James 5:1-6 — James
Attitude Toward Wealth Matters
This sermon examines how accumulating wealth for selfish purposes and at others' expense reflects spiritual misdirection; followers of Jesus should view their wages and possessions as opportunities to serve others, not secure personal comfort.
Introduction
Our culture has decided that being wealthy is bad. Our culture has decided that wealth is a sure sign of the inequities of life and that forced sharing should take place. What our culture may miss is that wealth is often subjective. Wealthy people are usually those who have more income than we do. Wealth is always above. Go to globalrichlist.com. Put in your amounts and see where you are. According to Global Rich List, if you make $32,400 per year you are in the top 1% of the wealthiest people on earth. According to them, you are the 59,876,691st richest person in the world of 7.5 billion people. If you make $56,516/year; the median income in the US then you are in the top .22% of the wealthiest people in the world making you the 13,419,132nd richest person in the world.
Our text this morning warns us about gaining wealth at the expense of others. The text does not say that being wealthy is wrong. It does, however, focus on gaining wealth at the expense of others. And the text does say that using others in order to elevate your own ease is wrong. We will examine this text this morning. Let us sing about the way God has so blessed us in the spiritual realm. God has been so good and loving and merciful. How can we not praise him and his goodness?
Self-Indulgence
This is not the first time in is writing that James has noted that the wealthy may not be aware of their sin in regards to how they treat people. In chapter one he clearly wrote that taking care of the poor is the work of those who follow Jesus. In chapter 2 he wrote that mistreating the poor has got to stop especially in the assembly. And in chapter 4 he pointed out that there are some who are pursuing the world for the purpose of gaining ease. Now in chapter 5 he directly addresses those who are wealthy and pushes the to consider how their accumulation of wealth may have come as a mistreatment of others. But not only unfair treatment but using wealth to secure more luxury rather than sharing with those who are without.
In the first three verses, James assures the readers that their wealth means nothing when viewed from the position of the last day. In other words, when the last day arrives, wealth will mean nothing. It means something now, but those who have wealth understand that the now is immaterial in comparison to the last day. James is not only convicting them of their motivation for wealth but convicting them that they are too short-sighted. They focus on the here and now and not on the long term. To infuse chapter 4, seeking ease now is pleasurable and comforting but when the last day comes your ease and comfort means nothing.
James is clear that hoarding wealth is not good and it does not reflect a spiritual view. Wealth that is hoarded is not shared. Wealth that is used only for self does not please God. Maybe James has his brother’s words in mind from Matthew 6. “Do not worry about what you shall eat or what you shall wear.” Words spoken to the poor but equally applicable to the wealthy. Wealthy people worry too much about running out of money and so the money is hoarded as if it has value in the last day.
But in verses 4—6, James turns his attention from simple accumulation to accumulating at the expense of others. James is not a socialist. He is not arguing for a government intervention. He is arguing for the wealthy to be more conscious of the means by which they obtain their wealth. The first century jobs market was fairly easy compared to today’s job market. Farmer or merchant. Raising crops and animals or making some type of product to sell. If you were a wealthy farmer, you might hire people to harvest your crop. Not paying them meant that their families did not eat. Not paying them allowed you to accumulate wealth to be used for selfish means. Like Ahab and Jezebel who killed Naboath in order to have greater convenience, James points out what happens when the wealthy think about themselves rather than those who supply the means by which can have wealth.
Parallels for our time are difficult to come by. For most of us, we do our jobs and do not keep others from getting their wages. Think for just a moment about your own attitudes toward your wages. How you think about your wages is a sign of your spiritual thinking too. This isn’t about putting more in the contribution plate, although that would be fine if so convicted. It is about what you think about your wages.
Do they belong to you?
ii. How much of the wages do you allow God to have a say about?
iii. Do you see the wages as a sign of your success?
iv. Do you understand the wages as possibilities to do things on this earth for self or for others?
Our culture wants to force the wealthy to give up their wealth. James writes that those who follow Jesus will look at their lives in regard to the wealth. There were plenty of wealthy people who followed Jesus. There were plenty of wealthy people who loved Jesus and sacrificed wealth for him. There were plenty of people who used their wealth to honor Jesus but did not stop being wealthy in the process. James’ words remind us that being in the top 1% means something not in this life but in our spiritual life.
In November 2000 we moved into a house in the Balmoral area. Our children we 14 and 12. We envisioned not only having a larger house but having a house that we could fill up with kids. It was our ministry house. Our kids invited and we fed whoever showed up. Soon after moving in, we met our next door neighbor. An older man and a widower. His children lived near and he was trying to live on his own. After some pleasantries and brief chatting, I was certain that he would be a wonderful neighbor. A few weeks later, I was outside working on something and my neighbor came and out and reintroduce himself to me. Asked me when I had moved in and several other questions that obviously demonstrated that his memory was fading. Not long after that, his daughters moved him to a new place and they held an estate sale. Spenser and I went over to peruse his tool collection (didn’t have much) and anything else that might be helpful to us. I bought a couple of ties. Spenser’s words as we left have stuck with me for now almost 20 years, “Dad, is this the way it is?” What do you mean, son? “You live, you get old and then people go through your stuff?”
If you are wealthy and you are, then there is a certain amount of ease and comfort that comes with that. However, if you are more concerned about maintaining and deepening your ease and comfort rather than seeing how you can help others get just a glimpse of that then you wealth has become your idol and God no longer is Lord. When it is all said and done, it is just stuff that will not matter on the last day. Invitation.
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