Eyes on Eternity (James 1:9-12) | Costi Hinn | The Gathering

[Music] is [Music] his mercy is more [Music] knowing [Music] his mercy is [Music] stronger than darkness what patience would wait as we constantly [Music] they is many [Music] mercy is more [Music] what rich is of kindness he lavished on us [Music] our sins they are many [Music] [Music] is [Music] as the deer planteth for the water [Music] so [Music] desire and i love [Music] to you [Music] desire [Music] you're my friend and you are my brother even though you are a king i love you more than any other so much [Music] you are [Music] to be [Music] i want you more than [Music] you alone are the real [Music] joy [Music] you [Music] you [Music] [Music] is [Music] what heights of love when fears [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] for every sin on him [Music] there is [Music] [Applause] as glorious stands in victory [Music] since i am [Music] this [Music] from is first cry to final breath jesus commands my destiny no path [Music] or calls me home i'll stand till he returns [Music] turn in your bibles to james chapter 1 verses 9 to 12. it's where we're going to be and the message is titled eyes on eternity and you'll see why in the text but basically james just levels the playing field here for people who are rich people who are poor doesn't matter what your social status is or where you're from or who you are he absolutely levels the playing field with the way that you should be living and looking where your eyes should be as you live out your faith and so we'll dig in together if you guys will go ahead and stand up and join me in reading the passage then we'll pray and we will motor run through it james writes but let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position and let the rich man glory in his humiliation because like flowering grass he will pass away for the sun rises with a scorching wind and it withers the grass and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away blessed is a man who perseveres under trial for once he's been approved he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him you guys can go ahead take your seats and i'll pray for you in our time as you do father as we jump into this study tonight we need your help we need your help with all that's going on in our lives we get busy we have distractions we have friends we have temptation all of it and even trials like james talks about and so we need your wisdom we know that it comes from your word but it's hard we're either not reading it or we're not taught it or we forget it but on and on and on we need your word daily and we need to interact with it and so here and now help me to convey your truth to my brothers and my sisters in the faith help them to receive what you have to say tonight bring conviction and repentance where we need conviction and repentance and help us to leave tonight with a better idea of where our eyes should be no matter who we are in jesus name amen and amen so the richest american probably who ever lived his name was rockefeller you guys heard of him pretty famous guy worth at his time if you took inflation and you extrapolated it out about 400 billion which if he was alive today he would be twice as rich as jeff our buddy jeff who owns amazon you all know jeff you shop with jeff every day when you stick stuff in your cart and click buy now so fast you're just making them more money and more money well rockefeller would be twice as rich as him he would make elon musk bill gates some of these guys today look like basic rich people compared to how wealthy he was uh he pretty much had a monopoly on the oil industry he owned 90 percent of the oil and gas in his day imagine that imagine owning that i mean you're not even allowed to have that much of a of a monopoly now because of guys like him there were laws introduced to keep men from getting that much control of an industry he loved money he didn't just like it he loved it and he loved it so much that he once said do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure it's to see my dividends coming in imagine that you got a wife maybe pleasure you like your wife kids i mean a dog your rock grotto like there's a whole bunch of other things that you might enjoy he goes no the thing that gives me the most pleasure i like to watch those dividends hit the account every single day one time john d rockefeller was asked how much money is enough money listen to what he says back just one more dollar one more dollar then it's enough it was never enough there's a lot of reasons why people want to become rich today they want security some people want to just live the high life a lot of people like stuff but i think at the core of it is security it makes me it makes you feel more secure when we have more money more stuff whether that's people look at us and think we're awesome we're rich we got it all going and then that makes our insecurities sort of go away and we feel really good because people want to be us and sometimes we look in the mirror and we've had days where we don't even want to be us and so when people want to be us it sort of silences the insecurity for a little while puts a band-aid over it beyond that people want to be rich because they feel like they'll have a sense of security from the troubles of life the more wealthy i am i can live in neighborhoods with big gates i could drive cars that are really fancy i don't feel as vulnerable money makes you feel protected at least feel protected for most of the world the poor are trying to get rich to escape trouble and then the rich are trying to stay really rich to keep from trouble everybody seems to be trying to achieve a level of security and protection more money less problems we think right but if you were a 90s kid like i was you listen to some of the great scholars of the 90s and one of them in particular what do you say mo money mo yeah some of you are too young to understand what we're talking about more money more problems that is a truth that the bible would affirm more money more problems first timothy 6 17 calls riches uncertain you don't set your mind on it as a certainty the bible calls the love of money obviously maybe some of you heard this before the root of all evil proverbs 23 5 says it this way wealth has wings basically it flies away the minute you set your sights on it you think you i'm almost i almost have it it'll take off on you every single day money comes money goes it cannot stop pain it cannot stop the trials that are coming for you it cannot stop what is in store especially for christians money really can only give you a false sense of security a little bit of pleasure for a little bit of time until reality stops you in your tracks and really that's what james is trying to get at in this entire section we heard about wisdom last time and where you're supposed to go for wisdom and god's wisdom that you can ask and pray for it's wisdom for trials and he says now some words to the rich and the poor that pile on top of the wisdom he's already given us and told us to ask for basically that wisdom is having your eyes fixed on eternity with god no matter who you are no matter what you have and no matter what you're going through so the first thing if you're taking notes is to the least to the poor to the lowly to the humble number one remember your eternal position remember your eternal position what do i mean by that well verse 9 says the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position look at how opposite that is the brother of humble or lowly circumstances is supposed to glory in his high position basically brother he's talking to church family church members the word could mean somebody who's sharing in your belief system as well so the the church member who is of humble circumstances that's the low social status person it's the poor it's the homeless it's the hurting it's the marginalized it's maybe the refugee somebody who has lost a great deal they're going through hard times they're not exactly high up in the pecking order of popularity he says they should glory in their high position they're actually very high in god's order this is a major part of james's audience these are jewish christians they're dispersed throughout the region why does that make them lowly or of humble circumstances well because first of all they are jewish christians so if you're a jew you're supposed to be jewish and then you're around romans and they already hate jews and now you're christians and they hate christians so you're hated by the jews which you have the same ethnicity but not the same beliefs as and they pretty much look down on you because you're supposed to believe in the same system they believe in and now you believe in that jesus guy and they're not really convinced about him the romans can't stand you either so you're lower than even the lowest of the low you're lower than the jews in the minds of the romans and you're dispersed you're persecuted you're hurting all because of your faith these people don't have power they don't have influence they're not able to convince people i mean even if they said something that was profound the fact that it came from one of them would sort of be laughable to the people around them they go yeah okay fine but it'd be like a blind squirrel finding a nut every once in a while right or a kid says something and he's spot on but you're like okay yeah but you're like seven move on that's the way they would have viewed these types and the word glory there if you want to circle it or take notes on this it literally means to boast to take pride in he says you take pride in your high position this is like telling a homeless person i love what you did with the place it doesn't make sense that you have such a gorgeous home can i take photos of this and put it on instagram or pinterest it's completely outside the norm it doesn't make any sense it's like telling a flat broke college student hey i you i think we're going to put you on the forbes 500 list this year you know you're one of the top 500 money makers in the world what are you talking about doesn't make any sense you go no you're really high on the list god changes the definition though of what high position is he changes it to be not what the world says it is but what he considers it to be not physically not financially but spiritually james says boast in your high position when you're of humble circumstances you are ripe to need god you know that poor people lowly people hurting people are usually faster to say god i need you it's not working help is not coming i don't see the light at the end of the tunnel i'll take your way now but so many other people are self-sufficient but poor and hurting and broken people the broken in spirit why does jesus say in matthew 5 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven well they obviously must have been pretty special in his eyes pretty able to receive such an incredible offer because they weren't full they didn't think they had it all figured out isaiah 61 1 prophesies of jesus the spirit of the lord has come upon me that be him because he's anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor why did jesus say make such a big deal about poor people was it some kind of shallow attempt for justice and sort of how the world does it and we're just going to give our charity money to the salvation army every christmas to santa well he jingles the bells outside of bashas or wherever you shop or traitors and that's that's helping the poor that's what g that's where jesus would have been outside with the jingle bell santa no he would have been going to the poor to preach the gospel to them and the kingdom to come saying hey it's not really working out for you here on earth i've got a better offer this thing the ball of dirt you're homeless on it's fading away it's broken it's not really going to do a lot of good for you i've got something better though you want it and a rich person living in wherever they want to live and however much money they want to have and whatever house they're in they they go come on i'm good i don't need whatever whatever you offer do you see where you stand right now look at my palace i'm good move on man that's what they would tell jesus somebody who's poor and hurting says i'll take that i'll take your offer lose my life look at i don't even have a life give up whatever i got and follow you oh that's easy i've got nothing needy humble broken in spirit the lowly are so ready for jesus because he is all they really ever need because he's all they really ever will have and so he says they ought to glory in that high position it is a high high social status but not here on earth but in glory in god's economy and we are so good at measuring our value in our own eyes and based on what other people think of us and and i'll be honest with you that's not just the idea of pride like oh look at me i'm so special no i mean even the other way this could mean that for some of you you value yourself based on how you feel about yourself and that's not really that good you think you're nothing you think you're valueless you're worth nothing you're not worth attention you're not worth somebody's love you think nobody cares about you nobody sees you and god says no you ought to glory in your high position i see you i value you i don't see you the way you see you so it works that way too but it also works the other way against the prideful who think man i really got it going on right now god says no you don't and not where it counts not where it matters most don't ever forget it it is not the the hottie not just h-o-t-t-y but h-a-u-g-h-t-y the prideful the arrogant that are impressive to god it is the humble it is the lowly that he considers highly exalted that's what the bible says that he will exalt the humble he will give grace to them i love this old story about a general who sat down for dinner in the royal court and he got sat right next to the chaplain the court chaplain who happened to be a pastor and so he's trying to start a conversation like what do you say when you're a big army general you're the big hot shot and there's this weird little priest with his little collar on and you're like all right i'm sitting next to you got to figure out something to say so he leans over and goes hey you know pastor hey can you tell me something about heaven maybe while he's cutting into his chicken you know eating going i'll make this guy do all the talking so i could just eat the pastor says to him oh sure i could tell you something about heaven i love what he says i guess the first thing i would tell you is enjoy being a general on earth because in heaven you won't be one and the general didn't really like that because he had high status he was somebody he was a big shot sitting next to the weird little spiritual dude you and i are going to be very surprised in heaven one day the people who are so high and so mighty and so powerful and so glorified on earth you may not even see them there let alone hear about them the hall of faith if you will the hall of fame in heaven is going to be lined with the faces and names of people you have never heard of on earth the people who are humble who are lowly who are fixing their eyes on christ who are busy about his business not busy trying to be some body and so if that's you if you're just somebody who goes i'm just serving the lord i really don't know if i've got a lot to offer jesus really is everything to me because i really have nothing you are to glory to boast to take pride in not yourself but your high position in god's eyes when life is done if you are the least of these now you have so much to look forward to the best is yet to come for you and then james says something very pointed at rich people and you can take notes on this as well to the rich remember your eternal perspective so to the poor to the least of ease to the hurting the homeless the broken in spirit remember your high position to the rich remember your eternal perspective you've got eternal position eternal perspective he says let the rich man glory in his humiliation because like flowering grass he will pass away for the sun rises with a scorching wind and it withers the grass and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away the idea here is really really simple christians who have money who are materially well off and consider themselves to be doing just fine should consider it a great blessing they should glory in the humbling the humiliation of hard times because you know what it reminds them of and some of you who are christians in the room and maybe you are you come from a family that's got a lot of wealth it's not a sin to be wealthy it's just a great responsibility check this out when trials come guess what it reminds you of that heaven is still better than your earthly home that even if you have a lot going for you trials are the great equalizer your money your status your social comfort cannot protect you from pain which actually makes the rich person go oh that's right i'm not really protected i'm not living for now i'm not somebody you are oh thank you lord for the humbling nature of this trial that even though i have so much you're so good to me and gracious that you are letting me endure this great pain so that i can remember this world is passing away my real home my best future is not now based on my dividends and my income and my net worth it's based on my eternal destination and glory that is what trials should remind rich people about that there's no u-haul behind the hearse is the way i like to say it you ain't pulling up to funerals seeing a big old trailer and all your stuff's in it and you're in the box and you're gonna wake up on the other side and go i'm so glad they packed me the big one because i had a lot of stuff to bring hey lord you got a big mansion for me right i'm going to need some help no it's not going to work that way at all naked you came into this world with nothing naked you will leave even when they put some nice clothes on you in the box you are gone nothing's going with you and that is humbling for us it reminds you and i to ask the question what am i living for what do i say to god when i meet him you gave me life lord i did a great job living it for me i earned a lot for me what about his glory what about his kingdom what about the gifts he gave you and the jews would have understood the illustration that james uses really well a lot like maybe californians or i would even say arizonians would understand this really well he says the sun rises with a scorching wind it withers the grass the picture is just like in israel or what israel is a lot like as far as the topography of the land and the way it all is israel and california have a lot of similarities in the way the lay of the land is and certain times a year anyone ever heard of the santa anas you're from california yeah i remember the santa anas these dry winds that blow across the land and everything just gets dry you got to water stuff extra the wind is warm it's not like a cool breeze it's this warm dry heat that is what happens each year in israel you've got these seasons where the grass is looking green and the flowers are blooming maybe march and april and then very similar to our weather cycle maybe sometime around may like right now when it's 100 out and we're all like really are ready yes all the way to about september your water bill goes up and everything seems to just be withering and dying because of that that's the picture that james is providing for them they know exactly what he's saying what is green will turn brown what was lush and blooming once will just blow like dust in the wind money has this unique way of being a band-aid for a little while and then pretty soon it's gone money helps us get lost in the moment and it wants to tie itself to your heart so tightly which is why jesus said in matthew 6 21 that where your treasure is your heart is also he was trying to explain to people that money and your heart are inextricably attached and so where your treasure goes your heart follows or you might say it this way where your heart is leading your treasure will follow so what are your affections set on what do you love what are you living for it's hard for rich people because life is good when you got a lot that's why in matthew 13 22 jesus calls riches deceitful it's the deceitfulness of riches they lie to you they tell you hey you're good it's kind of like clouds they look puffy and comfy like you could fall into one and just land and fly on one like the cream cheese lady in the old commercials remember her so so light and fluffy like the whipped cream cheese if you've ever flown through an airplane or jumped out of one with a parachute on you realize pretty quick ain't no puffy big blobby clouds catching you you're going right through them it's what money's like it looks so comfortable like it's going to catch you but trials and pain will pull you right through riches are not a spiritual asset they are a physical one they are useful for what they are useful for but there is no intrinsic spiritual value to them they don't make you more spiritual in fact they're more likely to make you less spiritual because you get caught up in the things of this world and so if you have money or you got plans to make money you just make sure that you are controlling it it doesn't control you you could say it this way there's nothing wrong with having stuff there is a problem when the stuff has you does it make sense you want to put money in its place assign every dollar knowing that god has given you much to be a blessing but everybody understands or you must understand a vital truth here when someone you love commits suicide when you have a new baby when you have a great body or the body starts to fade you get to be my age and gravity starts doing weird things you just old stuff starts cranking and creaking you wake up you're like what is happening to me you could work out all you want you go beachbody it's coming money can't stop it money can pump it up full of weird stuff and make you look like that it ain't gonna stop it is it you peel your face back like these deals you know it's not gonna stop it whether everybody loves you or nobody loves you nobody likes you whether you're on top of the world or you're down in the dumps wealth can do nothing for your soul that is what james wants you to understand so if you don't have any of it and you want it so bad understand even if you get it you're gonna get it and realize it has no value for your soul and if you got a lot and you're living like it's you know you're floating in the clouds realize that at any given moment you're falling through it is good to work hard it is good to achieve something guys it's good to live a colossians 3 23. first corinthians 10 31 and all you do glorify god that is good work hard for his glory chances are if you work hard you do the right things bosses are going to like you you're going to keep getting promoted and then you're going to keep getting raises okay that's just the way that america works you understand that those who tend to work hard life fiscally just tends to get better if you're a good worker if i was a boss and i owned a company i want the people that are put together that are clean cut that are well behaved and by clean cut i don't mean short hair if you've got a flow like nathan you got the red flo i'm like i'm in i'll hire you too but if you work hard and you present yourself with respect you look like you woke up and you brushed your teeth and you're ready to roll you're gonna get a job and then if you perform and you're disciplined and you're clear and you're objective and you're not emotional and you're not always angry and moody if you don't get your latte you are probably gonna climb the ladder then i'm going to give you a raise i like you you produce then you're going to get some money and if you're a christian you've got to realize god has given you the gifts and the abilities to earn that wealth and then you're to use that wealth as a steward for his glory and his kingdom not depend on it to give you some security beyond this life does that make sense so work hard i hope all of you are successful but i hope you're more successful at keeping success in its place is the british missionary to china his name is ct stud this is what he wrote only one life will soon be passed only what's done for christ will last one of my favorite quotes reminding us that the shortness of life is ever present we are a vapor which james brings up in chapter four so even if you got it all going for you right now don't you dare set your hope on it your day will come my day will come the question is are your eyes fixed on the riches and cares of this world or on eternity with christ so to the rich remember your eternal perspective and then the last section to all to every single christian remember your eternal promise james gives a blanket promise here that everybody can take say this is for me whether i'm poor whether i'm rich blessed is the man he says who perseveres under trial for once he has been approved he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him what's he saying basically after the specifics to the rich and the poor james offers this if you keep your eyes fixed on heaven and you endure hard times and you lean on the wisdom of god you are like an athlete that has trained and been through pain and woke up early and kept running and lifting and formulating his strategy to be better at his sport you're like one of those people but for life so when trials come you know his word when challenges come to your life you know how to pray and what to pray when you're going through pain you've got some thick skin about it you know how to endure because you've been through this before and you don't look to the world and you don't look to money and you don't look to self-pity but you look to christ and over and over and over again with every single trial he takes you through it and you get better and better at doing it his way through the power of the holy spirit and pretty soon you look back on your life and you are in a spiritual sense like one of those athletes that keeps winning and keeps winning they're at the peak of their winning streaks or their career and they say how'd you do it or what led up to this moment and you're a number one draft pick or you're a champion or an mvp and what do they always say hey just hard work every day i just i was putting one foot in front of the other just kept working on the fundamentals it just kept going i just kept working i just kept just kept just kept there's a keep and on mentality isn't there it's the same thing for the christian when you go through trials you don't give up when you go through trials you don't need to yell at god where are you why are you doing this to me when you go through trials you let the trials train you you ask god what can i learn in this season and again james is driving home for the poor and the broken and the hurting you're being reminded what's to come is better and for the put together and the rich and the high society type of individual you are being reminded that this world even all you have is passing away and your eyes must be fixed on who and what is to come when he says the crown of life i want you to understand what that is because some of you are thinking yeah like royalty right like the queen or whoever no this is uh the same word used for the crown at times but in this case he's talking about like a wreath that maybe in the old days maybe you're not familiar with history at these times but they would put big wreaths around the winners but you could think of it like this in today's world the kentucky derby you know they lay the massive wreaths on the horse that wins that's what he's talking about here like a winner somebody who is rewarded in the end where god literally labels you champion of what matters most you've won victory at what mattered most in the race of this life but you know for the christian that's not even our primary motivation is it i'm gonna get to heaven and get rewards that's why i'm doing it no that's just something that god puts in front of us to go hey it's gonna be worth it i've got things waiting for you but ultimately the primary motivation is to remember that life forever with christ is what lies ahead and that god is not absent in our pain while we go through challenging seasons on earth god wastes nothing have you ever asked what's the point of this why am i going through this what's the purpose what are you doing god understand he wastes nothing there's always purpose in the pain always what that is it's unique to every situation but every single believer who's been through immense pain and suffering and trials would tell you the same thing how god began to use it for purposes that were for his glory and so in your moments of weakness and when you have little or when you waver whether you're rich you realize money can't stop trials where do you fix your eyes that's the question where are you looking my prayer is that your eyes are on christ in eternity with him [Music] [Music] my jesus [Music] my grace [Music] if i love my jesus [Music] i love thee because [Music] my [Music] where [Music] if ever i love [Music] jesus [Music] i'll love thee in life and i will [Music] and praise thee as long as though [Music] when if ever i love [Music] if ever i love my jesus

Channel: Redeemer Bible Church

Views: 1,512

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: eyes on eternity, Jesus, Bible, Redeemer Bible Church, Arizona, Gilbert, Mesa, Bible Church, Truth, Understanding, God, Sound Doctrine, Costi Hinn, Gilbert Arizona, Church, local church, biblical preaching, gospel centered, The Gathering, RedeemerAZ, The Gathering RBC, James 1, James 1:9-12, eyes on Jesus, humble, humility, gilbert arizona, blessed, flower of the grass, boast in his exaltation, james 1 sermon, james 1 bible study, costi hinn sermon, eternity, eternal perspective

Id: eTlS1iTv58M

Length: 48min 58sec (2938 seconds)

Published: Thu May 13 2021