Sermon Tone Analysis
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*18—Judgment on the Wicked Rich (**5:1–6**)*
*Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten.
Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.
It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!
Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.
*(5:1–6)
In Luke 16:13 the Lord Jesus Christ stated an important spiritual principle: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Because of that, Jesus exhorted, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt.
6:19–21).
Nothing more clearly reveals the state of a person’s heart than his view of money and material possessions.
Many who profess faith in Christ invalidate their claim to genuine saving faith through their opulent, indulgent, materialistic lifestyles—a clear indication that they serve wealth, not God (Matt.
6:24).
As noted throughout this commentary, James was presenting tests of genuine saving faith, tests which validate or invalidate one’s claim to be a Christian.
Building on the teaching of our Lord, as he often does, James presents another such test in chapter 5—that of how one views money.
The first six verses of chapter 5 form a strong rebuke—the strongest in the entire epistle.
James’s blistering, scathing denunciation condemns those who profess to worship God but in fact worship money.
He calls on them to examine the true state of their hearts in light of how they feel about their wealth.
The Bible does not teach that possessing wealth is sinful in and of itself.
In fact, everyone possesses wealth and material goods to one degree or another.
Moses reminded the Israelites poised to enter the promised land that “the Lord your God … is giving you power to make wealth” (Deut.
8:18), a truth confirmed by Proverbs 10:22: “It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.”
What /is/ wrong is to misuse one’s wealth.
“The love of money,” wrote Paul in 1 Timothy 6:10, “is a root of all sorts of evil”; but he later wrote that it is God “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (v.
17).
James, like Paul, cautions against the love of money that leads people to misuse the wealth with which God has blessed them for their own selfish, sinful ends.
James’s sharp rebuke of the wicked wealthy is in keeping with the tradition of the Old Testament prophets.
Isaiah repeatedly denounced those rich people who misused their wealth or abused the poor.
In chapter 3 he warned, “The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people, ‘It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the face of the poor?’ declares the Lord God of hosts” (vv.
14–15; cf.
5:8–10).
In Isaiah 10:1–4 the prophet continued his pronouncement of judgment on Israel’s wicked rich:
Woe to those who enact evil statutes
And to those who constantly record unjust decisions,
So as to deprive the needy of justice
And rob the poor of My people of their rights,
In order that widows may be their spoil
And that they may plunder the orphans.
Now what will you do in the day of punishment,
And in the devastation which will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your wealth?
Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives
Or fall among the slain.
In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away
And His hand is still stretched out.
The prophet Amos graphically depicted the wicked rich of his day as fattened cattle, ripe for the devastating slaughter of God’s judgment:
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
Who say to your husbands, “Bring now, that we may drink!”
The Lord God has sworn by His holiness,
“Behold, the days are coming upon you
When they will take you away with meat hooks,
And the last of you with fish hooks.
You will go out through breaches in the walls,
Each one straight before her,
And you will be cast to Harmon,” declares the Lord.
(Amos 4:1–3)
In Amos 8:4–10 the prophet continued his prophecy of doom on the wicked rich:
Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, saying,
“When will the new moon be over,
So that we may sell grain,
And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market,
To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger,
And to cheat with dishonest scales,
So as to buy the helpless for money
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob,
“Indeed, I will never forget any of their deeds.
Because of this will not the land quake
And everyone who dwells in it mourn?
Indeed, all of it will rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord God,
“That I shall make the sun go down at noon
And make the earth dark in broad daylight.
Then I shall turn your festivals into mourning
And all your songs into lamentation;
And I will bring sackcloth on everyone’s loins
And baldness on every head.
And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.”
Job (Job 24:2–4), Jeremiah (Jer.
5:27–29), Micah (Mic.
2:1–5), and Malachi (Mal.
3:5) also condemned the wicked rich.
So strong is James’s rebuke that some have argued that he had in mind those outside the church.
But James’s address of his readers in the second person indicates he was speaking to those who would hear his letter read in the churches.
James, then, aimed his rebuke at people who were in some way associated with the church.
He was wise enough to realize that, as in any church, some in the churches to which he wrote claimed to be Christians, but were not.
Though they may have outwardly professed faith in Christ, their focus on earthly treasure betrayed the falsity of that profession (Matt.
6:21; cf.
13:22; 19:21–22).
Sadly, many in the church today are accepted as Christians because they talk about Jesus and claim a superficial allegiance to Him.
Yet an examination of their lifestyle reveals that they do not walk in obedience to His commandments.
Their lust for money and possessions betrays their true allegiance (Matt.
6:24; cf.
James 4:4; 1 John 2:15–17).
Though primarily addressed to those rich fakers in the church who professed allegiance to Christ but actually pursued riches, James’s warning is a timely one for Christians as well.
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