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I. "LET THE BROTHER OF LOW DEGREE REJOICE IN THAT HE IS EXALTED." When called to rejoice we expect a reason. Good cause may exist for joy; but unless we know it we cannot be affected by it. But in the injunction before us there is no want of true sympathy. A reason is assigned, "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted." The first thing here to be noticed is, that the humiliation and the exaltation cannot be of the same description. The one is temporal, the other spiritual — temporal depression, spiritual elevation. Their abasement as the children of earth and mortality is set in contrast with their exaltation as the children of God, and heaven, and eternity.

1. The poor of Christ's people are "exalted" as to birth. The poorest believer is a child of God, by the redeeming purchase of Christ's blood, and the regenerating power of His Spirit.

2. He is exalted as to character. This is inseparably associated with the former dignity. That birth itself is a change of character. It is a birth into a new life: a life of new principles, affections, desires, and a new course of conduct; and it is true "exaltation" — from the debasement of sin to the beauty of holiness — from the image of Satan to the image of God.

3. "The brother of low degree is exalted" in regard to his society. The poor Christian frequents no palaces; graces no parties of aristocratic fashion. But he has society which "the world knoweth not of"; society far higher than the highest to which this world, in its best estate, could introduce him. It is a society, indeed, which the world does not acknowledge, but it is honoured of God. They are "the excellent of the earth, in whom is all His delight"; and of whom He hath said, "I will dwell among them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

4. "The brother of low degree is exalted" in power; in dominion; in honour. It is a spiritual power; not a power of spiritual oppression, but of self-subjugation and self-control; and the power that proves victorious over the mightiest of the enemies of mankind — "the world, the flesh, and the devil."

5. "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted" in riches. The poorest believer is rich — rich in the present possession of "all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus"; rich in the future hope of the" inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away"; and, in one all-comprehensive word, rich in having "God Himself as the portion of his inheritance and cup."

6. "The brother of low degree may rejoice in being exalted," when he surveys his prospects. These are transcendently glorious. They surpass all our feeble conceptions.

II. Pass we now to the CONTRAST. It is contrast only as to this world and to time; for the spiritual blessings and hopes of poor and rich in the Church of God are the same: "But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away" (ver. 10). Now, according to the testimony of the Bible — confirmed by a sad amount of experience — riches, operating upon the corruption of the human heart, are ever apt to produce in their possessor the spirit of pride and vanity; of self-confidence and self-elation. Even when the tendency does not, in any remarkable degree, manifest itself in the behaviour and bearing of the rich toward their fellow-men, it appears in a spirit of independence — of "trust in their wealth, and boasting themselves of the multitude of their riches," and of a forgetfulness of God. Instead of being led by the gifts to the Giver, they forget the Giver in the gifts; and, in the use of them, place self before God. If such be the strength of this tendency, has not the Christian whom God, in His providence, has blessed with a large amount of this world's good cause to be thankful when in spite of it he has, by the influence of the Divine Spirit, been "made low"? when, by that Divine influence, he has been made an exception to the atheistical tendencies of his riches, and kept in the spirit of humility and in the spiritual-mindedness of devotion to God? The "lowliness" here made the ground of grateful joy consists essentially in two things, which ever accompany each other, and in their elementary nature may be regarded as one — namely, a sense of entire dependence on the God of providence for every temporal good, and a sense of equal dependence on the God of grace for all spiritual and eternal blessings.

III. Notice now the GROUNDS on which "the rich" brother is called to rejoice in his being "made low." They are such as these —

1. The transitory nature of all the riches and honours of this world. Had the rich man not been "made low," he might have drawn upon himself the temporary admiration of his fellow-men; and that would have been all: he should have "passed away, and been no more seen"; all his honours dying with him. He would thus, like other rich men, have "had his portion in this life" — a pitiful portion for an immortal creature! — and then have gone destitute into another world. Well for him, then, that he has been "made low," for —

2. By this he has been brought into possession even here of better blessings than the world can furnish. His very humility is, as a creature and a sinner, his true honour; as it is the honour of the first archangel before the throne. In that humility, too, Jehovah has complacency. He obtains the smile and the blessing of Jehovah, and all the present joy, and all the soul-satisfying hope which that smile and that blessing impart. Which leads me to notice —

3. That the rich man who is thus "made low," besides true honour and blessing from God in this world, becomes an heir of a richer heritage than any which he could ever attain to here, where all is corruptible and fading. It is by his having been "made low" that he has been ', made meet to be a partaker of that inheritance." But for this he might have continued to enjoy his earthly riches and honours — "clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day "-but he must have forfeited the inheritance above — "the better country, even the heavenly."

(R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

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KJV: Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

WEB: But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;