I. Introduction
A. James 5:1–7a Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 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. 4 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. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.
B. A conspiracy of silence – These are the passages American Christians like to ignore. And Christians from other countries see it clearly.
1. One of the advantages of living in a country where Christians are financially persecuted is that it exposes those who love money more than they love Christ. When being known as a Christian means you can’t get a job, or the only jobs you can get are the very lowest and most degrading jobs, or when they burn down your house and steal your stuff and there’s nothing you can do about it, then lovers of money don’t pretend to be lovers of Jesus, nor do they deceive themselves into thinking that they are.
C. The theme of James: your life must conform to your faith
1. Trials (1:2-4, 12-15)
2. Bridled tongue (1:19-21, 3:1-12)
3. Not being a lover of the worl ld (James 4:1-10)
4. Caring for the poor (James 1:27, 2:1-16)
D. Well, this morning we come to a passage about riches, which fits into two of these categories: treatment of the poor and not loving this world.
II. Explanation of James 5:1–7a
A. 1-3a Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.
1. These are shockingly strong words. “Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.”
a. Rottenness, misery, corrosion, being convicted in a trial, having your flesh burned in a fire, and then in v.5 being slaughtered!
(1) The Bible uses the strongest language to describe the agonies of hell.
b. How could it possibly be loving to use this kind of language toward another person?
(1) There’s only one way it could be loving: if they were true.
(2) If we were about to do something which would cause us eternal torment, wouldn’t we want someone to warn us in the strongest language?
(3) Isn’t it loving to use the strongest language to teach a toddler to stay away from the fire!
(4) To a toddler, fire is so intriguing. It looks amazing, it sparkles, it keeps changing. But we all know that even a tiny touch can cause enormous pain and is potentially deadly!
c. To us, gold and silver look so good! And riches appear to be so helpful, so constructive! And yet, James says they’re actually deadly to those who embrace them.
(1) In Mark 4:19 Jesus refers to the deceitfulness of riches. They appear to make one secure, but they do not.
(2) And James likewise wants us to see riches for what they are. At best they are empty and unreliable. At worst they are destructive.
B. 3b You have laid up treasure in the last days...5b You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
1. Here James talks about the timing of what the rich have done.
a. They have laid up treasure in the last days in v.3.
b. They have fattened their hearts in a day of slaughter in v.5.
2. Both of these are referring to the same thing.
3. The point James is making is that we are in the last days, the days just before Christ returns to judge mankind. It makes our crimes doubly foolish when we commit them right before the One who sees all things arrives. It’s like speeding up when you see a speed trap ahead. It’s like having a water fight in the hallway right before mom and dad come home. It’s like running into a burning house to eat the candy in the drawer.
4. Not only do people disobey God but they do it with blatant disregard for the consequences, ignoring the many signs of His rapidly approaching judgment.
5. “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
a. Fatness of body can be a sign of fatness of heart. Or, it might not.
b. And thinness of body may be a sign of a lean heart, or it might not.
c. The issue is the heart. That’s what God cares about. Are we fattening our hearts for a day of slaughter?
d. Around here you often pass cattle eating away in a field. They eat and eat and eat. On your way out you drive by and they’re eating; and then you pass by again on your way home and they’re still eating. There’s no stress; there’s no work; there’s no restraint. It’s all about indulgence.
e. And even as the beasts are lead to the slaughterhouse, they will grab a mouthful of grass on the way, if there’s one available.
f. It’s the same for those who live lives of self-indulgence even as the day of divine judgment approaches.
C. 4 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.
1. Their love of money has driven them to do things which gain them financial advantage even if it causes others hardship.
2. They cheat people. They hire people to work for them but then find ways to pay them less than is owed. They do anything they can get away with to increase their bottom line.
3. But they are so foolish to believe they can get away with it!
4. For James says that those the wages which are owed to those who worked for them are actually crying out against them, and the moans and groans of those workers have likewise “reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”
5. Lord of hosts = Lord of armies. I.e. the One who is gathering His armies for vengeance.
D. 5a You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.
1. It’s not necessarily wrong to be rich, according to the Bible, but it is wrong to live in luxury & self-indulgence.
2. This is such an important message for Americans to hear!
E. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
1. Their sins have gone so far that James says that they have condemned and murdered righteous people, even though they are too weak to do anything about it.
2. He seems to be talking about rich people using their wealth and influence to deprive the righteous poor of their rights and of their living.
3. Think about defrauding people of their retirement money; think about slavery; think of sexual abuse; think about human trafficking; think about sexual indulgence and then covering it up by abortion; think about the creation of pornography.
4. If money is a person’s idol, if money is what drives him, then he’s not looking to treat others justly, much less lovingly or generously. His eye is on his bottom line, and his choices are made to that end, even if other people get hurt in the process.
F. 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.
1. Brothers: it’s as if now he turns and speaks to the believers who have been the victims of this kind of abuse. And he tells them, in light of the imminent judgment of God against these abusers, to therefore be patient.
2. When you are mistreated, when you are cheated, when you are exploited, it’s easy to burn with anger. And so James reminds Christian victims of abuse that they don’t need to take vengeance themselves because God’s vengeance is coming against them very soon.
III. The danger of money
A. I’ve been to the Dave Ramsey seminar, and I found very little to disagree with. But one thing troubles me deeply. In my opinion, he ignores the main point the Bible makes about money: money is dangerous.
B. Jesus talks a lot about money. And He says a number of things. He says we should be generous. He says we should be good stewards of the money we are given. But by far the main thing He says is that it’s dangerous.
1. Luke 6:24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.”
2. 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, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
3. 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.”
4. Luke 12:16–21 He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
5. Mark 10:23–27 Jesus said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 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.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
6. Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.”
C. And the concern about money didn’t begin with Jesus.
1. Proverbs 23:4-5 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
2. Proverbs 28:19-20 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. 20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
3. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
D. And the warnings about money didn’t end with Jesus either.
1. And Paul says similar things, including 1Timothy 6:6–10 Godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
2. Notice that it refers to the love of money.
a. Frugality is often just another form of loving money. It can be used as a justification for many sins.
b. Saving a buck more important than loving your neighbor and doing justice and treating others as you would want to be treated.
3. If you’re going to listen to Dave Ramsey, make sure to supplement it with something which addresses the danger of money: Paul David Tripp’s excellent book, Sex & Money, for instance.
E. There is such a close tie between having lots of money and misusing money that:
1. Jesus calls money “unrighteous Mammon” in Luke 16:9.
2. Jesus says it’s very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom (Matt.19:23)
3. Sometimes the Bible condemns the rich person without even mentioning his misuse of money as if it is safe to assume that a rich person is a abuser of money.
F. I’m not saying it’s actually sinful to be rich.
1. Paul makes that clear in 1Timothy 6:17-19 “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”
2. But clearly it is dangerous.
IV. Why is James making such a big deal about money? Isn’t it something everybody struggles with? Aren’t there lots of things we turn into idols?
A. Well, first of all, all sin cries out for God’s judgment. All those who live for this world ought to “weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon” them.
B. Secondly, Jesus said that the rich enjoy their reward here in this life: “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” – Luke 6:24–26
1. Over and over again in the Bible, the ease of the rich and the suffering of the poor in this life are said to be reversed in the life to come. “The first shall be last & the last shall be first.” Matt.20:16
C. And then, thirdly, it’s because of the purpose of riches. You see, God is the One who makes one person rich and another poor. He makes one strong and another weak. But why does He do this?
1. He makes some strong so that they can help the weak. He makes some rich so they can help the poor. But instead, many use their God-given riches and strength to live “in luxury and self-indulgence.” (5)
2. This isn’t the only reason. God loves His children, and He gives them good gifts through which they can enjoy Him and His love for them. We see this in 1Tim.6:17, “ God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”
3. But the person who only enjoys God’s gifts and doesn’t share them is ignoring perhaps the biggest reason they were given such gifts in the first place.
4. Money is meant to be used. Now, obviously, the Bible does not condemn all kinds of storing money. But there is an unholy tendency to store up money which the Bible condemns strongly.
a. It involves putting one’s trust in money, accumulating not for usage, but storage becomes an end in itself.
b. Calvin said, “God has not appointed gold for rust, nor garments for moths; but, on the contrary, he has designed them as aids and helps to human life.”
c. Money is supposed to be used make friends in heaven. Luke 16:9 Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
5. The Lord could have made everyone self-sufficient so no one needed to help anyone. But He loves and He gives so He wants us to love and give like Him.
D. When a person loves money, it means he is blind to the true treasure.
1. Matthew 6:21 “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Whatever you treasure is what you worship.
2. Jesus doesn’t just care about what we do. He cares most of all about what is in our hearts. What do we treasure? What do we hold dear?
3. If a person’s heart is filled with money, then He doesn’t treasure the Lord!
4. A person who truly sees Jesus cannot think that money is his treasure! That’s why we pray, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you!”
5. Luke 12:15, 23 “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions...Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”
6. And speaking of Luke 12, the last part of my benediction comes from Luke 12:32, where Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
a. Well, do you know the verses which come right before that? Luke 12:29-31 Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
7. Christianity isn’t irrational. We are not asked to give up real riches in exchange for pious feelings. Rather, we give up something fleeting and unreliable to receive something real and permanent. It makes all the sense in the world!!