James 5. Wealth. Wrong Getting
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MONEY TALKS
MONEY TALKS
If money talks,” said a popular comedian, “all it ever says to me is good-bye!”
But money was not saying “good-bye” to the men James addressed in this section of his letter.
These men were rich, and their riches were sinful.
They were using their wealth for selfish purposes, and were persecuting the poor in the process.
One of the themes that runs through James 5 is trouble.
We meet poor people deprived of their wages (James 5:4), as well as people who are physically afflicted (James 5:13–16), and spiritually backslidden (James 5:19–20).
A second theme that James introduced is prayer.
The poor laborers cry out to God (James 5:4).
The sick and afflicted should pray (James 5:13–16).
He cited Elijah as an example of one who believed in prayer (James 5:17–18).
When you join these two themes, you arrive at the fifth mark of the mature Christian: he is prayerful in troubles.
Instead of giving up when troubles come, the mature believer turns to God in prayer and seeks divine help.
The immature person trusts in his own experience and skill, or else turns to others for help.
While it is true that God often meets our needs through the hands of other people, this aid must be the result of prayer.
James did not say it was a sin to be rich.
After all, Abraham was a wealthy man, yet he walked with God, and was greatly used of God to bless the whole world.
James was concerned about the selfishness of the rich, and advised them to “weep and howl.”
He gave three reasons for his exhortation.
The Way They Got Their Wealth
The Way They Got Their Wealth
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.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
The Bible does not discourage the acquiring of wealth.
In the Law of Moses, specific rules are laid down for getting and securing wealth.
The Jews in Canaan owned their own property, worked it, and benefited from the produce.
In several of His parables, Jesus indicated His respect for personal property and private gain.
There is nothing in the Epistles that contradicts the right of private ownership and profit.
What are the biblical means of acquiring wealth?
1: To work for it.
2: To be given it
3: To inherit it.
What the Bible does condemn is acquiring wealth by illegal means or for illegal purposes.
He gave two illustrations of how the rich acquired their wealth.
Holding back wages (v. 4).
Holding back wages (v. 4).
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.
Laborers were hired and paid by the day and did not have any legal contracts with their employers.
The Parable of the Laborers in Matthew 20:1–16 gives some idea of the system in that day.
In the Law, God gave definite instructions concerning the laboring man in order to protect him from the oppressive employer.
14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
15 At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.
13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
These rich men had hired the laborers and promised to pay them a specific amount.
The men had completed their work but had not been paid.
The tense of the verb “kept back” in the original Greek indicates that the laborers never will get their salaries.
“Thou shalt not steal” is still the law of God, and it is a law He will enforce. As Christians, it behooves us to be faithful to pay our bills.
As a pastor, I find myself embarrassed when unsaved men tell me about Christians who owe them money and apparently have no intention of paying.
I recall meeting a doctor friend while I was visiting in the hospital. “How are things going?” I asked, and he replied, “Oh, I guess things are OK.”
“I pray for you,” I told him, wanting to be an encouragement.
“I appreciate that,” he replied. “But while you’re at it, pray for all the people who owe me money. It’d help if they would pay up!”
Controlling the courts (v. 6a).
Controlling the courts (v. 6a).
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
It is often the case that those who have wealth also have political power and can get what they want.
“What is the Golden Rule?” asked a character in a comic strip. His friend answered, “Whoever has the gold makes the rules!”
James asked,
6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
When God established Israel in her land, He gave the people a system of courts.
8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;
9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:
11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
He warned the judges not to be greedy.
21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
They were not to be partial to the rich or the poor.
15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
No judge was to tolerate perjury.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Bribery was condemned by the Lord
15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
The Prophet Amos denounced the judges in his day who took bribes and “fixed” cases (Amos 5:12, 15).
The courts in James’ day were apparently easy to control if you had enough money.
The poor workers could not afford expensive lawsuits, so they were beaten down every time.
The workers had the just cause, but they were not given justice.
Instead, they were abused and ruined.
The poor man did not resist the rich man because he had no weapons with which to fight.
All he could do was call on the Lord for justice.
The Bible warns us against the securing of wealth by illegal means.
God owns all wealth
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
He permits us to be stewards of His wealth for His glory.
11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.
It is “the hand of the diligent that makes rich” (Prov. 10:4).
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
“Do not weary yourself to gain wealth” (Prov. 23:4).
We must put God first in our lives, and He will see to it that we always have all that we need.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
