The Ungodly Rich

James 5:1-6

In this section we have James sharpest rebuke of the entire letter. He uses it on a certain group of rich people within the church. As we have shown throughout the letter, there were a number of rich people in the congregations (1:10-11, 2: 1-13). Some of these were actual believers and some appeared to be false believers. The group James addresses here were obviously unbelievers. Let’s look at what James has to say to them.

Repent. He begins with the phrase “Go to, now”. It means “Listen carefully”. It’s a call to attention. This highlights just how serious of a matter it was. He tells them to “weep and howl”. James is describing the type of repentance they should be expressing. They should be crying uncontrollably over their sin. They should be experiencing deep shame and guilt that results in weeping. They should be weeping because of the “miseries” that are coming upon them. “Miseries” refers to the punishment that God is going to give them. If these people could see the judgment that awaited them they would be weeping and howling.

Jesus gave us some vivid illustrations about the judgment of God on those that love money. He said in Luke 6:24-24 “But woe unto you that are rich! For ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! For ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep.”

He also told us of the story of the rich man and Lazarus. That story revealed the great reversal of fortunes in the world to come. Lazarus was a beggar in this world; the rich man lived in luxury. In eternity Lazarus lived in luxury and the rich man eternally begged for relief.

If this group of rich people did not recognize their sin and weep and howl over it they would experience the miseries of God. They would be begging for something as common as water. It was time for these people to listen up. Certainly there is nothing wrong with wealth. God gives us the power to get wealth (Deut. 8:18). The problem comes when we love money (1 Tim. 6:10). When we put it before God and others we greatly err. Israel had a history of doing that (Amos 4:1-3) and now it seemed there were people in the church doing the same thing. They needed to repent.

Recognize the problem. In verse 3 James says “ye have heaped treasure together”. They were hoarders. Hoarding is a problem with many people. There is even a reality show that deals with the problem. It is a little comical but more sad than anything. It shows the despicable things that people are willing to do, circumstance they are willing to live in and people they are willing to hurt just to keep their things. Notice what was happening to the things these people were hoarding up.

*They were rotting. James says they were “corrupted” and “moth-eaten”. Wealth was calculated in a number of ways in James day. Food items, clothing as well as silver and gold were considered symbols of wealth. James use of the word “corrupted” would describe the process of rotting food. The people were storing away food for themselves and it was just rotting away. They were like the man in the parable that had plenty of food from his harvest. Therefore, he decided to build bigger barns for himself (Luke 16:16-21). Instead of feeding the hungry, these people were just wasting food. In their minds they believed it was better to keep it for themselves than help others with it. They were so consumed with themselves that they allowed food to waste away while people in their communities wasted away.

James also notes that the rich were hoarding clothing. They had been hoarding it so long it was beginning to be eaten by moths. They saved their food while hungry people starved. They fed the moths their clothing while poor people dressed in rags or went naked. It didn’t make any sense. It showed no love toward God or others.

*They were rusting. In verse 3 James says “your gold and silver is cankered”. James is talking about the process of rusting away. Normally gold and silver do not rust. However, if the gold and silver is not pure, it could. Some coins and valuables in those days were made of lower quality and contained alloys. James could be speaking metaphorically as well. He could be saying “On the day of judgment your gold and silver will be as useless as rusted metal!” The point is that the rich James is talking to believe their gold and silver is valuable, but in fact it is not. Notice what James says about their gold and silver.

It will be a witness against them. The language is symbolic. It symbolizes a courtroom on the Day of Judgment. On the Day of Judgment the prosecution will pick up their gold and silver as exhibit A. They will show it to the judge and say “See this, this man had all the resources he needed to help others, but he refused to!”

It will contribute to their punishment. James says it “shall eat your flesh as it were fire”. “It” refers to the corruption James mentions. He uses the process of rust to symbolize eternal punishment. Just as rust slowly eats away at the riches of the ungodly, God’s punishment of eternal fire will slowly eat away at the ungodly for all of eternity. Notice James says it will “eat your flesh”. This shows that hell is a place where people exist in a bodily form. It is a conscious place of torment. The riches that the ungodly believed would make life so much more comfortable, has made their eternity anything but comfortable.

The problem with these rich people is that they were hoarders. They were keeping their money, clothes and food for themselves. They loved their stuff more than they loved God.

Quit ripping people off. In verse 4 James tells us that these rich people were not paying their workers. Somehow they were getting around it. They were “keeping it back by fraud”. This could be what James is talking about in 2:6. The rich were using their power and influence to get out of paying the poor what they deserved. The Old Testament taught Israel that they were to pay their workers daily (Deut. 24:14-15). To fail to pay workers was a sin against God. But these people didn’t care. They wanted their fields harvested but they didn’t want to pay the people that harvested them. Notice what James says to these lovers of money.

He says that the money they owe the workers “crieth”. In other words, it’s a witness against them. The money was in the pockets of these rich land owners crying out “Hey, I don’t belong to you!” It was another witness for the prosecution. You can almost see the rich standing before God. The Lord makes them empty their pockets. Inside their pockets is money that belongs to the poor. The Lord asks “What’s this?” The rich man is silent. The money cries out “I am the paycheck of that poor Christian over there that couldn’t afford to feed his family.”

James mentions another witness against these ungodly people. It’s the prayers of the poor. The cries of the poor reached the Lord. The Lord hears the prayers of His people. Like Israel in Egypt (Exodus 3:7), the Lord heard their prayers. Countless prayers are a witness against these men. Notice God is called “Lord of Sabaoth”. That phrase describes God as the Commander of the Heavenly Army”. The governments of the world would do nothing to help the oppressed believers. But they have gone to a higher authority. God will avenge His people. God will right the wrong. The Lord will repay those that take advantage of their position.

These people needed to quit ripping people off. They needed to pay their workers. If they did not, the Lord would come in judgment.

Look at verse 5. James admits that these people had lived in pleasure. They had what they needed to make life comfortable. “wanton” is a word that describes sinful pleasure. They had a second helping of everything in life, including sin. “Nourished” is a word that means “fattened”. The pleasure of the world made these people fat. They had more money, more food, more clothing and more pleasure than they should have.

James actually likens these people to a fattened calf. Notice the reference to “the day of slaughter”. The cow isn’t an extremely smart animal. He is placed in a pen and taken care of. He is fed more food than the others. He is made more comfortable than the others as well. He probably thinks “Wow, I’m a lot better cow than all those other cows”. But then he is taken to the slaughter house to be butchered. That’s how it would be for these spiritually ignorant rich people. They were spending their lives getting fat in this world while others starved. They probably thought it was because they were so much better than others. Their spiritual ignorance would not let them see that they ere just being fattened up for the day of slaughter. God’s judgment was coming. And is they did not repent, they would be slaughtered.

Verse 6 summarizes the actions of these oppressive people. They were using their position to bring the poor before the court on false charges. There the poor would be condemned and killed. Even though the poor were “just”. They were righteous. As the old saying goes “Money talks”. These men were so heartless that they had people put to death that they knew were innocent. The love of money is truly the root of all evil. Notice that James also says “He doth not resist you”. What could the poor do? They couldn’t fight back. They didn’t have the money or the power or the influence. However, they would all stand before another judge someday. This Judge can’t be paid off either. And when they did, the tables would be turned. That was the only consolation that the poor in James day had. But it was enough.

This section teaches us about riches. Riches should be used to advance the kingdom (Luke 16:9). They should be used to meet the needs of others. We should feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, etc. They should be used to support churches and ministries. They shouldn’t be stored up only to be lost in the process of time. We ought to all take James words to heart.

Thoughts to Consider

1. There are a lot of people laughing right now that shouldn’t be.

2. We won’t need any of our food, clothes or money where we are going.

3. Oppressing the poor is a terrible sin.

4. Money talks, what will ours say about us?