"When Net Worth is Worthless!"
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INTRODUCTION: (1 Timothy 6:10)
INTRODUCTION: (1 Timothy 6:10)
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Throughout the Bible we find that the love of money that brings out the worst in people!
(Joshua 7) – Achan's lust for money brought death to himself, his family, and dozens of men!
(Numbers 22) – Balaam would have cursed God's people for Balak's payment.
(Judges 16) – Delilah betrayed Samson to the Philistines for a fee.
(2 Kings 5:20-27) – Elisha’s servant Gehazilied to both Naaman and then Elisha, for which he was afflicted with leprosy.
(Matthew 26:14-16) Describes the ULTIMATE act of treachery, with the betrayal of Jesus by Judas!
The love of money is also at the root of much of the misery we observe in present day society!
As Jacob focuses his attention on the wicked wealthy of his day, his words are so strong that many commentaries pass over our passage this morning with a simple summary statement.
Other writers honestly admit that they do not know what to do with such powerful statements.
To help understand Jacob’s message, let's consider the context:
He has already mentioned the "rich"three times: (1:9-11), (2:2-3) and (2:6).
Based on the language used—especially in (5:1-6), it seems that he is addressing the unsaved wealthy—wealthy individuals outsideof the church!
Which is not an indictment of wealth per se! There is no evidence from the Bible to support the idea that it is wrong to be wealthy!
The Lord’s blessing enriches, and he adds no painful effort to it.
There are many notable examples in the Bible of godly wealthy people--Job, Abraham, Nicodemus, Mary, Joseph of Arimathea, Barnabas,and Philemon.
God does not disapprove of people with money, but He does speak against those who "trust in riches!"
Anyone trusting in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were astonished at his words. Again Jesus said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
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.”
This uncontrolled desire for wealth is the target of Jacob’s sweeping statements!
Like Paul, he sees the danger not in wealth,but in so loving wealth that it blots out love for GOD and for OTHERS!
(READ TEXT - PRAY)
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you.
Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies.
You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.
I. The DESPERATE ANGUISH of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:1)
I. The DESPERATE ANGUISH of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:1)
"Weep and howl"-These tears are NOT the tears of repentance, but tears because of the judgment that is to come upon them!
John Calvin separates this kind of sorrow from the sorrow of repentance: "Repentance has indeed its weeping, but being mixed with consolation, it does not precede to howling."
"Weep" -means 'to sob aloud, to lament, to sob bitterly.' It is used of wailing for the dead in (John 11:31-33)
In (Luke 22:62) - Peter "wept bitterly."
"Howl" -is an expression of intense grief. The Greek expression is an onomatopoeic verb, meaning that the word sounds like what it means (like our English word, “ouch”).
The picture portrayed is that of open and vocal sobbing, with howls of agony, at the Return of Christ in judgment!
II. The DREADFUL JUDGMENT of the WICKED DEAD! – (5:2-3a)
II. The DREADFUL JUDGMENT of the WICKED DEAD! – (5:2-3a)
James uses three expressions to illustrate the temporary nature of their wealth:
1. Your Riches ARE Corrupted! – (v.2a)
1. Your Riches ARE Corrupted! – (v.2a)
When WE think of riches, we usually picture stocks and bonds, bank accounts, and major real estate holdings.
But wealth has always been a cultural expression!
Many commentators believe that James' mention of riches relates to foodstuffs...grains!
In other words, their wealth was measured by the amount of grain, fruit, and vegetables they had stored away for some future day!
But ALL these items are subject to decay. Their "wealth" WOULD NOT LAST!!
2. Your Garments ARE Moth-eaten! – (v.2b)
2. Your Garments ARE Moth-eaten! – (v.2b)
Another evidence of wealth was the wardrobe of the rich! They bought beautiful garments wherever they went, and no doubt showed them off!!
As valuable as these garments were, when they were stored in the heat of the Orient, the moths would destroy them (there were no mothballs in those days)!
3. Your Gold and Silver ARE Corroded! – (v.3)
3. Your Gold and Silver ARE Corroded! – (v.3)
An interesting NOTE: pure gold and silver do not corrode. The figurative language is used to express the worthless nature of stored gold and silver! It might as well be a piece of corroded metal.
These three statements express the futility of keeping in storage those things that should be put into circulation for the glory of God and the welfare of mankind!
· The food could be given to the hungry!
· The garments could have been given to the naked instead of the moths!
· The silver and gold could have been given to the poor!
“Don’t 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 don’t break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"Is it wrong to save money for the future?"
"Are Christian financial advisers wrong when they instruct believers to put money aside?"
Richard Swenson (book Margins) gives a very straight answer:
"In the final analysis, the issue is not savings but hoarding. Modern saving is probably acceptable to God...Hoarding, however, is never acceptable. He is trusting us with certain resources; He as owner and we as stewards. We should never pretend that we have rights to what is not ours.
God is honored by funnels and dishonored by sponges. Be a conduit of His blessing, not a dead end. Some increased savings for known future expenses and unknown contingencies seems acceptable. But dead-end hoardingor empire building is not."
III. The DEVASTATING FUTURE of the WICKED WEALTHY! (5:3b)
III. The DEVASTATING FUTURE of the WICKED WEALTHY! (5:3b)
There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
The fact that the rich possess hoarded goods in the day of judgment will be presented as evidence that they have NOT followed God's directives for sharing with the poor!
They are actually providing evidence to be used in their own indictment!!
(James 5:7-9)
IV. The DECEITFUL PRACTICES of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:4)
IV. The DECEITFUL PRACTICES of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:4)
The picture presented here is of a rich absentee landowner who hires day-laborers to care for his property in his absence.
The practice of paying wages late or bilking the worker of his wages was common!
“Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages due a hired worker must not remain with you until morning.
“Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your Israelite brothers or one of the resident aliens in a town in your land.
You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.
Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upstairs rooms through injustice, who makes his neighbor serve without pay and will not give him his wages,
James reminds his friends that the Lord hears the cries of those who have been cheated!
In fact, he uses a special name for the Lord who hears. He calls Him the Lord of Sabaoth!
"Sabaoth"is the Hebrew word for "hosts." It portrays God as the Commander of the Heavenly armies!
The phrase conveys the idea that the abuse of the poor gets the attention of the Supreme Sovereign of the universe!!
V. The DELUXE LIFESTYLE of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:5)
V. The DELUXE LIFESTYLE of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:5)
The "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" did not begin as a modern television series. It is as old as the prodigal son who "squandered his wealth in wild living!"
“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.
Unless we know how animals are prepared for food, we might have trouble understanding Jacob.
Steers are specially fed so that they will make good steaks. Hogs are fed to make good pork. Chickens and turkeys are scientifically fed to fatten them up for the table!
Jacob is saying, "You have pampered yourself in everything that you did. You have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter."
Alec Motyer writes,
"They are like so many unthinking beasts, luxuriating in their rich pasture day after day, growing fat by the hour and careless of the fact that each day, each hour, brings the butcher nearer. Only the thin beast is safe in that day; the well-fed has made itself ready for the knife. In such a way James saw the wealthy, blind alike to heaven and hell, living for this life, forgetting the day of slaughter."
VI. The DEADLY CRIMES of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:6)
VI. The DEADLY CRIMES of the WICKED WEALTHY! – (5:6)
Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court?
Perhaps by dragging the poor into court and depriving them of the bare necessities of life, they caused their deaths indirectly.
In the second century before Christ, Joshua ben Sira said, "The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood. To take away a neighbor's living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed his blood."
CONCLUSION: "WHAT SHOULD BE OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD MONEY?"
CONCLUSION: "WHAT SHOULD BE OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD MONEY?"
Simon Kistemaker (The N.T. Commentary) provides our concluding thought:
"Earthly possessions are like the tides of the sea: they come and go. Therefore, we ought not to base our destiny on the instability of earthly riches. Rather, we should receive every good and perfect gift out of God's hand, and then wisely dispense the money God gives us.
When we remember the needs of our fellowman and give generously, we reflect God's generosity toward us."