SCRIPTURE: James 1:9-11 (ESV)
DATE: 2-8-26
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
PASTORAL PRAYER
Today we’re going to start something new — a time of pastoral prayer. It’s actually not really new — just an old practice that we’re going to renew in our worship time together. Where — each week — we’ll be more intentional about praying for people, circumstances, and situations going on in our congregation, community, country, and the world. One critique of the contemporary church in the US is how prayer is often just a time of transition — a time for the worship team to get on or off the stage. Yet prayer — historically — has been a sacred practice by God’s gathered people. So we’re going to take time each week to develop this sacred practice even more than what has been our practice around here.
Feel free to take these prayers — or the topics prayed for — and use them throughout the week. For — when God’s people unite together in prayer — quite often — amazing things happen. So — with that — please join me in prayer.
Gracious Father, we begin by praising you for being a God who is full of generosity towards your creation and especially your people. You are the God who meets our every need according to your glorious riches in Christ Jesus. And you have called us to be a generous people.
Holy Spirit, thank you for teaching us what it means to be generous. We ask you to inspire in us an ever increasing spirit of generosity as a congregation. Thank you for the faithful giving of your people in this local church — and stretch us towards even greater generosity.
For our local community, Father, Son, and Spirit, I want to bring before you other local pastors in our city — friends of mine — my co-laborers in ministry. For pastor Blair at Living Hope, pastor Mike at First Naz, pastor Chris at Cedar Creek, pastor Travis at Bible Methodist, pastor Kirk at College First, and pastor Ken at the Upper Room — may you speak through them in a mighty way this morning. Change lives for all eternity as your Word is preached through these men. May they trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to speak through them to awaken many to new life in Christ.
As we turn our attention to our nation — tonight is a night when many will be gathered to enjoy a football game. Enjoyment of such things are good gifts from you. So my prayer for our nation is that this evening — for many people — hundreds of thousands of people even — that the joy they find in watching the Super Bowl would point them to the infinitely greater joy that’s found in Jesus. For football games come and go — even Super Bowl victories for our team are nothing more than fleeting moments — but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And the joy that’s found in him endures forever.
Finally — as we now pray for the world — we lift up to you the Arora people group. Nearly four point one million people who — today — don’t believe in Jesus because they haven’t heard about him. Your Word tells us that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” — may men, women, and children of the Arora people group look up to the sky, recognize that you exist, and see their need to be in right relationship with you. And Father we ask that — at the very moment when they recognize their need — may someone you’ve called and anointed for this very purpose bring them the Good News of Jesus Christ. Though this may seem impossible to us — nothing is impossible for you. For you are the God who is orchestrating all things for the good of the people that Jesus came to seek and save.
Thank you for hearing our prayers. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
We’re continuing our series in the book of James this weekend. We’ll be in James chapter one today. James chapter one — looking at verses nine through eleven. There we read…
James 1:9–11 ESV
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.
This is the first of a few warnings that James will give to the rich. And — immediately — our thought is, “Well, I’m glad he’s not speaking to me. I’m not rich!” Be careful with that thought. Most of us are rich in James’ estimation. Either way — the principle James is teaching applies to the rich and the humble — interestingly — that’s the two categories of people James uses in our verses. The rich and the humble.
But — today — we’re going to — first — explore an echo of the Bible — I’ll explain what I mean by that in a moment. Then we’ll briefly look at two false gospels. Then we’ll face the fact that life is fading away. But we’ll end on a high note of being amazed by Christ.
An echo of the Bible. Two false gospels. Life is fading. And Christ — that’s where we’re headed.
THE BIBLE’S ECHO
First — the Bible has an echo to it. By that — I mean — when you get to know the Bible better — you’ll find repeated themes — or echoes — throughout it. Where something said early on in the Bible is echoed later in another part of the Bible. And then it echoes again. And again. And again.
James — if you recall — is writing to Christians of Jewish background. And — for the most part — the Jews knew their Bibles — what we call the Old Testament — really well. And they would’ve immediately recognized the passage that James is echoing in our verses.
Maybe you recognized the echo as well. It’s in his words about the rich when he writes…
James 1:10–11 ESV
10 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.
The Old Testament passage that James is referring to — or echoing — is from the prophet Isaiah. For some context — the people of God have been living in exile. They’re being punished for abandoning God who had graciously warned them to come back to him or face the consequence of their sin. They refused to do so and their punishment was being conquered by another nation.
Now — you can imagine how demoralizing, depressing, and disheartening it must have been to experience being defeated by another nation. And it’s in the midst of this situation that the prophet — on behalf of God — says…
Isaiah 40 NLT
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.” 3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! 4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!” 6 A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” 9 O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” 10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. 12 Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? 13 Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him? 14 Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice? 15 No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand. 16 All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God. 17 The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing — mere emptiness and froth. 18 To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? 19 Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? 20 Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down! 21 Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God — the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? 22 God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. 23 He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. 24 They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff. 25 “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. 26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. 27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? 28 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
Even though the people are presently in exile — experiencing the punishment for their sins against God — God speaks words of comfort and hope and of power to them. He tells his people that their sad days are over. Their sins have been forgiven. A path will be made which will lead them back to God — back to the Promised Land — back from the wilderness to their home.
I can’t help but think that some among us need to know that God’s words still echo to his people today. That your sad days are coming to an end. Your sins have been forgiven. God has made the path for you to walk on which is leading you to an eternal Promised Land — heaven — for this wilderness of a world is not your home.
Now for the people in Isaiah’s day — this is all an echo of an earlier part of their history. For — just like when they wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus — some of the people in Isaiah’s day will fade away — they will die before the promise is fulfilled when God’s people return to the Promised Land. But what will never fade away is the Word of God — it stands forever.
The Word of God which declares — and tells us to shout from the mountaintops, “Our God is coming to rule! He’s coming in power and is bringing his reward with him. He will feed his people like a shepherd — and he’ll carry them in his arms. He’ll hold them close to his heart and will lead them gently back to him.” Words of comfort for his people. Words that I hope give you comfort today — if you believe in Jesus.
And the Word of God — which will never fade — says some amazing truths about God. For example…
- He holds the oceans in his hands.
- And has measured the heavens.
- And knows the weight of the world.
- And he is all-knowing and needs no one to instruct him on anything.
- He knows what is good.
- He knows what is just.
- And all people — along with all of creation — are mere dust compared to him.
Isaiah goes on and on and then concludes by asking, “What compares to God?” The answer? No one and nothing — that’s what. But oh how easy it is to get excited about — and distracted by — and give our lives to things — like money — that don’t even come close to the awesomeness that is our God.
This is the passage James is echoing in our verses. For he wants his original readers — who were living in exile — dispersed from Jerusalem because of persecution — and us — his people living in exile as we await the return of our King — to remember — and have great confidence in — who our God is so that our lives become more and more committed to living for him alone. And — by the way — the benefits of living this way are countless.
For example — if you’re feeling weak right now — remember — your God is the God who gives strength. If you’re feeling powerless — remember — your God gives power to his people. For — as Isaiah says — those who trust in him will find new strength. They will soar like eagles. They’ll run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
If you’ve been with us during our journey in James — which we’re just a few weeks into — me mentioning that I memorize books of the Bible a few weeks ago may have made you think that I’m pretty weird — and if you talk to folks who know me — they’ll tell you that I’m weird. One of my other weird habits is that I have a list of life resolutions. These are statements of who God says I am in Christ that I know I’m prone to forgetting — so I’ve collected them as a list and read them regularly to remember who I am and who God’s called me to be.
Resolution number twenty-seven is based on the passage from Isaiah that we just read — in fact — it’s based on the last verse. My resolution number twenty-seven is this: To be thankful during soaring seasons. Faithful in running seasons. And to persevere in walking seasons.
And the way you and I can be thankful, and faithful, and even demonstrate perseverance — when life is soaring or when it’s soul-crushing — is by remembering who our great and mighty and powerful and saving God is as he’s told us in his never-fading Word.
TWO FALSE GOSPELS
Which leads us to two false gospels I want to point out to us. But — first — our verses again. This time in a different translation.
James 1:9–11 NLT
9 Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. 10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
There are two false gospels that are a constant source of division in the church: the prosperity gospel and the poverty gospel. The prosperity gospel is the false teaching that God rewards our faith with health and wealth and that Christians should expect God to bless them with health and wealth in an ever increasing way. The poverty gospel — on the other hand — is the false teaching that God requires poverty — or denying oneself of material goods — as a sign that your faith is genuine.
Obviously, our verses in James would be correcting those who believe the prosperity gospel — as the rich — in our verses — are given a warning. And the prosperity gospel — if nothing else — is about being rich. Yet our verses have the potential to be used to justify the poverty gospel — which again — like the prosperity gospel — is false. It’s a lie. And it’s to be rejected.
The Bible has much to say about the poor — but never is being economically poor a way to judge the spiritual state or maturity of a person. Maybe the person was foolish with their money. Or maybe they were called by God to exercise the spiritual gift of generosity in a way that few have been called to. Their bank accounts may have the same amount in them — but for very different reasons. And — generally speaking — we’re all pretty terrible at judging people’s motives.
I bring these false gospels up to warn you to be careful with what you consume in books, podcasts, and sermons. There are many prosperity gospel preachers and teachers in our country today. They sell a message that entices our sinful desire to be rich. And these false teachers cause many people to be disappointed in God when he doesn’t live up to the lies they’ve been sold — which is why you must know who God says he is on his own terms in his unfading Word.
And though not as popular — poverty gospel false teachers are also out there. And — ironically — they make quite a bit of money selling a false message — telling their readers and listeners to denounce wealth and give everything away as a sign of spiritual maturity. Both the prosperity and poverty gospels can be quite lucrative for the false teachers selling such lies.
So — remember — God calls his people to — one — love him and not money — because you can’t love both according to Jesus. Two — God calls us to be generous with our money — really, I should say — be generous with his money because it’s not our money anyway. Which is why generosity is one of the values we hope to see in all who follow Jesus here at Gateway — and I’m continually blown away by your generosity. And — three — we must remember…
2 Corinthians 8:9 NLT
9 The generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.
We’ll reflect more on this truth in a moment.
LIFE IS FADING
But — before we get to Jesus — let’s face the fact that life is fading for all of us. James tells us this a few times in our verses.
James 1:9–11 ESV
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.
Passing away. Withering. Falling. Perishing. Fading away — they all mean the same thing: The rich — and the poor — the proud and the humble — all of us are experiencing the fading away of our lives. I recently heard someone say, “I’ve got a lot of good years behind me.” That’s not how we expect that sentence to go, is it? Most of the time we talk about good years that are ahead of us — and often people talk as if the years are never gonna run out.
But — according to James — life is like grass in a field. The sun rises and dries out the grass — and it withers and dies. The flowers wilt and the petals fall off and the flower’s beauty is gone forever. Later James will say…
James 4:14 NLT
14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog — it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
The morning fog is something we’re all familiar with living in Northwest Ohio. Growing up in Florida — I didn’t have fog delays when I was a student. But — here — we occasionally get a fog delay or cancellation. And — inevitably — when school’s cancelled — the sun comes out — warms everything up — and the fog burns off leaving a beautiful day for the students to enjoy. Our life — James says — is like that — fog. It’s here in the morning and gone in a few hours.
In the Old Testament our lives are described as a handbreadth.
Psalm 39:5 ESV
5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
A handbreadth — if you don’t know — is this — four fingers. Essentially each finger represents a quarter of a person’s life. Some of us are under twenty years old. So this first finger — though not all the way up — hasn’t completely closed. Some of us are between twenty and forty. The first finger is down — and the second is on its way down — but you’ve still got two full fingers of life left ahead of you. Some of us have passed forty — which is middle age by the way — not sixty — we’re not living to a hundred and twenty these days. Once you pass forty — the third finger is starting to creep its way down. And when you pass the sixty year old mark — you’re on the last finger — and it’s started its way down.
And — in response to this truth — the psalmist says, “Selah.” Which means — pause, reflect, meditate on the reality of how brief your life is — for this is the only way to not waste your life — but to live it to the full.
Our culture wants us to not think about such things. Ignore your mortality. Ignore the wrinkles — botox them away even. We idolize youthfulness and despair when there’s nothing more we can do to cover up the fact that our life is fading away.
If you saw a picture of me from my twenties — you’d recognize it’s me — but you’d probably think, “What happened?” A few years ago — during a sermon I quoted from a television show I watched growing up and someone said to me, “When you said that, I realized I never imagined that you were a kid. I just always think of you as being this age.” I remember hearing a pastor lament because he was already up there in age when recording sermons on video became a thing. He said something like, “People will always think of me as an old preacher even though I’ve been doing this for decades.”
But age happens. Gravity’s been pulling on my body for nearly five decades. I don’t dye my hair — so gray is happening. My life is passing away.
I’ve had to give up on many pursuits I once dreamed of accomplishing — there’s just not enough life left to pursue everything — which is good — because now what matters makes it to the top of my priorities — at least I hope it is. Life has a great way — if you allow it — to prioritize things for you.
And — to what should be the biggest priority — for those who follow Jesus — we now turn.
CONCLUSION: CHRIST’S HUMILIATION AND EXALTATION
In our verses — two words kept sticking out to me over and over again. Humiliation and exaltation. The lowly — or the humble — are exalted. And the rich are humiliated. And here’s where my mind kept going.
A few weeks ago I read our Essentials of the Faith. Think of them as the standard of beliefs that Christians have always held regardless of denomination, church affiliation, and so on. They unite us together with other local churches in Findlay — like Living Hope, Cedar Creek, First Naz, College First, Bible Methodist, the Upper Room, and so on. Churches in town whose pastors I’m friends with and meet with on a monthly basis.
Yet — in our church tradition — we’re part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church if you’re newer to Gateway — in our church tradition we also hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith and its catechisms. Catechisms are a list of questions and answers — which are very helpful as they cover many of the questions people have about the Christian faith.
What does any of that have to do with humiliation and exaltation? Well when the two words kept sticking out to me — where my mind went to was the Larger Catechism. It’s called “larger” because it has more questions than the shorter catechism. And the forty-sixth question in the larger catechism is this.
Q. 46. How was Christ humiliated?
The answer.
A. For our sakes, Christ emptied himself of his own glory and took on the form of a servant, and so was humiliated in all the poor circumstances involving his conception and birth, life on earth, death, and after his death until he was resurrected.
Paul speaks of this when he writes…
Philippians 2:6–8 ESV
6 [Jesus], though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The next few questions are…
Q. 47. How did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
And…
Q. 48. How did Christ humble himself in his life?
And…
Q. 49. How did Christ humble himself in his death?
And…
Q. 50. How was Christ humiliated after his death?
And what the answers to these questions reveal — and I’d encourage you to go read them for yourself — the answers reveal that Jesus — the Rich Man of Heaven — left his infinite riches and humbled himself — in love — for our sake. What love displayed for you and me. What compassion towards us who are spiritually poor. The Rich Man gave up everything for us — he gave up everything for you. Christ humbled himself in love for you.
Yet that’s not all. Remember — there were two words that stuck out to me: humiliation and exaltation. The last question we just read — on Christ’s humiliation — was number fifty. The next question asks this.
Q. 51. How was Christ exalted?
A. Christ’s exaltation includes his resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and coming again to judge the world.
The catechism goes on to ask.
Q. 52. How was Christ exalted in his resurrection?
And…
Q. 53. How was Christ exalted in his ascension?
And…
Q. 54. How is Christ exalted by sitting at the right hand of God?
And what the answers to these questions reveal is that — the Rich Man became poor for your sake. And — just like James tells us — the humble man — Jesus Christ — is now exalted to the heavenly places. And because of all that he’s done in love — for you and for me — we’re to exalt the name of Jesus together. Meaning — we’re to lift up the name of Jesus in song and praise — and we’re to honor him in how we live as we show the world that — though the flower fades and its beauty perishes — not so with Jesus Christ.
Though you and I age and get old, and bare the physical scars of medical procedures and surgeries to help fight off sickness and diseases and decay — the Word of the Lord — the Bible — will never fade away — just as the Word of the Lord — Jesus Christ — though he still has the scars in his hands and feet from the cross — he will never fade away. For he considered his humiliation a small price to pay to save his people from their sin — and to rescue them from the wilderness — so that they might experience being lifted up to Heaven where they’ll be with their exalted Savior for all eternity.
Wisdom has been speaking to us today. Wisdom’s told us much about who God is, who we are, and what Jesus has done for us. How will you respond to what wisdom has said to you today? May you receive the advice that wisdom has graciously taught you today and turn to the humble — and now — exalted Savior, Jesus Christ. Let’s pray.
PRAYER
Father in Heaven, your ways are not our ways. If anything — we’ve learned that today.
Spirit of God, may you take the truth of your Word — which is never-fading — and apply it deep into our hearts at this very moment. Maybe it’s the truth of how awesome God is, or how fading our lives are, or how beautiful Jesus is, or the love that is ours because of what Christ has done.
And — Jesus — the Rich Man of heaven, our humble and exalted Savior — we now prepare our hearts to join together in praising your awesome and mighty name. May you receive our praise. If it’s praise from those who are soaring like eagles. If it’s praise from those who are running. And especially if it’s the praise coming from those whose lives are in a season of walking. May our praise bring you honor and joy. In your name we pray. Amen.
BENEDICTION (Prayer teams available)
In love — Christ humbled himself for your sake. Therefore — in love — may you go and exalt his name by living for him. Amen
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.