What Makes You Proud?

James, the younger half brother of Jesus was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem and the writer of the book that carries his name. When I read the book of James, I am struck by the directness of the tone he uses, especially toward those he calls “friends of the world”. James comes down hard on believers that are hearers of the word and not doers of the word. His metric for evaluating our spiritual lives is “are you doing the word” and specifically “are you helping the helpless like widows and orphans”.

In the 4th chapter of his book, James addresses business people about their tendency to neglect God’s will and their focus on financial success instead of spiritual success. He tells them that they are more proud and boast about what they have accomplished on their own rather than proud of what God has done for them. Let us look at the discussion.

JAMES 4:13-17 NOW LISTEN, YOU WHO SAY, “TODAY OR TOMORROW WE WILL GO TO THIS OR THAT CITY, SPEND A YEAR THERE, CARRY ON BUSINESS AND MAKE MONEY.” 14 WHY, YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TOMORROW. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? YOU ARE A MIST THAT APPEARS FOR A LITTLE WHILE AND THEN VANISHES. 15 INSTEAD, YOU OUGHT TO SAY, “IF IT IS THE LORD’S WILL, WE WILL LIVE AND DO THIS OR THAT.” 16 AS IT IS, YOU BOAST ABOUT YOUR ARROGANCE, ALL SUCH BOASTING IS EVIL. 17 ANYONE, THEN, WHO KNOWS THE GOOD HE OUGHT TO DO AND DOESN’T DO IT, SINS.

He addresses the future business plan of converted Jewish businessmen. He tells them that their plan makes the assumption that they will even be alive tomorrow and that they have not considered that God may have another plan. Even for the ones who live a full life, it goes by so quickly like a puff of smoke. I used to watch my father smoke a pipe. When he blew out the smoke, it would hover for a moment, drift away and then it was gone. James tells us that the length of our life in the context of eternity is like that puff of smoke. It is far too short to spend any of it outside of God’s will.

James then makes an interesting statement. He says that you “boast about your arrogance”. The word for boast is the Greek kauchaomai and means to boast, to rejoice or to be proud of something. You are proud of and rejoice in your arrogance. The idea of arrogance is that which you have done with human ability referring to their business deals. These Jewish Christians were rejoicing, boasting and proud of how much money they were making rather than their spiritual lives. They were more proud of their business success than their spiritual success. They were more focused, spent more time/energy and were more excited about their worldly pursuits than their spiritual pursuits.

As the pastor of the Jerusalem church where persecution was acute, James saw many fellow believers who were destitute of even daily provisions. He also saw believers who had far more than they needed and yet gave nothing to those in need. I believe the tone of his letter is a reflection of his righteous anger about this issue. Many who said they belonged to Christ did not live like they belonged to Christ. The Apostle John witnessed this same self indulgence,

1 JOHN 3:18 DEAR CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE WITH WORDS OR TONGUE BUT WITH ACTIONS AND IN TRUTH.

Every day James and John saw their fellow believers struggling to feed their children while others were living large and boasting about how smart they were. Needless to say, this was not then, nor is it now acceptable behavior for those who have been bought by the blood of our Lord.

Many of us are most proud of what we have accomplished on our own. Our athletic prowess, our looks and ability to attract, our financial success, our car or home, our intelligence, our education and on it goes. As we grow up our parents emphasize education, career, celibacy and choosing an appropriate marriage partner. Our peers value personality, wealth, attractiveness and whatever human abilities we bring to the table. In college your fraternity valued your alcohol tolerance or your sorority valued how many fraternity boys you could bring into the party. Very few of our significant experiences valued unconditional love, sacrificial giving or our commitment to Christ. We have been programmed from our earliest days to value our human ability and accomplishments. Parents, teachers and peers praised us for what we produced and this built the idea that our human accomplishments were the way to feed our biggest addiction, approval. It is not surprising that we are proud of what we can do without God. After all, when God does it, He insists on taking all the credit and we get none. What an awesome transition from building self to sacrificing self for the sake of glorifying God.

The good of living and doing business for Christ rather than for indulging ourselves is required of us. We have been bought with the blood of our Savior and our lives belong to Him. Those of us who know the good as James calls it and don’t pursue it, are living a sinful lifestyle. Let us commit ourselves to doing good to the household of faith.