Lookahead: I believe that’s what eventually happens to genuinely wealthy people when they are living out their selfish, vain lives. Tragically they may die without grabbing hold of Jesus’ saving hand—the Water of Life in the desert—the One Who can snatch them out of the fire. But for those who accept him, their joy cannot be contained and is echo’d by Steve Olin, a Jewish billionaire. In his quest for elusive peace, Olin almost lost his fortune to drug addiction and the bad business decisions that ensued as a result. When he cried out to God, he received a revelation of Yeshua Ha Masiach and begged Jesus to save him. Jesus saved him mightily and all the fear left. Then He subsequently blessed Steve Olin in a big way: “God snapped His fingers and I was on my way up again.” Olin’s words in his life changing testimonial video: Without Christ in your life, you will never be able to be at peace.
Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 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. James 1:9-11
“Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high positions,” begs the question, how can someone in humble circumstances have a high position? James later answers that question in 2:5: Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
And in fact, a reading of the entire epistle is probably needed in order to fully appreciate James 1:9-11. 9-11 seem to stand alone in the first chapter of James, in the sense that there’s no segue or setup. After talking about joy in trials and effective prayers for wisdom, James seems to abruptly change the subject to “rich v. poor.” He devotes a mere three verses to this. But then he proceeds to bring “rich v. poor” up twice more in the epistle. The second time is within the context of unfairly favoring the rich in the church. The third time is a targeted warning for rich people. Why this “rich v. poor” subject throughout the epistle? If we go on the basis that the author of the Book of James was James the Just, and had the top position in the Jerusalem Church, it makes one wonder what was happening in terms of hierarchical formation at that time. Jerusalem had been the seat of Jewish religious and civic power with the Sanhedrin. Now it represented homebase for the nascent Christian church. So were rich people trying to influence the Christian Church expansion and/or being promoted into positions of religious power because of their material wealth? Was James, therefore, trying to send the message that “it’s all about the money….NOT!” As we will later see, the second and third “rich v. poor” scriptural references actually provide more info about some of the behavior that James was observing.
When speaking of how the rich should behave, James wrote that they should “take pride in their humiliation.” That’s sort-of a strange expression–Be proud about being humble? Maybe instead of being proud about…their wealth, their possessions, themselves? But I thought pride was a sin against God, regardless of what you’re proud of.
Staying on point, pride about wealth can be very unhealthy (though it’s probably just a human natural thing to become prideful when a person comes into money). And in fact, fame and fortune often do weird things to people. I did a brief survey of modern-day celebrities who couldn’t handle becoming rich and famous: Some got into substance abuse; some became very weird (like claiming to be a warlock); some retreated from the spotlight and went into hiding; some became prima-donnas or violent or promiscuous and/or predatorial–or just more transparent about existing evil tendencies; some let absolute power corrupt absolutely; some suffered from extreme exhaustion and/or breakdowns. (Side Note: In a highly rare exception to the norm, one celebrity just totally throttled back on performing to multiple thousands in global settings. He went back to performing in small clubs with the remark, “Coming here, I don’t have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego down. I’m interested in the kind of person I’ve got to become.”1)
And Christian “celebrities” were not exempt from this. An international church has recently been in major upheaval with the resignation of its lead pastor, as well as pastors of three satellites. Rumors of substance abuse, misappropriation of church funds, infidelity, and cover-up of rape/of minors have been burning up the Internet. These pastors started out in local churches–or planting local churches; and eventually became household names. Unfortunately it went to their heads. 😦 Like the parable that Jesus gave about seeds that were thrown on different ground types (symbolic of the Word of God being sown in the hearts of people), these pastors’ “heart soil” (term invented by Pastor Mark E. Strong, I believe) was corrupted.
Mark 4:18,19: Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
So the soil, that was selected for sowing seeds, was in the midst of a briar/thorn patch to begin with. Nevertheless, the sower threw a bunch of seeds into that soil. The seeds started to grow, but the thorns were also growing and as the thicket became more and more dense with thorns, the seedlings were overwhelmed. One wouldn’t think that being rich would be such a show stopper.
Side Note 2: Should the sower have been more selective about the soil that he chose to sow the seeds in? Well we have an equal opportunity sower. Basically, if there were any type of soil out there, he was gonna give it a shot. 🙂 (God is) not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 And Jesus Himself said: Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God…With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Mark 19:24,25 (my underline)
Recently I was researching why Tyre and Sidon were judged by God in the Book of Ezekiel 26 – 28—with the King of Tyre’s excessive pride being specifically addressed. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar chewed the Tyrians up and spit them out, as a result. In deep-delving the references for Ezekiel, I saw many expressions that basically said, “Rich People have a proud self-sufficiency.” And that sums it up. Rich people call the shots in their spheres of influence–and try to call the shots with God too. So even if they had the Fear of the LORD at some earlier point, self-made-successful-people will say, “I got here on my own without God. Tell me again why I need Him?” Well, to those who would say this, my response would be to remind them, “Your hearse ain’t gonna be followed by a caravan of moving vans.” And another coincidental example (just subscribed to National Geographic Channel and up popped video about Pharaohs): much of the incomparable riches of the Egyptian Pharaohs went to…the next gen grave robbers. Even treasures carefully excavated by archaeologists disappeared in the plunder of war, were stolen by Nazi’s and/or wound up in museums. In sum, Ya can’t take it with ya! Plus there’s a totally different set of reward/recognition criteria in heaven.
Something that I concluded from Ezekiel 27 was that it describes a system in equilibrium. You could say that the shipping industry was in a state of cooperative peace and coexistence–excellent collaboration, great give and take, lots of generosity–sharing the unique and abundant resources that each nation had–fair exchanges to fill the gaps in other countries–direct trades or brokered. In Tyre’s case, as the homebase for the shipping industry, as well as lead coordinator/broker, it was getting very rich off the other nations. Tyre was located at the epicenter/center point where all the shipping/sea lanes met–and this geographical supremacy wired Tyre for major market growth and financial profits. All that went straight to the King of Tyre’s head. And there comes a reckoning. Further, it is my belief that Ezekiel 28 then goes on to talk about satan’s undoing. So 27 and 28 establish/setup the extreme-pride-leads-to-entropy symbolism/scenario.
Back to the pride about self-gotten-gains topic: Prior to Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar went after Jerusalem due to the pride of King Hezekiah (see Unpacking #3 Post). The latter’s was a case of “rich people’s reckoning with a twist.” At one point, Hezekiah gave God all the glory and did many important things in direct service to God. But then he became terminally ill and inquired of God whether he would live or die. God said, “You will die!” Hezekiah pleaded for his life, and God gave him an extra fifteen years. My personal belief is that this shook Hezekiah’s very foundation–and he lost his trust in a Good God. Unable to trust in God, he began to trust in…himself…and subsequently committed a tragic sin of pride which threw the door wide open to the Babylon invasion by Nebuchadnezzar that happened a hundred years later. As Unpacking #3 explains, my theory is that Hezekiah ultimately repented. Regardless, this is a perfect, real world example of the seeds-thrown-among-thorns allegory (riches and cares of this world). And I believe that there is hope for rich people to enter the Kingdom–if God makes it possible.
Ultimately, the rich will pass away like a wild flower. 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. James 1:10-11
Currently living in the Southwest, we’ve been hit with prolonged record high temps this summer. Last week there was universal rejoicing when we dropped below triple digits, to 99 for high of the day. 🙂 But I still have found excuses to get out in the heat because hiding out in AC, while avoiding the sun for 2.5 months, probably isn’t the healthiest thing. However, there were days when I had to pray and stand on Psalm 121:6, “the sun shall not smite me by day, nor the moon by night.” So “scorching heat” and feeling totally “withered and ugly and a shadow of my former self?” I get it. I believe that’s what eventually happens to genuinely wealthy people when they are living out their selfish, vain lives. Tragically they may die without grabbing hold of Jesus’ saving hand—the Water of Life in the desert—the One Who can snatch them out of the fire. But for those who accept him, their joy cannot be contained and is echo’d by Steve Olin, a Jewish billionaire. In his quest for elusive peace, Olin almost lost his fortune to drug addiction and the bad business decisions that ensued as a result. When he cried out to God, he received a revelation of Yeshua Ha Mashiach and begged Jesus to save him. Jesus saved him mightily and all the fear left. Then He subsequently blessed Steve Olin in a big way: “God snapped His fingers and I was on my way up again.” Olin’s words in his life changing testimonial video:
Without Christ in your life, you will never be able to be at peace.2
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1 https://celebritytoob.com/10-celebrities-couldnt-handle-fame/
Cross-Denominational Bible Study 