One summer when Amanda and I were dating, she came up to New Hampshire for a visit. I was really excited about this, and I wanted to show here some of my favorite spots in New England. I was also really excited because I had just gotten a new car; probably my favorite car ever. It was a 1988 Volvo Station wagon.

Let me tell you about this beauty: It was dark gray, like the color of metal before you paint it. The interior was dark maroon. I don’t know what Swedish genius thinks that dark gray and maroon match each other, but that was what it was. It was this ugly, gray box, but it was really well made. It was actually the fastest car I ever owned.

Anyway, so Amanda comes up, and we decide to take a day trip. Where can I take her? I know! I’ll take her to Kennebunkport, Maine. There is nowhere that is more “New England” than Kennebunkport, Maine. It’s this picturesque bayside town in Maine that’s just beautiful. So we hop in my 88 Volvo, and we drive up there.

As soon as we get up there, we realize we are way out of our league. Kennebunkport is one of those towns that only very, very rich people live in. It’s where the Bush compound is. Every store is full of very expensive clothes, and every restaurant is very expensive. It’s the kind of place where 90% of the cars on the side of the road are BMWs or Mercedes.

But we enjoyed it. We walked around. We got some ice cream. We went into some gift shops and looked at things we couldn’t afford. We tried to pretend like we belonged there.

Then it was time to go home, and we got in the old Volvo. I put the key in the ignition and...nothing. It wouldn’t start. I found out later the alternator had gone bad.

So in one of the most humiliating moments of my life, we had to go and beg one of the rich people to jump start our very old beater car so we could drive home. I felt very, very poor.

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One of the unique things about the book of James is that it deals with the issue of rich people and poor people in a very direct and even brutal way. We are going to see this several places in James: We’ll come again to it in chapter 2 and again in chapter 5. James deals a LOT with the issue of poor and rich people, but we are going to stick to chapter 1:9-11 tonight. Let’s read those verses:

”Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 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.”

Tonight we are going to answer these questions:

• How do rich people and poor people relate to each other in the church?
• How should rich people and poor people think about themselves now that they are Christians?

This is an important message. Let’s pray and we’ll jump right in.

I’m going to give you four points tonight from these verses, so I hope you are ready to write these things down. The first point is this:

1. The gospel levels the rich and the poor.

Verse 9 says:

”Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich in that he is made low:”

Notice that one group is “exalted” or brought up. One group is “made low” or brought down.

Imagine if you will you have one group—the rich—and they are way up here, looking down on the lowly poor people far below them. Haughty. Self-sufficient. “Uppity.”

And then you have the poor, and they are way, way down here. Lowly. Humble. They look up and see the rich, and they think they seem like a million miles away.

And something in these verses is making the rich low and the poor lifted up. Something is leveling them. I believe what James is getting at here is that the gospel levels the rich and the poor. The gospel erases that status we see in the world.

I’ve heard many preachers say:

All ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Paul said in Galatians 3:27-28,

”For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

There is something about the gospel that unifies us and erases worldly status. The world is all about status: rich and poor, employee and employer, black and white, in and out, American and Mexican, male and female.

The “in” word right now is “identity.” It’s all about the status you project.

But Jesus erases all of that. All ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Now listen, this doesn’t mean that we throw out all roles and differences and set up some kind of hippy commune. The Bible makes it clear that there are still certain ways employees should treat their bosses and vice-versa, and that husbands and wives have different roles in a marriage. But it does mean that none of us are worth more to God than any of the others. We may have different roles, but none of us are superior.

Do you realize, that in the eyes of Christ, the little six year old is just as important as the pastor? In the eyes of Christ, the homeless man is just as important as the millionaire businessman.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ! The church should be the one place in the world where these divisions fall away; where the wealthy and the poor, the black and the white, sit together, sing together, take the Lord’s supper together, are unified.

Why is that? It’s because my worth isn’t in my position. It isn’t in my bank account balance or my stock portfolio. It isn’t in my friend count on Facebook. My worth as a Christian is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a soul for whom Christ died. I am a part of God’s family. I am an heir of heaven.

It doesn’t matter if I’m shopping at Goodwill or I’m shopping at Gucci. It doesn’t matter if I’m driving a Tesla or I’m thumbing it. It doesn’t matter if I live in a country club mansion or if I live in a homeless shelter. My worth and my identity should be in Jesus Christ.

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So the gospel levels us. That is the first point. Now, building on that, let’s look at the second thing James was teaching us here:

2. The poor need to take pride in their lifted up place in Jesus.

Verse 9 says, ”let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted.”

That word “rejoice” is almost always translated either “glory” or “boast” in the New Testament. What James is saying here is that if you are going to boast or glory or rejoice in anything about yourself as a poor person, let it be in your lifted up place in Jesus.

If you are poor tonight, you have an exalted place in Jesus.

Jesus’ mother Mary sang a song of praise to God after she found out she was going to be the mother of Jesus. In it, she said this:

”He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree” (Luke 1:52)

Twice in the Old Testament, in Psalm 113:7-8 and in 1 Samuel 2:8, the Bible says:

”He raised up the poor out of the dust and lifted up the needy out of the dung hill: that he may set him with princes even with the princes of the people.”

God has this thing about lifting up and exalting poor folks, and if you are in Christ and you are a poor person, you’ve been exalted. You’ve been “made valuable” by the blood of Jesus:

• You are so valuable that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Man to whom every world leader and every billionaire will someday bow, died for you.
• You are so valuable that you are a child and an heir of the one who owns all creation.
• You are so valuable that you have been ”made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Col. 1:12)
• You are so valuable that your father owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. (Psalm 50)
• You are so valuable that Jesus is preparing you a mansion in the Palace of heaven. (John 14)
• You are so valuable that you are someday going to walk on streets of gold near pearly gates. (Rev 21:21)

You have an exalted place in Jesus. So listen, poor person, don’t look down on yourself. Don’t let others look down on you. You may have a hard and humble time here, but you are going to inherit the earth. You possess everything in Christ.

You are exalted. Identify in that.

James 2:5 sums it up pretty well:

”Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs. Of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?”

The poor are exalted. Take pride in that.

That is point number 3...

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But what about the rich? What should they take pride in? What should they identify or glory in?

3. The rich need to take pride in their humble identity in Jesus.

Again, verse 9 says:

”Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich in that he is made low.”

Just as the poor are to glory or rejoice in their exaltation in Christ, the rich are to glory and rejoice in their humility in Christ.

Let me put it another way: The same gospel that lifts us up, also puts us down. Listen: If I am anything in Christ, it’s not because of me. It’s not because of my accomplishments. It’s not because of my status. I have nothing to bring to Jesus. My righteousness is as filthy rags.

Jesus said in Matthew 5, ”Blessed are the poor in Spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”. When we come to Jesus, we have to come empty-handed. We can’t come to Jesus and say to Him, “Respect me! Look at my accomplishments! Look at my riches! Look at me!” No, not matter how rich you are, you come to Christ by saying, “I am nothing and I can do nothing except what Jesus has done for me.”

I think that’s why Jesus said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. (Matthew 19:24)

It’s very hard for rich people to drop their pride and their accomplishments, and humbly accept Jesus.

So this verse teaches us that the gospel lifts us up while also putting us down. We are lifted up in Christ but put down in our own earthly accomplishments.

One commentator explained this verse this way:

To his financial troubles, the poor brother says, “But how rich am I!” And to his earthly glories, the rich brother says, “But what a wretch I am.”

Another person said it this way:

As the despised poor learns self-respect, so the proud rich learns self-abasement.

Listen, rich man: Don’t be proud of your riches. Be humble and grateful for your position in Jesus Christ.

So this passage teaches us that the gospel levels us; that poor people can take pride in their exalted position in Christ; and that rich people can take pride in their humble position in Christ, but there is one more thing James teaches us in these three verses:

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Look again at verses 9-11:

”Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 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.”

In Israel, they have these hot, dry winds that can rise up out of the desert with no warning and blow hot, dry air on their flowering grass and dry it up in an instant. It’s here, and then poof! It’s gone. It’s worthless.

Poof. It’s gone. Poof. It’s worthless.

James says, ”so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”

The last thing we need to see here is...

4. The rich need to understand that their lifestyle is temporary and could be lost in a moment.

James is saying to the rich: Don’t put too much stock in your stuff. Don’t put too much stock in your bank account. Don’t put too much stock in your nice clothes and your nice cars. Don’t put too much stock in your beautiful house. Because—one—it could be gone in an instant, and—two—it will not be yours for eternity.

Do you realize there are powerful forces who spend billions and billions of dollars doing nothing more than convincing you that you need more stuff, nicer clothes, a bigger house, a fancier vacation. The tv shows you watch aren’t paid for by your cable subscription, they are paid for by Honda and Lexus and Ashley Home Furniture. The magazines you read aren’t paid for by the $5 you spend on them, they are paid for them by Dos Equis and Mercedes and Perry Ellis.

The world is trying to convince us that the true way to happiness is through worldly status and the only way to get worldly status is to get the “in” things.

But James reminds us that worldly things don’t last. They are here today, gone tomorrow.

Growing up in Boston, one of my favorite basketball players was Antoine Walker. Antoine Walker made over $110 million dollars when he played for the Celtics. He bought Bentleys and BMWs, he never wore the same designer suit twice. Whatever was left over, he invested in Chicago real estate.

Then the stock market crashed and Antoine Walker lost everything. He had to sell his NBA championship ring. He doesn’t own a car. He shares a house in Chicago with five family members.

That strong hot wind just came through and poof. It was gone. It was all gone.

Things don’t last. Worldly status doesn’t last. It’s here today, gone tomorrow. So James tells us to focus on the status that does last, our status in Christ, and hold onto the rest with light fingers.

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So what are we to do? Let me give you some points of application and I’ll close tonight:

1. Don’t be a poor Christian or a rich Christian. Be a Christian who happens to be poor or a Christian who happens to be rich. In other words, find your identity in Christ, not in your social status.
2. Don’t live for possessions. Live for Christ.
3. If you do have possessions, invest them in eternity, not in earthly shows of status.
4. Don’t let your poor position or your rich position come between you and a brother and sister in Christ.

Let’s stand for invitation and prayer.