Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 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.

Upon a first reading, it might appear that James has suddenly changed topics, but I don’t believe that he has. In verse 2, he started by giving encouragement to those experiencing various trials, and in verse 12 he will return to the topic by pronouncing a blessing upon those who remain steadfast under trial. I believe that in these verses, he’s simply speaking to a particular kind of trial, that which we experience when there’s an imbalance between our monetary resources and our monetary needs.

The Bible has quite a lot to say about money, and how we use it and relate to it. I believe God realized that money would become a significant problem for us, and therein become a “trial” for Christians.

We tend to believe that we identify more with the poverty side of the equation, but for those of us living in 21st century America, we should realize we don’t know what true poverty is.

We are far more likely to face the trial of having resources far in excess of our needs, which may turn out to be a far more difficult trial for our faith. When we have all we need and more, it’s all to easy to forget that we are really dependent upon God for everything. It’s also far too easy to hoard that which we have for our own future, rather than looking to bless someone else’s present and depend upon God for our future.

As I write this in the scorching heat of a Mississippi summer, the illustration of the heat withering the grass is most instructive. Like the grass outside, I won’t be here forever, nor even for very long, so it’s of ultimate importance to get the eternal perspective right. Just like James’ “rich man”, you and I will fade away in the midst of our pursuits.

The “humiliation” of the rich brings joy because it brings the rich back to dependence upon and fellowship with God. When we have God’s provision for our lives and His forgiveness for our eternity, we are truly rich, and that can never be taken away.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

My first thought upon reading this passage is amazement at James’ starting with “if”. IF anyone lacks wisdom? Who doesn’t? In comparison to our infinite and eternal God, human wisdom doesn’t even exist! If????

James’ point here, however, isn’t to cast doubt upon whether we may lack wisdom or not. His point is to ask God whenever we come to our senses and recognize our ongoing lack of wisdom. How often I forget that! I should be asking for God’s guidance and wisdom each day before I even get out of bed. So often, however, I roll out of bed and launch into my day, pursuing my own agenda and going about my business in my own way. May God forgive my arrogance!!!

Another mistake I make (although I’m far from alone in this) is that I seek wisdom in all the wrong places. I’ll ask friends, or relatives for opinions and guidance. I’ll look it up on Google, or find a relevant video on YouTube. Where I fail, however, is to run all those streams of pseudo-wisdom through the filters of God’s Word and of prayer.

James also encourages us to ask of God in faith. If we doubt that God will grant us what we need when we come to Him, then we doubt either (1) His goodness, desiring to give us what we need, or (2) His ability to provide for us as we need. Both God’s goodness and His power are fundamental attributes of God. If we doubt these, we doubt the existence of God as the Bible defines Him to be.

David spoke to this in Proverbs 3:5-8; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.“

If I trust the Lord with all my heart, I leave no room for doubt to creep in. If I trust the Lord with all my heart, I leave no room for my own understanding. If I trust the Lord with all my heart, submitting to Him will be the least of my problems, and He will bless me by making my paths straight.

If I ask God for my needs in doubt, I’m asking a “god” of my own invention; a “god” with imperfect goodness and incomplete power. I’m asking a “god” that doesn’t exist, so it’s only sensible that I’ll receive nothing from a partially-good and only-somewhat-powerful “god”. I won’t receive anything from the Lord my God, because I didn’t ask Him!

In Mark chapter 9, a man brings his son to Jesus to be healed of an evil spirit. In their conversation, the man said “If you can do anything, have compassion on us …”. Jesus responded “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” We can easily identify with the man. He had enough hope to bring his son to Jesus, and he had enough faith in Jesus’ goodness to ask for a blessing. Upon hearing Jesus’ rebuke, he immediately responded with “I believe; help my unbelief!” Although he believed in Jesus’ goodness and hoped he could believe in Jesus’ power, he recognized his own weakness in faith. His prayer, “help my unbelief“, should be mine also!

How can I live a stable, God-honoring life? It starts, according to James and David, by trusting the Lord with all my heart. May our loving God make it so in my life.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

How many of us “count it joy” when we come face-to-face with the trial du jour? One thing we can be sure of: we will have trouble! In John 16, Jesus said to His disciples “In the world you will have tribulation.” If trouble is guaranteed to His disciples, we can be sure it is guaranteed to us as well.

An incident is brought to mind from many years ago in the Mobile (AL) airport. It was a Friday afternoon, the terminal was filled with business travelers tired and ready to go home, and our flight was canceled! I joined the line at the ticket desk with about 120 other people to re-book the ticket home.

As it turned out, the man immediately in front of me in line was the one who got to the ticket desk and totally lost his mind! He was screaming, pounding the desk with his fist, and threatening the poor, overworked ticket agent. I was shocked at his behavior, and shocked again that airport security didn’t come running to the rescue. To this day, I’m not sure how she managed to get him to walk away, but at long last, he left.

As I approached the desk, I saw her take a deep breath, close her eyes momentarily, and steel herself for another verbal onslaught. As I took those few steps, I thought to myself “Here’s my opportunity to make a difference.” I started off with my best smile, a quick glance over my shoulder, and the comment “If I had known who I was following in line, I would have brought you a great big bottle of Excedrin!”

She smiled, relaxed, and I’m pleased to say that the rest of the conversation went steadily uphill from there. Although I had a two-hour bus ride to Pensacola, she expressed her appreciation with a first-class seat from Pensacola to Charlotte.

The “trial” of a cancelled flight was certainly not a joy, but the opportunity to make a positive difference in someone’s life was a far greater joy than the temporary inconvenience of a cancelled flight. The lesson here is that we can find joy in our moments of trial, if we but look at the situation with eyes open to the opportunities our Lord puts before us.

The exercise of patience and compassion, and reliance on faith, results ultimately in spiritual maturity. That spiritual maturity brings us a quiet, peaceful joy, which may not be achieved in any other way.

So, the lesson I’m taking from these few verses is to find joy in the testing of my faith. I will find that joy first in opportunities to exercise patience, kindness and compassion. I will continue to find joy and satisfaction in the recognition of spiritual maturity which God is building within me, day by day, trial by trial.

As God’s people, we work for God in many small ways; a smile and a handshake to a stranger on Sunday morning; a coat of paint on a platform backdrop; driving a cart around the extended parking to bring worshipers into the sanctuary.

Sometimes we also take on major projects, like opening a new church campus, or extending and remodeling the building in which we teach and worship.

In any of these, but particularly in these larger projects, we may face opposition. Actually, opposition (or persecution) has been promised: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:20). Nehemiah chapter 5 describes the internal opposition which Nehemiah had to overcome. This chapter describes the external opposition.

Who was Sanballet? My research revealed him to be a Samaritan. Samaria was a “mixed race” land, combining Israelites who had not been taken to Assyria with the Assyrians who had come in to take over the homes and farms of the displaced Israelites. Over time, there was intermarriage, as well as a mixing of Israelite and pagan worship. In the New Testament, Samaritans were generally looked down upon by the Judeans as a lesser people, but during the time of Nehemiah, it seems they had the upper hand. Sanballat himself was probably pagan, as his name means “the Sumerian moon god gave life”. As far as I could discover, Sanballat’s opposition to Nehemiah seems to have been a simple hatred between warring factions of a formerly-united nation.

I’ve found somewhat less about Tobiah, but we know he was an Ammonite, a descendant of Ben-Ammi, a son of Lot by his daughter. This would make the Ammonites very distant relatives of the Israelites, but they were a separate nation often in conflict with the Israelites. While Tobiah’s opposition may also have arisen out of his animosity towards the Israelites, he may have also had a commercial motive. Nehemiah 13 records Tobiah taking advantage of his relationship with Eliashib, a priest, to make use of storage spaces in the temple for his own businesses.

I found even less information about Geshem the Arab, but that may be all we need to know. The Arab nation began with the birth if Ismael, as recorded in Genesis 16. Even before his birth, the angel of the Lord described Ismael’s future as “his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him“. Geshem’s opposition to Nehemiah was probably pure animosity.

This chapter is mostly a story, but we find applicable teachings and applications in the details. Amid false accusations of treachery against the king, Nehemiah is tempted to go into hiding by Shemaiah, who had been hired by Sanballet for just that purpose. Nehemiah writes “For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, …”

Why would it have been a sin to fear the very real plot to lure Nehemiah into an assassination? God had put this mission on Nehemiah’s heart, and was obviously blessing him in its fulfillment (refer back to chapter 2). One of the most-frequently repeated commands throughout the Bible is “fear not”, or some linguistic variation thereof. This appears in the ESV at least 67 times.

When we’re doing God’s work, we need never fear. 1 John 4:18 tells us “perfect love casts out fear”. Just a few verses earlier, John writes “God is love”. When we fear, we mistrust God’s perfect love, which should be casting out our fear. In mistrusting God’s love, we are really denying a fundamental attribute of God; denying that God is who He is. THAT is sin!

OK, so how do I apply this? To the best of my knowledge, nobody’s planning to assassinate me! My fears tend to arise in much smaller tasks, which are nevertheless important in God’s work. Invite my neighbor to church? I need not fear my neighbor’s response, whatever it may be. Volunteer for a job at church? I need not fear getting “stuck” in a job I’m no good at. Do I trust that God will provide what I need to do His will?

Yes, I do need to be constant in prayer, and always do my best to align my will, my plans, and my work with His divine will. God will equip me for what He wants me to do. He probably won’t equip me for what I decided I want to do. If I humbly ask Him in prayer, He will help me to discern the difference.

This weekend Brandon Connor will be teaching from Nehemiah 5. I have no idea yet where he’s going with that lesson, but I’ve tried to read ahead and at least be prepared by knowing the scripture and making myself ready to learn. Part of that process is to discern my own lessons and applications from the scripture text.

In this chapter, the residents of Jerusalem are complaining about the (primarily financial) abuses of the wealthy among them. It seems that a few had much greater access to food, and were accepting ruinous payments, crippling interest rates, mortgages on fields, and even servitude of the children in exchange for food! Nehemiah was “very angry” when he heard this, and for good reason.

First, this is simply a horrible way to treat your kinsmen. Remember that all these Jews were descendants of a common ancestor, Israel. That kinship is why they were called “Israelites”. Second, what the “nobles and officials” were doing was a direct violation of the law of Moses. (Exodus 22:25) “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.” The same instruction is repeated in Leviticus 25:36-37 and in Deuteronomy 23:19.

I’ll give the nobles and officials credit for this one thing: when Nehemiah called an assembly and leveled these charges against them, “they were silent and could not find a word to say.” Compare that to how we might respond when someone charges us with unethical or ungodly behavior. Aren’t we quick to make excuses, rationalize, or blame others? This is a lesson we can learn even from these sinful officials: when we’re caught in our sin, make no excuses!

Nehemiah went on to order that restitution be made to those who had been harmed. V. 11: “Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.” Again to their credit, the officials’ response was immediate and commendable. V. 12: “We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say.”

Once again, this is a lesson in how we should respond when we’ve been called out for our sin. God doesn’t want our excuses; He wants our obedience!

Our God also wants us to become compassionate, merciful people. Jesus told a parable in Matthew chapter 18, where a servant was forgiven a debt of 10,000 talents. One commentator described this amount as the value of 200,000 days of labor! Having been forgiven his debt, the servant then went out and threw into prison a debtor who owed him 100 denarii, or about 100 days’ worth of labor.

The application to us should be obvious! Jesus died for ALL our sins, past, present and future. We were bound for eternal separation from God, and Jesus restored our right relationship with Him so that we can live in harmony with our Creator forever. In contrast to this, no one can ever owe us any comparable debt. There is nothing that can happen to us in our lives which we should not forgive. No one can sin against us to the extent that we have sinned against our Creator.

In the remainder of the chapter, Nehemiah reviews how he has cared for his people, and how generous he has been to them. Like Nehemiah, our lives should be characterized by generosity. Nehemiah ends the chapter with this prayer for himself: “Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.” Neither his good deeds nor ours will save us from our sins; only faith in Jesus can do that. We will, however, be rewarded in heaven for the good things we’ve done here. As Jesus said in Matthew 6, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

Before we explore personal applications of this passage, we must first dig into the phrase “to you to keep you from falling away“, as the ESV translates it. Other translations use similar words (NIV, Berean). It is perhaps better translated in the New King James as “should not be made to stumble“, a translation also found in the Legacy Standard. The New American Standard renders the Greek translation as “will not be led into sin“.

The difference here is that some translations can leave the reader with the impression that Jesus is talking about His disciples abandoning their faith in Him through their own weakness or character defect. That doesn’t appear to be what Jesus actually said. The Greek word being translated by these phrases is “skandalisthēte“, meaning to entrap or entice to sin. Our English word “scandal” actually finds its origins here.

To understand this phrase as indicating an outside malicious action leading to a stumble aligns much more closely with Jesus’ further explanation in the following verses, referring to future persecution. When Jesus says “whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God“, we cannot help but think of Saul in Acts chapter 8. When Jesus says “they will do these things because they have not known the Father“, we’re reminded of a converted Saul, now called Paul, writing his first chapter of his letter to the Romans. “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

In the United States, at least as of 2022, they’re not yet murdering Christians for the offense of following Christ. That certainly does happen in other parts of the world, and in observing the progression of official policies and legal precedents, I can’t rule it out of our future. We do have, however, many in this secular world who would put up stumbling blocks, or enticements to sin. The modern internet is chock full of “skandalisthēte” (traps, enticements to sin), as is most of our entertainment media.

Jesus knew that people would try to draw His disciples away from Him, and He knew His disciples would not withstand the stumbling blocks thrown in front of them without His encouragement! That’s why He promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (16:13)

Am I standing firm for Jesus? Are you? Are we depending upon the Spirit of Truth to guide us daily, so that we can hold onto God’s truth and reject the lies of the world?

“Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'”

This story begins with Jesus’ purpose for being where He was. He was at the temple to teach. He taught a powerful lesson to those who came to Him to listen. He taught a powerful lesson to the woman who was brought before him. We can only hope the lesson was learned also by the Pharisees who brought this woman to Jesus. If we are indeed wise, we will allow Jesus to teach us as well.

When the Pharisees said to Jesus “Moses commanded us to stone such women“, they were telling only half of the truth. The actual quote comes from Deuteronomy 22:22: “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.” Isn’t is typical of sinful mankind to pick out the elements of God’s truth beneficial to us, and to ignore the rest?

Why did Jesus write on the ground? The Bible doesn’t tell us what He wrote, or why. I don’t believe it really matters. This is just my own speculation, but I believe the act of writing on the ground gave the Pharisees time to think about what they were saying (unfortunately, they didn’t), and then again to think about what Jesus had said to them.

Jesus never said that everyone who cast a stone need be perfectly sinless. He only said that the stoning should begin with a sinless person. Jesus never said that the woman should not be stoned. He only said that her accusers should think carefully about their own sin.

Jesus already knew that none of the woman’s accusers could meet His qualification to cast the first stone. He knew that, a few years hence, Paul would write in Romans chapter 3 “None is righteous“. Jesus Himself was the only one there who could meet that qualification, but He chose not to cast the first stone!

After the Pharisees had time to realize their own sinful unworthiness and drifted away, Jesus said to the woman “Neither do I condemn you“. We might interpret that as meaning that her sin was forgiven; Jesus had the authority to do just that. We might interpret that simply meaning that Jesus, although fully qualified to cast the first stone, chose not to do so. Either way, His mercy was not a license to continue in sin, and He made that clear to her. “Go, and from now on sin no more.”

What are we to take away from this scripture for ourselves? I am so thankful that our Adult Life Group teacher, Bill Bailey, has taught me the importance of life applications. Here’s a piece of God’s Word; what does it really say? What does it teach me today? How am I to apply this to my life?

In this case, it is a reminder that we all stand on equal ground at the foot of the cross; we are all sinners, unworthy to stand in the presence of a Holy God. My own sin, without Jesus’ intervention, separates me from God as far as the East is from the West. No one else’s sin separates them from God farther than mine does.

This should speak volumes to me about how I treat a brother or sister caught in a sin which is exposed in public. To shun that person, to withhold my compassion, is to arrogantly cast the first metaphorical stone.

I have to ask myself, am I more blind to my own sin than even the Pharisees? Even they had the good sense to walk away from condemnation. Do I?

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.“

As you read this verse in the context of the chapter, you can easily discern that it is Jesus speaking these words.

Jesus, of whom John wrote in chapter 1 “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Jesus, of whom it is written in the first chapter of Hebrews “he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

Jesus, of whom Paul wrote to the Philippians “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

THIS Jesus, creator of all things, sustainer of the universe, holder of the name above all names, to whom every knee will bow, THIS Jesus said “I can do nothing on my own.”

That thumping sound you hear in the background should be jaws hitting the floor.

THIS Jesus said “I seek not my own will”.

I sincerely hope and pray I will learn the lessons of this verse!! If Jesus does nothing on His own, nothing apart from the Father, whatever gives me the notion that I have any right to direct my own steps? If Jesus seeks not His own will, what right do I have to ever seek my own will?

And yet, isn’t that the fundamental problem? What is sin, but to do my own thing apart from God, seeking to follow my own will and ignore His. I cannot think of any sin that doesn’t begin, doesn’t have its deepest roots in the seeking of ones own will, in the desire to do what we want apart from God and independent of His will.

This may well be what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Philippians “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

Will I learn the lesson of ultimate humility? Will you?

“Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.“

“He [Jesus] said this to test him [Philip].” A most curious encounter, and I think, one from which we can learn.

God tests people. Jesus tested Philip. It’s not much of a stretch from there to think that someday, somehow, God may test me. Actually, I believe he already has.

When I test something, or someone, I’m usually doing that to learn something. Before I jump into the pool, I may test the water with my toe … I don’t want to swim if it’s too cold!

God, however, knows everything. He cannot learn anything from testing, because He already knows. If Jesus didn’t need to learn anything by testing Philip, he must have tested him so that Philip could learn something! What we can learn from this is that it is characteristic of God to help us learn things about ourselves, about God, and about our relationship to Him by testing us.

As we read on, we find that Philip was indeed ready to learn something about Jesus, and needed to learn something about Jesus. What was Philip’s response to Jesus question?

“Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”” Philip’s immediate response was self-reliance. He was ready to spend what money he had, or that the group of disciples had, to buy bread from local merchants.

It wouldn’t have been enough.

Whenever we rely on our own resources, like Philip did, it will never be enough. Only our great God is sufficient to meet our needs.

How will I apply these lessons to my own life? Here’s how …

1. I will remember that God tests His people as a means of teaching them. When I face a test in life, I’ll ask myself “What does God want me to learn from this?”

2. I will rely upon God. I will remember that my own resources are insufficient to address my problems; only God is sufficient.

Speaking of sufficiency, I’m really looking forward to blogging about Andrew’s action in verse 8!