Introduction

James 1:9-11 ESV  Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,  (10)  and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.  (11)  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

• This morning, of course, we celebrate mission Sunday as we focus on bringing the gospel to other nations.
  • And as I was reading through James I felt the peace of God when considering to simply continue preaching through James this Mission Sunday.
    • Sometimes I take a break from the book we are in for mission Sunday, but God has a mission focused message from these three verses in James that I believe He wants me to share with y’all this morning.
  • The message is simply this: We can use our temporary earthly riches to bring eternal spiritual riches to the world.

• Turning Temporary Wealth Into Eternal Wealth.

• Now before we can get into the missions focused part of this message I think we need to do just a small bit of teaching on what these verses mean.
• Let’s read them again just so they stay fresh in our mind…

James 1:9-11 ESV  Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,  (10)  and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.  (11)  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

• So there are some word’s here that need definitions.
  • When it says “lowly brother” it means “a poor Christian”. This is a born again believer in Christ Jesus, who is in fellowship with the church, who does not have very much money… they are the lowly brother.
  • When it says rich, here, it means a born again Christian who has lots of money, who is financially well off.
  • The word boast, in this context, means to praise God and be excited for what God is doing… we boast in the Lord.
  • Exaltations in this context means “being given good things, being lifted up”.
  • The word humiliation here does not mean embarrassment, but it means being brought low, sacrificing, losing wealth and possessions for Jesus.
• So knowing all of this, if you expanded this passages to include these definitions it might sound something like this:

James 1:9-11 [P.C. Expanded Paraphrase]  Let the [poor] brother [in Christ] [be excited and praise God] [when he is given good things and lifted up],  (10)  and the [rich brother in Christ] ] [be excited and praise God] [when he sacrifices and loses wealth for God’s sake], because like a flower of the grass he will pass away [his wealth is only temporary].  (11)  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits [for more material wealth].

• So, in the proper context of James chapter one, what these verses mean is simple:
  • Every Christian is going to face trials and tribulations, that’s the total context of James 1:2-18… trials and tribulations Christian’s face.
  • So these verses are about trials and tribulation.
  • Every Christian, rich and poor, are going to face trials and tribulation…
    • But at the end of the day, the poor person can be excited and praise God because they are going to go to New Jerusalem (often referred to as heaven) they get to go to heaven and have eternal riches!
    • And the rich person can praise God, because even though all their earthly wealth will pass away, they will lose it all, even still they can be excited and praise God because they too get eternal wealth in New Jerusalem!
  • Whether rich or poor, we have an eternity with Christ Jesus… and that is something to be celebrated, that is something to boast in the Lord about!
• Now what I was going to title this sermon was:
• Turning Temporary wealth into Eternal Wealth.
  • Temporary earthly wealth is not worthless… if and only if we can use it to help others gain eternal wealth.
    • That is, our money that is going to pass away, it is not worthless in the eyes of eternity, if we can use this money to help other people get saved, get born again, get discipled.
    • If we can use it to build churches, and buy bibles, and send missionaries.
    • If we can use it to fill the physical needs of the orphans and the widows so that we can also fill the spiritual needs of the orphans and the widows.
  • Temporary wealth can be turned into eternal wealth when we use it to spread the Gospel!
• But instead of preaching on “Turning Temporary Wealth into Eternal Wealth” I just want to laser focus on this one point: The Rich Can Help The Lowly And Together Boast in Christ!

• The Rich Can Help The Lowly And Together Boast in Christ!

Point One – The Rich Can Help The Lowly And Together Boast in Christ

James 1:9-10 ESV  Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,  (10)  and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

• I think it is safe to say that there are some people in this church who have more money than other people in this church.
  • That is just a fact of life, some people are considered rich, and other people, as James puts it, are considered lowly.
    • And the history of the world has taught us that socialism has never worked.
    • Socialism always leads to a few people at the top of the political food chain having tons of wealth, and the majority of the population struggling to survive.
    • So what then do we do with verses like this:

Acts 4:32-35 ESV  Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.  (33)  And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  (34)  There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold  (35)  and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

• That seems pretty socialist… doesn’t it? I mean, it seems like everyone sold everything they have and pooled all their money together and lived in a commune or something, right?
  • No, I don’t think that is the case… and I don’t think the rest of scripture ever says anything like that.
  • In fact, it is clear that believers still had their own homes after this event… from verses like this:

1 Corinthians 16:19 ESV  The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.

• And there are plenty of other verses too that show that believers still had private property after this event…
  • So what then could these verses mean in Acts and what do they have to do with our verses in James?
  • I think what they mean is that rich people did not consider themselves to be above helping poor people.
    • That when a need arose, those with the means helped take care of the need.
    • There were believers that owned multiple fields and land, and they realized “Look, my wealth is going to fade away like the flowers… why do I need 4 fields? I can live just fine off of one field, so I will sell 3 of them and use that money to help the gospel of Christ spread throughout the world… use that money to help those in the church who are hungry and hurting… give that money to the church to help them in our collective goal to go and make disciples.”

James 1:9-10 ESV  Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,  (10)  and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

• The rich brother sacrifices some of his earthly riches and can say “PRAISE GOD, I MADE A MILLION DOLLARS OFF OF MY LAND TO GIVE TO THE CHURCH! I WILL BOAST IN THE LORD!”
• And the lowly brother can say “PRAISE GOD, SOMEONE DONATED A MILLION DOLLARS TO THE CHURCH AND THEY ARE GOING TO HELP ME BUY FOOD AND PAY MY RENT!”
  • The rich person sacrificed, the poor person gained, but God get’s the glory!
• Now remember, this point, the only point of this sermon, is that the Rich Can Help the Lowly and Together boast in Christ!
• Now I want you to think about this through the eyes of Rebecca, our missionary to Japan.
  • Rebecca is going to Japan to plant a church and make disciples.
    • Now Rebecca, by her own strength and own wealth would probably not have enough money to leave her life in America and go plant a church for a year in Japan.
    • I don’t think she is that financially well off to be able to just leave everything, buy plane tickets, rent an apartment, buy food and pay for subway and bus tickets in Japan, and start a church.
    • You would need 40-60 grand saved up to do that, and I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think she has that kind of scratch…
  • But you know who does have that kind of money? THIS CHURCH!
    • Together, we are incredibly wealthy.
      • So in this example, Rebecca is the lowly sister in Christ. Not that she is lowly… but follow with me…
      • And the church, in this example, is the rich brother in Christ.
    • So we as a church humble ourselves and sacrifice our missions offerings…
      • We lose that money, it’s not coming back, it’s not a financial investment, we are not going to ask the church in Sapporo to ever pay us anything… their job is to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, just like ours is.
      • My hope is that the church we help plant in Japan will one day go and plant a church in another nation. I don’t want to take their money, I want them to use their money to make more disciples.
    • So we lose our missions money, we are humiliated, brought low, we sacrifice our missions faith money as a church to give it to Rebecca so she can afford to go and plant a church in Sapporo.
  • And in that sense, we are humiliated, we are made low, we lose money.
  • And Rebecca is exalted, she is made high, she gains money.
• And together, Rebecca who is made high and the church who is made low, we boast in Christ! We celebrate Christ! We praise God!
  • Why? Because we have taken temporary worthless wealth and turned it into eternal riches for those Japanese people who are going to accept Christ as savior!
• What good is a big fat missions bank account when we are all dead?
  • What good is 4 thousand, 4 million, or even 4 billion dollars in our missions account when Jesus comes back?
  • It is all going to perish.
    • But we can sacrifice that money now, use it to lift up Rebecca and the other team members, so that they can make disciples in Japan.
    • THEN IT HAS ETERNAL VALUE.
    • SO I SAY LET’S DRAIN THE MISSIONS ACCOUNT AND LET’S FILL JAPAN WITH BELIEVERS.
      • Let’s fill Seira Leonn with believers.
      • And Jamica with believers.
      • And India with believers.
      • And Nigeria with believers!
  • Let’s make personal sacrifices so that we can continue to support these works and start even more.
    • You know God put on my heart that we should have another yard sale in spring to support the work in Seirra Leon.
    • Pastor Moses’ church, Kingdom Life and Prayer Ministries International has started this year a new Christian School called Shakina Glory Christian Academy, and you know what, those teachers and students… compared to us… are lovely brothers.
      • We are the rich ones, everybody in this church is a rich brother compared to them.
      • So lets sacrifice and lift them up… begin thinking now what you can sacrifice to sell at that yard sell!
• But before spring, we are going to continue supporting all of our missions work, and we are preparing to Send Rebecca to Japan…
  • All of that is done through Mission Faith Pledges.
    • But before I get to raising support so that people in Japan, India, Jamica, Seirra Leon, and Nigeria can now Christ.
    • Before I get to us working together to help others know Christ around the world…
    • Let’s first make sure that those in this room know Christ.

Conclusion

• Gospel Call
• Hand Out MFP Slips
  • Explain MFP Slips and read what is on it.
  • Explain that CLC exists because of Singapore’s and Seattle’s MFPS.
  • Explain that a new church in Sapporo Japan will exist because of the MFPS of CLC, and the other VFC churches in North America like we saw in the video.
  • Explain that we can boast in Christ when we sacrifice our finances to help the gospel spread!
  • Pray about amount for 1 minute.
  • Fill out.
  • Collect
• God is good, all the time!

Aaronic Blessing