Faith Demenstrated through weath and trials

James 5:1–11 KJV 1900

1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Be generous (1-6)

James 5:1–6 KJV 1900

1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

James begins in verse one by rebuking excessive luxury it was not unusual of jews during this time period to regard weth as being favored by God. However, as one can see throughout the entirety of the New testement the weath has no connection with favor with God...

The prosparity Gospel was even around in James’s day.

James begins with the same opening he did last week… Come Now

The wrong attitude tward riches is the object of God’s future judgment, weather on earth or in the final judgment

James says that their wealth had rotted and their garments had become moth eaten (v. 2)

Gold and silver Had rusted (V. 3)

if we give it time our meterial things in which we place our hope and confedince in will deteriorate. The readers were Putting their hope in things that do not endure. The condition (specificlly rust would be a witness against them and consume their flesh like fire.

THis showes Judgement even belivers will face Judgement

1 Corinthians 3:13 KJV 1900

13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

THe symbol of fire is used and is verry apropriate because it consumes everything of little endurance

God’s Judgement will be the same for believers (for rewards) for unbelievers (for degrees of punishment

the judgement is reserved for the last days and theese people are storing up tresure for the last days. this time is described in revelation . the great withe throne (for Believers) the Judgment seat of Christ (for unbelievers)

The reality of the matter is even if you have Christ you are spiritully rich!

Pay your workers

James 5:4–6 KJV 1900

4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

James turnes to more sins that the weathy were guilty of

In verse 4 they had witheld wages from their workers

A typical Hebrew form is used here “cry out” This was also used in genesis when God spoke to Caid “your Brothers blood “crys out” to me from the ground.

Luke 10:7 goes directly against what they were pracicing

Luke 10:7 KJV 1900

7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.

The next charge is that they live in luxiory.

Luxiory was not the sin the sin was living in luxiory while those they were responsible for lived without.

illiatration

FREDERICK, MD—A quorum of church members at Ridgewood Church voted 56–3 in favor of formally reprimanding teaching pastor Stewart Coles for reckless and irresponsible spending upon the discovery that he splurged on an as-is 1998 Toyota Corolla he spotted on Craigslist.

Reporters were able to catch up to one of Ridgewood’s deacons Wednesday at a local golf resort as he got out of his Cadillac. “We’re not saying it’s necessarily a sin for a pastor to make money, but it’s definitely unwise to flaunt your wealth like that,” the deacon said as he took a few practice swings with his new Clubs. “We openly call upon Pastor Coles to repent of his lavish, prodigal lifestyle.”

According to the church’s disclosed financial information, Coles pulls in a cool $42,000.00 per year plus a lucrative $500.00 continuing education fund. Congregation members began to question his  lifestyle in early April as he was spotted eating at Denny’s with his wife for their fourth wedding anniversary, but the scandal didn’t fully break until he was seen rolling up in the gaudy $1,500.00 vehicle, complete with sunroof, cassette deck, FM radio, air conditioning, and a full three out of four automatic windows functioning properly.

“It’s just sick,” the deacon went on. “I know we’re not supposed to muzzle the ox, but an ox that’s riding in a whip like that is way too well-off. Unbelievers will see him rolling immediately assume Christians are all about the money, giving all of us a bad name and killing our collective witness. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a tee time with the mayor.”

This rolls us right into the next sin of the wealthy, plesure,

plesure had become an occupation for them instead of the devirsion it is ment to be We enjoy plesure more when we experience it in moderation. and obviously plesure is not sin, but when all we do is have fun there is an issue.

James concludes with the phrase “ you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. “

As we have seen throughout James he likes the use of figure of speaches, and this is just anothe one here.

As a farmer fat It is not wrong to be ritch, it is however if we focus on our wealth it is .

We see similar in the book of Eohesians when the ritch came to the comunal meal and got drunk and horded all the food

Be patient (7-11)

James 5:7–11 KJV 1900

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

This is the only portion of James’ letter that deals with the comming of Christ.

Verse 8 dirctly state the comming of the Lord is at hand

you say… now wait just a secound

James was written in 62 A.D. and here we are in 2020 AD I hardly call that at hand

The point is we need to be ready in in retrospect of eternity 2000 years is not that much, even 10,000 years is not that much

notice the statment “establish your hearts this is the point prepare your hearts because you do not know the time or the place

note the current situation

all we know is it is being set up nothing more...

James 5:9–11 KJV 1900

9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

The refference to the Judge here is Jesues Christ just as a Judge stands in the door about to enter the court room Jesues Christ stands in the door and we do not know when he will return for the church and we be Judged but it will happen and we need to be ready.

We are comeded to be patient those who endure hard things are blessed

He ends turning thiir direction upon Job

Job is the picture of endurnce in the scripture

we need to continue to the end I think of Paul’s words

2 Timothy 4:7 ESV

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Application

If you are wealthy do you flaund it or use it?

Be patient for the Lords return but be ready