The Bushel Of Money | James 5:1-6

Opening Remarks:

Turn to James 5.

Reminder of Matthew 5:14-16

Young people have bushels that have hidden their lights.

Last night we talked about Familiarity.

Today we’ll be looking at a bushel that doesn’t get addressed a lot in youth settings - MONEY.

How many of you have ever been on a Missions Trip?

I was able to go to Africa this summer and it was an amazing experience. I went to India once, and one thing that stood out to me there was how many idols I saw.

The Hindu religion has literally millions of gods, and they are represented in statues and images everywhere you look.

I read about a man who went to India once and his experience was like mine - he noticed idols everywhere. As he visited a village with countless idols, not to mention blood and feathers from chickens which had been sacrificed to these idols, he asked a Christian Indian woman if she had ever visited America. She said, “I have, but I don’t think I’ll ever go back.” He asked, “Why?” And she said, “Because of all the idolatry.”

He looks around the village and says, “I don’t see idols and shrines there like I see here. What do you mean?”

And she said, “Your idols are your restaurants, your sports teams with their stadiums, and your TV’s where your families gather to worship.”

Wow. You know it’s true. We may not worship little statues, but we have plenty of idols.

Types Of Idols

Physical - Statue made of wood or gold like Buddha or Virgin Mary

Distractions - Video games, social media, YouTube, sports…anything that could take our attention away from God

Relationships - A person or people that you are more passionate about spending time around than God

Possessions - Material things that we might love more than God.

We are all prone to idolatry, it just looks different for each of us.

For some it’s video games.

For others it’s a girlfriend or boyfriend.

For some it might be playing sports.

For others it could be scrolling Instagram instead of reading your Bible.

An idol is anything we live for or worship instead of God. And idols come in all shapes and sizes.

But today I’m talking about an idol that is 2.61 inches wide and 6.14 inches long. I’m talking about Money.

Now, before you scoff at this idea, I can give you example after example of young people that allowed the pursuit of wealth to steal their heart away from God.

Whether because they got a job and got out of church or ignored God’s call to chase money instead, it can happen to young people just like you.

The idol of materialism has stolen the heart of countless young believers. I believe it will be a bushel for many in your generation who could have and should have lived for God.

Our text today is James 5:1-6

TITLE: When You’re Owned By What You Own

PRAY

Introduction:

In 1923 a group of the world’s richest men met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. These men controlled more wealth than there was in the entire U.S. Treasury at the time, and for years newspapers and magazines had been printing their success stories and urging people to follow their examples. They were it. They were back then what Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are today.

But 27 years after that, in 1950, here’s how their stories ended:

1. Charles Schwab - The president of one of America’s largest steel companies. He lived on borrowed money the last five years of his life and died penniless.

2. Arthur Cutten – Wheat investor. He lost his fortune in the 1929 Stock Market crash and died while being pursued by the US Govt for tax evasion.

3. Richard Whitney - The president of the New York Stock Exchange. He spent time in prison for embezzlement.

4. Jesse Livermore - A Wall Street legend. He committed suicide.

5. Leon Fraser - The president of the Bank of International Settlement. He committed suicide.

6. Ivar Krueger – A businessman involved in many ventures, among which was the production of ¾ of the world’s matches. He committed suicide.

All of these men learned how to make money, but not one of them learned how to keep money from being their god. And it destroyed them. (Paul Lee Tan; 7700 Illustrations p.824)

Background: James 5 addresses the rich, and you get the idea that they had made money their idol.

Money often becomes an idol that keeps us from following God. In Matthew 19:23-24 Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven…It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “We’re teenagers. We don’t have money. Why are you preaching this at a Youth Rally!?!”

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10 that “…the love of money is the root of all evil.” The pursuit of riches is at the root of many sins. He didn’t say the “POSSESSION” of money is the root of all evil. He said the “LOVE” of money is the root of all evil.

That’s an issue of the heart. Money can be a problem whether or not you have it. If you love the idea of money, you can be an idolater. If you live in pursuit of money, that can be idolatry.

You don’t have to be rich to make money your idol. Four truths before we look at James 5:

1) Truth #1 - Your generation is constantly bombarded with the idea that money is everything.

Music videos with money and cars

Reality TV stars because they’re rich

Teenage millionaires on Tik-Tok and YouTube

2) Truth #2 - Nothing more clearly reveals the condition of a person’s heart than how they view money and possessions.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

We need to talk about money, because what we treasure is like a window into the condition of our heart.

3) Truth #3- If you buy into the lie that money is worth living for, you’ll miss out on God’s will for your life.

You can’t please God and live for stuff. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

If you live for the stuff, it will be a bushel that hides your light.

4) Truth #4 - Owning things is not wrong for a Christ. But being owned by things is.

It’s not wrong to have treasure. But it is wrong to treasure the treasure more than you treasure the Savior.

Knowing the danger, James deals with it in James 5:1.

1. He writes “Go to now”

That means “Listen up! Pay attention!”

2. He then writes “Weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you”

To weep and howl gives the idea of being terrified.

Illustration: First time I rode a looping roller coast as a kid. Thought I handled it well, but afterward my mom told me I screamed the whole time.

James is telling the rich that they ought to be terrified of the judgment they were facing because of how they’d elevated their treasures above God.

Your life’s most important moment is when you stand before God. That will be the culmination of your life.

And when you stand there before God, can you imagine looking back on your life and realizing you lived for something that made no difference in eternity? Like money? Or cars? Or games?

Instead of letting their lights shine for God’s glory, many of us will stand before God and realized we lived for ourselves

So James says, “Here’s what happens when you are owned by what you own”

I. You hoard wastefully – vs. 2-3

James tells them they’re hoarders.

He says, “Your riches are corrupted.” That means rotten.

Lived next to church in OK, Rotten trash, taking out, gagging, looked up and a church member was walking by

Rotten stuff is just gross.

Taking a swig of curdled milk…Biting into moldy bread…Rotten food is awful.

These rich folks had so much stuff that they weren’t even using it all and it was going to waste.

“Your garments are motheaten.” Clothing was very important to them. They took good care of it because it wasn’t easy to get. But if you have so much hanging in your closet that you can’t wear it all, it’s going to get eaten by the moths.

Most of us have more clothes in our closets and dressers than we really need. So don’t think we’re not in danger of this.

James says, “Your gold and silver are is cankered.” Which means corroded. Like an old coin so worn that you can’t read what’s on it.

James’ point is, “You’re holding onto stuff instead of using it to be a blessing. The problem is, the stuff you value will not last.”

Illustration: Heard of show Hoarders? That’s a tough show to watch. Parents buying house to flip when I was a kid, two feet of garbage, animal feces everywhere, I can still smell it 40 years later. She worked at a restaurant we ate at all the time!!

Here’s the problem with hoarding as a Christian - God gives you gifts not to hold but to invest. And most teenagers live their teenagers years selfishly.

Most young people don’t give to their church consistently, even if they make money.

Most teenagers rarely sacrifice anything to be a blessing to someone else.

Young person, if you are hoarding what God has blessed you with, you’ll have no reward when you stand before God at the Judgment seat.

Instead of hoarding…

Give Obediently - You have more to give than you realize.

Invest Eternally - Like investing, the earlier you start the more you’ll have at the end.

Your attitude toward stuff will be revealed when you stand before Christ. If you live for things that don’t last, it will all be made known at the Judgment Seat.

When you are owned by what you own:

You hoard wastefully…

II. You gain wrongfully

When money is on your mind, you’ll do anything to get it, even if it’s wrong. Vs. 3-4

Illustration: I remember watching a video clip of people looting during a riot a few years ago. A guy broke a window and ran into a store and grabbed a brand new iMac computer. As he was walking away with it, someone else attacked him and took it. Then someone else attacked them and took it from them.

It was a blessing to see the spirit of sharing. When you are owned by what you own, you won’t care what you have to do to get more.

James talks about hiring employees and not paying them.

Illustration: Can you imagine working a full shift, only to have your boss say, “I have an big date tonight, so I can’t pay you today. Sorry.”?? You go home hungry and he goes to Texas Roadhouse.

James is saying, “You’re so driven by money you don’t care how you get it.” You’ll step on anybody. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Work whatever angle you have to.

Young people can get caught up in wrongful gain:

I know young people so desperate to make money that they work during church. That’s wrongful gain.

This is different than an adult with a work schedule they can’t help. I’m talking about a young person choosing not to let McDonalds know they can’t work on Wednesdays and Sundays.

God won’t bless wrongful gain.

Another wrongful gain is robbing God of what He is owed.

Ten percent, that’s the tithe. If you are earning and not giving, that’s wrongful gain.

You say, “I can’t afford it!” Sure you can. You just don’t want to. Honestly, you can’t afford not to. God won’t bless you if you don’t give to your local church.

But He will bless you when you do.

When you are owned by what you own:

1. You hoard wastefully

2. You gain wrongfully

III. You live selfishly – vs. 5-6

“Wanton” in vs. 5 means the selfish pursuit of pleasure.

Like the prodigal son, someone whose idol is money and stuff becomes all consumed with pleasure.

But James wrote, “Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.”

What he means is, like a cow getting fattened for the processor, when you’re owned by what you own, you are simply providing more evidence against you in the day of judgment.

Illustration: We live in a selfish world. I saw a clip the other day of a group of people beating up on one person, and you know what everyone else was doing? Jumping in to rescue the person? Telling them to stop? Using their phones to call the police? Nope, they were recording it they could upload it and go viral.

That’s the world we live in. Selfish. And if you make stuff your idol, you will become the most unbearably selfish person there is. Because your whole life revolves around you and what you can get.

Selfish people can’t please God. It’s impossible.

Selfish people don’t do good works that point to God because life is about them.

Which means that the love of money is a bushel that will keep your light from shining.

If you live for gold instead of God, your light will be hidden.

Rather than making a difference in people’s lives, you’re making money for you.

And the bushel of money hides your light.

And before you think, “But at least I’ll be rich.” Are you sure about that?

There are two kinds of wealth: Rich in the world and rich toward God.

In Luke 12, Jesus talks about a rich man who hoarded for himself and calls him a Fool.

Then He says in Luke 12:21 “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

You have a choice. Be rich down here or be rich in Heaven.

This is a bigger deal to God than we realize.

Look at verses 3-4

“The rust of them shall be a witness against you”

“The cries of them are entered into the ears of the Lord”

What James is saying is, the Almighty sees how much you love money and pursue stuff, and when you stand before Him in judgment, your love for money will work like a witness against you.

Judgment Seat Scenario

When you die and stand before God, how you treated this ($20) in life will determine how God judges you.

1. You stand before God the Judge.

Judge says, “I call now to the witness stand the $20 bill.”

“Did _______ love you or me more?” $20 bill, “Me.”

“Choose job to get more of you instead of being faithful to church?” “Yes.”

“Give to missions or save for nicer car?” “Car.”

“Ignore call to ministry because wanted to make money?” “Yes Judge.”

One day, your love for money will a witness against you.

And the Judge will say, “You were rich on earth, but I’ve got no rewards for you here.”

2. Wouldn’t you rather your money be a witness for you?

Judge says, “I call now to the witness stand the $20 bill.”

“Did _______ faithfully give, even if it wasn’t much.” “Yes Judge.”

“Give up a better paying job to attend church.” “Yes Judge.”

“Give up on his dream to make money in order to be in the ministry and reach souls.” “Yes Judge.”

Judge will look at you and say, “You didn’t have much down there, but your light shined bright. You glorified me. And now, I have great rewards for you here in Heaven.”

CIT: If you treasure treasure more than you treasure God, you may have things down here, but you’ll have no rewards in Heaven.

But if you treasure God more than treasure, not only will He supply your needs down here, He will reward you with riches there.

CONCLUSION: You have a choice to make. God or Money.

Will you worship God or stuff?

Will you love Jesus more or material things?

And when you are deciding, today even, whether or not to treasure God or something else, remember that He treasured you enough to send Jesus Christ to a cross.

Jesus died because He treasured you. If you have no other motivation, let that be it.

The greatest treasure you’ll ever have is Jesus Christ, and God didn’t hoard Him.

If you don’t know Him, you can. Admit your sin and guilt, place your faith in Jesus alone who died, was buried and rose again.

Young person, if you do know Him and you’re wondering what you’re going to live for. The best life, the greatest treasure, is knowing Jesus. Love Him most. Treasure Him first. You may not be rich down here, but He’ll meet your needs, and you’ll have eternal rewards when you stand before Him.

Adults in the room who have prioritized treasure in Heaven. Not one of them regrets it.

Love Money Most = And Have Regret

Love Jesus Most = Have Reward