The 1% -James 1:9-11

Big idea: Humiliation is the Coin of the Kingdom.

Purpose: Begin to change perspective on value from money to Kingdom.

Humiliation Economy

So, the other day, I was going to school. Hair combed, looking good, sweet shirt, awesome, shoes and socks. Good to go. Ate breakfast, got in the car with my brother and Mom. And headed to school.

As I got out of the car at school I detected an unusual breeze. I was missing something... Anyone? Pants. I was in 6th grade, pants were going to be very necessary.

Luckily I found some, an old pair of sweatpants in the van. Sometimes it pays not to clean your cars. The day was saved... but the story's not over.

In computer class, the giggles and urgent whispers from a group across the classroom alerted me to a previously unnoticed detail regarding my sweet car-floor sweatpants. They were missing the crotch region. So that was the morning class. I had to go around the rest of the day with my legs locked together while the word spread and everyone, especially every girl, asked to see the hole in my pants.

For a very long time, that story was the height of humiliation for me. That was shame. It was one long day of leg-clamping embarrassment. Ask me that day, or the rest of that school year how much I would pay to have that day erased. Yes, please. Take all of the moneys. Remove the humiliation.

Leave me just enough money to buy some pants.

Status quo

This strikes us as rational, I think. It is normal to sweep our humiliations under the rug. Our embarrassing moments, our moments of weakness or struggle. We hide those away. At least until we have enough distance that it becomes just a funny story.

Kingdom Economics

Our next passage in James, then, says something rather bizarre.

James 1:9-11

9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

"Take pride in their humiliation." That's a bit bizarre. But let's get a running start.

On the face of it, this is straightforward. This sounds a lot like something Jesus said: "The first shall be last, the last shall be first." We call it The Great Reversal. Jesus, as he so often did, teaches that the Kingdom of God turns our expectations on their head. It is unexpected.

God exalts the humble, and he humbles the proud. This is a Biblical theme, a true and profound one, but familiar. Here we have a classic contrast, poor vs. rich.

Take pride

This verse is a little different, because the focus is not simply a statement of what will happen to the rich. We'll get there. But this little phrase "take pride." Or "boast about." This is usually a negative thing, and really the only other time it has a positive meaning is rejoicing or glorying in God. The "believer in humble circumstance" should "take pride" in their exaltation. This is the exaltation of salvation, of adoption by God, of eternal life.

Believers ought to take pride in the exaltation. That's easy. Everyone ought to be excited about eternal life, eternal glory, adoption as Sons by God the Father, it's incredible. And the poor believer ought to take pride in that even more because he or she may have nothing else to be proud of.

Take pride in our exaltation. That's a good message right there. But what about the flip side of the coin?

Rich stuff

What about those crazy rich people? My son walks into a nice restaurant, three years old, looks around and says "This is rich stuff." Rich is always comparative, right. Those who have less see those who have more as being "rich". Class warfare, rich vs. poor, is a constant danger in our democracy, or a present reality. So this is clearly just about those 1%ers, right?

Compared to you and I, the "wealthy" people in James' time would be considered poverty stricken. Life just didn't get as luxurious then as we take for granted now. So set aside, for a moment, that almost no one thinks of themselves as rich and see if you can identify with what follows. We'll see that it's more about materialism than it is about the possessions. It's a lot more about 'you' than you might wish.

James is introducing a topic here that he is going to hammer on later in the book. Rich vs. Poor issues carried over into the church, sad but true, then and today.

It could be tempting, and was a problem in the early church, to give special consideration and treatment to rich Christians. Indeed, a strong Jewish tradition argues that since God blesses faithful, holy people, money is therefore a sign of blessedness.

Fade away

James writes, and we can all agree, in our wiser moments, that monetary value is meaningless. The rich...

they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

Even while they go about their business. Doing the things that make them rich, perhaps boasting in their wealth, enjoying their status, but regardless, fading away. Withering in the scorching heat.

"You can't take it with you." "He who dies with the most toys still dies." "Money can't buy happiness." "Can't buy me love, no." And the whole world nods its head along, so true... and then proceeds operating as if money were the whole point.

We all know it's going to fade away. I was reminded vividly of that this week. A friend of ours, and many of you, passed away. Spending time with the family and at her memorial service, I heard story after story about Kristie.

In the face of death we suddenly reevaluate what "value" means. The service was full of stories of love and kindness, time spent caring for kids, a life of love and faith.

A New Value

So this passage offers a new lens for assigning value to our selves, our possessions and experiences. A Kingdom Economy.

So for those prone to devalue themselves, seeing themselves in "humble circumstances" take heart, take pride, take joy in your exaltation. You are raised up into eternal glory by the hand of God. You have taken hold of the pearl of great price, you are in the Kingdom of God. Whatever your bank balance says, in Kingdom Economics you are a Prince.

For those prone to puff up at the sight of their many things. Or that one really sweet thing. For those who find security or take pride in their bank balance. For all who are keeping score and feeling good about their material position or possessions. Realize and recognize this. It's all going to wither away. It's all going to burn. This is where the passage spends the bulk of the time, because material wealth is a powerful temptation and distraction.

“Dear Lord, I am ready to face this trial, this tribulation, of opulent wealth. Let me suffer this affliction.”

But it is so temporary.

Which brings us back to this bizarre statement. "The rich should take pride in their humiliation." As if there were a new kind of money the rich should be focusing on. Humiliation money. Humiliation coins.

Glory in humiliation?

What humiliation are we to glory in? Going to school without pants on? We have options here, but whenever I can, in Scripture, I look for the closest relevant thing the author was just talking about. And since trials and tribulation are a major theme in James, I think this is primarily what James is referring to.

There is something to boast about here: "humiliation." If this life is all about worshiping and glorifying God, and we do that most of all by becoming, growing and maturing into the person He created us and desires us to be, than the ultimate coinage of the Kingdom is maturity and completeness... which comes through perseverance through... trials and tribulations... aka humiliation.

There is something that goes on even when the stories of kindness and love are forgotten. There is the human person that continues on, stripped of every possession but having been shaped and molded, having become someone in this life.

If it is all about what we are becoming, than humiliation is the coin of the Kingdom.

If my goal is to be rich like Bill Gates, money is how I measure that.

If my goal is Christ-likeness. Maturity and completeness, humiliation is how I measure that. Every difficult time God brought me through. Every spiritual battle. Every trial in which I realized just how much I needed wisdom. Every time I was humiliated and glimpsed how small I am, how large God is. How very far I have to go and how very much I have to learn.

If it is all about what we are becoming, than humiliation is the coin of the Kingdom.

I remember a time, at PreCon, 15 years ago, standing up to say something to my fellow teenagers, and the Holy Spirit moved within me, and began this basically involuntary confession of my innermost prideful thoughts. I was humiliated in every sense of the word as my "hidden" pride and arrogance were exposed in detail before the people I most wanted to impress. Utterly humiliating. I was broken and ugly crying in front of people.

How much was that moment worth? Infinitely precious. Many of you have heard that story because it is a major landmark in my life, a powerful shaping moment that humiliated me, broke me, and put me back together better than I was before. Still a work in progress, but a Next Step closer. Absolutely priceless.

That is what you are to take pride in. Humiliation. Has God humbled you recently? Hallelujah. Congratulations!

How valuable are the experiences that shape us into the image of God? How incredibly valuable are the moments we are reforged and renewed?

New Economist

How can you go about making that mental shift, though? Seeing Kingdom value, rather than monetary value.

Application: Give all your money to me. I will relieve you of this temptation.

Here's a beginning. Make a list of the five most monetarily valuable things you own.

Have you seen those commercials/you tube videos. "Will it blend?" They take random objects, cell phones, mp3 players, and ask "will it blend?" And then they try. The answer is always yes, by the way.

When assigning value, ask yourself this questions: Will it burn?

If you want, picture it burning. Don't actually burn it unless Brandon tells you you can. But whatever gets it through our heads that almost everything we obsessively pursue is ridiculously temporary. It's burning grass. The beautiful house, it's going to burn. The beautiful car, it's going to burn. Even your electronic bank account, it's going to burn.

Do you still need most of those things? Yes. But don't take pride in them, don't boast in them, don't feel secure in them. See them as the temporary context of your life story.

Material things are the temporary context of your life story.

but humiliation is the coin of the Kingdom.

Make a list of the five most difficult or humiliating moments you have had in your life. Especially trials of faith, moments where you were humiliated before God. Think about this today. Funny how the first list is way easier, those things tend to be on the front of our minds more often.

That second list is infinitely more valuable than the first. Try and put price tags on those. How about the moment of "humiliation" where you realized that you were a sinner in need of a Savior. Valuable? That just doesn't say it.

If looking back on some of those humiliations, you can now see how incredibly valuable they are. Imagine if you could take your "value" sense now back into the moment of humiliation. I start to see again how one could "Count it all joy when you face trials of many kinds..." So in the back of your mind you're hearing kaching, kaching. Because more valuable than billions of dollars are the moments that bring me towards Christ, towards maturity, towards completeness, towards all that God has for me and for me to become.

The 1%

We need to be the people that see differently. We need to be that for each other as well. No one else is going to understand someone bragging on their humiliation. That's crazy talk.

We could be a different kind of 1%, people who boast in their humiliation. People rich in humiliation, and thus rich in humility. People rich in perseverance through trials, and thus rich in maturity. People who identify with Christ in humiliation, and are thus rich in Christ. People who treasure up their shaping moments. People who value each other not for economic prosperity or social status but with Kingdom eyes see the Kingdom moments that shape you and I into something amazing.