The trials of life mows everybody’s lawn the same height on planet earth. People’s money and social connections won’t spare stewing time in life’s great crock pot. From the penthouse to the basement, all tenants stomach hard times. Do you remember the mark of the beast in Revelation thirteen? Did you notice how all classes get the same stamp?  The assets and  connections of the rich won’t keep them from the branding. Full bodied bank accounts will get you a designer version of the mark but not much else. And the poor? Do they get a pass since they have no money to control anyway? No, the poor line up to receive the mark just like government cheese (Rev. 13:16).  666 is an equal opportunity intrusion into life. Compliance is compulsory. Resistance is futile.  Tests are like taxes, you can’t avoid them. James starts this paragraph on tests by addressing the subject with rich and poor.

Epistle of James: Chapter One

PARAGRAPH SUMMARY: James 1:9-18

James begins his letter with instructions on tests and trials. He encourages the scattered of the Diaspora to stake their anchor and respect the journey. Why? Blessings in development and heavenly rewards await the victorious. In the second part of this theme found in verses nine through eighteen, he addresses trials viewed through the eyes of rich and poor. Through this he shows us the reward for enduring temptations making sure, at the same time, we understand the source of temptations. James finishes with the perfect tool given by the Perfect Giver in the fight against temptation, the Word of God.

James 1:9–11 (KJV) – 9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

DEFINITIONS:

• low/ταπεινός/tapeinos
  • Lowly, humble, undistinguished, unimportant people.
• rejoice/καυχάομαι/kauchaomai
  • To boast; to be proud of; to glory.
• exalted/ὕψος/hypsos
  • High position
• flower/ἄνθος/anthos
  • Flower; blossoms.
• grass/χόρτος/chortos
  • Grass; hay.
• pass away/παρέρχομαι/parerchomai
  • Pass away; disappear.
• fade away/μαραίνομαι/marainomai
  • Die out; wither; fade away.
• ways/πορεία/poreia
  • Trip or journey.

BACKGROUND:

• The Israeli climate
  • This verse references facets of the Israel climate. The Sharav or Khamsin, is a scorching hot, dry desert wind which blows from the Arabian Desert from May to mid-June and from September to October. It lasts for two to five days at a time. The sun rises (See Psalms 103:15-16, 1Peter 1:24 and Isaiah 40:6-8.) with the sharav. Note the effect of this wind on Jonah (Jonah 4:8). He had only one wish after meeting it, to die.

QUESTIONS:

• What do the words fade away’ infer?
  • It refers to the death of the rich man; as the flower dies so does the rich man. In fact the translation could read this way without harm, ‘…so also the rich man will die in his journey.’
• Why does James tell this brother to brag?
  • Humility is reality, an understanding and acceptance of our position in Christ. ‘In Christ’ is the benchmark. You can think lower or higher than it. Either way, if you do, you have, like Cain, murdered humility. Why do you need the realness of humility? What’s the connection to tests?  Mountaintop thinking will enable you to climb out of the shadowy valley (Ps. 23:4). Just because one experiences lowness, does not mean you have to stay there. Faith looks at the unseen to bring it into expression. If the brother of low degree will look high, believe high and act high he will rise to the top.
• How did the humiliation of the rich man come about?
  • It could have come the same way as the poor, loss through persecution. After all, this is the context. Persecution levels social class like mass genocide. Both the rich and the poor receive encouragement to remain steadfast under trial (verse 12).

COMMENTS:

• ‘low degree’
  • Humbled by circumstances.
    • The term ‘low degree’ refers to a person humbled in life by an-out-of money experience. Low on cash earns the title low degree. All who experience such lowness do not exude humility. It’s common to think so. After all, one has dignity, don’t they? We must keep up appearances. Pride comes out in the weirdest ways. How often self-importance trumps ones cash reserve?  Humility expresses itself from the inward life as a by-product of the love walk. The love walk means you do not exalt yourself above others. Humility considers others better than themselves.
• ‘rejoice in that he is exalted
  • Rejoice Means Brag in God
    • James encourages those who are down to rejoice, to brag in God Most High. Faith settles in the cemented truth of God’s Word. The world says you have a shortfall, God says you have plenty. Walk with swagger. Your boasting is not empty because the cross lifts you to a high place (Eph. 1:3). It means nothing to bluster when your pockets are full. It means everything to thank God when you have no reason to do so.
• ‘But the rich, in that he is made low:’
  • The Correct Attitude for Wealth
    • Pastor James anchors his prose in the ancient wisdom of Jeremiah (Jer. 9:23). The weeping Prophet says the rich man should not boast in his riches. Paul chimes in and adds a third consenting voice. In 1Timothy 6:17, he warns the rich against a high-muck-a-muck attitude. James wants his readership to get the clue. Rich or poor, penthouse or basement, boasting in God is right.
• ‘because’
  
  • Why the Rich Should not Boast
    • Don’t you love the word ‘because’? It’s the forerunner to reason, the herald to intent. I always want to know why? James tells us why a rich man should rejoice while in low places. Here’s where we find out why the humiliated rich should brag in God instead of  his miserable bank account.
• ‘as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.’
  • Man is A Wild Flower Child
    
    • The life of man is as grass. James uses a simile. He wants you to have a picture of why a rich man should boast in God rather than howl in his miseries. Life is not like a bowl of chocolate. Life is like grass, even worse, the flowers that bloom out of wild grass. Grass has everything plants do; leafs, stems, roots, blades, and flowers. Man bears a closeness to the carpet of the earth. Read 1 Peter 1:24-25. Peter explains the grass metaphor. Grass withers, flowers fall. Man at his best with saturated IQ, and riches piled to junkyard heights has limits. Limits of time (Ps. 103:15). Limits of wisdom. Even limits of limits. Since your body and your days are hay, you have no time to be down. The clock is ticking. The grass browns. The flower fades. ‘Hey rich man, get up off your grief. Your wealth left you like last years tax return. Now look at what you have left? A great God who is more than enough.’
  • Why Rich and Poor Can Both Brag
    • The poor man receives a reason to look up and brag. So, does the rich man. His encouragement comes by knowing that everything in life has a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The rich man’s pursuits, his search for wealth and possessions has a seasonal tone. It compares to the short natural cycle of a ‘wild flower’. What an analogy full of rich depth. We should learn to do with energy what our hands find to do. And, to heighten our in-season opportunities.
• ‘For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.’
  • The Same Fate Awaits Both Saved and Unsaved
    • The rich man, James refers to is a brother in the Lord, a believer in Jesus. But since the topic is grass, does it matter? Saved grass and unsaved grass have the same fate. Both fade, turn brown, and face the mowers edge. So, the pursuit of monetary goals is not the main act. Your net-worth is not even the warm-up. Keep in mind the context, tests and trials. James does not condemn wealth but suggests two snags. First, riches have a short life span. Second, your money can’t buy you a get out of trials free card. The stuff of life happens to all. Everyone goes around the same board. In 2Timothy 3:12, Paul amps this thought. ‘All, rich and poor, who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.’