James 5:1-12 Are You Rich?
Rd V.1-6
James opens Ch. 5 of his
epistle with a seething rebuke against
those who were wealthy
V.1 NLT Look here, you rich people, weep and groan with anguish
because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
Is
it wrong to be rich? Is it wrong to have wealth?
To
have abundance? To have money?
A)
If it is wrong then you have to wonder why in Gods word it is recorded in 1
Samuel 17 that wealth was an incentive for David to Kill Goliath
B)
It it is wrong to rich then you have to wonder why in 1 Kings 3 that God
rewards Solomon with wealth because he only asked for wisdom to lead Gods
people
C)
If it is wrong then you have to wonder why in Psalm 112 we are told that wealth
can be considered a reward for obedience.
D)
If it is wrong why does the Bible speak favorably of wealthy pp like Joseph of
Arimathea, Lydia, Barnabas
E)
If it is wrong why is material wealth seen as a sign of blessing in the lives
of men like Abe, David, Solomon, Hezekiah,
and Josiah just to name a few.
The
Bible doesnt condemn having wealth.
A) Having money is not the
root of all evil it is the Love of money that is the root of all evil.
B) So why does James seem to
pick on the wealthy in his epistle.
C) The Problem with these
wealthy individuals was
2 fold: 1st How they
obtained their wealth
1) 2nd How they
used their wealth.
V.4,6 Tells us how they
obtained their wealth- it was by taking advantage of others.
4 Indeed the
wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry
out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. { No power to resist
In
the ancient world, laborers would be paid at the end of each day.
A) They took advantage of their workers, cheating them of wages,
delaying compensation, and failing to provide a reasonable income.
B) Interesting that the Lord
knowing the evil of mans heart to take advantage gave clear commands in His
law against this.
Deut 24:14-15
"You
shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your
brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. 15 Each
day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is
poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the LORD, and
it be sin to you.
Lev 19:13
You shall not
cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not
remain with you all night until morning.
C)) The Cries of the Harvesters -
have reached the ears of the Judge who
will avenge their losses.
1) Great comfort in that ever been Cheated
D) They are thinking they got away with murder
1) James says think again: You are going to pay a price.
So
James comes against them for the way they obtained their wealth but also for
the way they used their wealth
V.3 They heaped up
treasures:
A) Wealth fell into three areas: food (or crops), clothing, and
precious metals and stones
B)Treasures is the root of
our English word, thesaurus. A thesaurus is a treasury of every
imaginable word, ready for our using.
B) These farmers stuffed all they could find into their coffers so
that they might have room for getting even more.
C) They had so much heaped up it was going
to waste!
2 Your riches
are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are
corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your
flesh like fire.
Hoarding
implies that a person is keeping for himself more than he needs to live on.
A) The Bible
commends planning for the future and passing on wealth to our kids if you can.
B)The Bible
commends being responsible in that way
1) But a person
can go overboard sitting on a fortune pass on to their kids sitting on a
fortune
C) Jesus 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.
The
Lord wants us to invest our resources in the Kingdom.
A) Cant take it
with you but you can send it ahead!
B) James goes so
far as to say: Their hoarding of their wealth was going to be a witness against
them on Judgment day
C) Priorities
wrong heart in the wrong place!
Not
only did they Hoard their wealth but they were Self indulgent with it. V.5
You have lived on the earth in pleasure
and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
You have spent
your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every whim. Now your hearts are
nice and fat, ready for the slaughter. NLT
A) What they did use they
used in excess on their own selfish pleasures.
B) They used their wealth to
satisfy all of their carnal carvings
C) They were busy feeding
their flesh in excess while spiritually starving to death
D) James paints a vivid picture
You are like big slothful cows being fattened up for the slaughter
1) The more we feed the
flesh the more it deadens our spiritual senses
Who
were these rich individuals? 2 Possibilities
A) Saduccees Religious
rich who took advantage of pp Scam in the temple
B) They Got extremely
wealthy by doing so
1) It has been recorded that
there was 1 million dollars in sterling silver in the temple vaults when Titus
ransacked Jerusalem in A.D. 70
C) They were the ones who
led the persecution against the early Church starting w/ Jesus
D) Also Possible
Pretenders Those who wanted to be a part of the Church but whose real first
love was their money.
E) Either way his words
reveal to us the danger of focusing on riches!
{ Not rich in the Lord
After
Addressing the rich oppressors James moves to encourage those who were being
oppressed remind them to keep the big picture in perspective.
Rd v.7-12
What does James say to the
oppressed ?
Therefore be
patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.
The
coming again of the Lord was a major theme of the early Church
A) Jesus John 14 rapture
Matthew 24-25 spoke of His 2nd coming
B)Paul wrote about it
epistles / James / Peter / John
C) Not looking for the
Undertaker but the upper taker
1) They lived and served
like it could happen tomorrow
James
word of encouragement to the Suffering Church was- be patient like a Farmer!
A) The Farmer understands
patience perfectly His life is not measured by hrs or even days but seasons
B) His life is tempered by
snow / rain / drought He plants his crop and then waits for the rains to come
C) The "early rains" began in Palestine in late
October or early November and were necessary for germination and seed growth.
D) Once these
rains came, the farmer could plant.
E) The "late rains" were in the spring as light
showers came in April and May to produce crop growth.
1) Even the heavy winter rains were not enough in the scorching
Palestinian heat to carry the crops through to the finish. So these light
showers were necessary.
The farmer learned to wait, "being patient about it."
A) YOU ALSO BE PATIENT!
B) I am not patient: I am
not good at waiting I dont like to wait!
1)) Living in America today
makes waiting hard because we live in an instant world
C) Instant breakfast /
Coffee or starbucks / Instant dinners / Instant TV / Instant Cameras / Instant
loans
D) Get what you want fast !
I
am not good at waiting I feel like the Lord puts me in places where He is
trying to get me to slow down be patient.
A) Slow driver on the Fwy
the person who drives below the speed limit isnt that against the law
B) Supermarket I eye the
Check out lines always pick the wrong one
1) Two lines full basket /
½ basket I pick the person with the ½ basket but when we get up there to
check out out comes the envelope million coupons
C) Not
organized she is hunting I
know I have that one she is determined to save 30 cents -
1) I will pay the $5 dollars
she is going to save so we can get out of here.
Sometimes
go to the store I need 15 things but I will only get 10 so I can get into the
10 items or less line
A) Get in it only to
discover the person in front of you has 16 items Supermarket police
B) Costco the other day:
Denise got into a line I went to get a package of gum
1) Came back saw her line
I picked a different one motioned for her to come over into mine.
C) The whole time I am
watching Was I right talking to Denise trying to distract her because I
know if her line gets out before my line
1)
I am going to hear about it She hates when I do that
But
that is why I like what James is saying here:
A) Be patient like a farmer
- the patience of a farmer is not a passive : Active and Expectant
B) What I mean by that is he
doesnt just plant his crop and then spend the next 6 months sitting on the
porch waiting for harvest time
C) No because he is
expecting a crop he is getting things ready for the harvest
1) Getting his barns ready
to receive His equipment ready to harvest
D)
He is thinking about the next crop that he is going to plant
Waiting
for no reason is the worst!
A) Traffic / Hospital / Mall
for your kids
B) That is not the picture
that James is painting with the farmer He is waiting
1) He is looking forward to
a future event the harvest is coming
C) But His waiting is active
Everything he does all his decisions are made in light of that future event
D) That is the Picture James
paints for us!
Jesus
said: Do business until He comes
A) Be about the business of
the Kingdom
B) Investing in the Kingdom
/ Bringing others into the Kingdom
C) Wise Steward: Takes what
his master gives him and uses it
D) Being Prepared 1 John
3:3 Hope purifies himself
Now
in the remaining verses James tells us 3 things about how to wait and be
patient in light of the Lords coming. #1 Strengthen your hearts V.8
A) The word means to make it
stable!
Not tossed by the wind
ANCHOR
B)
Gods word is like an Anchor, applied to our lives
Stabalizes
us and Strengthens our hearts
C) Dad exercises Working out
C) Ephesians 4 Study not
moved wavered
1) Christ a platform Gods
word becomes our platform
#2
Dont attack each other V.9
A) When things are going
well it is easy to get along but often in tough times is when families turn
on each other.
B) Trials make us or break
us !
C) Reveal what we are really
made of
James
wants the reality of Christ return to be a motivator to get along
A) NY Giants season turned
around by
Army
Lt. Col. Greg Gadson made headlines all
over the country for a 15-minute pep talk he gave a struggling football team in
September.
Now he's known as
"the man who awoke the sleeping Giants."
B) He became a focal pt of
their team got their eyes off of each other and their problems and on to
something else
C)
The reality of Christ coming is to have the same affect yes life is hard but
Jesus is coming We need to get busy
1) No time to sit around and
sulk no time to sit around in complain
D) More military squabbles
in peace times then war in war there is a focus survival win fight the
real enemy
E) The imminency of Christs
return should have the same affect as being at war!
1) No time to be fighting
with each other
#3
Learn from our examples v.10-11
A)The Prophets great examples they all prophesied of future
events
B) Most of which they
wouldnt live to see but they stayed busy focused on task
1) They werent just sitting
around waiting for the Lords coming
C) Active in seeking to win
pp to the Lord and stir up the believers to live godly lives
D) Examples to us! What
about Job?
The
Perseverance of Job!
A) The guy loses everything,
possessions, his family everything except his wife Her counsel Curse God and die!
B) His friends are no help
You must have done something wrong!
C) Job hurts Job questions
God and his circumstances he is confused
D )But he never loses his
faith in God
Midway
thru his Crisis he declares
Job 23:8-10
8 "Look, I
go forward, but He is not there,
And backward,
but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He works
on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I
cannot see Him. 10 But He knows the
way that I take;
When He has
tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Job says I dont know what
God is doing but I know when it is over I am going to be purified like gold
Yes, Job had periods where he doubted and questioned
God.
But hes an example of a man who endured difficulty
and of one who was rewarded greatly. So,
too, we are to wait patiently for the Lords return.