(James 019) A Warning for the Wealthy
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
I need to be abundantly clear… wealth is not the problem.
Wealthy christians partnering with other christians have accomplished great things for God.
There are many godly people mentioned in scripture who were wealthy.
Abraham.
Job.
David.
Joseph of Arimathaea.
Lydia.
What we know about James audience.
They seem to have an infatuation with the rich.
They either desire to be rich or want to run with those who are.
He warned them about showing preference to the rich.
He warned them about chasing riches and not considering God’s will.
This is the strongest statement in James.
He is clearly angry and not holding anything back.
1. The warning for the wealthy. (vs 1)
1. The warning for the wealthy. (vs 1)
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
1. The warning for the wealthy. (vs 1)
1. The warning for the wealthy. (vs 1)
Who is James referring to in this passage?
It is a bit uncertain as to wether James is referring to believers or non.
I believe James is speaking of unsaved outside the church.
The context (if you read on in the chapter) is that James is encouraging the oppressed.
In verse 7 he addresses brothers.
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.
1. The warning for the wealthy. (vs 1)
1. The warning for the wealthy. (vs 1)
Therefore brothers
James seems to be speaking about people who POSSIBLY would not be reading this letter.
The purpose was to encourage those who were reading the letter.
OR the rich could be those who call themselves Christians and are using the their church connections to gain wealth.
Our passage starts with James addressing the rich.
In the next passage he addresses brothers.
Secondly, there is no call for repentance. Simply a warning of judgment to come.
The call to action for his readers comes in the next passage.
This passage sets up the next.
It is easy to thing that this passage doesn’t apply to us.
We can find application in all of scripture.
We can find application even if James is not speaking directly to an audience.
We can find application even if we think we are not wealthy.
Wealth is relative.
We may think we are not wealthy.
One third of the world lives on $2 a day.
This is a picture of deep despair.
James is telling them to weep and howl.
Because great misery is coming on them.
Judgement is coming.
2. The indictments of the wealthy.
2. The indictments of the wealthy.
A. Indicted for hoarding wealth. (vs 2-3)
A. Indicted for hoarding wealth. (vs 2-3)
Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
A. Indicted for hoarding wealth. (vs 2-3)
A. Indicted for hoarding wealth. (vs 2-3)
The ancient world had 3 standard sources of wealth. (harvested grain, clothing, precious metals.)
Harvested grain.
Grain was rotten.
Garments (fine clothing)
Their status symbol.
Was eaten by moths in storage.
The idea was that they had amassed so many garments that they couldn’t wear them all.
The simply sat in storage and ruined.
Gold and silver.
They money is rusted and ruined.
We know gold and silver cannot rust or corrode.
However, after being kept in a damp place for a long time, it can darken giving the appearance of corrosion.
“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.
A. Indicted for hoarding wealth. (vs 2-3)
A. Indicted for hoarding wealth. (vs 2-3)
Their hoarded wealth would be their own destruction.
It will “eat your flesh like fire.”
Saving and preparing is not wrong.
Hoarding extensive wealth is.
Not just individuals but churches can be guilty of this.
It is ok to have some money saved.
That has helped us lately.
But I don’t believe churches should have extravagant wealth saved.
God gives us wealth to give to others.
B. Indicted for fraudulent wealth. (vs 4)
B. Indicted for fraudulent wealth. (vs 4)
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
B. Indicted for fraudulent wealth. (vs 4)
B. Indicted for fraudulent wealth. (vs 4)
James is talking about day laborers.
It was common for the wealthy to hire people a day at a time.
At the end of the everyone would get paid.
They were cheating people out of money.
They were extravagantly wealthy and wouldn’t pay their hired workers.
If their workers didn’t get paid they didn’t eat.
Yet the wealthy had full barns.
The Old Testament warns against this.
“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages,
James says there are two cries going up.
The cry of the money.
The cry of the workers.
And God has heard them.
C. Indicted for self-indulgence of wealth. (vs 5)
C. Indicted for self-indulgence of wealth. (vs 5)
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
C. Indicted for self-indulgence of wealth. (vs 5)
C. Indicted for self-indulgence of wealth. (vs 5)
Self-indulgence of wealth is addicting.
Rich live in sprawling houses.
With rooms they will never use.
Cars for every day of the week.
NBA Star spent $70,000 at Walmart in one night.
Billionaire’s son spent $16,000 on a wallet.
One billionaire had his Yacht sailed from Sydney to NYC and set up a lunch spread for 50 people.
He never showed up.
He was having a party in a building overlooking the harbor and wanted to show off his boat.
They have fattened their hearts.
Got what they wanted.
They satisfied every desire.
So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
D. Indicted for murder. (vs 6)
D. Indicted for murder. (vs 6)
You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
They murdered people who didn’t even oppose them.
“You have condemned”
Meaning to sentence.
“You have murdered”
The rich were using the courts to have people put to death.
It seems, in context, they gained wealth ruthlessly.
They killed people and took what they had to add to their wealth too.
Those people were so poor and week they couldn’t resist.
James points out the slippery slope of sin.
They started hoarding wealth.
This hoarding led to fraud.
They then began to live a self indulgent lifestyle.
Finally, they were willing to kill to continue their lifestyle.
Concluding thoughts…
Concluding thoughts…
Solomon had thought on this…
So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Paul speaks to this as he writes to Timothy…
But godliness with contentment is great gain,
for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
We can’t put hope in wealth. Riches will not last.
Misuse of riches will erode our character.
If God blesses us with riches it is to do good with!
Questions for the week:
Am I saving for a rainy day or hoarding wealth?
Is there any way that I am gaining wealth dishonestly?
What are the one or two ways James has impacted my life?