Did you hear about the row Forbes magazine caused? Its latest issue included a list of the wealthiest people in the world. 26th on the list is Saudi prince Alwaleed and he’s not happy with this ranking. Forbes valued him at a paltry $20 billion prompting Alwaleed to claim that if the magazine had also counted his assets like jewelry and yachts, he would have easily cracked the top ten. I don’t suppose you feel sorry for the prince. It’s hard to admire those who brag about how much they have. We think people like that need to be taken down a notch or two.
That’s also the way God thinks of the proud. Whether you have 20 billion dollars or just 20, the Apostle James urges you to fall on your knees before the Lord. It’s the only way you’ll get on your feet. Let’s find out why that is.
Just to be clear, today’s sermon is not about how to be included in the next list of billionaires. That’s not what I mean when I speak about getting on your feet. The world may put a premium on earthly riches but the Bible does not. Listen to what the psalmist said: “So don’t be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune. They can’t take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they’ve arrived and folks praise them because they’ve made good, they enter the family burial plot where they’ll never see sunshine again. We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die” (Psalm 49:16-20 Message translation).
The only treasure we have now that will allow us to outlast the grave is faith in the one true God. Faith doesn’t just mean acknowledging that God exists. Even the demons do that (James 2:19). Faith means valuing and trusting God more than anything else – even more than ourselves. Look for that point in our short sermon text. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:6b-10).
Just as a tree must send its roots deep in the earth so that it can reach the nourishment it needs to grow tall and bear fruit, sinners must first root themselves in God-pleasing humility or they will never be able to stand up in God’s presence (Augustine). That’s what James was getting at when he said that we should “Grieve, mourn, wail, and change our laughter to mourning and our joy to gloom” (James 4:9). Laughter is not always the best medicine – not if I laugh about my sins like when I brag about how I deceived my parents about what I was doing Friday night. Nor is God impressed with those who laugh about how drunk they got at the last wedding reception, or chuckle about how far over the speed limit they drove to make it down to Calgary in under three hours. What sins did you laugh about last week? Was it really funny how you pestered your big sister? Was it amusing how you feigned busyness at work? God’s not laughing. Nor should you.
Have I just sucked all the joy out of the room? If you feel ashamed about how often you laughed about your sins, you can begin to understand how the younger son felt in our Gospel lesson when he sat among the pigs contemplating just how poorly he had treated his father (Luke 15). He had demanded his share of the inheritance while his father was still living and so he might as well have said: “Dad, I wish you would die already. I can’t stand being around you. I want to ditch this place and live on my terms.” Isn’t that what we often think of our heavenly Father’s rule over us: a burden?
What are sinners like us to do? James gives us the answer: “Come near to God and he will come near to you… Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:8a, 10). Jesus’ parable illustrated James’s point. The father in the parable had never stopped loving his son and longing for his return. When he saw the boy coming over the horizon he ran to meet him. He then forgave the boy before he could even spit out the full apology and gave him new sandals, a coat, a ring, and threw a lavish banquet to celebrate his return. Are you beginning to see how falling on your knees before the Lord is a wonderful posture to adopt? It’s the only way you’ll ever get on your feet, for its only there at the feet of the one true God that hands reach down in the person of Jesus to lift you up. That rescue was accomplished when, unlike the older son in the parable who stood in judgment of his wayward brother, Jesus stood under judgment at the cross taking the blame for our sins.
Jesus has lifted us up on our feet with his forgiveness but where are we to stand now? James tells us: “Submit yourselves, then, to God” (James 4:7a). “Line up under God!” says James. Does that sound like a new kind of slavery? Let me ask you this: did the forgiven son in the parable wake up the morning after his welcome-home banquet and groan as he looked about his room? Did that room in his father’s house seem like a jail cell? Did he wish he was back in that foreign country feeding pigs? Of course not! He woke up with a huge smile on his face, for he was home. He was safe. His father’s loving care was all around him! He was looking forward to serving his father like he never had. We also benefit when we submit to God, for we come home and are safe surrounded by God’s loving care. James explained that truth when he said: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
This verse reminded me of a winter driving lesson my brother and I learned during a blizzard in South Dakota. We pulled up behind a slow-moving snow plough and because we were impatient, decided to pass. But as soon as we swung out into the lane of oncoming traffic, we started spinning and slipping until we drove into the ditch. When we got back on the road we made sure to stick behind the snow plough. Sure, we were driving well below the posted speed limit but that was the best place to be in a blizzard. The plough was clearing the snow and laying down sand ensuring that our car would stay on the highway so that we did reach our destination.
In the same way when James tells us to submit to God, he’s really saying, “Stand behind God’s protecting power.” Don’t think life would be a whole lot more fast and exciting if you swung out on your own. You’re just going to end up slipping on Satan’s temptations and end up somewhere worse than a ditch. No, submit to God. Take your will, your intellect, take all that you have and all that you are and park it behind God’s protecting wisdom and care. Positioned there not even Satan can defy you, for God shoves him aside as easily as a plough will shrug snow from a highway. Only in this way will you reach your destination: heaven.
I don’t know how Prince Alwaleed amassed his fortune but I don’t think he went from rags-to-riches like Oprah who spent her early years in poverty on her grandmother’s farm in Mississippi. With grit and determination Oprah has made it to where she is today – or at least that’s the story. But the truth is if you want to get on your feet forever, and I mean forever, then fall on your knees before the Lord. Don’t make excuses for your sins. Don’t blame your upbringing, your impossible boss, your lack of sleep, or your siblings for your outbursts. Be sad at how you have abused your heavenly Father’s trust and have misused his gifts. And then by God’s grace cling to the forgiveness he has given to you in Jesus. This is the only way to get on your feet. And stay on your feet by submitting to your loving heavenly Father as you daily listen to and put into practice his Word. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
Some have said that laughter is the best medicine. But that’s not always true. When is laughter not good for us?
How did Jesus illustrate these words of James with the Parable of the Prodigal Son? (“Come near to God, and he will come near to you.”)
With forgiveness God lifts up those who have humbled themselves. Where are we to stand now that God has put us on our feet?
How is submitting to God like driving behind a snow plough in a snow storm?
