A Warning Concerning Wealth
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
We are now in the final chapter of this letter from James to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.
From the proclamation of trials and hardships molding us into Christlikeness to the need for us to not just profess Christ, but to proclaim him through our words and actions, James has been packed full of challenges for us to consider.
Last week, we looked at the need for us to consider the Mist Opportunities that we have. Life is short, not guaranteed beyond the most recent breath we have taken, so we must strive to do what is right. We must seek to honor God with our lives by loving Him and loving our neighbors.
James takes time here in chapter 5 to specifically deal with some areas where we can miss the opportunity to honor God and love others. This first section, in verses 1-6, provide A Warning Concerning Wealth.
Before we dig into this section, I would like to take a look at what the Preacher has to say about the role of wealth in bringing about satisfaction in life.
Ecclesiastes 2:4-11.
The person who had everything anyone could ever dream of, and who had the means to obtain anything he wanted, settled on the conclusion that wealth and its fruit are mere vanity.
Yet, we still attempt to satisfy ourselves with it. James addresses these people in James 5:1-6.
THE WITNESS OF MISUSED WEALTH
THE WITNESS OF MISUSED WEALTH
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver have corroded,
and their corrosion will be evidence against you
and will eat your flesh like fire.
You have laid up treasure in the last days.
James, in his letter to believers, is not condemning those who are well off with wealth, but is condemning those who use their wealth for personal, selfish reasons.
They have become so enamored with what they can obtain with the riches they have that they have all but forgotten the focus that matters in their lives. And that is what we must be careful of.
Douglas Moo
In the Western world, where amassing material wealth is not only condoned but admired, we Christians need to come to grips with this point in James and ask ourselves seriously: When do we have too much?
We cannot dismiss the fact that wealth is often tied to difficulties in discipleship.
Matthew 19:23-24
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
In alluding to moth-eaten garments and gold and silver that is corroded (i.e. rusted), James seems to be pointing to two things:
The immense quantity of these items
Their temporary nature
When you consider the quantity, you must take into consideration hoarding. Hoarding is one of the most widespread and not talked about sins of our time, because at the center of hoarding tends to be anxiety and the lack of faith in God to provide what a person needs.
These folks that James is addressing have so much stuff that their clothes are becoming moth-eaten due to non-use and their gold/silver is corroding (or is as good as being corroded on the day of judgment).
Coming fresh off the declaration that our lives are temporary, James attacks the feeble pursuits of those whose lives are consumed with the temporary possessions of their temporary lives.
Harkening back to chapter 1, James made quite clear what happens to a rich man in his pursuits:
James 1:11
For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
The “things” that these rich people have look nice. The clothes are made from expensive fabric, the cars are the nicest and rarest, and their bank accounts cannot be contained by one local bank.
However, each and every one of these items will be consumed in the end due to their temporary nature. Jesus has made clear what needs to be our focus:
Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Our focus ought to be on the eternal things...things that cannot be decayed or destroyed by the things of this world. Our heavenly treasure is guarded by heavenly beings...nah, the one Divine heavenly being: God Himself.
Douglas Moo
Although the rich people do not, or cannot, see it, their great wealth has already lost its luster. It stands already under the doom of the things of this world that will fade away and can provide no foundation for the life to come
When the heart of an individual is set on their riches and possessions, their own material wealth testifies against them in the judgment, where it will ultimately eat their flesh like fire.
The statement you have laid up treasure in the last days simply means that while they were spending their wealth according to their passions and hoarding their possessions, they were filling their eternal coffers as well.
MacArthur:
Wealth is to be enjoyed as a blessing from God and used to fulfill His will in meeting needs and advancing the gospel. Those who fail to do that suffer judgment.
THE WITNESS OF MISAPPROPRIATED WEALTH
THE WITNESS OF MISAPPROPRIATED WEALTH
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you,
and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.
You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
These wicked, rich individuals that James is addressing not only misused the wealth they had, but they also acquired it by sinful means.
Rather than being generous toward the poor with the excess wealth they had, they exploited them! They did not pay the laborers what was their due. This was a strongly forbidden practice for an Israelite.
Leviticus 19:13
“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
The laborer was expected to be paid for their day of labor. It was not to wait until the next day to be paid out. What we see in James is that these wicked folks not only withheld payment for a day or two, they cheated the laborers out of their pay completely.
While this allows people to temporarily benefit from having more money, the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord...and that is not good news for them.
Deuteronomy 24:15
You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.
You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.
It is easy for people to deceive other people. But it is impossible for people to deceive the Lord. And they will have to give an account of the self-indulgence and fattening of their hearts that they participated in, on the day of judgment.
CONCLUSION
Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
It is clear in these verses that the rich were serving money as their master. They have been using their wealth for their own selfish purposes and have been obtaining their wealth through dishonest means.
true religion looks like: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (1:28).
As Jesus commands his disciples:
Luke 12:33-34
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.