James 2:5-7 – “Abased and Abounding”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen for Himself the very poor ones to the world [to be] rich ones in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to ones loving Him? ⁶But you, you have dishonored the very poor one. Are not the rich ones oppressing you and they, they are dragging you into court? ⁷They, are not they blaspheming the beautiful Name, the one by which you [are] called ones?

I’m still marveling at this matter of spiritual vision and how greatly we err without it. By depending on our own physical sight and darkened judgment we end up valuing the worthless and despising the good.

Again (and contrary to my earlier cursory impressions), while this whole matter of the unjust usher may seem trivial, James is exposing it as heinous. The underlying sins go far beyond the prejudiced seating of a man in church one morning. This valuing of things without spiritual judgment is precisely the sin that destroys the world -- the very sin that makes it hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven. It is this sin that allows for oppression in our world and even leads to blasphemy. Not to “see things as they are” is obviously a very dangerous business.

Speaking of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “Everything they do is done for men to see” (Matt 23:5). Still to this day, even believers fall for their ruse when we allow our hearts to be impressed with outward appearances, rather than allowing the Lord to give us spiritual discernment. Congregations select leaders based on glitter rather than godliness, then suffer under their godless leadership.

God help us!  I would cry again with Bartimaeus, “Rabbi, I want to see!”

I think this business of values is the larger point of this entire passage, but, while I’m here and because the Lord does touch on the subject, I particularly want to think about this matter of rich and poor. Back in chapter 1 the Lord helped me to see how that wealth really is like a loaded gun – potentially a very useful tool but a very dangerous one at that.

Here we find this great enigma, that God “has chosen the poor to be rich in faith.” On the one hand, we certainly don’t think of the poor as being rich! Everyone buys a lottery ticket believing that somehow wealth will make them happy. But on the other hand, in our more sentimental moments, we do concede that there are advantages to being poor. Even in secular thinking, once in a while we have to acknowledge that poor people are spared a great deal of anxiety, that they live much “simpler” lives, that their homes may be filled with love, while the homes of the rich are filled with strife and bitterness, etc. We watch the rich and beautiful get richer and richer until they commit suicide, while the poor get up in the morning and go back to work … again.

I think what we’re seeing is just the tip of the spiritual iceberg (which remains largely out of our sight). God says the poor are the ones He has chosen to be “rich in faith, and as we would ponder the matter, it is, of course obvious why this is true. As F.B. Meyer said, “The rich man may trust Him; but the poor man must.”

As it says in Proverbs, “a rich man’s wealth is his fortified city,” … or at least that is what he thinks. Wealth projects the illusion of shelter. The rich man imagines in his heart he doesn’t need God. He can “take care of himself.” The poor man harbors no such illusions. The beautiful girl doesn’t think she needs God to find her a husband. The brilliant student doesn’t think he needs God to help him pass the test. The gifted athlete doesn’t think he needs God to help him win the race. Then there’s the rest of us. We learn early to pray hard! It’s not difficult to see how our “poverty” (whether it’s financial or otherwise) actually inclines our hearts toward faith.

Probably part of the problem is that there is an element of truth in the rich man’s delusions. Wealth can in many ways shield a person from discomfort and suffering.

Another way that “poverty” helps us arises from the very fact that we often can’t shelter ourselves from discomfort and suffering. There may be a lot of things we “need” but simply have to do without because we cannot afford them. We may suffer a great deal of discomfort and pain, knowing there is a “way out” but also knowing it is simply “out of our reach.” But knowing the pain of “doing without” actually makes us more compassionate to others who suffer. It is often the case that the sheltered rich come up sadly short of mercy. They don’t know how much it hurts to do without and they find no room in their hearts for pity. It has always been true that the most generous people in the world are usually the poorest. The “shelter” of wealth no doubts feeds the possibility of the wealthy’s heartless oppression.

There is one more way I’d like to note that poverty emerges to our advantage. Wealth in many ways provides an opportunity for wickedness. Someone once said, “Many have the will, but lack the power.” Poverty in any form will put various wickednesses out of our reach. I’ve said for years it was a great advantage to me as a young man to always have to be careful with my money. There were a lot of things I never did, never tried, mainly because I simply didn’t want to spend the money! We probably don’t realize how gracious the Lord is for keeping a great deal of temptation simply out of our reach. If we could have it, we might just take it. But it is actually a mercy that I simply cannot. Once again, wealth opens the door. That is of course why so many celebrities self-destruct. It’s because they can. It’s probably why it is almost impossible for a child-star to grow up and not completely self-destruct. They do because they can. It’s been said by the wise we should thank the Lord both for what He gives and what He withholds!

Having said all of this, of course we all know that poverty doesn’t guarantee faith. But it is equally true that wealth does hinder it. Spiritual vision would allow us to see that much of what this world calls wealth is not nearly as important as we think. In fact, we need to learn to value the more important things, love, joy, and peace, and then let the Lord teach us to be content “whether we are abased or abound.”

What greater wealth could there be than to be chosen by God, made heirs of His kingdom, and to be numbered among those who love Him? Those are the riches of faith. We certainly need to thank the Lord not only for what He provides but also what He withholds. I’m so glad He is wise. And I’m glad He is teaching me to be content in His wisdom. May He find me a willing student.