James Ch 5

James Ch 5 Vs 1-6

James 5:1 “ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!”

James is addressing the rich people outside the church that try to be apart of the church

people who like to be seen as believers but aren’t truly believers

the worldly rich people

James 5:2 “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.”

Making money off of being dishonest

Here in this second verse he says “your riches are corrupted,

its saying worldly rich people not all but some have made their living off of being corrupt

Share the story of Matthew and the loophole with apple editing the receipt

How many people know what the average salary of a political person is ?

Its 83k so not much especially if you live in California

so why then do we have certain politicians that come out of politics very wealthy?

a lot of them probably make money off of shady things

a lot of tax paying dollars wasted

But heres the thing.

James here in the second part of the verse says your Garments are moth eaten !

Anybody ever seen a shirt after a moth has gotten to is ?

Those little things can destroy clothes

the point here is, ya they might make a dishonest living, have nice things and be bad people

but guess what? earthly things like clothes don’t last , they perish

He continues (read vs 3 )

James 5:3 “Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”

this verse is what they call a paradox

so its a statement that contradicts itself

“your Gold and silver are corroded”

Have any of you ever been given a sweet Gold or silver piece of Jewelry from a family Member ?

What do they always say when they give it to you ?

That’ll last a life time right ?

Gold and silver in their purest form is suppose to last an extremely long time

but James in this verse is saying your gold and silver are corroded

things that are suppose to last a long time here on earth won’t

the second part of this verse says “their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire, . You Have heaped up treasure in the last days. “

wealth will eat at our flesh

money will not Save you, esteeming yourself based on wealth within the church is not what saves us

you will ultimately die along with your perishable items

Read Matt 6:19

Matthew 6:19–21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

where are we placing our desires ? for the Lord and his Kingdom or for the things that catch our eye here on earth

James and Luke both point out that the treasures we have here on earth will do nothing for us when we die

all of these things will perish worldly wealth is temporary

James 5:4 “ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

so everybody here when they work expects to get paid when they are suppose to

these rich oppressors didn’ do that, they kept money that wasn’t theirs or didn’t pay a full wage

in those days they didn’t have HR Human resources to fight for the workers

imagine not getting your money, most of us would probably quit work

but to those who have been wronged by greedy evil people

the Lord heres your cries

Justice is his

I can tell you many stories of people who have been wronged when it comes to money

typically when they tell me these stories i’m always like dude what did you do about it

At times my christian friends have said, well nothing ill let the Lord deal with it

Im always taken back by that approach

God will always hear us when we are at our lowest

and money typically has the ability to bring people to a very low point in life

so when we are wronged by people especially when it comes to Money, God heres us

He is bigger than that

He provides for us

At the end of the day the battle isn’t ours

James 5:5 “ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.”

basically the people had filled their hearts with the things of this world

they were Comfortable, happy and just in chill mode screwing everyone over for money

He compares this to an animal being prepared for a slaughter

they fatten them up, keep them nice and clean

sometimes massage them

then one day BAM they are killed for food

at the end of the day none of that stuff mattered or matters

were all gonna die and be put 6 feet under

maybe some people will have a rolex on and others wont

it doesn’t matter , were gonna end up in a grave

James 5:6 “You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.”

this verse is speaking of the rich using their social and political positions to condemn and murder innocent men

Is anyone into crime documentaries ?

theres some good ones on netflix

they are always about rich people with alot of money framing others for murders

getting rich off of insurance policies

all kinds of craziness

when you become rich in the way James is talking about in these 6 verses id assume most people think they are invincible

they think they can do what ever they want because they have money

but at the end of the day it always catches up to them