Atlanta Bible Baptist Church

Pastor Ray P. Smith: If you have your copy of the Scriptures or the device that contains them, I invite you to take them and turn with me back to the Book of James. James Chapter 1. This morning, because we have plenty of time, we will cover three verses. James Chapter 1, verses 9 through 11 says, "Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation. But the rich in his humiliation because as a flower of the field, he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass. Its flower falls and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits."

Father, thank you again for this day. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you for your mercies, your tender mercies, your incredible compassion. Thank you for the richness of the faith which you have deposited in us—all things that pertain to life and godliness. Thank you for the abiding presence of your Spirit. Thank you for the example of the living word as well as the instruction from the written word.

Father, as we sit at your feet for the next few minutes, we ask that your Spirit might use the written word to craft more of the image of the living word in us where we would be like Jesus. We want to praise you and honor you and imitate you. So we sit at the Father's feet and ask that you would be so pleased to impart more of your ways and your will to us that our walk may truly represent you. Bind the evil one that he may have no part. As always, we will be careful to give you the praise and the honor and the thanksgiving. Father, we ask all of these things in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.

Warren Wiersbe points out that one of the difficult stages in maturing is weaning. A child being weaned is sure that his mother no longer loves him, that everything is against him. Actually, weaning is a step toward maturity and liberty. It is actually good for the child. Sometimes, God weans us. God weans His children away from those things that we would rely on and look to for comfort so that we turn back to Him and understand how much He provides for us.

I remember reading about orphans who came out of World War II. They were in an orphanage and, having received food and shelter for the first time, many of them wouldn't sleep at night. As they tried to make sure that they had enough to eat and comfort, the children still would not sleep. One child psychologist suggested to them that what they needed to do was take some bread and put it in the child's hand at bedtime. Once the child realized that they would have bread, they went right to sleep. The presence of bread reminded them that they didn't have to fear going hungry again.

Sometimes, we have things that we find comfort in and we hold onto these things. If you're Linus, you need a blanket and you have to hold on to that. My granddaughter, she has dolls that she sleeps with. I think when she was three or four, we went down to Florida. We were having a conversation in the car and she was naming all of her dolls. She said there's one doll that's really kind of mean and doesn't treat the others right. There was another doll that nobody talks to. I was kind of concerned that you had dolls that act like that. Nevertheless, she finds comfort in being with her dolls.

Sometimes as followers of Christ, we have a tendency to look to things or other people to provide us with comfort, but God wants to wean us away from those things so that now our dependence, our glance is to Him. Guess what He uses to help accomplish that? He uses hard times. He uses tribulation. He uses difficulties in life.

That is what James is trying to point out in this particular chapter. As we look at the Book of James, last week, Pastor Joel talked about the truth about trusting. Of course, he says if you lack wisdom, you better ask somebody. Don't try to figure it out on your own and God is the one who provides that wisdom. I gave you an outline for the Book of James back a couple of weeks ago. In the outline, I said Chapter 1 deals with the mature believer and suffering.

Everything in Chapter 1 revolves around that theme, or at least the first 12 verses of Chapter 1. I put the mature work, that is having God's purpose. James says this: he says the brother of humble circumstances—that's a nice way of saying he poor—is to glory in his high position. The rich man is to glory in his humiliation. So I want us to think about this. In order to find triumph in my trials, I have to do at least three things. First of all, I have to acknowledge God's purposes for my trials.

Grover McCotter points out that God has eight purposes for trials, but I want to highlight three of the eight. First of all, one of God's purposes in allowing trials is to strengthen me. Remember, he said the trying of your faith produces endurance, as Paul says in Romans 5. Second is to prepare me for ministry. I want to look at that one again. Then the third one is to wean me from temporal attachments so that instead of looking to those things, I actually look to Him.

I put Luke 22, verses 31 to 34 in because in this particular passage, Christ says something to Peter. He says, "Simon," which means sand—He didn't call him Peter the rock—"Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I prayed for you that your faith may not fail and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." I'm going to let Satan have you for a season, but I prayed for you so you're not going to fall apart.

Lord, why would you let me go through that? Because when you go through that, you'll be able to come to another hurting, struggling, stumbling brother and instead of stepping on him in their faith, you'll be able to lift them up and encourage him. That's ministry. Sometimes God lets me go through difficulties and it's not because I've done anything wrong. It's not because He hates me. He does it because He loves me. He demonstrated His love for me in sending His Son to rescue me when I was unlovely. But He does it so that I can be able to encourage and strengthen and build up others.

In verse 33, Peter says, "Lord, with you I'm ready to both go to prison and to death. I'm your man." And He said to Peter, "I say to you Peter, you're not as strong as you thought you were or you think you are. In fact, before the rooster crows today, you're going to turn on me three times." Peter didn't know how weak he was and how much he needed God's strength. That can be true of you and me. I don't realize how weak I am of myself and how much of His strength I need until I run up against something that's beyond my ability to manage in my own strength. But instead of weaning away saying I can't do this, what I need to do is I need to turn to Him and say, "Lord, unless you strengthen me," then He strengthens me and I can do that thing.

In order for us to persevere in trials, just to recap what we've gone through in this chapter, I put down the divine means to persevere in trials. In verse 2, you need an attitude of joy. In verse 3, you need an understanding mind. In verse 4, you need a submissive will. Verses 5 through 8, which Pastor Joel looked at last week, you need a believing heart. Then in verses 9 through 11 that we'll look at today, you need a humble spirit. Humility is a hard thing for selfish, self-indulgent, self-sufficient people. So I have to learn to let go and to trust Him.

To find triumph in my trials, I need to consider the right perspective for the poor. I put down head held high. Why would I put that down? Because what I find is that those of us who are down financially, who grew up like I did in the hood—Bob Jackson always likes to remind me of that. He says, "Yeah, you grew up over there in the hood like me." It was rough sledding. But one of the things about it is you can grow up in the hood and you can develop a really wrong attitude. But I have to be able to believe without complaining.

What is the poor man's problem, really? Three things that he faces and three solutions that he seeks. Number one, he faces a lack of resources because of his poverty. Many times because of that, what he seeks is rescue. He wants the government to step in and help him do something. His focus, instead of up, is out and over. Sometimes he faces a lack of equity because of racism. So then he says, "Well, I need reparations because I've been done wrong. I'm starting out behind the eight ball." And again, he looks to government and the political forces to help him.

Sometimes he says he has a lack of opportunities. He's a victim. "It's not fair that Elon Musk has so much and that Jeff Bezos has so much. It's not fair to the people who have these silver spoons in their mouth, and I don't even have a spoon." So they say, "I need redistribution! I need you to tax the rich!"

In New York, the politician says, he promises—it's a lie really and they knew it—he says, "We should have free buses to take you around the city. We should have free daycare so the mothers can leave home and abandon the children. We need to have free grocery stores! You can go in and get what you need!" How are you going to pay for that? The city's in debt. "We'll tax the rich!" So when the rich say, "We're going to leave," he said, "Well, if you leave and you move, we're going to have an exit tax. We're going to tax you for leaving!"

In fact, the mayor was standing in front of the home of one of the men who has provided millions upon millions of dollars to the city as well as employed thousands of people who brought in millions and millions to the city. He stands in front of his home and says, "This guy here has more than he needs." Sometimes we can get caught up in trying to say, "I need, I need, I need," instead of recognizing that in Christ, I have, I have, I have. Stop complaining so much.

In fact, the right perspective for the poor according to James, he says the lowly brother should glory. Why should he glory? Because God has exalted him. "But wait, I don't feel exalted! I don't have a lot of exalted looking stuff! In fact, I don't have much of anything!" Oh, but you're rich in your faith.

I told those of you that were listening on Wednesday night, I remember I told you the story about the two boys who were standing there talking. One was rather well off and the other was not off at all. He was very poor. The one was going on about all the stuff his dad owned—the big house up on the hill and all the cattle in the fields and the cars in the garage and on and on and on.

The other boy had his head down for a minute and then he looked up and he smiled. "What are you smiling about?" He said, "You see that hill that your dad's house is on? My Father put that there. You see that grass that your father's cattle are eating? My Father put that grass there. The oil and gas that goes into the cars and even the parts, the material for the parts," he said, "My Father put all of that there." And he went on and on and on.

His focus wasn't on what the boy had that he didn't. His focus was on who his Heavenly Father is and what He has. When the boy said to him, "Well, if your dad's got so much, how come you ain't got nothing?" He said, "Well, I don't have a lot right now. But when I get home, I'm going to have way more. In fact, the stuff I have is going to last forever, unlike the stuff your father has." God has blessed us with riches in eternity. That perspective keeps the poor from complaining and looking to the government to provide.

I can believe without complaining. In fact, I can boast in Godly favor. 1 Peter 1 says this, Peter says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." I mean, that's a great thing right there. To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for who? For protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Peter says, "Listen, what you have is eternal. It's never going to fade away compared to the things that people around you have right now."

Romans Chapter 8, Paul says this, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we're children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." The things that Christ has belong to us as well. He says, "If indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him." Then he says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." That's the focus that the poor need to have.

Warren Wiersbe says this: he says our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it all joy. But if we live only for the present and we forget the glorious future that God has for us, the trials will not make us better, they'll make us bitter. I need to focus on what God has for me and not the things that I have right here in my possession.

I told you a story about the farmer who had the donkey. The donkey fell into a well and they realized there were never going to be able to get the donkey out. So the farmer decided the best thing he could do is just put him out of his misery. So he called all his friends and they all got shovels and they began to throw dirt down there. They were going to just cover up the donkey and kill him because that's the most merciful thing to do rather than let him starve to death. When the donkey felt dirt down there, the donkey started he-hawing or whatever the donkey sounds they are. But he realized what they were doing and then after a little bit, the donkey stopped crying. He stopped he-hawing and he got really quiet.

The farmer looked again and he saw something amazing. He saw that when they threw dirt down, the donkey just kind of shook off the dirt and he just kind of stepped up. They threw some more dirt down and he shook off that dirt and then he just kind of stepped up. And by the time he kept doing that, the next thing you know, the donkey was just stepped up higher and higher and higher until he was able to just hop right out of that well and go on about his business.

If we could just have enough sense to be like the donkey! Instead of saying, "Man, it's bad! It's rough in the streets! I can't make it! I want to give up!" Shake it off and then move and trust the Lord to get you up out of the pit instead of complaining. The poor person who shakes off the difficulties and steps up closer to the Lord, using the trials to strengthen his faith, ultimately finds that he's better off, she's better off, and they overcome. It doesn't matter where you start off. What matters is the direction that you're headed and as long as I seek the Lord and His strength, I can make it.

To triumph in my trials, I have to consider not only the right perspective for the poor, but I have to have the right perspective for the rich person, too. He says the lowly brother should glory in his exaltation, that which God has done for him, but the rich, he glories in his humiliation. Why? Because as a flower of the field, he's going to pass away. Why would anybody glory in the fact that they're going to pass away?

Well, as I thought about that, to find triumph in my trials, the rich person's perspective is one of humility because there are at least three things that the rich person considers. Number one, he recognizes the dangers in temptation. The rich man, he recognizes that in temptation, life can be temporary. Love can be temporary. 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Paul says this, "Godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment." Why? Because we brought nothing into the world, so we can't take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. Contentment is the thing.

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and notice he says some by longing for it. "I need more money! More money! I need just a little bit more!" How much money does it take to satisfy a man? The answer is just a little bit more. We're not satisfied. In fact, the writer of Proverbs says the soul that seeks after silver, he's not going to be satisfied with silver. When he gets it, if he seeks after gold, he's not going to be satisfied with gold when he gets it. He's going to want more.

That's why you have the athletes. They sign a hundred million dollar contract. They can't spend a hundred million dollars in ten lifetimes. They get a hundred million dollar contract and then somebody halfway across the country gets a contract for 135 million and this brother ain't happy no more. He said, "I'm going to hold out!" It's stupid! I'm sorry. I just don't understand it. Maybe they just need a dose of contentment instead of loving money.

I appreciate, I told you before several times that my daughter when asked what she missed about Japan—she doesn't have to answer anymore because she's back in Japan. But when she left Japan and came to the states and we said, "What do you miss about it?" she says, "I miss having enough." You were starving? "No, in Japan, they give you just enough. They measure out all of the meals. You look at the meal and say, 'Oh man, I'm going to starve with that!'" But then when you eat that little bit, it's just enough.

They give you just enough to eat, just enough to drink. When they build homes, the kitchen is very small because everything is based for efficiency. This is here, this is here. You don't have to move a lot. You don't need a lot of space. It's based for efficiency. I have enough of what I need. And she said, "I learned to live like that. Then I come to the states and you turn around and there's 800 different kinds of cereal! Who needs that?" And you've got way more than anybody needs of any other thing. We get used to that and we think that's normal.

So we create more space for our buffets. We're not trying to be spiritual. Paul says, "I buffet my body." We're not trying to be spiritual. We're being greedy! And what do you do? You go to the buffet and see people, they stack the plates this high! They're not going to eat all that food! But they get it. Why? Because they don't have to pay anymore for it. And they gorge themselves.

I took some kids out to a basketball tournament and I said, "If you guys win, I'll treat you all." They went undefeated! I took them out to Ryan's, the buffet place. There was one kid, he went back probably ten times. I'm not exaggerating. And he just kept going back. One of the guys said to me, "Pastor, he don't get full. He just gets tired." He goes and he unleashes a little bit and comes back and gets some more! We gotta go! This is crazy. But you have people, they're just like that. Just greedy. Hoggish.

Rich people understand that there's a temptation to love what is temporary, but that's not what God wants. Secondly, they have a temptation to walk in pride and to trust in what he calls uncertain riches. Riches take wings. You can walk in pride. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 again, he says, "Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited. Don't get the big head! Don't think that money makes you better!"

And that's the thing. Sometimes you don't judge a book by its cover. Paul and Charles and single guys, y'all travel together and y'all eat out a lot. Paul said to me, "Some of the best places to eat are little holes in the walls! There's some really good soul food!" But you gotta know if you look at the outside, you say, "I don't think so." You don't know.

Sometimes we look at people and we look at what they have or how they dress or how they look, whether or not they have their nose pierced or whatever. We look at all sorts of things and we judge the person, and we don't know their heart. We don't know where they came from. We don't know what God's done in their life and we don't know what God is going to do in their life. We size them up and we dismiss them.

While I was in high school, I dated a girl and they were middle-class and I was nowhere near that. We went out to Six Flags. In fact, I had to catch a cab over to her place, her house, and rode out there with her parents. Then her parents said, "We'll take you home." And they did and they dropped me off. My mother said, "Well, how'd you get home so fast?" I said, "Well, her parents dropped me off." And they started laughing. "For what?" She said, "That's the last time you're going to see that girl!" I said, "No way! Her parents liked me!" That was the last time I saw that girl. They sized me up and they said, "No, you can do better than that."

Sometimes we have that "do better than that" attitude about people, and we don't know what God's doing. Do you know that guy walked into the Kroger pharmacy where I was and he saw me filling prescriptions years later? "Hey! How you doing? Why don't you come by the house sometime?" I don't think so. Riches just make you think you're better.

And not only that, he says, "Don't be conceited and don't fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy." You don't put your faith in the stock market. I mean, I put mine in the stock market. When the stock market goes down, I just don't look at the stock market. I don't get angry because it does that all the time and I know it's going to do that. "Okay, I don't need it right now. When I need it, I'll have more than I had when I started." I know how the stock market works.

But there's some people, they see it go down and they say, "Oh man, it went down $50,000! I'm taking my money out!" "No, dude, put my money in!" "I'm losing my money!" You're not losing your money until you take it out. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. Some people they fix their hope on uncertainty of riches because riches go up and down, up and down, the market.

Sometimes you can put your money on a sure bet and lose all of your money. There was a man who was a member of our church and he was well-to-do by most of our standards. Someone presented him with the golden opportunity to buy an investment in real estate investment trusts—some apartments—and he put a whole bunch of money into that. When the thing bellied up, he lost a whole bunch of money. It's uncertain. There are no guarantees in life, they tell you that.

But God is a guarantee. In fact, every good thing, every perfect thing comes from above, right? It comes down from God. God gives us richly all good things to enjoy. Every blessing comes from Him. So He says instead of looking down on people, instead of saying, "Yeah, this is all mine!" and being greedy and money grabbing, he says instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works. Instead of hoarding your money, you ought to spread your money around and bless people with it. After all, people matter more than money. People matter more than material things. People matter period. Christ did not die for anybody's yacht or anybody's Mercedes. He didn't die for anybody's anything. He died for people. What's more important, the thing or the person? The person. But see many times we trash relationships with people because we have our own things and God says, "No, no, no."

And rich people, people who have a lot, can be guilty of that. He says be rich in good works, be generous and ready to share, storing up for yourself the treasure of a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. That's a different perspective.

They say that the ring-tail monkey is one of the hardest animals to catch. It's so crafty. But the people who live there in Africa close to the Zulus, they don't have no problems catching it. They say, well it's easy. The ring-tail monkey, he loves melons. There's a melon that grows there and he loves the seeds. So what they do is they cut a hole in the melon and the hole is just big enough for that monkey to slide his hand through. But then when he grabs those seeds, his hand expands and he can't pull it out. So then the question becomes, do I let the seed go and get out or do I try to get out but keep my hand on those seeds? They catch the monkey because the monkey is not willing to let go of those seeds.

There are people like that. They get a hold of stuff and they say, "Let it go!" and they say, "Well, maybe... let it go!" They will not let go in order to trust God. So they're stuck and Satan comes along and snatches them and tosses them down because they're greedy and unwilling to let go of things. God will supply me everything I need. He won't provide me everything I greed, but the things that I need, He'll supply.

I need to recognize the danger temptation and money presents. James says in order to avoid that snare, in order to escape that temptation, I need to glory in my humility. I need to glory in the fact that, listen, I'm not who I am because of what I have. Money doesn't make me something special. Money doesn't make me a greater person. Money doesn't do anything but build up my head. Once I realize that, I won't put my trust in financial things. My trust will be in the Lord.

Let me wrap this up because my time is gone. I put Isaiah 40 in my notes just to be able to make this one point. Isaiah 40, verses 3 through 5 says, "A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low. Let the rough ground become a plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

I love that passage because that passage says something that Jesus says to His disciples. He says the first will be last and the last will be first. How can the first be last and the last be first? It only happens if it's a dead heat. They cross the finish line together. Then the first is last and the last is first and there's equality. Notice what Isaiah says. He says listen, when God says make smooth in the desert a highway for our God—so Christ is coming—every valley will be lifted up and every mountain that's high will be made low. The rough will be smooth, the rugged, broad and wide, and then there's this one level playing field.

Someone says the ground is level at the foot of the cross. What he's saying is there's going to come a day when it doesn't matter how much you have or how little you have. What matters is who you have or who has you. If the Lord has you, then you're not more to Him because of what you have. You're not less to Him because of what you have. All that you are is because of who He is. That's absolute equality.

When the poor person thinks like that, he don't look out and say, "I need more." When the rich person thinks like that, he don't say, "I'm better because I have more." They look out at everyone equally. Brother, sister, family. We love each other equally and it's not based on anything other than the fact that we have the same Savior who loves each one of us.

That's what God's done! And then He says all flesh will see it together. People will look and say, "How is it that you've got those people that are so different? They're different economically, they're different gender-wise," I mean only two genders. "But notice how they're able to come together and treat each other equally, royally, lovingly." The world will see that and they will marvel at what God is doing.

How does He bring all of that about? He uses hard times. God's testings have a way of leveling us. When testings come to the poor man, he lets God have His way and rejoices that he possesses spiritual riches that can't be taken away from him. When testing comes to the rich man, he also lets God have His way and rejoices that his riches in Christ cannot wither or fade away. In other words, it's not your material resources that take you through the testings in life. It's your spiritual resources—the things that God has given you, the things that God is doing in and through you and for you and to you. Those are the things that allow you to make it in life and to bring glory and honor to Him.

Father, thank you again for this day. Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for your great mercies again. And thank you, Father, that I don't have to try to do or be anything special. I can just walk with you because you're special. I don't have to do anything to prove my worth because I'm accepted in you, Lord Jesus. I don't have to jump through hoops to make others think that I'm more than I know I really am because all that I am that matters is what you make in me and of me.

My focus is in you. It's on you, Lord Jesus. You've taught me to realize how much I need you, but how much I have in you. Father, I boast about things because a man's life, Jesus said, does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses. I'm not poor because I lack physical resources. I'm rich because the King of Heaven has on reserve for me an eternal reward that will never fade away. That's what I'm looking forward to.

As I look around, there are two potential problems that we see. Finally, there's always the problem of people who think so little of themselves that they don't think they hold a candle to others. And that's not true because having little in the way of material possessions means nothing in the Kingdom because all our work is accomplished by you through a willing heart anyway.

Neither the person who might be here today and who maybe feels inadequate as they look at others who dress in finery or who seem to have more prominence or maybe drive something more recent than they, they are not inadequate in you. Father, you don't judge us by what we have and we are not to judge each other by what we have or what we see or what we wear. May we love people like you do. You look at the heart, and that's all that matters.

Finally, the ones who have more than they need. We are just stewards of all of it anyway and you give us greater opportunities just to share and be a blessing to others. May we prioritize that. We're not better because we have more. We're more indebted because we have opportunities to share more. May that not be lost on us.

Strengthen us to care about each other more than about appearance. Strengthen us, Father, to share with each other and to love each other deeply, passionately, in a way that brings honor and glory to you. I pray, Father, anyone that may be here today that still hasn't come to realize that there's great treasure, eternal treasure in a relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that they'll not leave here in the same condition that they came, but that they'll seek Him, that they'll bow the knee of their hearts and receive Him today. Jesus Christ, the one and only who is deserving of our praise. I pray that they'll receive Him today and allow us to help them grow in your grace and knowledge.

Thank you again for this opportunity. Thank you for the trials that bring us to a place of recognizing that eternal things are the most important things. I ask these things in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.