Making it Rich without Jesus
James 1:9-11 / 1 Timothy 6:6-10
Introduction
We live in a city that makes people choose between a command of God to be diligent stewards with the funds that He provides for you and the ever so innocent, just a dollar, lottery. We promise Lord if I just win, just this once I will give a tenth to the church and I will be diligent with the money. Statistics are that people go through their winnings within 5 years no matter how much it is. There was a man who was a prosperity evangelist and his whole ministry was based on the fact that he was once down on his luck had ten dollars in his pocket and that is all he had to his name. He was in a church and praying god help through this and he felt that he was suppose to give that last ten dollars. It wasn’t but a matter of months that things turned around for him and God blessed him abundantly, making him a multi-millionaire and now going from church to church telling his testimony about how God turned his life around and all he did was give all that he had. At the end he had a Q&A time and someone stood up and asked him “Could you do it again?” That question tore at the soul of his ministry because he knew he couldn’t. I don’t want to talk to you about how God views the rich and the poor for that is not what this scripture is dealing with. It is however dealing with people who have their priorities of wealth mixed up. What is being rich with out being in Christ.
1) The Lowly brother exhalted
a) Let the lowly Brother
i) Just because in on verse we are talking about someone who is rich you may not assume that this verse is talking about someone who is poor. For it is not.
ii) The term Lowly is in the KJV (tapinos) “brother of low degree” which in the Greek means 1 not rising far from the ground. 2 brought low with grief, depressed. lowly in spirit, humble.
iii) The brother who feels like they can’t get of the ground can glorify God that his or her day of exaltation is drawing near
iv) How many times have you felt low to the ground unable to get up? Feeling like you have been kicked while you are down and held down so you can be kicked some more?
v) The Word of god says to glory in those times.
vi) James is talking to people scattered about the region because of persecution. Brothers and sisters in Christ thrown in Jail because of their belief, because of their statements “Jesus is Lord”
vii) James says rise up look ahead to what is coming, the Glory of the Lord, the day that you will ride with Him to the defeat of the enemy.
viii) Glory in your exaltation…
b) glory in his exaltation
i) Where the term “lowly” means “you are in a place where you feel cast down” or literally “not rising far from the ground”
ii) Jesus wants you to remember that one day will come when you will rise far off of the ground
iii) A day when you will be caught up with him in the “harpadzo” which means caught up or in the Septuagint it is Rapturo and rapture to us
iv) A day when you can lift your head up high and see for yourself where your help comes from.
v) Psalm 121:1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep
vi) You can look to that day and the word says you can glory in your exaltation which actually means “you can rejoice that you have a high position in the heights of Heaven” it is not saying you have to be rich or poor
vii) It says for the lowly brother the humble brother, you may be oppressed but you can set your sights on the place of exaltation
viii) Luke 6:20-24 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
ix) Think of how the prophets were treated and they were speaking from God. Think of how the disciples were treated and they were speaking from God.
x) Paul in all his oppression and abuse had his eyes heavenward
xi) Phil 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.
xii) Paul also knew how to live in Christ for he said in Phil 4:11 Not that I speak in regard to need for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.
xiii) Paul knew how to live in Christ. That’s the problem with many of us today is we don’t know how to live in Christ
(1) We know how to live for our banker
(2) We know how to live for our children
(3) We know how to live for those things we want
(4) But how do we live for Christ that even death might be a gain for us
xiv) Instead death is a nuisance that takes us away from the things we want to be doing on this earth.
xv) We try to spiritualize it and say, “well I don’t want the Lord to come back right now because there are so many lost people.” Like you are working any harder on it.
xvi) We say “I don’t want Jesus to come back until…” UNTIL WHAT…?
xvii) Jesus is not basing His return on any of our accomplishments except one.
xviii) Romans 11:25 says, “blindness has come in part (not all the way) to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in.” Maybe that is why we are not in a hurry to win the lost. Someone sitting in here who has not accepted Christ might be holding up the ball game here.
xix) We think the only way to have the fullness of Jesus or abundant life is to have abundant savings. Or the fullness of our bank accounts. Abundant life is knowing how to be content with only Jesus. Paul knew contentment because he knew Christ.
xx) What does it mean to desire to be rich? To have more than you need.
xxi) God knows your needs maybe He thinks you have all you need.
xxii) So let the lowly brother, the brother who can’t seem to get off the ground, let them exalt in their high places.
xxiii) Verse two… “but the rich in his humiliation, because as the flower of the field he will pass away.”
2) The Rich must be humbled
a) The rich brother
i) It is not a sin to be rich, but what are you rich in?
ii) Money is not the root of all evil but it is the “love of money” 1Timothy 6:10
iii) Isn’t it interesting that Paul has to tell Timothy who is a Pastor and Evangelist that the love of money of is the root of all evil.
iv) If you are pursuing wealth go to the one who has wealth who is rich
v) God is rich:
(1) Eph 2:4 says, “He is rich in mercy”
(2) Eph 1:7 says, “He has the riches of grace”
(3) Romans 10:12 says, “He is rich to those who call on Him”
vi) By these standards are you rich? Do you have an inheritance in these things?
vii) The question is not; How much money do you have? It is what do have that makes you wealthy?
viii) If it is money that makes you rich I am afraid that you are a poor person
ix) If it is the things of God that has made you richest your wealth is stored up in heavenly places.
x) I went on a missions trip with a woman who bragged about her wealth and told me she drove Cadillac something I would never know…
xi) And she was misery on this trip.
xii) She had no humility as a wealthy person….
b) Must glory in his humility
i) We can assume that this is a rich brother as James continues his thought from verse 9
ii) And we can assume too that this rich brother can rejoice or “glory” as well, but not in his exaltation, not rejoice in the high places as His lowly brother in Christ, but he is told to rejoice in what? His humility.
iii) The same word that we saw in verse 9 we see too in verse 10. Let the rich be made low.
iv) translates as 1. lowness, low estate. 2 leading one to perceive and lament his (moral) littleness and guilt.
v) The Godly rich are more concerned about being a servant than making others serve themselves
vi) You may have much, and yet have little morally
vii) There are things money can’t buy
(1) It couldn’t buy a lame man legs to walk.
(2) It couldn’t buy Naaman healing of His leprosy.
(3) It couldn’t buy Simon the Sorcerer the gifts that were being shown by the disciples. (Acts 8:18-22)
(4) It couldn’t buy a rich young ruler a place in the Kingdom of Heaven
(5) It couldn’t buy the conscience of a betrayer as he threw back the money that was used to bribe Jesus.
viii) So what then is it good for? Serving the King, Serving others
ix) When it comes to the work of God in His kingdom people are either going to give of the their finances or their time and some both
3) No pursuit is greater than Jesus He is the only thing you can take with you
a) What are your pursuits made of?
i) 1 Tim 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
(1) Paul says there is gain with being content with what we have unfortunately the gain we are looking for is not spiritual we want to be able to spend that gain
ii) 7 For we brought nothing into this world, 4and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
(1) How much did you bring into this World? How many fingers will be clutched to those things you bought here on earth when the rapture comes?
(2) God is not going to fight you, if you are clutching He will leave you.
iii) 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
(1) Paul tells us to consider just the food and the clothes we have to be the great gain I talked about?
(2) Who here is content with one or two pieces of clothing? We have enough clothes to fill two or three closets and it takes us several years before we can go through them and give the excess to Goodwill? While we replenish
iv) 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
(1) One word: Lottery
(2) The fact is that the desire to be rich is making people spend more money
(3) It is temptation because you are constantly lured by the big signs: 5, 10, 20 million up for grabs
(4) It is a snare, a noose or a net it also depicts a mouse trap.
(5) We have the harmless lottery now I have already heard the call for bringing in the casinos That is what has happened in my hometown of Detroit. My favorite places down town has now been turned into casinos. Where people lose their finances and families to their addiction…
(6) Solomon Bell an Oak Park Police Officer had a lot going for him except for the fact that he lost thousands in an afternoon gambling spree when he stuck his police-issued gun to his head and pulled the trigger at the MotorCity Casino. He lost three consecutive blackjack hands with 20s to the dealer’s 21s. "You’re killing me," the Southfield man told the dealer, before stepping away from the table, pulling his Glock gun from his jacket and pulling the trigger. The casino cleaned up the mess and carried on with business as usual. MotorCity Casino spokesman Jack Barthwell defended the casino’s decision to stay open. "It’s not like Bell died some honorable kind of death. He chose to kill himself. We saw absolutely no reason to close down our business and deprive our patrons of the use of the fourth floor," Barthwell said. The very next day a ranking officer in the Detroit Fire Department, threatened to kill himself after several hours of losses at the MGM Grand Detroit casino. June 28, 2000
v) 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
(1) It is not money itself that is evil it is our emotional attachment to it. God is love God created love and He didn’t create our love to be after material things
(2) We are to love one another that is how we are identified as Jesus’ disciples
(3) Please notice to that it is “a” root it is not “the” root there are many other things that are responsible: “gluttony”, “lust”, etc.
(4) Notice to from this verse that their greed has caused people to stray from the faith. Greed can do that. It pulls your attentions away from the eternal God and get into something deeper yet away from Him.
(5) Everything outside of Jesus is vain pursuits. For it won’t buy you a ticket to heaven.
b) Death interrupts vain pursuits (James 1:11)
i) Death interrupts those pursuits those schedules, those plans, death is inevitable
ii) When our pursuits are after things we can buy rather than on the one who bought us there will be no fulfillment in life.
iii) You can fantasize all you want of what life would be like to swim in riches, just remember that the fantasy is better than the reality.
Conclusion
Challenge: What is your hope tied to? Is it lying prostrate before the god of mammon, or before God in Heaven.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; in ev’ry high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand—all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.
It is important to know that whether it be poverty or prosperity they are both spiritual snags that can bring disaster. A poor person can strive for riches and leave out Christ. Where as the rich can strive for more than what he has, and only rely on what he has, and leave out Christ as well. Paul tells us that he learned how to be full and hungry both to abound and suffer need, but ultimately it is Christ who enabled him to do all things as Christ gives him strength. (Phil 4:12)
