The Great Reversal
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Good Morning!
I hope everyone enjoyed Memorial day weekend and a short week last week.
We are in the middle of a study the book of James and our focus is on the type of faith that James describes in his letter to the Messianic Jews.
It is widely believed that this was in fact the first letter written after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus’s brother, James, became the leader of the messianic Jews and wrote this to describe for them the type of life that Jesus and his followers have.
James’ intent was to define the life of a follower of Jesus.
For generations the religious leaders were described by Jesus as “white washed tombs, clean on the outside, but full of deadness on the inside”.
James wanted to show these believers a reflection of what they could be if they follow Jesus instead of pretending to be something they aren’t.
We do not want to move through this study, trying to conform our lives to look like James’s description.
Our goal is to develop True Faith.
True faith develops as we encounter the truth of the gospel and apply its teaching to our daily lives as we abide in Christ.
True Faith never stops growing.
Through an abiding relationship, we learn more every day as we walk with Jesus.
We want to abide in Christ and let Him lead us into His likeness.
Last week we talked about wisdom and our need for it.
No one left here shocked by a revelation that they need more wisdom.
What we learned is that James refers to very specialized wisdom that comes only from God.
We distinguished the difference between worldly wisdom and God-given wisdom.
Worldly wisdom comes from our experience, knowledge, and the application of those things in our lives.
Godly wisdom comes from God’s experience, and knowledge, and us applying that to our lives as he leads.
There is a huge difference between the two.
We also talked about doubt and its role in receiving anything from God.
James coined the phrase being “double-minded” and said specifically that a person who has such a mind won’t receive from God.
We also saw that Jesus taught the same about faith.
It occured to me this week that idea of trusting God is foundational to our restoration.
The way Satan convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God was to call into question what God said.
Satan planted a seed of doubt and we have to relearn how to trust God.
Our desire to grow in faith is a desire to know God as He intended for us to know Him.
The journey that we are all on is to continue to know God, by experience as we abide in Him.
I also want to mention, because it came up in one of our life groups, that there is a difference between trusting God and discerning from God.
I’ll clarify.
If you are asking God for direction, but you are unsure as to what he is saying, that is not doubt.
That is still the process of discernment and that is a really good and healthy thing to do.
You don’t want to shortcut this step.
In fact, you probably heard Josh and Lana talk about waiting for God to speak a few weeks ago when they shared their testimony.
Doubt, on the other hand, is when you know what God has said, but you aren’t sure it can happen.
You may want to believe that it can, but deep down, you just don’t know.
Do you see the difference?
I think it is also worth mentioning that if you have recognized that you are doubting that is a good thing.
At that point, you can address it with God.
God wants us to know him and by virtue of that relationship, trust Him.
James starts his letter addressing trials, brings in the idea of wisdom, and then we are going to see today that he turns briefly to speak of possessions.
These few verses can seem out of place, but I think when we take into account what he says before and what he will say after, they are connected.
Many of those that he is writing to have experienced exile and persecution.
James addresses both the poor and the wealthy in verses nine and ten.
Let’s look at our section for today and we will jump in.
9 Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation,
10 but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
11 For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
In this passage, James is addressing people in two different socioeconomic groups.
The poor and the rich.
He offers encouragement to them both because they both are going to one day experience a great reversal.
Raise your hand if you have played Uno before.
Uno can be almost as bad as Monopoly about not ending.
I can remember times as a kid where those of us that were playing had more cards in our hands then there were in the draw pile.
Have you ever experienced that moment when someone changes the color of the cards being played because they know you don’t have that color?
What a punk move.
It’s even worse when you know they don’t have that color either.
Have you ever had that happen when you are holding a reverse in the color they just choose and now they are the one drawing cards trying to get the color they just changed it too?
I don’t know about you, but to me that just feels like justice.
Especially when you have been working so hard to get all those cards out of your hand and right at the end, someone changes the color.
This is similar to what James is talking about in this passage.
It doesn’t matter what end of the socioeconomic scale you currently find yourself on, at the end of your life, a reverse card is going to get played.
There is a fancy word to describe this theological idea.
The Eschatological Reversal
The Eschatological Reversal
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Eschatological
es-ˌka-tə-ˈlä-ji-kəl
This is just the fancy way to say that the roles or status of the rich and poor will reverse upon death.
The poor will become rich and the rich will become like the poor.
While this may seem to be a bit out there or make you feel uncomfortable, James’ didn’t come up with this idea on his own.
Obviously, I didn’t come up with this either.
He get’s this teaching both from the old testament and from Jesus himself.
Consider the following verses as you think about this idea.
52 he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
Here Mary is singing her song of praise about Jesus and is referencing a passage from 1 Sam 2:7
7 The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
Or...
23 “ ‘This is what the Lord says: The wise person should not boast in his wisdom; the strong should not boast in his strength; the wealthy should not boast in his wealth.
12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
20 Then looking up at his disciples, he said: Blessed are you who are poor, because the kingdom of God is yours.
Then Peter responded to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you. So what will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.
We see God speaking through prophets, Jesus, and apostles that His Kingdom is going to flip the world upside down.
As I talked about earlier, since the fall, we have been focused on building up kingdoms for ourselves.
Even if a person doesn’t have much, that is often what they focus on.
They want to gain more and the same is true for those who are blessed with more than others, they too want more.
This is how we are trained to think from the time we are born.
James is drawing on two common themes to remind the people that gaining more isn’t the goal in life:
The brevity of life - death is the great equalizer.
The brevity of life - death is the great equalizer.
Worldly status means nothing in the kingdom of God.
Worldly status means nothing in the kingdom of God.
We will talk about the brevity of life in a moment, but let’s focus on status first.
If you were around for our study of Ecclesiastes, I’m sure you are remembering the author talking about this idea of wealth and status not living up to the hype.
One of the commentaries I read this week drew on this as well.
The Message of James James 1:5–11
The poor man may say he would not mind swapping his problems for those of the rich, but the Bible is clear that the problems of prosperity are as keen as those of stringency. Indeed, they constitute, if anything, a more insidious threat to a committed life with God.3
Here is the point...
You will have problems (trials) either being wealthy or not.
You may know this to be true as well.
I can tell you from my own adult experience, that you are going to have difficulties no matter how much money or status you have.
For example, when Bethany and I were first married, and were college students, together we made $1,000 a month (before taxes) and over half of that went to rent.
We were broke as a joke and spent a lot of nights eating at my parent’s house.
Now, I still don’t make a lot of money, but it’s more than when we first got married.
Guess what, I still have troubles, they are just different than they were back then.
On top of that, the fact that I make a bit more money doesn’t make me any happier.
Bethany and I were broke and absolutely loved life!
I would venture to say that you have experienced something similar in your life.
Look with me at a familiar passage from Ecclesiastes.
4 I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.
5 I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.
6 I constructed reservoirs for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees.
7 I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned livestock—large herds and flocks—more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.
8 I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.
10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.
11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
There is a common theme of American culture that professes that if we just had more, we would be happy.
King Solomon would disagree because, he had more than any of us could ever hope for, yet he found that all of that was hevel.
It was like a breath of wind, here for a moment and then gone.
Look what he says just a few chapters later.
13 Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.
The author of Ecclesiastes makes it very clear that wealth and status do not bring the lasting joy that people assume that they will.
The other theme James uses is the brevity of life.
You know, my dad and others told me when I was a kid that the older I got, the faster time seemed to pass by.
Man, they weren’t kidding!
There are moments know when I feel like my life is going warp speed and it shows no sign of slowing down at all.
It seems like it was just a few years ago that my kids were born and now I have three teenagers in my house!
As you go through life altering events in your life, the shortness of life becomes even more apparent.
Look at these verses that James would have been taught growing up.
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!” Another said, “What should I cry out?” “All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
11 My days are like a lengthening shadow, and I wither away like grass.
4 My heart is suffering, withered like grass; I even forget to eat my food.
15 As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
2 He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.
Isaiah, David, Job, and many others all came to find that life is incredibly short and fragile.
James wants us to take that into consideration as we make decisions about how we are going to live.
James is using these themes of brevity and status to remind the church of something that is vitally important.
The things you can gain and possess in this world are not important because your life will be over before you know it.
Look at this passage with me again.
9 Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation,
10 but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
11 For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
So far in this book, James has focused on Joy and Wisdom.
He is reminding the church members, whether poor or rich (a believer can be either), they shouldn’t put their faith in what they do or do not have.
He uses imagery that would have been incredibly graphic for the readers.
He speaks of a flower that wilts in the heat of the desert.
If you have ever been to a desert or an arid environment, you know that the “scorching wind” can be deadly.
In Judea, it was common for flowers to bloom in the morning and by the middle of the day, the wind had literally dried them to nothing.
If you are putting your faith in your wealth or status, you will be mightily disappointed because one day both will wilt and die.
James is telling the readers to put their faith in Jesus.
If they are poor, they can boast about the fact that one day, they will inherit the Kingdom of God.
If they are wealthy, they can boast about their commonality.
In modern translations, it is written as humiliation, but that doesn’t completely fit the context of what he is saying.
James is encouraging those that do have wealth to remember that they are no different or better than anyone else.
Rejoice in the fact that you are the same as even the poor.
James is addressing a group of people that would have had people on both ends of the spectrum.
He is reminding them that they shouldn’t put their focus on wealth, but on Jesus and trust Him.
Because at the end of their lives, there will be a great reversal.
I love the way Timothy put it.
We read this passage earlier.
17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy.
When you are examining your life.
As you consider where you are today in your faith journey.
We apply this message from James by asking a simple question.
Am I putting my faith in my wealth and status or am I putting it in Jesus?
It doesn’t matter what end of the socioeconomic scale you find yourself on.
The reality is that all of us need to trust Jesus more than we do right now.
Whatever is going on in your life right now, regarding your finances or social status, ask yourself if you are trusting God or your own ability to provide.
God wants us to experience Joy as we figure out this thing called life.
You and I are all in the same boat.
Our financial stability plays a major role in how we choose to live.
We are taught from an early age to consider those things.
I think James is making the statement that to live based on that criteria is worldly wisdom.
We have heard testimony and many of us have experienced God providing for us when we thought we couldn’t make it.
Josh and Lana spoke directly to that a few weeks ago.
God has our best in His mind and can provide all that we need.
However, in order to realize or see that, we have to let Him adjust our perspective on what is enough.
We can waste our lives pursuing the things of the world, but we and those things will wither away like a flower in a desert.
Or we can live knowing that there is a Great Reversal coming at the end.
We can live in pursuit of knowing God and making him known.
God can be our treasure and we will find the joy that we all desire, in our relationship with Him.
Pray
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