Living Out Our Faith Patiently - James 5:1
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This evening we are starting a new chapter of James. It is the final chapter which is chapter five. As best as I can determine from my records, we started this study of James in January, 2021. So we are close to two full years of study and now we are finally coming to the end.
Now, I am preparing a handout for you that includes the main outline as well chapter outlines for each chapter. I will give that to you when we get to the end of chapter nine. In the meantime, please be praying about our next course of study. I am open for suggestions. We are still in 1 Corinthians on Sunday mornings. On Wednesdays, we are working through the names of God. So, we need something for Sunday evening. I have some things in mind, but I also welcome your input.
James 5 is a wonderful chapter full of more teaching from the Holy Spirit. As you might recall, I embraced the title of this book as “Living Out Our Faith.” It is a title that encapsulates all the Holy Spirit is teaching us about our faith. As people of faith, we are to live reflecting that faith in all that we do and say.
From there, we expanded to each chapter with the following thoughts.
Chapter 1 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Victoriously
Chapter 1 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Victoriously
Understand the True Purpose of Life’s Trials
Follow God’s Plan for Our Life
Realize the Consequences of Sin
Faithfully Hear and Do God’s Word
Chapter 2 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Openly
Chapter 2 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Openly
Obediently Love Our Fellow Believers as Ourselves
Outwardly Demonstrate Our Faith by Our Actions
Chapter 3 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Skillfully
Chapter 3 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Skillfully
Comprehend the Danger of an Uncontrolled Tongue
Commit to God’s Wisdom Over Our Own
Chapter 4 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Submissively
Chapter 4 - We are to Live Out Our Faith Submissively
Acknowledge the Danger of Our Own Lusts
Understand the Proper Way to Petition God
Admit the Worldliness Leads to Spiritual Adultery and Hostility
Humbly Submit to God
Resist the Urge to Slander and Judge
Recognize the Significance of God’s Will for Our Lives
As we move to chapter 5, we are going to focus on Living Out Our Faith Patiently.
Looking at chapter 5, we find that we can divide into three sections. They are...
Section 1 - verses 1-6
Section 2 - verses 7-11
Section 3 - verses 12-20
So let’s begin this evening by reading the first section.
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
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.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
As we get into this section, we immediately recognize the Holy Spirit addressing those who know wealth. Yes, there are believers who know wealth. Some people inherit wealth, some work hard to achieve wealth, and then there is the rest of us. Being wealthy is not wrong, but it does place a very heavy temptation and burden on those believers who are rich. Thus, the Holy Spirit is addressing them. Essentially, He is warning them about the temptation that faces so many with great wealth. What is that temptation? It is the temptation to bank and hoard money instead of using it to help propagate the gospel to those who need to hear it.
One of the interesting things about Scripture is that never condemns a person for having riches. It does, however, condemn rich people who are stingy with their wealth and are alway seeking more instead of using for God’s glory. Christ also mentioned how hard is for wealthy people to accept His kingdom.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
So, in our text, the Holy Spirit begins with a warning to those who are rich. They too must learn to trust the Lord and do His work utilizing what God has entrusted to them.
Don’t Seek to Hoard More
Don’t Seek to Hoard More
Go now to verse 1 and let’s focus on it for a few minutes.
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
The beginning phrase, “Go to now,” means to bring into the present moment. In other words, you need to start right now. Start what? They must begin to “weep and howl.” Here we find two very interesting words especially for a rich person right? Why in the world would a rich person be interested in weeping or howling over their riches? Some would say to be rich is to be happy. I know that is not a true statement but many do feel that way. Many people say “If only I had a million dollars, I could do this or that and be happy.” Yet, here is the Holy Spirit telling the rich man in some many words “Don’t be happy!” Instead, you need to "weep” meaning to cry freely and profusely out of sadness. Also, you need to "how” meaning to emit long wailing sounds of sorrow. So why is He instructing them to do something so bizarre? Look again at the verse.
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
He is saying do so for “your miseries that shall come upon you.” The word “miseries” indicates a state of misfortune and/or affliction. You will note that is a plural form of the noun “misery.” Therefore, the Holy Spirit is referring to many misfortunes and afflictions.
Being rich comes with own set of problems. I wouldn’t really know, however, I have read biographies and autobiographies of the rich and famous. In many of those stories, they often relate how empty, lonely, and aimless their lives felt. Many of them are filled with great insecurities and fears. Their riches did nothing for them. Wealth was not a blessing, but a curse for some. John D. Rockefeller once said, “I have made my millions but they have brought me no happiness.” What is interesting about Rockefeller is that he was true believer in Christ. He also said, “There is nothing in this world that can compare with the Christian fellowship; nothing that can satisfy but Christ.”
Here is the point. The Holy Spirit is saying be careful. Don’t rejoice in what you have. Instead, weep and wail knowing what miseries can fall upon you. If you focus on hoarding what you have and not using if for the Lord, you will find nothing but misery.
Here is the next thought.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Use What God has Given You
Use What God has Given You
Note two thing of importance here.
Riches are corrupted. The word “corrupted” means to become damaged or decay to the point they are useless or unsound. I love old buildings. Whenever, I am driving around I often see what was once beautiful homes that are now fallen into decay. There is a show that I have watched a few times on YouTube about dilapidated mansions. The show is about these two men who gain access to old mansions and they go in videoing what the now look like. It is sad to see. At one time, the money spent to build these mansions with so much beautiful handwork in the floors, walls, and trimwork is unbelievable. Yet, here they sit rotting away and decaying. In some places, these guys couldn’t enter because of their fear of falling through the floors. All of which speaks to the truth of Gods’ Word. You can have all the wealth in the world, but it means nothing if you do not use it for the Lord.
Remember the words of Christ.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
28 The increase of his house shall depart, And his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
24 For riches are not for ever: And doth the crown endure to every generation?
18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
Then there is next point.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Misusing What God Has Given Condemns Rich Believers
Misusing What God Has Given Condemns Rich Believers
Three ways that the misuse or the hoarding of wealth it will condemn a believer.
It will stand as a witness against them.
It will stand as a witness against them.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Misusing or hoarding wealth stands a witness both now and on the day of judgment. It is interesting what people see in a wealthy believer who does so.
Every person who is concerned with meeting the needs of others sees a person who is living selfishly. The wealthy believer who does not use what God has entrusted to him is a lazy servant and not doing that God requires.
Every person who is poor and needy sees again a person who is selfish as they hoard their wealth.
Every person who is also wealthy but without Christ sees a person no different than themselves.
But, more importantly, God see a believer who is living a life of sin as they for what they want.
Here is the point.
It will eat their flesh as a fire
It will eat their flesh as a fire
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
It would seem that the phrase “shall eat your flesh as it were fire” refers to an overwhelming passion and lust for more. It seems that is our society today. They always consumed with more and more. People today are never satisfied. Unfortunately, it is a lust and passion that lives in many believers today as well. The fire of such passions and pursuits destroy people, families, and even communities. It eats our flesh as becomes the all consuming fire. It burns and burns while consuming and destroying.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
And, then, there is this.
It will be stored as a treasure against them in the last days.
It will be stored as a treasure against them in the last days.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
There is coming a day when all of us as believers will stand before our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. On that day, He will require us to give a report of our stewardship here on earth. Here, in our text, the words “heaped together” gives the connotation of working each day heaping up treasures on earth. An action that Christ clearly instructed us not to do. However, the believer who ignores such instruction is also heaping up a treasure full of displeasure from our Lord. There is much to do for Him. The gospel message needs to be given to as many as will hear. It takes money and materials to reach them. For example, right here in our own local church we need finances to operate daily, to pay staff, and to buy the materials such as tracts, John & Romans, and many other such things so that we might reach Bedford for Him. Our missionaries who we support are the mission field working to win people to the Lord and start churches. They need our financials support. What good is it to have wealth as a believer and to sit on it doing nothing for the cause of Christ? Do you not think that one day when you stand before Lord He will be more pleased with you spending your wealth on the things that matter spiritually rather hoarding it? There is much to be done. It takes all of us using what God has given to further His cause.
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We are not done with this conversation. In fact, the Holy Spirit continues it with the next 3 verses. So, when we come back together, we are going to see more of God’s invitation to us to open our hearts and our wallets for Him. However, for this evening, we were encouraged to not hoard more, use what God has given us, and do not misuse it as it will only condemn us in the last days.