this to us.  Some of you might feel humiliated or ashamed because of unemployment – underemployment – medical setbacks – other sorts of trials.  But because you are trusting Jesus, and trusting Him in these trials, the day is coming when Jesus will call you before all of humanity – and crown you – give you the crown of life – display His approval of you and exalt you in front of everyone.

Which means that low social status in this world doesn’t mean anything for the world to come.  The path of following Jesus can take us into low social status.  But because we are trusting Jesus – we will be exalted.  So boast in – rejoice – celebrate your future exaltation.  

And what does James say to believers with high social status?  It’s shocking.  Look at vv.9-10 --

9              Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

10            and the rich in his humiliation …

I think this is probably referring to rich believers.  So James is saying that while believers with low social status should boast in their future exaltation, believers with higher social status should boast in their future humiliation. 

So what humiliation is he talking about?  Rich believers will experience some sort of humiliation; what does that mean?  James explains in the rest of v.10 and v.11 --

10            and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass 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.

What James is saying is that everything in this life that makes for a high social status will disappear when Jesus returns – which is a kind of humiliation.  So picture what will happen to you when Jesus returns.  There you are with your house, and your job, and your career, and your money, and your possessions – all the things that elevate your social status in this life.  And when Jesus comes back – your house will disappear; your job will be gone; your career will be over; your money and your possessions will vanish.

Now this doesn’t mean that you don’t need to work hard at your job; Jesus calls us to work hard and excellently at our jobs.  Nor does it mean that we should not be ambitious; we should be ambitious – for Jesus and His glory, not necessarily for me and my career (after all, He could call me to change my career).  Nor does this mean that money and possessions are bad; but it means that we all should structure our money and possessions so that we can live as missionaries in our culture, at the same time as we are giving away as much as we can for Jesus’ glory.

So if you are a believer with high social status now – a lot of money, a high-powered job, a lot of prestige – don’t put your identity in those, don’t seek your security in those, don’t hoard or cling to those.  Instead, boast in the humbling that will come to you when all of those things disappear – and you are left before Jesus with just you and your love for Him and the people you have impacted for the gospel.

So do you see what James is doing?  He’s saying that low social status or high social status does not matter.  What matters is that you are trusting Jesus and following His will for your life. 

If His will for your life leads you into a low social status – boast in your coming exaltation – when Jesus will crown you before all humanity.  If His will for your life leads you into a high social status – boast in your coming humbling – when everything in this life that gave you a higher social status is taken away.

Questions?

So what does this mean for us?  There’s lots we could say about this.  But let me just throw out one challenge that we can wrestle with in our home groups.

Understand that what’s important is not social status, but following Jesus.  Jesus could lead you into a high prestige career, or he could lead you to be a homeless refugee in Syria.

But if Jesus leads you into a high prestige career, understand that the day will come when your career will be forgotten – and all that will matter is how you loved Jesus, lived for His glory, use your influence and money in leading people to Jesus and advancing the gospel and helping the poor.

And if Jesus leads you to be a refugee in Syria, understand that the day will come when Jesus will call you out before all of humanity and give you the crown of life – letting all of humanity know that your low social status was His will for you – and honoring you before everyone.

So what’s important is not social status, but following Jesus.