Week 23: No Respecter of Persons, But You’ll Become Respectable
Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower in the grass he will pass away.
James 1:9
Jack Whittaker worked his way up from poverty to owning a West Virginia contracting company. At the company's height, Jack was bringing in 15 million in annual contracts. On Christmas day 2002 Jack made a decision that would alter the course of his life. The decision is one that so many of us have perhaps dreamed of making. Jack bought a lottery ticket and won 314.9 million dollars. What seemed like a dream quickly became a nightmare. Seven years after winning he’d lost his business to frivolous lawsuits, his wife to money-related debauchery, and his granddaughter to a money-related murder. His comment to E! Entertainment Television showed the real price he paid for that dollar ticket. He said,"I think if you have something, there's always someone else that wants it. I wish I'd torn that ticket up."
When James writes that the believer in poverty is exalted, and the one in wealth is in humility, the Jack Whittakers of the world demonstrate the comment. The problem is that we think the opposite. We believe that those in poverty are humbled, and the rich are exalted. That’s the way of the world, and that’s our way too, but the gospel always reverses things. The gospel is a juxtaposition, an antithesis, or an antitype. It’s going against the flow of so many of our most comfortable and fixed ideas.
The context of James 1 is centered on how everyone encounters trials, and the conclusion is one of those uncomfortable juxtapositions. Trials are no respecter of persons. Rich or poor, you will have them. The irony is that the trial will have opposite effects depending on your status. If you are poor, they do a work in you that brings exaltation. You’ve lived in hardships, so the trial will only show off the endurance and strength God has worked in your life. If you depend and trust in your riches, the trial will humble you. You will be humbled because you’ll find that your money can’t always bring the fix. So often the poor already know this.
Either way, the trial is there to sanctify you. It’s either going to show you to be a stronger person who lives by faith, or it’s going to show where you indiscriminately placed your trust. A trial will cause the lowly sister to boast in her exultation. God has brought the trial and you have been exalted in your response. You have honored God in considering it joy that you have faced these trials. You know that life has been a trial, and that has brought endurance and God’s perfect work.
The opposite is that God has used the trial to humble you and cause you once again to trust in His goodness. The trial has been sobering, and God used it to show you how drunk you were on the riches of the world. Trials are no respecter of persons, but they make you more respectable.
Personally, I don’t want trials. I say that in full confession that such a statement is not biblical. I confess, I am a sinner saved by grace, and this sinner does not want to deal with trials. I feel as if I am going into a trial, through one, or coming out of one. The trials I worry over today will mean little in six months because I will have a whole new set. It’s good because nothing is permanent, but it is bad because nothing under the sun is stable. I am not sure if that is comforting or psychotic.
Though I don’t want trials, God has told me in Scripture that they must come. Not that they will come, but that they must come. They must because I need them. God uses trials in my growth. Rich or poor, it will have the needed effect. The application is that I am not going to put my trust in riches. I am going to take the trial and see the growth.
The same is true for you. Right now, you are either entering a trial, going through it, or coming out. Don’t grow weary in well doing, for we will reap a harvest if we don’t give up. We all want to win the proverbial lottery, but the truth is, such things would only cause more needed humility.
I imagine that your students are going through trials as well. God can use you to bring them comfort in the midst of them. Don’t try to get them out of them. Don’t try to explain them away. They are good for believers. Remember, “Consider it joy when you face trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance (James 1:2-3).”
To work in Christian Education we have to have character, but we need it regardless. We will have it in this life. That’s God’s wisdom. God will bring character to you through your trials, and they will have lasting effect.
Discussion Questions:
The Bible often pits opposites. What are some juxtapositions that Scripture gives in other areas?
Truth be told, we are all, to some degree, affluent (travel abroad if you don’t believe that). How can we help affluent students see the value of trials?
What biblical counsel can we give to students and fellow teachers in various trials?
