Well, please turn in your Bibles to James chapter 5, James chapter 5. Our focus this evening will be James 5 verses 1 to 6, but I do want to read the entirety of the chapter. James 5 beginning in verse 1,
Scripture Reading
come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments 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 heaped up treasure in the last days.
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. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you. Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed, we count them blessed to endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no, no, lest you fall into judgment.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Amen. Let's pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for the written word. We pray again for the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and we pray that you would give us wisdom and understanding into this passage of Scripture. It's hard to talk about riches. It's hard to talk about money.
It's hard, Father, to come to grips with the potential covetousness and wickedness in our own hearts. Give us grace to receive these things, to meditate upon these things. Give us grace as well not to participate in judgment of others. Help us to be a faithful people seeking to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
And may you cause us, Lord God, to see that Scripture is in fact comprehensive, that it speaks not only to our interpersonal relationships, it speaks to our possession of money and all things. And we just ask now, forgive us for our sins, fill us with the Spirit, guide us in our thinking. And we pray through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Now James chapter 5 verses 1 to 6 is another very powerful and hard-hitting section in this particular book. Now the specific target of denunciation or condemnation is a bit difficult to determine. Because as we read verses 1 to 6, I think we probably all come away with the idea, how in the world could a Christian ever do the sorts of things that James is condemning here? So the target of condemnation is a bit difficult to determine, but the teaching of the passage is crystal clear.
The possession of riches brings along with it certain temptations, and those who succumb to those temptations give evidence of the fact that they are not possessors of riches, but rather riches are possessors of them. And that is the underlying principle we need to take away from this particular passage of Scripture. We're going to speak to several things tonight connected to riches, and I hope that the Lord God will give us wisdom as we approach this particular subject. The structure of the passage is quite simple.
In the first place, there is a condemnation of what we'll call wealthy oppressors, those who had a lot of money and who oppressed others. So the condemnation is in verse 1, and then the conduct described in verses 2 to 6. So not only does he tell us that they stand condemned, but he describes for us the sorts of practices they engaged in that brought such condemnation upon them.
Condemnation of Wealthy Oppressors
But let's look first at the condemnation of wealthy oppressors in verse 1. He says, come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. So the rich are addressed, we'll take up the question in just a moment who these people are, but the weeping and the howling are the result of having these miseries coming upon them. In other words, the judgment of God is not a pleasant thing.
The judgment of God produces weeping and howling. The judgment of God is not something to be balked at or treated lightly, but rather to understand that it's a severe thing. And so James tells these people to weep and to howl. And the specific reason in view, as I said, in verses 2 to 6, is their use of riches.
So, the riches that the rich possess that were designed to bring happiness and joy and pleasure is the very vehicle that will bring misery to them because they have not handled these things properly. Now, in terms of who these people are, there's basically two positions. One, championed by John Calvin, that I think is very good and very consistent and very legitimate, says that this is a description of wealthy, oppressive unbelievers. And the reason why it finds itself in James' epistle is to first caution the people of God that they don't envy those types of people, and as well to encourage or comfort the people of God that they will be dealt with.
In other words, some of James' hearers, James' audience, may have been those who were so oppressed by ungodly men. And so James' words would have the calming effect upon them or the encouraging effect upon them that the oppressor would in fact be dealt with, they would get what was coming to them by way of God's judgment. Some suggest that there's no possible way that this description could in fact be true of any professing Christian. Now, the other option is it's a description of wealthy, oppressive, professing believers.
In other words, these are persons that profess faith in Jesus Christ. Now, this is the position that I adopt, one championed by John Gill, but there are several reasons for this. In the first place, note the come-now pattern. that was used in 4.13, it's also employed here in 5.1. That's a consistency that we ought to appreciate.
Secondly, the repetition of weep, he already mentioned that in chapter 4, verse 9, may indicate that this is a call to repentance. It is a warning to these professing believers that are not employed with the use of their riches in a proper way. Calvin says it's not at all a call to repentance, rather it is only denunciation or condemnation. But why couldn't it be a call to repentance when he utilizes the same sort of language there?
Thirdly, the fact that he is not addressing brethren, he will in verse 7, but nevertheless addresses the rich. This would assume that the rich were present when the epistle was read in the context of the local church. Why address the rich if they were the wealthy, oppressive unbelievers that were oppressing the believers? He could have just as easily said, come now you brethren, realize that all these things are going to transpire to those who have oppressed you.
Also, the fact that the other sections detail some pretty miserable sins that Christians shouldn't commit. Remember, we're in the book of James here, brethren. I'm not suggesting that what we find here in 5, 1 to 6 is good, but neither is the rest of the stuff. that he is arguing against. He has dealt with partiality against the poor in chapter 2, verses 1 to 13.
The destruction of others by tongue in chapter 3, verse 9. Operating according to demonic wisdom in chapter 3, verses 13 to 16. Conflicts with brethren, chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. Enmity with God, chapter 4, verses 3 to 6.
And practical atheism already or closely related here in chapter 4, verses 13 to 17. So we can't say, how in the world could any professing believer do the sorts of things that are in view here? Well, how in the world could any professing believer do the sorts of things that are written in James anywhere? Or how could the Corinthian church, for instance, actually be arrogant and not deal with a man who had had his father's wife in the context of the local church?
Not in the context, but the church knew that this man had had relations with his father's wife. They not only didn't discipline him, but they were arrogant about it. So we need to understand that the problem is, is that the professing people of God, more often than not, are marked by some varied and sundry inconsistencies. I'm not suggesting they're necessarily genuine believers, but they were those within the context of the local church that had money and they used that money in an improper fashion.
We also need to appreciate that James is basically putting on the Old Testament prophet's mantle. In fact, there are similarities with James to Isaiah the prophet, Amos the prophet, Micah the prophet, Zephaniah the prophet. And when those men went to prophesy, they prophesied within the confines of the covenant community. So it was a problem in Israel, it was a problem in Judah, so Isaiah, Amoz, Zephaniah, and Micah come to prosecute the Lord's covenant against those within the community that were engaged in the sorts of lawlessness that is right here in James 5 verses 1 to 6.
We've only need to read a little bit back and a little bit forward in the reading tonight in the book of Amos to see the sorts of sins that were rampant in Israel at that particular time. So John Gill says, all rich men are not here designed. There are some rich men who are good men. And we need to understand that.
What we find in this passage is not a condemnation of the possession of riches. In verse 4, he doesn't upbraid these people for owning fields. He upbraids them for ripping off the laborers who mowed the fields. If the passage was anti-possession of riches, there's about a thousand other ways that James could have approached this situation to make that clear.
The problem wasn't the possession of riches. The problem was the abuse. The problem was the misuse. The problem was the hoarding, the defrauding, the pleasure-seeking, and the condemnation of the righteous.
So back to Gil, all rich men are not here designed. There are some rich men who are good men and make a good use of their riches and do not abuse them as these here are represented. And yet wicked rich men or those that were the openly profane are not here intended neither. For the apostle only writes to such who were within the church, and not without, who were professors of religion.
And such rich men are addressed here, who notwithstanding their profession were not rich towards God, but laid up treasure for themselves and trusted in their riches, and boasted of the multitude of their wealth, and did not trust in God and make use of their substance to His glory and the good of His interest as they should have done. Again, sometimes difficult to nail down James, to see specifically who he is referring to, but I think that Gil has the stronger position in this particular situation. If you end up siding with Calvin and say, there's just no way any believer could ever do such a thing, It had to be written to encourage believers with reference to those who were oppressing them. I will not argue with you.
I simply want to present to you my reasons for taking Gill's position.
Conduct of Wealthy Professors
Now, let's look secondly and in more detail at the conduct of wealthy professors. And there are four problems that James cites. First, they hoard wealth, verses 2 and 3. You just get that word, hoard, and it conjures up in my mind a living room filled with newspapers and old magazines and stuff that nobody ever threw out.
That's what hoarding is. And in this particular instance, the rich are hoarding their riches. Secondly, they defraud workers. Thirdly, they engage in self-indulgence, and fourthly, they oppress the righteous.
So those are the reasons for James' stricter severe condemnation for those who possess riches and do not use them in a manner that is consistent with the will and word of God.
First Offense: Hoarding Wealth
Notice, first, they hoard wealth, verses 2 and 3. Your riches are corrupted. Your garments 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 heaped up treasure in the last days." Now, I think the obvious import of these three things, your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver are corroded, tells us that riches don't endure forever.
And I think primarily what's in view is their uselessness, the fact that they are decaying. Now, some will say, well, gold and silver don't rust. There's a whole raft of stuff written on why James would have said that gold and silver rust. Suffice it to say, the term that he uses also has the idea that is translated properly here in the New King James as corroded.
I think the underlying theme is that you hoard this stuff and it's therefore useless. You have not put it to good use. It is as good as useless or decayed when you don't take your riches, when you don't use your garments, when you don't take your silver and gold and do good things with them. Again, you can't ameliorate all the downtrodden and the poor in the world, but you can certainly, with the amount of riches you have, affect some positive good among the people with whom you come into contact.
The riches, instead of being put to good use, are corrupted. The garments are moth-eating, moth-eating the gold and silver rust. The hoarding of riches is a failure to use these riches properly. Now, there's a book contained in the Roman Catholic version or Catholic Bible.
It's a book called Ecclesiasticus, and it's what's called an apocryphal book. Now, it's not on par with scripture. It's not inspired. It's not infallible.
It's not inerrant. That's a fundamental difference Protestants have with reference to Catholics in terms of what books are canonical. But that doesn't mean that these books are without any merit whatsoever. And this book, Ecclesiasticus, was written in about 200 to 175 BC.
It's also referred to as the wisdom of Sirach, because Sirach was basically the man that was writing or giving these nuggets of wisdom. Listen to what Sirach says in chapter 29, verses 9 to 11. In obedience to the commandment, help the poor. Do not turn the poor away empty-handed in their need.
Spend your money on your brother or your friend. Do not leave it under a stone to rust away. Use your wealth as the Most High has decreed. You will find that more profitable than gold.
The idea is, is allowing these vital resources to corrupt, to corrode, to be moth-eaten, instead of using them to help the people of God or to help your contemporaries. John Calvin says, for 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. So you see, this whole idea of hoarding, setting it aside, putting it in your living room, counting it as you walk by, it's not doing any good. It might as well rust away, it might as well absolutely corrode.
The moths might as well destroy absolutely the very garments that you take pride in, because they're not profitable, they're not doing any good. And look at what James says there specifically in verse 4. He says, you have heaped up treasure, I'm sorry, at the end of verse 3, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. The corrosion itself will witness against the ungodly rich.
And it not only eats that which it corrodes, but it also eats the rich themselves. James uses that vivid imagery in this instance, the corrosion, witnesses to them of their ineptitude to follow out God's will for their lives, having been entrusted with these riches and not utilizing them for His glory. In the next section, he's going to use the very wages of those who mowed your fields. They cry out, they are witnesses against you.
In other words, the way that you don't properly use your money witnesses against you that your heart is not right with God Most High. That's the point. That's the purpose. And what he is denouncing is this idea of hoarding.
The hoarding of treasure in the last days is what he says there in verse 4. Now, there's some question concerning it at the end of verse 3. There's some question concerning the last days there. We don't have time to investigate all that.
Perhaps it's most simple to take it as that time between the first and second advent of our Lord Jesus. We're living in that time when at any time the Lord Jesus could return. And what these men are doing, instead of using their gold, using their garments, and using their riches to go out and promote the general welfare of man, they're hoarding it. They're counting it.
They're piling it up. They are not using it for the glory of God Most High. So they first hoarded wealth.
Second Offense: Defrauding Workers
Secondly, they defraud workers. Verse 4, "'Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out.'" It's the wages that cry out. You've heard that old adage, money talks. Right?
Everybody's heard that, money talks. It most certainly does. And in verse 4 of James chapter 5, it's a very terrifying proposition. Because what it is saying to God Almighty is that this man is a deceit.
This man is a defrauder. This man is wicked. He has kept back money promised to a man that had mowed his fields. So this is the condemnation that James issues here.
The corrosion of riches witness against them, so do the wages they have stolen from workers. The possession, as I've already mentioned, of fields is not condemned. You need to get that out of your head. There's something called liberation theology.
And basically liberation theology is a marriage of scripture with Marxism to find an oppressed people group and tailor the message of the Bible in a Marxist way to be a message of redemption and liberation for an oppressed people in the social and economic sphere. Not the idea that Jesus comes to save his people from their sins, but a Marxist interpretation to try to bring this amelioration of the downtrodden and poor. Some promote that James, Amos, and other prophets in the Old Testament were liberation theologians. They absolutely positively were not.
They never condemned money as, in and of itself, a wicked thing. It's not the fields that these men owned, but it's rather the fact that they defrauded these workers who came to them. There is a rich amount of biblical background with reference to this statement. Notice in Leviticus 19.
Leviticus chapter 19. We've seen they hoard wealth. We're looking at the defraud workers. Leviticus 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. Pay the guy. Pay him.
The context is day laborers. Jesus uses this in Matthew chapter 20 to teach a particular lesson concerning what is fair on the part of the Lord to give to those who work for Him on a daily basis. The ones who started early and the ones who started late received the same denarius. This is the background.
Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 24. Deuteronomy chapter 24. The very fact that God has to address such things tells us there is a potential for it to arise among the professing people of God. In other words, in the 31,000 plus verses in Scripture that tell us not to do certain heinous, wicked, despising, destructive things, the reason why those prohibitions are in there is because God knows our hearts and He knows the willingness and the tendency to pursue all manner of wickedness and evil.
Notice in Deuteronomy 24 at verse 14. It's just that simple. Employees shouldn't have to bang on the door of the boss's office. Are we going to get our checks today?
This is just a fundamental principle consistent with natural law that you pay people who work for you. Now, before we say, well, how in the world could any professing believer do that? I bet they're out there. I really bet they're there somewhere.
Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the sun go down on it for he is poor and he has set his heart on it. Now notice, lest he cry out against you to the Lord and it be sin to you. The wages of those who mowed your fields, they cry out to the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, God Most High. The same idea here.
Notice in Malachi 3, announcing arrival of Messiah. And one of the things that Messiah is going to do is He is going to bring judgment. And in Malachi chapter 3, at verse 5, we read, and I will come near you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit, wage earners, and widows, and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien.
Why? Because they do not fear me, says Yahweh of hosts. So we see against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, and those who exploit wage earners. You're not supposed to do that.
And so James is speaking consistently with the prophetic word of the Old Testament. And it is an encouragement when he mentions in verse 4 that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. One more passage. Go back to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 5.
You see a similar convention there. Isaiah chapter 5. Parable of the vineyard in verses 1 to 7, and then the application in verses 8 and following. But notice in verse 7 in Isaiah 5, for the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
Remember in Matthew's gospel, Jesus uses the metaphor that Israel is a vineyard of God. He hires workers and He sends His servants to them, and the workers abuse them and reject them. The vineyard owner says, I know, I'll send my son, and certainly they'll receive him. And then they reject him, they deliver him up, and they ultimately kill him.
Well, the vineyard there is Israel. But again, I mentioned that Jesus was not novel. He was not innovative. He was not new.
He is simply reflecting the biblical tradition that we find here in Isaiah the prophet. Israel was a vineyard that the Lord God had tended to. It was supposed to produce fruit. It was supposed to be bountiful.
It was supposed to be a good thing. Notice in verse 7, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. Verse 8, woe to those who join house to house, they add field to field, till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land.
In my hearing, the Lord of hosts said, truly many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful ones without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield one ephah." You see, this whole concept, when there is this social oppression, there is crying out on the part of those oppressed, and those cries reach the ears of the Lord of Hosts, or the Lord of Sabaoth. So, this is what James has in mind here in verse 4, they defraud workers. The same way the blood of righteous Abel cried out from the ground to the ears of God Most High is the same way these wages cry out to testify that these wretches not only hoard their wealth, but they also cheat those who mow their fields.
And this is, in fact, a comfort for the people of God. Notice what he says in verse 4. The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." That should encourage all of us living in a godless world that we often get ripped off in. Have you ever just gotten ripped off?
You go, man, it's just not fair. You spend money, or you buy something, and then you drive it away, and it falls apart, and you go, why? That's just terrible. I'm not suggesting we pray down the wrath of God upon them.
But I would suggest that God doesn't forget such things. We may not get a refund. We may not get a replacement. We may not get, you know, made square in this life.
But brethren, those who cheat others, those who deceive others, those who defraud others will give an account to the Lord of hosts one day. I think that's an encouraging sort of application there for the people of God.
Third Offense: Self-Indulgence
Now, notice thirdly, they engage in self-indulgence. Verse 5, you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury, or self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Now, the two terms are synonymous and the emphasis is upon self-indulgence.
You hoard the riches, you defraud the workers, and all you do is seek to gratify your own flesh. All you do is indulge your own desires. All you do is want to spend the money on you. That's wrong.
I'm not suggesting we have to eat gruel or, you know, put ashes in our soup or wear hair shirts and always be miserable. I'm not suggesting that at all. I don't think the Bible calls us to that. But at the same time, we're not to live lives of pampered luxury while others around us stand in need.
Doesn't James deal with this? Doesn't John say this? Doesn't the New Testament emphasis fall in this direction? We're not to be the types of people that just sit around and pamper our flesh when there are those who have genuine need.
So he says, you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Now, this can be taken in one of two ways. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
Not similar to the Old Covenant feasts when it was a time to slaughter the animals. It was a time of great feasting. It was a time of great rejoicing. And again, let me qualify this.
The Bible says more about feasting positively than it does fasting. I'm not saying don't ever fast and always feast, but realize that feasting is not condemned by God. Israel's calendar was marked by feasts. And feasts, brethren, meant a lot of food and a lot of drink.
That's what feasts meant. You don't need to know the Hebrew or the Greek. That's what it meant. You see, brethren, we need to appreciate that at those feast times, they would engage in this kind of pampering, this kind of luxury, this kind of self-indulgence.
But James is saying to the people here, this isn't the issue. This isn't a, you know, once in a while feast day. This wasn't, you know, one of the marks of Israel's calendar. But this is your life on earth.
This is the way you conduct yourself. This is every day. This is Monday through, you know, Saturday and Sunday too. This is every, you know, defining moment that you're alive.
It's all spent in gratifying your own flesh. It's that attitude that's condemned. The other option may be that they are fattening themselves up for the day of slaughter. All of this self-indulgence, all of this pampering, all of this pleasure-seeking is simply presenting a larger target to the Lord for destruction on the day of judgment.
Again, two options there, difficult to nail down with certainty, which is correct, but the point is obvious. You're in trouble if you're living this way. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying you can't go to Costco.
You always have to shop at Walmart, or garage sales, or Value Village. You need to be responsible. And I think that when it comes to riches, possession of wealth, we need to all watch our hearts. It's very easy to get judgmental of others.
How can they afford this? That's not our business. The wisdom of Solomon ought to be remembered in every single instance of our lives. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." That's your job, not to keep your neighbor's heart.
Sometimes people say, what's the hardest part about pastoral ministry? Well, looking after God's people. But you still have to look after your own family and then your own heart. And I'm always convinced that watching out for my heart is a full-time job all in and of itself.
But brethren, that's the emphasis that Solomon presents. Just because somebody spends money in a way that you don't, doesn't necessarily mean they're in sin. So I think a passage like this is difficult to preach and to deal with, because we all have these ideas, and we all have these commitments, and we all have, dare I say it, these preferences, and we begin to wonder, well, if I drive an old beat-up Pinto from 1976, then all of God's people should. There's legitimately excellent reasons why you shouldn't drive a 1976 Pinto.
They are traveling bombs. They were designed so that if they were rear-ended, they'd blow up. So if you think you're godly and virtuous because you're driving a 1976 Pinto, I will argue with you, you are just the opposite. That has got to be the most foolish acquisition in an automobile that anybody could ever make.
But we do that, don't we? How can they afford that? How can they? Brethren, worry about your budget.
Worry about your expenditures. Worry about how you're going to tend to these particular things. If it happens to be the case that somebody comes to you and says, man, I am just a, you know, I'm that horrible person that Pastor Butler preached from James 5 the other night, then pray with them. Encourage them.
Exhort them. Help them. Do whatever it is that you can do. to try and be of service, but be careful of being the finance police to look into everybody else's business and to see how they spend their money.
Fourth Offense: Oppressing the Righteous
Now, notice finally, they oppress the righteous. Again, just about every verse in James has some controversy attached to it, or not controversy, but some difficulty in terms of interpretation. There is a stream of thought in verse 6 that the just here is Jesus. That the just here is Jesus.
You have condemned, you have murdered the just. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not resist you. That's really what happened with Jesus.
Jesus didn't resist. Jesus went as a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus was the just. He is called that in many, many places.
James himself, though, was also referred to as James the Just, and he was ultimately thrown off the temple. So some have perhaps seen him, you know, making an allusion to himself here. Is it an individual? It's a singular statement.
You have murdered the just, singular, but it could also be a collective noun. all those who fit into this particular class or category of persons. I think that, at least for my own part right now, is the way that I will proceed. The condemnation and murder of the just. Now again, go back to chapter 4.
Verse 2, you lust and do not have, you murder and covet and cannot obtain. We saw there that murder didn't necessarily mean that you bring a 38 to church and, you know, weed out the people of God. Murder doesn't always mean the actual cessation of a human life. We saw in that context that if you hate your brother, then you are a murderer.
Well, here I think the connection is this, you have condemned, you have murdered the just. The idea is, when you keep back, by fraud, wages that are due to another human being, you are, in essence, murdering him. Why? Because he can't go to Walmart that night.
He can't buy food for his family that night. He can't provide warmth for himself or his people that night. It is, in effect, to murder the man. And again, the Old Testament prophets certainly take this line.
Notice in Micah the prophet in Micah chapter 3, Micah chapter 3, a passage dealing with social oppression and the hindrance of or the hurting of the people within the covenant community. Notice in Micah 3.1, And I said, Here now, O heads of Jacob and you rulers of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice, you who hate good and love evil, who strip the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones? Now, brethren, I don't know of any particular instance where this was the case. There were some heinous things going on in Israel, but in terms of a group of people going about stripping skin off of others and the flesh from their bones, and then verse three, who also eat the flesh of my people, flay their skin from them, break their bones and chop them in pieces like meat for the pot, like flesh in the cauldron.
It may be the case that within this context of social oppression, This is the end result. You are destroying them. You are brutalizing them. You are ripping the very skin off of their bones.
Notice that verse 4, crying out to God again. Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds. This is the oppressor. crying out to God.
Notice in verse 9. Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us?
No harm can come upon us. Therefore, because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountains of the temple like the bare hills of the forest." That's precisely what took place. The destruction of Jerusalem via the Babylonians as a result, yes, of their abandonment of God, but as well as their abandonment of one another, vis-a-vis one particular is in social oppression, exploiting people, treating them like garbage and dirt, and thus ultimately killing them. rendering them dead. Moose says he probably has in mind the practical outcome of the actions that the rich take against the poor to cheat them of their land and take away their gainful employment.
The poor starve to death. Pretty simple, isn't it? You condemned and murdered the just. They starve to death if you don't pay them.
Sirach, for instance, again, a reference to Ecclesiasticus, makes just this connection. To take away a neighbor's living is to murder him. To deprive an employee of his wages is to shed blood. You see, James is dealing, the way the Old Testament prophets dealt, with a particular problem of the rich, again, whether they're professing people of God within the context of the church or the unbelieving oppressors that are outside the church, I think it's those within the context of the local church who are not possessing their money properly, but their money is possessing them.
And then we see at the end of verse 6, he does not resist you. He's powerless to you. What typically comes with money? the ability to dominate others, the ability to exercise power and control over others. The poor don't have that.
The poor aren't in a position to have like power. And so they can't resist. They don't resist. And as a result, they are both condemned and murdered by the lawlessness of these wicked oppressors of God's people.
Application
Thus the exposition will summarize with a few thoughts, and then we'll close. First, The targets of the condemnation, the idea that James is promoting liberation theology or condemning riches is in themselves wrong. It's just not a condemnation of riches. I sometimes hear that, you know, this idea that liberation theology is right or sort of the Roman Catholic ideal is right, that there's somehow something more inherently good in being poor.
You know, there's a big debate concerning that whole issue, liberation theology, Roman Catholicism, and the good old-fashioned Protestant work ethic. You know why there is this debate? Because people don't read their Bibles. Now, I realize that some crackpot preacher in Chilliwack saying that probably doesn't hold a lot of sway, but you can't isolate texts for every condemnation that looks like it's against riches.
You've got positive commendation of those who work hard and make out in this world. Again, 1 Timothy 6, in two spots, Paul deals with money. In verses 9 and 10, he tells us the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Again, it's not money.
Money isn't evil. It's the love of it that is the problem. It's our approach to it. It's how we use it, how we manage it, or how it rather manages us.
Then he tells Timothy very specifically in 1 Timothy 6, 17 and 19. In fact, turn there because you're going to need to understand this. Any condemnation of riches in one tax needs to be brought into alignment with or in comparison with these positive statements concerning riches. You see, I don't think James is condemning riches.
That's not the issue. He's condemning those who hoard it and don't use it properly, those who defraud others, those who live like self-indulgent cows of Bashan, and he condemns those who condemn and murder others. Notice in 1 Timothy 6.17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." He doesn't say tell them to get rid of their money.
Do you realize if the rich get rid of their money, then nobody's going to have any money? Because if the rich who buy stuff and put money into the economy, we should be thankful there's rich people. We should be thankful that they're taxpayers, to sound like a social democrat here for a moment. You see, we ought to be thankful, brethren, for that reality, not condemn them outright because they're successful.
The Proverbs of Solomon are filled with injunctions to work hard. The specific violations indicate the type of people under condemnation. It's not the possession of riches. It is the being possessed by those riches that is the problem.
Now,
Responsibilities Regarding Riches
in terms of some responsibilities associated with riches, I would suggest, first of all, the need to recognize the difficulty of rich men entering the kingdom of heaven, because Jesus said that, but not the impossibility. This idea that, you know, liberation theology is right, and how dare anybody have any extra money? That's Marxism. That's not biblical Christianity.
Brethren, if your theological alignment is with Karl Marx, you're not reading the Bible properly. I'm just here to tell you that. If your view of Bible results in communism, you are not reading the Bible properly. You need some instruction in hermeneutics.
Leave Marx, embrace Paul and Jesus, and enjoy the blessed liberty of the sons of God. You see, it's very intriguing to me that in Luke's, not version, it's the same account, with reference to the rich young ruler, we have that statement with reference to the apostles when Jesus says it will be easier, it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And they say, well, then who could be saved? He says, with men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
We have that in Luke 18. Guess what happens in Luke 19? The very first thing in Luke chapter 19 is the camel passing through the eye of the needle. Zacchaeus gets converted.
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, but he was loaded. He was rich. And what does Jesus do? Jesus saves him to show us that with God all things are possible.
While it may be a difficulty for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, it's not an impossibility for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. And may I just say, it's a difficulty for the poor to enter the kingdom of heaven as well. And praise God almighty that with him all things are possible. Secondly, we need to heed the warning by Paul in 1 Timothy 6, verses 9 and 10.
If we love money, we've got problems. If we no longer look at it as a tool to help us to sustain life and to help our families and engage in whatnot, then we have issues. We need to receive the positive instruction by Paul that I just read there in 1 Timothy 6, verses 17 to 19. Thomas Manton encounters the question, what shall we do then?
Shall we throw away our estates? Here's what Manton counsels. First of all, prize them less. When you possess them, let them not possess you.
Secondly, do them more good. That's always an option. Sure it is. You could take some of that gold out of your basement and actually go do nice things for people.
Thirdly, seek God the more earnestly for grace. In a full estate, you need it much. You know, Paul says, I know how to abound and how to be abased. Most commentators say it was probably more difficult for him to abound than to be abased.
You know, give me neither poverty nor riches, because if I'm poor, I'm going to go out and steal and dishonor the Lord. But if I'm rich, I'm going to forget God, is what the Proverbs tell us. Fourthly, the need for prudent preparation without neglecting the necessity of doing good. Now, this is a bit of a difficulty here.
Can a Christian ever save money? Can a Christian have a bank account? Can a Christian lay up for winter? Well, the answer held out to us in the book of Proverbs as wise folk and as diligent folk.
Proverbs 6, we are told, go to the end, you sluggard. I mean, Solomon didn't pull any punches either. He and James must have went to the same school, the school of the Holy Spirit. We're not going to play games with you.
If you're going to lay in bed all day, you need to look at the ants. The ants are diligent. The ants prepare in the summer. Why?
Because they can't do it in the winter. There's no food to go out in a mass if you're an ant in the wintertime. There's no ant Costco. There's no ant Walmart.
There's no ant place in the winter where you can buy ant food. So if you are not busy and diligent to prepare in the summer, you're going to die in the winter. Same thing in Proverbs chapter 30. Ants are part of the wise folk, feeble creatures, but wise folk.
And what marks their wisdom? They prepare in the summer. Brethren, what James mentions about living in the last days, that ought to affect us, because on the one hand, Christ could come at any moment, and if we're sitting on a billion dollars, wow, what good will that have been? But Christ may not come at any moment.
Christ may delay the second coming, so we may, like ants, need to heap up a little bit for the future. As you start to get older, this becomes more of a reality. Used to be you'd work your last day at age 65 and drop dead the next day. Now you live another 20 years and you somehow have to finance that without a steady income.
So is it responsible to give everything away prior to age 65? Not necessarily, because now you're keeping your loved ones from what they desperately need, and that's food. You see, there needs to be some balance with reference to this whole issue of prudent preparation without neglecting the necessity of doing good. We've got big problems if we die at the end sitting on a billion dollars that we never did a good thing with.
But I'm not certain that God commends the reality or the idea that we don't lay up any provisions for the future and we drop dead because of our own indolence or laziness. I think Alec Motier gives us a good perspective. He says, following the teaching in verses 2 and 3, we must strike the right balance between prudent saving and sinful hoarding. We know that we live in the last days and that the Lord may return at any time.
When He does, the wealth we have amassed will be meaningless. But we also know, though we live in the last days, His coming may not be yet. We do not know the day or hour of this, and the Scriptures put no premium on improvidence." That means a failure to plan or a lack of foresight. The Scriptures put no premium on improvidence or imprudence.
James's fire seems to be reserved for possessions left to rot in idleness, and this is a practical pointer for us. We should always put a priority on the use of possessions, following our Lord's own teaching about so using our resources as to heap up treasure in heaven, Luke 12, 32 to 34. And as regards what may legitimately be put aside to shelter us in the earthly rainy day, we must ask the question, where our trust is being placed? Again, I'm not sure I have the answer.
You can save up that much and no more. You know, approaching biblical ethics that way leads to Pharisaism and judgmentalism. Well, you haven't saved, you've saved more than me, so therefore you're, you know, just not trusting God. Well, not necessarily.
Some of this stuff is quite scary if you don't drop dead. And I'm not saying there's something commendable about dropping dead at 66, but the prospect of living from 65 to 85 without a daily sort of source of income, that is terrifying. Do we just not plan? Is it trusting God to say, you know, he's gonna provide for our daily bread?
Yes, to be sure, I agree with that, and I affirm that wholeheartedly, but does he not call us to be ant-like? When we are in our youth, when we are in our strength, when we are in our vigor, is there a balance that is to be struck? I would suggest, brethren, that there is. Motier says, as regards what may legitimately be put aside to shelter us in the earthly rainy day, we must ask the question where our trust is being placed.
Are we keeping our reserve of earthly riches at such a level as indicates that they are our security? Or does the level of earthly security represented by stored wealth prove that our trust is in the living God? So it's an issue ultimately of the heart. And to just say, wow, if you have that much money stored up, you can't be a Christian.
Brethren, be cautious of entering into those particular Pharisaic waters. Be cautious of entering into those that judge others for being very benevolent and very generous and giving away a whole host of good things. And be very cautious about saying, you're not trusting God. Well, we're told to pray for our daily bread, but Jesus uses the example of the lilies of the field.
They don't garner, they don't toil, and God clothes them, but he also says birds. I've heard, I think that, you know, 75% of a bird's day consists of him finding his own food. Give us this day our daily bread, doesn't mean I get to lay on the couch and go wander over to the fridge and it'll be filled with tacos and burritos. We have to work.
We have to prepare. We have to be ant-like. At what point is the threshold? I don't know.
This is all stuff to grapple with, however. This is the teach them to observe all things that I have commanded. We're not supposed to hoard riches. Absolutely, positively, 100% no.
We're not to let them rise up as witnesses against us of our dereliction of duty. We're certainly not to defraud employees. We are not to not pay somebody who has worked for us. We're not to be indulgent cows of Bashan.
The reference comes from Amos 4 when the prophet condemns the cows of Bashan, women in Israel that were living self-indulgent lives. And then we are not to condemn and murder the just. Those are absolutely positively straightforward. But is the Bible telling us that the gathering of any wealth whatsoever is wicked, wrong, and criminal, and bad?
No, it isn't. Paul does not tell Timothy, command those who are rich in this present age to get rid of their money, to divest themselves of all their interests, and to go walk around on the streets of Palestine. No, no, he doesn't do that. there are particular rules in place. I only offer this as hopefully some help and direction.
I'm not trying to bind anybody's conscience other than to say we got to guard against pharisaism and guard against a mindset that judges others who may live a little better than we do or judges others because they, you know, do this or do that or they bought this or they bought that. Mind our own business and seek to be faithful under the Lord God Almighty.
Questions to Ask About Wealth
I think some helpful questions with reference to riches. How are the riches acquired? If it was theft or fraud or extortion, that's wicked, it's bad. If you've shown yourself a hard worker and you've gotten raises and promotions, praise God Almighty.
And isn't that what we ought to be about? Isn't this what Solomon would say in the Proverbs? Do you see a man who excels in his work? He shall stand before kings.
What's the implication? This is a good thing. It's not bad to excel in your work. It's not bad to be a good, diligent employee.
That's good and commendable. The Protestant work ethic is there because of the Bible. The Bible pressures us to make these conclusions that Protestant work ethic trumps liberation theology, certainly, that is enjoined or, you know, in arm and arm with Marxism. and a Roman Catholic vow of poverty. You know, think about that.
You as a priest, you got to take a vow of poverty. Why? Why is that holy? Why is emaciated skeleton man somehow more holy than the happy, fad pastor?
There's a piece in Spurgeon where he deals with the emaciated skeleton man, and it's just a hoot. But somehow, that's held up as a holier standard? You're godly because you've taken this vow of poverty? The Bible doesn't tell you that.
In fact, just the opposite. Let the elders who rule well be worthy of double honor. Honor in that passage isn't right reverend sir, here's your parking lot. Honor there is do re mi.
You honor the widows who are widows indeed. That means you give them money to buy stuff at Walmart. So when it says give double honor to the elders, especially those who labor in the Word and Doctrine, I'm not here asking for money. I'm not saying that.
I'm just simply highlighting the very opposite of the Roman Catholic vow of poverty is taught by the apostle. He says identify men in the church that labor hard in the Word and Doctrine and pay them double. Honor them, double. Give them more.
Let them be in a place or a position where they're not emaciated skeleton man and they're able to preach and teach without dropping dead because they didn't get a meal recently. Brethren, food is necessary to energize pastors so that they can't proclaim truth. Remember, pastors are not disembodied spirits. They're not angelic beings.
They have to eat and wear shoes and all those sorts of things. Again, I'm not making a ploy for money. I'm simply trying to illustrate that this whole idea that money is bad is not necessarily correct. How are the riches being used?
That's always a good thing. What are you doing with your money? Giving, I'm saving. John Wesley, any theological hero of mine, what was his ethic?
Make all you can, give all you can, save all you can. I don't know how that all works out, but it's good advice. Make all you can, give all you can, and save all you can. Again, that second and third, I'm not sure how we jive that, give all you can, save all you can, but that was the emphasis with John Wesley.
You see, this whole idea of just laying on the couch and holding out our hands is not necessarily biblical. And how are the riches affecting the heart of the possessor? Self-indulgence, pleasure-seeking, pampering, lying around, cows of Bashan, condemned by the prophet Amos, by the New Testament prophet, at least functioning in a functional sense, James? These are some certain questions or some questions that we can ask ourselves with reference to this whole issue of finances.
Well, there's an attempt to get at the meaning of the text. I think the clarity is obvious. I think the condemnation is certain. Some of the particular application, not so easy.
And when it comes down to this whole idea of how much You know, brethren, you've got to get along with your God, you've got to get along with your wife or your husband and talk through these things. Never forget, however, we will ultimately be condemned by a misuse of our riches. This is what James says. Their corrosion will not only corrode the metals, but it will also corrode your flesh.
It will eat your flesh. So we want to make sure that we are mindful of these biblical paradigms, and we ought to seek, by the grace of God, to be responsible and careful and righteous people in the use of the resources God gives us. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it speaks to these areas. God, we know that at times it's difficult to navigate, but we know that your word is sufficient and efficient, and it does inform and instruct us in all these matters. Give us wisdom, give us help from on high, and give us the grace to genuinely consider James's instruction here in James 5, one to six.
Help us not to be possessed by our riches, help us not to be mastered by our wealth, but help us to be faithful servants to the Lord God Most High, help us to be faithful servants to one another, and help us to have in mind that great commission of having persons go and make disciples of all the nations and baptizing them and teaching them, May our interests be kingdom interests, and may our desires be a furtherance in the progress and the advance of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ here on this earth. We ask that you would go with us now, watch over us, and protect us in this coming week. Thank you that you do bless us with an abundance. You give us not only every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, but as the psalmist says, you load us daily with benefits.
You bless us with food, with clothes, with shelter. You bless us with vehicles and just so many good things, God, and we don't want to take these things for granted, and we want to use them for Your glory. Go with us, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.