Episode 325 - Crown of Life

James 1:9-12 is the topic of today's podcast.

Transcript

unknown 0:27

You said you would.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

You know, get getting your act together is really it's really a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

It's easier for some of us.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

You know, I'm not even going to uh acknowledge that you just said that. Because I was gonna shuffling through papers and all this, and I couldn't get my act together, and so that's I went ahead and started the podcast. Are you ready? I um yeah, I think I'm ready now. You are you ready to get started?

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Yeah, let's do that.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

All right, welcome to Brothers One Bible Podcast. I'm Robert Twakefield. I'm Peter Stearson. And welcome to the study of James. And wow, we've had several podcasts and we're through the first eight verses.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

We're doing good.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

We're just just blowing it out of the water. But you know, the thing is about this is the fact that how much wisdom is just in the first eight verses. What we've talked about has been unbelievable. Yeah. Uh well, I say unbelievable, incredible is probably a better one. Yeah, it really is. Yeah. It's just it's just chock full of practical advice on how we could live our lives in the face of persecution if we're facing that. Yeah. Or going through any kind of trials. So I just think it's uh it's really great. Today we're going to uh go through uh verses nine through twelve. Yeah. So go right ahead, Peter. But do you want to answer the trivia question first?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Yes, let's do that. All right, so the trivia question on Monday was there's 20 parallels to uh James and to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. And so the question was in James chapter 1, verses 6 through 8, what does it parallel to in the Sermon on the Mount? And the correct answer would be Matthew 6, 24, where Jesus says you cannot serve two masters. So again, he's uh talking about being double-minded.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Double-minded, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

You can't want to please the the world master and serve God, and so that is the parallel.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

All right. So that is the answer to the trivia question. And uh thanks uh to those who have responded uh by clicking on the send fan mail. Uh we want this to be interactive and we want your questions. You can do that right there on that app. It comes to us uh via email and we'll be happy to uh to answer those as we can. All right. All right, so let's go to the nine through twelve.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

All right, 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 blossoms fall, and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade even while they go about their business. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

All right, so that is the word of the Lord. That's verses nine through twelve. And you know, here he goes. He's he's he's kind of changing again in a way in a way. Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Wow, that's an interesting way of looking at things. Uh because, you know, if you're in a humble circumstance, do you think you're high in your position in the world?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Well, you may not, but I I have I've seen this. Oh, have you? Well, yeah. I mean, I I think we all have. Yeah. We we tend to think about our grandmothers and grandfathers or people in the in the nursing home who literally have nothing, who have worn out their Bible, who you you look around and say, they've got nothing, but they're so rich in their connection to God, you say, Man, they've I want what they have. Right. And that's what he's talking about, is is these people who are being persecuted and and they they fled with their clothes on their back and they've got nothing. And he's saying, I realize you've got nothing. You're wearing rags, and you may not have eaten since last Tuesday, but you are a child of the God who created the universe.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

And so that's what he's saying in verse 9 is take pride in your high position. You know, it's not like, yeah, I've I've got all this and I, you know, got that. And it's like, no, no, it's like I've got nothing. And yet I've got everything.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Yeah, I've got it all. Yeah. That's a great point. You know, the this this worth, uh, we we we we tend to measure worth in different ways, whether it's income or or status, or maybe uh the number of possessions that you have, or maybe even social ranking. Yeah. We tend to we tend to do that as people. Sure we do. And but you know, he is telling us here in verse nine that if you're a believer and your circumstances are not where you want to be, guess what? You're at the head of the line. Yeah, you are much above anything that's can happen to you on this earth because of your circumstances.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

It really takes me back to what he said in verse 2, consider it pure joy when you're going through trials. So he's saying, look, I don't care what your situation is, you need to rejoice or take pride, is what he says here, in who you are, your identity in Christ. And so it's like it's a it's a just a change, it's a simple change of the channel of not where I'm at, but who I am?

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Isn't that the truth? And I think that we have trouble viewing that sometimes. We sometimes have the problem of not viewing ourselves as the children of God.

unknown 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Well what? How can we how can we actually think that our value is not what it should be when Jesus died on the cross for us? That that puts us in a whole different mindset as far as the trials are concerned, as far as perseverance is concerned. I mean, it changes everything, yeah, knowing who we are.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Yeah. But we know we're we've got a very materialistic mindset, and and and that's from living in the world. But when the world's you know, message creeps into our head, and it's like, I can't believe I'm still living with a such and such iPhone, you know, and it's like, you know, when's God gonna bless me? You know, I'm I'm tired of my flip phone, you know, and it's and it's like we're it's so much bigger than flip phones. Oh, so much is, you know, and and and so it's how old's our car, how old's our house, what what neighborhood, you know, it's like why do we get fixated on designer labels and all these things? And it's like, man, it it so we we just miss it. We just we just miss it in so many ways.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Absolutely. So then verse 10 goes in and says, But the rich should take pride in their humiliation. Okay. All right, so he's uh flipping the lens here. Yeah, he's talk talking to a rich believer that says they should take pride in something that's unexpected, that's humiliation. Yeah. Um you know, when you think of that, uh and because we are certainly certainly blessed. Right. Um, when you think about the humiliation, we should it that's the leveling effect in some ways of what Jesus did for us, yeah, of the gospel, the good news. Yes. You know, yeah, we may we may be blessed beyond measure, which we are, but at the same time, we should take pride in something of our humiliation because this richness thing is gonna pass away like a flower.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Yeah, Jesus said, you know, when when you go to a banquet, don't assume because of your position you you have a seat at the head table. He said, much, much better if you sit somewhere where it's it's more humble, and then the guest says, What are you doing here? You know, the host, and it says, You need to sit up here rather than the opposite where you assume a higher position, then go, I'm sorry, you're in someone else's seat, you're you're over here next to the kitchen, you know. But James spends a lot of time on this because you know, we we see someone walk into church and like, oh, but you know, we need to pay attention. And then we see a homeless guy and it's like, yeah, I don't want to throw you out, but you know, can you can you you know be somewhere else? You know, exactly. Why why does it matter? And so James is is like you said, it's all equal at the cross, and so he's trying to level this playing field in and how we think and how we perceive people.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Right, and and also the gospel, you know, it reminds those that are wealthy, you know, we all are, uh, that their status doesn't save them.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Um, their possessions are aren't going to define who they are, uh, their influence on others is not going to impress God, uh, and more more importantly, uh their life is temporary just like everybody else's. Um so then he uses he uses that image of passes away like a flower. And you when you think about it, and this writer says this it says, in the Middle East, wildflowers bloom brilliantly for a moment and then wither under the scorching wind. Yeah. So when you when he writes this to these these Jewish Christians that are spread everywhere, he's he's he's drawing a picture. Look, it may look good for a minute, yeah, but it's gonna be gone the next minute.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah, it takes me back to Jonah chapter four, where God raises up that plant to give him shade, and then the worm eats the plant and he's all mad that the you know the shade's gone. And and so that is how it works. And but but even where we don't have that severe heat in in our part of the country, we know things are temporary. Right. We we know life is short, and so we get all fixated on the wrong things. We need to look at eternity.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Right. And you know, uh talk again a little bit about that word humiliation. Isn't that an unexpected thing for James to say here for those who are are wealthy?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Well, it goes goes back to that persecution, it goes back to that trials, those tribulations. And so if if you're an affluent person and when you have a bad day, you get all upset. You know. And James is saying, don't be all upset. Thank God that that you're alive to to have this bump in the road. Sure. And and just see it as a bump in the road. And and the bump may be bad. I mean, it could be cancer, it could be bankruptcy, it could be a terrible thing, but God's still on his throne.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Right. He's still he's still the ruler over everything. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Wow, that's that's great. Well, he takes this thing that will pass away like a flower from verse 10, and and he continues this in verse 11. 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. Yeah. So he's just extending this flower metaphor, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

He he is, but it also, you know, it takes you back to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Be careful where you lay up your treasures. Right. Do we have an earthly perspective or do we have a heavenly perspective? Right, exactly. And and so we're so fixated on you know our retirement fund and our health benefits and you know generational wealth going to you know our heirs and the heirs beyond, and it's and it's like if we're obsessed with those things, then that's what we're fixed on. Right. But if we're fixed on eternal heavenly things, then we're more concerned about those things. And so James is saying, get your mind right, get your heart right. Exactly. And he's not saying there's anything, he didn't say in verse 10, rich is bad. No, he said when when you don't have everything going your way, be happy in it. Right. You know, because you still are uh who you are in Christ. And so he's not saying, you know, being poor is is something we're not supposed to take a vow of poverty, right? But we're not supposed to make more out of this world than we ought to.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

There you go. Good point. So that takes us all the way up to verse 12. Yeah. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. Well, he he gets back to this theme of trials again, and he's telling us blessed, and that that means being deeply satisfied and approved by God.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah, I don't really think he's ever straight. I I get the whole popcorn idea here, but I really think he's integrated this theme from verse two all the way to verse three. I do too. I I agree. Uh uh so I think he's kind of bookended. Uh, but what what's the first word there in verse 12? Uh blessed. Yeah. Have you heard that before?

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Yeah, I have.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Where?

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Uh in the uh Sermon on the Mount. Imagine that. Isn't that something?

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Here's a third one. Here it is a third one. Okay. So, you know, and and does it sound like one of the ones that Jesus said? It does. Yeah, the last one. The very last one. Blessed is the one who faces persecution. Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Yeah. Having stood the test. I mean, he James is really re-rewording it in a way. He he is. Oh my goodness. That that is so good. Um, and so having stood the test, uh, that just shows that you're you're being proven genuine. Um it's it's kind of like and I've used this example before when I was a jeweler uh and I heated up that gold and it would spin around, you get all the impurities out. That's kind of what I think of when he says having stood the test. You know, God is refining us and and getting those impurities out of us. And so uh that's what I picture when I say when I read having stood the test. Yeah. Um so talk about the uh reward, the crown of life.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

You know, we like those words.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

Oh, don't we though?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Yeah, and so I I think we've gotta we've gotta really look at that because again, if God knows the the motives of our heart when we're praying, He knows also the motives we have for why we do what we do. And uh there is such duplicity in what we do and why we do it. Right. And uh sometimes I don't even think we know our own motives. We we may convince ourselves I'm doing this for good things and not my own personal benefit, but man, it's it's it's tough. So are we doing good things for the benefit of a crown or a jewel? Do do we say as we're patting ourselves on the back for doing something, well, I just got another jewel in my crown for that one?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

And I think if that's our attitude, if I was God, I'd take it away.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Be gone.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Because what we do, James is not telling us to do these things to receive this crown. He's just saying, God's seeing what you're doing and why you're doing it. Right. But if we're doing it for the benefit of a crown, then then I mean, what's what's the point?

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

I I have to go back to Revelation 4 because it creates this scene of heaven that I think we have to capture. We've we make heaven all kinds of things, and again, we paint it a heaven that we want. And in in Revelation 4, we've we've got the throne, we've got the the elders, and and everyone's crying out, holy, holy, holy. And then it says, and you they take off their crowns and they lay it at the feet of Jesus. Right. And so for me, that's like what whatever I lived in my life, whatever blessings I had, whatever trials I I faced, whatever circumstances, whatever I re received as a reward, I didn't do it for me, I did it for you. And so I'm taking everything I've received as a reward, and I'm just saying, it's it's yours, it's not mine. Right. Oh, that's so good. And so if that's how we're living our life, then we're persevering not for us to get the credit, not for us to get the crown, but to live a life again that reflects and gives God the glory.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

That's exactly right. And and you know, it's so interesting that he says there in 12 that blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because once you've stood the test, that person's gonna receive the crown of life that was promised.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yeah, and and I like the way you that you put that, Peter, about you know, sometimes we think of heaven, our our views of heaven as just, well, I just gotta have a mansion over the hilltop. Right. You know, and I can't wait to in that mansion there uh there are many rooms. Yeah. In my father's house, there are many rooms, and I've gone to prepare a place for you. And so we think about this room that we're gonna get that's been prepared for us. Yeah. Instead of thinking about, you know, the one who perseveres through the trial is the one who's gonna get this crown. And and you know, when we think about that, I want a crown that Jesus is going to give me for what he's done for me in my life and what I've tried to do for him.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Yeah. You know, we receive the crown of life, you know, and honestly, outside of that, all of it's just just bonus. Oh, it is. And so if if we're living the life of of having this eternity that God's given us, then everything we do here on this earth is just saying thank you. Right. It's not trying to re get more rewards, it's not trying to earn all these things. It's it it's not that mindset, but that's who we are in our humanity. Is you know, well, look at I I was I was top salesman, you know, and I I I got a I got a bonus, and I work harder than everybody else. And and so it if we think we're gonna get to heaven and God's gonna look through my uh resume and say, Well, I see you uh did this kind of thing, and look oh, look at how much you you gave there. Right. And then oh, you visit that poor little widow. I see you went there twice, and it's like, oh, how nice of you to do that.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

It's like, no. No, no, no, it's it's it's much different than that.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

It's very different.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah. Uh, you know, this this crown of life uh is not for the strongest, but it's for the most steadfast.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

And so I think if we uh look at it from that standpoint, we're not we're not out here trying to get you know bonus points. I uh it's not like a merit badge for Boy Scouts. Were you in Boy Scouts? Yes, I was. Yeah, and did you get merit badges? Did you I did? Yeah, what was your rank?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Uh I I I I didn't go very far. I was a tenderfoot. You are a tenderfoot. Yeah, I didn't I didn't get get all the way there.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Well, I didn't I didn't get to Eagle Scout either. I didn't. But uh it was fun where working on merit badges. Yeah. And you know, God is not looking at our merit badges to give us this crown of life. No, he's looking at how we endured through the persecution that that comes to our lives and how we persevere through those. That's how we get that.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, heaven's still ours. Yeah. No, James is not taking that away, but what he's saying is do we live a life that reflects our relationship with God? And so we receive these things not because of they're not ediboys, they're not merit badges, they're just a reflection of good service back to I'm a bond servant of Christ.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Oh, that's so good. That that's excellent. Well, that is going to wrap up verse 12. We we're all the way 9 through 12 in today's episode. Peter, how how do you feel about doing four verses in one uh podcast? I think we did well.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Because we started out just doing two.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

So we've doubled it. All right. Well, thank you so much for listening to Two Brothers One Bible Podcast. I'm Robert Wakefield. I'm Peter Sears. And we will begin in verse 13 of chapter one in our next podcast. Thank you so much for listening and God bless. And we are tearing it up, ain't we?