Active Faith (Part Nineteen): From Riches to Rags

Transcript

JRNT 19
04/16/2023
Active Faith (Part Nineteen): From Riches to Rags
James 5:1-6
Jesse Randolph

John D. Rockefeller was a self-made man. He was born into a large family in upstate New York, a family which moved all over the country while he was a young child. He started his work life at an early age. He worked a variety of jobs. He formed several business partnerships before he eventually founded Standard Oil in the year 1870, a company whose earnings would make him the richest man in the world. Now, according to inflation, Rockefeller’s net worth was somewhere around $336 billion dollars. By comparison, Elon Musk’s current reported net worth is about $190 billion dollars. Meaning, according to many estimates, Rockefeller was the riches person who ever lived. Well, with that as his pedigree, Rockefeller was once asked the question, “How much wealth is enough? How much wealth is enough for you?” Rockefeller’s response, “Just a little bit more.”

Quite the confession, for the richest man who ever lived. And also a revealing confession because it highlights the gnawing dissatisfaction. And not only dissatisfaction, but for many, the avarice and the greed which resides deep within the human heart. And how easy it is for us, in our naturally sinful, naturally self-focused, naturally prideful hearts, to buy into that lie of just a little bit more. I mean, that idea of just a little bit more is at the heart of the so-called American dream, is it not? The idea of building and accumulating and storing, so that when you die you have much more than what you were born into. And certainly a lot more than those around you -- nicer wardrobe than your co-workers, the newest car on your block, a bigger boat than your brother’s, a longer vacation than last year -- more diamonds, more pearls… just a little bit more.

Well, Rockefeller was unapologetic about his embrace of this ideal and his unquenchable desire for just a little bit more. And we do live in a world that celebrates stories like Rockefeller’s, stories where someone goes from having nothing to having seemingly everything, what we would call a rags-to-riches story. We look past the heart issue and that insatiable craving for just a little bit more. And we rush immediately to applaud and to celebrate the results. “Look at him, he did get just a little bit more. And not just a little bit more, but a lot more. I wouldn’t mind having a little bit more like him.”

Well, as with everything, we have to filter all that we see around us, all that we see around us in the world -- whether it’s Rockefeller’s riches or our own bank statements or our reaction to those who have more than us or our reaction to those who have less than us -- through the grid of God’s word. And what God’s word teaches us very plainly is that our earthly possessions are just that. Earthly, temporary, transitory, fleeting, passing away. Here today, gone tomorrow. But sadly, we can find ourselves often in our appointed years here on earth, thinking that what we possess, what we own, what we’ve saved, what we’ve stored, is all that matters. We can find very easily our attitudes being steered in the direction of how well we’re doing financially. We can find our moods being changed quickly, based on how many dollars are in the bank account at the end of this month versus last month. We can find our actions being driven by that same bottomless desire that Rockefeller expressed for just a little bit more.

Well, as we turn back to our study of the book of James, we’re going to see this idea of the American dream, this ideal of Rockefeller’s for just a little bit more, turned upside down. In our text for today James is not championing the idea of going from rags-to-riches. But rather, he is highlighting the folly and the danger and the potential for sin involved with our unquenchable desire for wealth, our desire for more. And what he’s going to do, is he’s going to set that against the reality of our earthly treasures. Not eternally speaking going from rags to riches, but rather turning from riches-to-rags.

Turn with me in your bibles, if you would, to James 5. We’re going to be looking at verses 1-6 here this morning. James 5:1-6. And God’s word reads, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”

The title for this morning’s sermon is “From Riches to Rags.” And in this sermon and in this passage, we’re going to see in verse 1, “The Caution to the Rich,” in verses 2 and 3, we’ll see “The Corrosion of Riches,” and in verses 4-6, we’ll see last, “The Condemnation of the Rich.” Let’s jump right into it. Starting with “The Caution to the Rich.” James 5:1, he says: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” Now, James starts this section with these two brief words of summons, “Come now.” He’s saying here, “Now listen, listen up, gather around for what I’m about to say to you.”

And these are the same words that James used to introduce the last section of James that we were in, which began in James 4:13. In fact, why don’t you look up at James 4:13, where he says: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ ”Now, we saw there in that section, James 4:13-17, that James was addressing a group of rich businessmen in this assembly. Who were laying out this quite detailed plan about where they were going to go and when they were going to go and how long they were going to go and what they were going to do and what they were going to accomplish. And we saw there that what James was calling out was the sin of practical atheism, planning and plotting and scheming how your life is going to go, as though God is not there.

But now, as we get down to James 5:1, James uses that same formulation, “Come now,” as he addresses a different group. And look at the next few words, where we see James turning his attention to this group. He says, “Come now, you rich.” The rich in this assembly, who otherwise would have been like John D. Rockefeller, the object of envy to many, is actually the object of James’ scorn and condemnation here.

Now, immediately, two questions come to mind when we see these words, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” Two questions come to mind. Question #1 is this: to whom was James writing here? I mean, obviously he’s writing to the people he calls rich. But are these Christians? Or instead, is this some sort of detour in his letter where he is now suddenly turning his attention away from the Christians he’s been addressing all along, and now addressing non-believers? Question #2 is: are the riches of the rich here inherently problematic or sinful? Is it wrong to be rich? Is it ok to have wealth in this world as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Let’s take these one at a time. Starting with the question, to whom is James writing here? Again, it’s obvious, he’s writing to a group of individuals who are “rich”. “Come now, you rich.” He has a group of people who are rich in his crosshairs, as he turns to this part of the letter. But who are these rich? And what conclusions can we draw about them? And are they believers? Now, a lot of ink has been spilled on this very topic. And some will say that James cannot be addressing Christians here, because he’s addressing these people not as brothers or my brethren as he’s done so elsewhere. The thought is, if James intended to address Christians here, he would have called them Christians or brothers or my brethren, used a label to match his intention. The fundamental weakness with that argument, though, is that James does not always use brotherly language to address Christians in James, quite the contrary. In fact, we’ve already seen a few examples of James using very direct, very pointed, in fact, very inflammatory language to address Christian brothers and sisters. For instance, back in James 4:4, he refers to brothers as “adulteresses.” In James 4:8, he refers to Christians as “you sinners.” Also in James 4:8, he calls Christians “you double-minded.” So, to call them here in James 5:1, “you rich”, does not necessarily mean they aren’t Christians.

Now, some will say that James cannot be referring to Christians here because of what he tells this group of rich people to do. Look at the next part of verse 1, he says, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” I mean, “weep and howl”, that is harsh language, that is hard language. It’s unsympathetic language. It actually sounds not very brotherly. Well, the recipients of James’ letter, with their Jewish background, would have recognized that James here, as he does throughout this letter, is drawing from his Jewish background. And they would have recognized that he’s doing so, as he tells his audience to “weep and howl” -- as he’s doing so, taking on the persona of one of the Old Testament prophets who had preceded him, who had given similarly stern warnings to the people of Israel and Judah. The word “weep” here means to shed tears from the depths of one’s legitimate feelings of remorse and grief. The word “howl” here means to wail, especially as a result of sudden and unexpected regret. And the words “weep and howl” when they’re put together, can also be translated “burst into tears, burst into weeping.” The idea is that of mourning. James here is calling on the rich to mourn, to mourn the depths to which their sin-sick hearts and their sin-inflamed love for wealth had taken them.

Now, those who say that James is addressing non-believers here, will also highlight the next words where he says, “for your miseries which are coming upon you”, as being a key indicator that judgment was coming upon these rich people. Judgment, they’ll say, that’s reserved for non-Christians. They’ll point out that there’s no call to repentance here, there’s no call upon these rich to change their behavior. Rather, there’s only a proclamation of judgment, “Weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.” And they’ll say, that what James is calling upon this segment of his audience to do, is to mourn their coming fate, to “weep and howl” over the judgment that awaits them.

I’m not convinced that’s right. I’m not convinced that James here is addressing unbelievers. I think the evidence points more in the direction of James addressing wealthy Christians. And here’s why I arrive at the conclusion I do. First, let’s start with the obvious, I’ve said it already. But in this letter as a whole, it is very evident that James has been writing to Christians. We’ve seen that, and we’ve said that, week over week as we’ve studied this letter over the past many months, as we’ve studied chapter and verse, line by line, of this letter. James sent this letter to a group of believers who had assembled to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn’t send this letter to pagans. He didn’t address this letter to the world. No. Just as Paul and the other New Testament authors wrote to churches and to Christians, James here is writing to Christians.

Second, that command to weep and howl, here in James 5:1, for their miseries, is very similarly structured to the call to repentance that James gives Christians back in James 4:9. Look at James 4:9, just a few verses up. There, he’s very clearly addressing Christians, and he tells them, “Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.” So, if those words were addressed to Christians, and as we saw in our study of that passage they were, there’s not reason to believe that these very similar words in James 5:1, to “weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you” weren’t also addressed to Christians. And that there is also an underlying call to repentance here.

Third, and this is admittedly a very basic observation, Christians of all generations have always been prone to the temptation to sin, including sins related to the abuse of wealth and economic power and status and prestige. These sins aren’t reserved for the nonbeliever. Christians can commit these sins, too. Indeed, we’ve seen James highlight this fact, that Christians can commit this type of sin, all throughout the book of James. Look at James 1:27, turn back to James 1:27, where we see a first instance of James highlighting this sort of economically-driven, bad behavior, economically-driven sin, that he had seen in their midst. Look at James 1:27, this is involving the overlooking of those who had less materially.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Another example of this would be down the page in James 2:2, where James calls out paying special attention to and playing favorites with those in the congregation who had all the trappings and appearances of wealth. Look at James 2:2, “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?” Another example of Christians behaving badly economically. Here’s another one down in James 2:15. Here James is calling out those who are professing to have a work-less faith which refused to provide or care for the needs of others in the body of Christ. James 2:15, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” And there’s the temptation (we’ve already mentioned this) to practical atheism that we saw back in James 4:13 where we saw those businessmen in the assembly, who we would assume had some degree of wealth, who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” All examples of Christians behaving badly, economically.

See, what James has been after throughout this letter, broadening it out a little bit, is making sure that the believers that he’s addressing, these early Jewish converts, are not only talking the talk of faith, but walking the walk of faith. That they truly have a faith that they vocalize not only with their lips, but that they have faith that leads them to action with their hands and with their feet. A faith which is not just “Christian-in-name-only,” but instead, a faith that is living and vibrant and active faith. And James here is telling his audience, back to James 5:1, to “weep and howl” to these early believers, because they had drifted in the direction of worshiping and trusting in their wealth. Their hearts had become hardened based on what was in their bank account. They had not submitted their savings account to the Lordship of Christ. Rather, they had fallen prey to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. And he warns them and he does so with these words, “weep and howl.” He’s warning them to be miserable over their sin; their sin being, as we’re about to see, their abuse of their privileged position and status and wealth. And now to repent of that sin. So, that’s all my very long way of explaining why I believe this text to be referring to Christians, sinning Christians.

Now, I did mention that we’re going to address two questions, right here out of the gate. The first being, is James here writing to believers or is he writing to unbelievers? The second question I mentioned is, are the riches of the rich here inherently problematic or sinful? The answer to that question is, no. There is no place in scripture where being wealthy, the mere fact of wealth is condemned. Going back to the Old Testament, we see many examples of individuals who were wealthy. And in fact, their wealth, like Abraham and Job, appeared to have some connection to being favored by God. And then you get to the New Testament, and you see wealth as a fact mentioned quite neutrally, whether it’s a reference to Joseph of Arimathea or Zacchaeus or Lydia or Philemon.

Now, while being wealthy, in and of itself is not fundamentally wrong or fundamentally sinful, the clear teaching of scripture is that wealth does provide unique temptations. Which is why Jesus said what He said in Matthew 19 [verse 24], that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And why Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 5:10, that “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income.” And that’s why it says in Proverbs 11:28, “He who trusts in his riches will fall.” What the bible plainly teaches is that wealth provides no advantage for the Christian. What all it provides is a potential stumbling block for the Christian, a spiritual handicap for the Christian. Consider the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:24. He says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Or consider what the Lord said in the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12 [verse 15]. He says, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He says [verse 34], “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Or consider the parable of the soils, where in describing one of the bad soils Jesus notes that there’s a type of soil where “the worries of the world,” this is Mark 4:19, “and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” Or consider the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and was told that he must sell all to inherit eternal life. And what happened in Mark 10:22? It says, “he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.”

The point is merely having riches, merely being wealthy, merely possessing things is not sinful. Wealth is neither moral nor immoral. Riches themselves are neither spiritual nor unspiritual. It’s our attitude toward our wealth that is significant. So the question ultimately is not how much we have, but what our attitude and our heart orientation is toward however much we have.

And so, a question to put on the table right away, as we consider what James is going to say here, and what the witness of scripture otherwise testifies to, is this: how tight a grip do you have on your wealth? Or better stated, how tightly has your wealth gripped you? Do your possessions possess you? Has your bank account become an idol? Has your retirement account become your god? What do you seek your joy in? Is it payday? Or knowing where you will stand before the Lord on the last day? Who has your heart, the Lord Jesus Christ or your pocketbook? And have you been suckered? Have you been swallowed up by the materialistic culture that surrounds us? Can you sing these, the lyrics to the following song, with a clear conscience? I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I’d rather be His than have riches untold. I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land, I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.
If you think that having more, or getting more, or making more, is what is ultimately going to satisfy you in this life, you are operating under a grand delusion, a delusion that will only lead to great regret when you stand before the Lord one day.

So, James is not opposed to the rich in this assembly, simply because they are rich. He’s not denouncing riches indiscriminately. He’s not saying that the possession of wealth and riches is inherently wrong or sinful. But at the same time he knew, because he had seen, that the accumulation of wealth can often be associated with evil practices. Which he addresses in the next few verses, and that brings us to our next point. In verse 1 we saw “The Caution to the Rich.” In verses 2 and 3 we now see “The Corrosion of Riches.”

Let’s look at verses 2 and 3, he says, “Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”

James has told the rich in this assembly to “weep and howl,” not because they had riches, but again because their riches had them. And as we’re going to see in these next two verses, verses 2 and 3, it was folly for the rich in this assembly to let those riches have any sort of grip or possession or hold on them. Because the riches that they were holding so tightly were now rotting and rusting and being eaten by insects. And he gives, James does, these three examples to illustrate his point. And all three tie to a recognized form of wealth in James’ day. One was harvested grain, one was clothing, and the other was gold and silver.

Let’s start with harvested grain. When James here in verse 2 says, “your riches have rotted,” he has something like wheat or barley in mind. The use of that verb “rotted” gives it away. He’s referring to some sort of product from the field that’s not used, it’s not consumed in a timely fashion, and so it rots.
The rich who James is addressing here were storing up grain in abundance, which again was an indication of their wealth. Now, is there anything wrong with laboring diligently, and in doing so storing up and saving some of what you’ve earned? Of course not. You could look at the way of the ant, in Proverbs 6 [verses 6-8]. You could think of Proverbs 10:4-5 which says, “Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.”

See, the problem with the wealthy people of James’ day was not that they were working diligently. And not that they were saving responsibly. And not that they were storing to protect against a possible future famine. The problem, rather, was that they had put aside more than they could ever eat. And as a result, their riches, their agricultural riches, their grain, their wheat, their barley, had rotted, literally it had been spoiled, it had gone bad. And the underlying implication here is that these agri-elite, wealthy members of this assembly, had refused to give away any of what their land had produced. So, instead of sharing any of it with those in need, they lost it to decay. They were greedy, they were materialistic, their hearts had become hardened and closed so that now their riches had rotted.

Next, James calls out their clothing. He says, “and your garments have become moth-eaten.” And that word “garments” there refers to loose, long outer robes, which often would have been richly embroidered and decorated, and were a very clear sign of wealth in James’ day. Again, you remember James 2, that picture at the beginning of James 2, of that rich man entering into the assembly. And you recall what stood out about that rich man as he entered into the assembly as compared to the poor man in that same assembly? The rich man had “a gold ring;” we saw when we studied that, multiple gold rings. And he came “dressed in fine clothes.” As opposed to the poor man who James 2:2 says, had “dirty clothes.” See, the rich in James’ day wore their bank accounts all over them, it was all on the outside, their wealth was very noticeable, it was out in the open. But James here says, “your garments have become moth-eaten.” Well, the only clothing that can become moth-eaten was clothing that had been packed away and unused for some period of time, clothing that hadn’t seen the light of day for many, many months. And in James’ day, which would have been a subsistence culture, meaning people were living from hand to mouth, simply to have one change of clothing would have meant you were a especially blessed. What that means is that the only people who would run the risk of their clothing becoming moth-eaten were the uber rich, the very wealthy. Only the very wealthy could so regularly add garment upon garment to their collection, that they were unable to wear all that they had acquired, so that eventually moths got to their clothing. It wasn’t a walk-in closet that was a sign of wealth in James’ day. It was a third shirt, a second gown, a single pair of shoes that somewhat properly fit your feet. Are we getting the picture here? James is describing here people who are so consumed with wealth and the acquisition of wealth that they were hording their grain, unwilling to share it only to see it rot. They were expanding their wardrobe. Some unable to wear any of it, or all of it. So that it becomes moth-eaten. They couldn’t eat it all. They couldn’t wear it all. But they wanted more of it all. “Just a little bit more.”

Now, as James continues on in calling out “The Corrosion of Riches,” he goes after another source of wealth, verse 3, gold and silver. He says, “Your gold and your silver have rusted.” Now, it’s possible we have some chemists in the room. It’s possible, it’s actually very likely, we have people who did a lot better in high school chemistry than I did. And you’re thinking to yourself, ‘gold and silver’? Those can’t rust. You’re right, pure, unalloyed gold and silver cannot rust. So, what do we do with this language here, when he says, “Your gold and your silver have rusted”? Well, James here is not referring to rusting the way we think of rusting which has this whole process of oxidation. Rather, he’s using a word that’s much broader in scope and meaning. It refers to decay and corrosion. And that decay and corrosion is a process that naturally occurs even with silver and gold. Gold can darken, silver can tarnish. Indeed, everything on this earth including gold and silver is in the process of decay. Which is why Peter says of gold in 1 Peter 1:7 that it is, “perishable, even though tested by fire.” The basic idea here though, for James, is that the money and material possessions which James’ audience was placing so much stock in would not last.

Now, in all three of these statements, “Your riches have rotted,” “your garments have become moth-eaten,” “your gold and your silver have rusted,” James is using a verb form that’s called the prophetic perfect tense. And all that means is that James here is referring to something that has yet to happen, it’s something that will still happen in the future. But there is such certainty that it is going to happen in the future, it’s as if it’s already happened, it’s as if it’s happening right now in the present. And that’s significant, because as these wealthy men that he’s calling out here, look at their possessions, it didn’t appear to be this way at all. Their grain was protected. It was growing and piling up in their barns. Their robes were fine, they weren’t moth-eaten. They were sparkling and glowing and neatly appointed. Their gold and their silver looked pristine. There was nothing wrong with it. But James is looking at what they have stockpiled with a prophet’s eye. He’s looking at it from God’s point of view and, by extension, helping us to see it from God’s point of view. And what James saw, and what God sees, was what these individuals could not, which is that their great wealth had already lost its luster. Those great marks of wealth that they thought they had, were already beginning to fade. Their silver and their gold are portrayed here already as having rusted, which James highlights in the rest of verse 3, when he says, James 5:3, “and their rust”, meaning again, the corrosion that will happen to their gold and silver, “will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.”

There was need all around them, but the rich people addressed here didn’t care. They went on heartlessly stockpiling, mindlessly storing up their wealth, even though it was rotting and corroding and being eaten up. And their wealth it says is now testifying against them. That’s the meaning of this phrase “their rust will be a witness against you.” Just like a patch of reddish, flaky rust on a used car testifies to the fact that that car is used. The visible, wasted wealth of these rich individuals testified like rust to the spiritual rot in their souls.

And then, the corrosion that was happening with this stockpiled gold and silver is now symbolically presented here as eating the “flesh” of these oppressive rich themselves. Look at the next part of verse 3 where he says, “their rust will be a witness against you,” and then catch this, “and will consume your flesh like fire.” The rust on their riches was going to eat into their pampered flesh like a festering sore and its effect would be “like fire”, burning and torturing while it devours. Now note, that word “rust” here is related to the word for “deadly poison”, back in James 3:8 when he describes the tongue. James 3:8, “But no one can tame the tongue, it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.” That word “deadly poison” is lexically related to the word “rust” here in James 5:3. And so it’s safe to say that what James is driving at here in James 5 is that just like the tongue can destroy like poison and burn like fire, so, too, can unchecked wealth. An unending desire for just a little bit more, to borrow from Rockefeller again, will lead to a corrosion which will both destroy the wealth and its holder.

James ends his thought here in verse 3 with these words, “It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” Now, the “last days” refers to that period between Christ’s first and His second coming.
1 Timothy 4:1 says, “in later times,” other translations say, in the last days, some will fall away from the faith.” Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and In many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” These “last days”, in other words, were James’ present-day, just as they are our present-day. And what the rich in James’ day thought was important in their day, the accumulation of wealth, the accumulation of riches, proved to be spiritually worthless. And so, James here is rebuking the recipients of this letter for storing up treasures only for the present, living only for the now. Not watching God’s clock, living as though Christ isn’t going to come get them. The gold and the silver they had stored up, and for that matter, the harvested grain they had stored up, and for that matter, the fine garments they had stored up, would in the end prove to be worthless. Worthless as corroded metal, worthless as rotten grain, worthless as moth-eaten clothing. See, to hoard the treasures of the world, to cling to things that rot and fester and spoil, to cling to things that will be chewed up and digested by insects, to cling to things that will rust and corrode, is utter folly. It’s like the old proverbial statement about attaching a U-Haul to a hearse. Or asking your pallbearers to stuff your casket full of money before you go into the ground. It makes no sense.

Now, James here isn’t railing against the good stewardship principle of saving and providing for one’s family. No. That’s wise, that’s biblical. But while God in His Word does not discourage saving and prudential provision for one’s needs, He does disapprove, as we’ve just seen, holding too tightly to things that are going to eventually perish, accumulating and protecting that which will never be used, having a white-knuckle grip on items you can’t take with you. I know we have TV shows now which sensationalize, and of course, because they can’t help themselves, psychologize the whole principle of hoarding. Well, that idea of hoarding, the idea of hoarding that James’ is describing here, is ultimately senseless, materialistic folly. It reflects a heart of worldly materialism. It reflects a foolish obsession with that which is transitory and fleeting. And it ultimately reflects a faithless failure to trust in God to provide for your needs.

Remember, that just as James’ audience was living in the “last days,” we, too, are living in the “last days.” And we have to remember that we will someday give an account to Christ, at His Bema seat, at the judgment seat, for the way that we used our possessions to further the cause of Christ and His gospel. So, what does that look like for you? Where is your treasure? Are you laying it up here on earth so that you can live in comfort and extend this out as long as you can, to 75, maybe 85, maybe 95? Or instead, are you focusing on amassing treasure in heaven, while being grateful for however God has blessed you in this life? Are you trusting in riches or are you trusting in the Lord? Or is that answer conditional based on how much money is in the account this month? Beware of building bigger barns for the sake of building bigger barns. Beware of growing those accounts and storing and piling up those accounts simply for the sake of seeing it all growing. Go back to the words of our Lord, who warns those who “store up treasures on earth,” Matthew 6:19, “where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” Instead, He says in Matthew 6:20, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.”

We’ve seen James’ “Caution to the Rich” in verse 1. We’ve seen “The Corrosion of Riches” in verses 2 and 3. Next, in verses 4-6, we’re going to see James single out several questionable, and in certain ways, sinful practices which the rich in this assembly were engaged in. All of which highlighted the depths to which their sinful love of money had taken them. This will be “The Condemnation of the Rich,” James 5:4-6. Look at verses 4-6, He says, “Behold, they pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. Your have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”

Again, note, it is not wealth itself which is being condemned here. But instead, the greedy attitude toward it, and as we’re about to see, the dubious methods by which this wealth was obtained. And, as we’re about to see in these next few verses, James is going to give a four-fold condemnation of the rich in this assembly, and how they came into possession of the riches they held which were now corroding.
First, we’re going to see him call out their wage-withholding. Second, we’re going to see him call out their soft-living. Third, we’re going to see him call out their pleasure-seeking. And fourth (and bear with me on this) we’re going to see him call out their judicial-murdering. Their wage-withholding, their soft-living, their pleasure-seeking, their judicial-murdering.

Let’s take them one by one, starting with wage-withholding, verse 4, “Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you.” Here we have this description of clear employee-employer exploitation. The word “laborers” here is a reference to agricultural employees. These would have been low-paid, hard-working, sweat-of-the-brow field hands. These were day laborers who harvested these large estates of the wealthy. And it was hard work, laborious work. And when you see these words here, “mowed your fields”, I don’t want you to think of a John Deere riding mower. You know, I don’t want you to think of the Toro, self-propelled mower. I don’t even want you to think of the manual mower. Do those still exist? Do you still have those? No, this right here is referring to the wheat and the barley harvests in James’ day being cut and shocked by hand. These would have been hard-working men doing incredibly labor-intensive work and for very little pay. These would have been men, by the way, who were totally dependent on what they earned each day to satisfy and take care of their most basic needs. They needed these earnings to stay above basic subsistence levels. They needed these earnings to receive their daily bread. They didn’t have a savings account or an IRA to lean on. And the tense of that verb “mowed” tells us that the mowing work has been completed, the laborers’ work is done. So, their pay, their wages, whatever they had agreed upon with the landowner, the wealthy employer, had come due. Their wages had been justly and rightly earned and so, it’s now time to pay up.

It calls to mind Jesus’ parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20. And to recall that parable involves workers being hired at different points of time in the day and each receiving the same unit of pay, a denarius. And there’s a whole principle there that Jesus was teaching as He paid each laborer equally. But for our purposes today in James I want us to note this contrast. In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, no matter what time they started, those workers were actually paid! Not so here in James. The rich who James is addressing here had the means to pay the workers. But their pay wasn’t coming. They simply refused to pay what was owed. They were so wrapped up in their pursuit of the wealth of this world, so desperate to get ahead, that they were willing to rob their employees and not pay them what they had coming to them.

And that, by the way, the failure to pay the employees in a timely fashion was not unique or new to James’ day. It actually goes all the way back into Old Testament history. The Old Testament Mosaic Law prohibited this very practice. And the prophets of Judah and Israel denounced this very practice.
Leviticus 19:13 says, “You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning.”
Deuteronomy 24:14-15 says, “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns. You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.”
Or Jeremiah 22:13 says, “Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor’s services without pay and does not give him his wages.”
The principle comes out even in the Proverbs, Proverbs 3:27-28 says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,’ when you have it with you.”

With all these commands and all these principles from the Old Testament in the back of their minds, the point is the rich members of James’ audience here knew better. They knew better than to withhold wages that had rightly been earned by their laborers. They knew better than to defraud these hard-working laborers, who were needful of these earnings. And now, James says, here in verse 4, those same wages that they haven’t paid, now cry out against them. They cry out against the rich. “Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you.”
Note that James here doesn’t say that the workers themselves are crying out to the rich. Instead, he says, he’s personifying this wrongfully withheld pay, and it’s now pictured the pay is crying out for vengeance, against those who are holding it back. It’s an inanimate object, but it’s crying, testifying, against these landowners and demanding justice. It reminds us of the blood of Abel, in Genesis 4:10, which is said to be crying out from the ground. It reminds us of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah which is said to be crying, in Genesis 18 and 19. Here in James 5, the sin of the rich and their withheld wages that’s now crying out against them to God for vengeance.

And those cries are heard. Look at the rest of verse 4, it says, “and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” The cries of the harvesters, the workers here, apparently had not reached the attention of the overlords, the wealthy landowners. But they had reached the “ears” of God Himself. Now I don’t want us to get tripped up here, this is not a description of God having physical ears. God doesn’t have actual ears. “God is spirit.” John 4:24. This is what theologians would call anthropomorphic language, where God is described, in accommodating language, as having certain human traits and characteristics, so that we mere creatures, fallen creatures, can better understand some aspect of who He is and how He relates to us.

You know, when James here says, that “the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth”, the focus should not be on the word “ears”, but instead, what ears do. Ears hear, and so what James is saying here is that God hears “the outcry of those who did the harvesting.” He’s heard their cries, He’s heard their pleas, He’s heard their growling stomachs. Those pleas and those cries have not gone unnoticed in the courts of heaven.

And note how God is referred to here. He’s referred to as “Lord of Sabaoth.” That’s not the word “Sabbath” here. It’s “Sabaoth.” And it means hosts, He is the Lord of hosts. And that word “hosts” can mean many different things. It can refer to earthly armies. It can refer to God’s angels. It can refer to all the stars. To say that He is “Lord of Sabaoth” then is to say the He is the Lord of the armies of the earth, Lord of the angelic armies, and Lord of all the starry host. Boiling it down even further, that’s to say that God is God Almighty. He’s the almighty Creator and Ruler of the world. He is majestic, and He’s transcendent. And bringing it back to James here, that all-mighty, that all-majestic, all-transcendent God, hears the cries of these workers who are being oppressed by their rich overlords refusing to pay them what was owed. The Lord of Sabaoth heard these cries of injustice that were coming from these laborers and their earned wages. He knows what’s happening, the pain of the people here has reached His ears.

Well, James keeps on going. He’s rebuked this practice of wage-withholding in verse 4. Next, he’s going to call out the practice of soft-living. In verse 5 he says, “You have lived luxuriously on the earth.” Two things to note here about that. First is that the verb there, “luxuriously,” literally means to lead a soft life, to live a life of soft extravagance, heaping luxuries upon luxuries. It’s the picture given by Jesus of the rich man in Luke 16 [verse 19], who was “dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day,” it says. This is the person that doesn’t really have anywhere to go. Doesn’t really have any place to go. It’s not just five o’clock somewhere, it’s five o’clock everywhere. This is the person that just sort of floats around, idle and lazy, living a delicate and soft and pampered life, living a charmed life. Indulging in whatever delights strike their fancy, just because they can. The second thing to note here is that the text says that these rich live “luxuriously on the earth.” In other words, their motivations, their aspirations, their delights are being emphasized here as being limited to the earth, limited to the things of this world. Thinking nothing or thinking irregularly about the God of heaven and their relationship to Him. But instead, anchoring their riches and their pleasures to this age here on the earth.

So, he calls out wage-withholding, he calls out soft-living, next he calls out pleasure-seeking. Look at the rest of verse 5. They have “led a life of wanton pleasure.” To be “wanton” is to live a life of over-the-top indulgence. You know, these aren’t people who are being called out because they occasionally have the second piece of chocolate cake, or occasionally allow others to celebrate their birthday. No. The rich that James is going after here were not only living this luxuriant life, not only living this soft and pampered life, but living a life that’s completely given over to a lifestyle of self-indulgent pleasure, satisfying their every whim, living lives of revelry and dissipation. Living for the pleasures of this life rather than putting Christ first in everything. These are the people, as we went back to what we studied in James 4:4, who are truly friends with the world. And they are robbing their workers to accumulate their wealth, these rich people are, in this assembly. They’re gratifying their own love of comfort and satisfying their own lusts. And functioning essentially like the people of Jude who are described as unthinking and unreasoning animals.

And that’s why James says what he says at the end of verse 5, “you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” And that illustration would have been vivid and clear to these Jewish believers who had seen many fattened sheep and many fattened oxen meet their fate in sacrifice. So, like fattened cattle ready to be slaughtered, the rich who James is condemning here, had indulged themselves to the limit. They’d been living for their pleasures, fat and unconcerned about others. No sense of self-denial, or self-restraint, or self-control. They were sparing no expense to gratify their every desire or whim. They were living for now, as though life on this earth is all that there is. They were self-absorbed and hedonistic, caring only about what was under their nose or what was in front of their face. Not Who ruled them from above, and the eternal future that awaited them. They were like ignorant cattle that are encouraged to eat well just before being led to slaughter. And these rich of James’ day were living in this blissful ignorance of the wickedness that they were now engaged in.

So, he’s called out wage-withholding, he’s called out soft-living, he’s called out pleasure-seeking. Last, in verse 6, he calls out judicial-murdering, he says, “You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.” Now, when James here speaks of people being “put to death,” he’s not referring to the physical murder of another human being in the congregation. He’s not referring to a church where not only quarrels and bitter envy have broken out, but murders have broken out. No, as we saw back in James 4:2, where we see another statement like this, where it says, “you lust and do not have; so you commit murder.” James has the concept of figurative murder in mind. And here, in James 5:6, he has a specific type of figurative murder in mind, judicial murder. Now, that first verb here in verse 6, sort of gives it away. He says, “You have condemned and put to death.” That word “condemned” comes from a verb that means to sentence. James very clearly here is using legal terminology. The idea here is that the rich were using the courts to commit murder, judicial murder. They were murdering the poor by depriving them of their living.

And here’s how this would go down practically speaking, it could look different in different contexts, but this is how it could go down. A worker, a laborer, would labor all day, perhaps for several days, mowing the owners’ large estate, a large field. But then, as we saw back in verse 4, the owner refuses to pay the worker his wages. So the worker garners up the courage to take the landowner to court, to recover his wages. But the courts - and this is historically documented - at this time were largely corrupt and rigged. So, the owner possibly has bought the judge, resulting in the worker losing his case in court. But this rich landowner isn’t done. So, he countersues now, he countersues the worker who had the audacity to sue him, probably for some sort of reputational injury or something like that. And in fact, we saw a reference to this back in James 2:6, where it says, “Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?”

He would not only take the worker to court though, this rich landowner would win. So, now, not only does the worker not receive his back pay, he’s now on the hook to pay the landowner. Well, the only reason he sued the landowner in the first place is he is wiped out financially, he’s destitute. He has nothing to pay the landowner who has now won this suit against him. So now, he’s likely, the worker, is headed to some form of debtor’s prison because he doesn’t have any ability to pay the debt that he owes. So once again the rich person here has gotten his way. He’s hoarded, he’s defrauded, he’s engaged in all these various self-indulgent desires, he’s pushed aside people who are getting in his way. And he’s now destroyed the life of an innocent person. And because he essentially has taken the life of this person by depriving him of the one thing they had left, liberty, the landowner’s actions here were deemed judicially murderous. It’s judicial murder. He “condemned and put to death the righteous man.” The “righteous man”, of course, being the worker, the innocent actor in the whole transaction.

And then last of these righteous individuals, the workers in this context, it says, they do not resist you, “he does not resist you,” they refuse to fight back. In this context, they choose to be ruined, they choose to leave vindication up to God. They apparently are taking the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:39 literally, “do not resist an evil person”, turn the other cheek.

And that actually sets up very well, and fits very well, where we’re going to go next time, in James 5:7. Look at the next verse for next time. Where James says, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” The scales of justice will be leveled out then, wrongs will be righted then, you’ll get your reward and then some, then.

Well, throughout our time together this morning - confession time - I’ve been holding one key passage, one cross-reference, behind my back. If James here in the section that we’ve worked through is presenting the negative view of how we are not to view wealth and riches, the passage I’m about to take you to provides more of the positive angle. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy 6, we’ll end our time here today, 1 Timothy 6, and we’ll pick it up in verse 7. 1 Timothy 6:7 says, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

“But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time – He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”

And we might say, “Amen” at that point, but look at what he says in verses 17-19, “Instruct those who ae rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” Amen.

Father, thank You so much for the time in the Word this morning. Thank You for the clarity of Your Word. Thank You for the conviction that Your Word brings. Thank You for the eternal truths that Your Word contains. God, I do pray for everybody in this room, that we would really be doing some hard examination today. Of course, we can use riches and wealth as sort of the entry point into that hard examination. But I do pray that we would all acknowledge, confess, those areas of our heart and our lives where something other than You, Lord, now reigns supreme in our hearts. I pray that that conviction that would bring, that exercise would bring, would lead to confession of our sin to You, repentance of that sin. And now walking in a worthy manner, where Christ is enthroned rightly as first in our hearts. God, I do pray, that if there is anyone here this morning, who this is all meaningless to them, or doesn’t make sense to them, because they have not been made new in Christ, they have not given their life to Christ, they remain outside the family of God, they remain unsaved and condemned in their sin -- that they would see this sermon and this text, not as a way to get right with God by selling all they have or ditching wealth or seeking to earn less rather than more -- but that what they need to do is trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross as the only means, and the only way, by which they may be saved. We again thank You for this time, thank You for this dear church, thank You for its commitment to truth. I pray You would be greatly glorified and honored in our lives today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.