If you have your bible, you can open them to the book of Isaiah chapter 58, verse 6, which is on p. 522 if you grabbed a bible in the lobby. Isaiah is what is called a prophet. Prophets were not popular people, most of them met untimely deaths, but prophets were the people that God used to speak to his people and bring them back to him. This is what God said through Isaiah in chapter 58, verse 6: 6Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Like today, poverty, rich and poor, upper and lower class were things that were realities of life. As today in most situations, the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. What Isaiah is describing is a way to find freedom. When he uses the word fast, that is a way to discovering freedom. He is bringing up a question that everyone struggles with, how do I experience freedom? All of us feel bondage in different areas of life, for many of us it is in the area of money.
Flip over to Amos chapter 5, verse 11 which is on p. 651. Amos is another prophet that God is speaking through. Most of the book of Amos deals with the reality of the rich and the poor, the classes of people within society. This is what it says in verse 11: 11Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
Amos is speaking to people who are taking advantage of the poor. Using them for their own gain. Amos says, that even though you have built these great houses, you have planted beautiful vineyards; you will not get to reap the reward. You will not experience all that you hoped you would experience. Amos is saying what is very common among prophets in the Bible, the lives of the rich and poor will be switched after death.
Flip over to Matthew chapter 25, verse 31. It is one p. 708. Here we pick up Jesus speaking to religious people of his day, mostly upper class, religious people. Jesus is speaking to Jews, and in the first century almost every Jew had the whole Old Testament memorized. So Jesus is teaching and then he starts talking about the end of the world. Verse 31: 31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
34Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41"Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, saying, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45Then he will answer them, saying, ’Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
So Jesus is describing the judgment at the end of the world and how people will be separated. How people will be separated when it comes to where they spend eternity. When people would have heard Jesus say this, their first thought would have been, Amos said something like that. Amos said the rich would not experience all that they hoped to, Jesus is saying the same thing.
James Forbes, who is a pastor in New York City said this about this passage, “Each one of us will need a letter from the poor as we enter heaven.” Notice what Jesus doesn’t talk about. He doesn’t mention how many verses you memorized, how many missions trips you went on, how many hours you served in a church, he doesn’t mention anything about beliefs, whether you were right or wrong. He talks only about how we treat the poor in our world. How we treat the marginalized and overlooked in our society.
One biographer once asked Gandhi whether or not he was a Christian and he said, “Ask the poor, they will tell you who the Christians are.” Because “in the poor, we see Jesus in his most distressing disguises.”
Flip over to the book of James chapter 5, which is on p. 871, this is where we will spend the rest of our time. James is written to Christians who are not acting like Christians. James is writing to a church that has forgotten the ways of Jesus and the things that are close to the heart of God. James was the brother of Jesus, so a lot of what he says comes from those ideas. Remember, the people who would originally have gotten this letter only knew the Old Testament, where Isaiah and Amos are, and what Jesus did.
This is what it says in chapter 5, verse 1: 1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
What needs to be pointed out as we move on is that James is not saying being rich is wrong. In the New Testament, condemnations of the wealthy are almost always attributed to how they use their wealth. In our culture, amassing material wealth is not only condoned it is admired, we need to come to grips with the question James is asking, “When do we have too much?”
James says that the rich are headed for condemnation for several reasons. In verses 2 & 3 it is because they hoard. Do you know any hoarders? We loving call them packrats. Hoarding is not saving, there is a difference. I know someone who will buy 10 items of something when they only need 1 because they are on sale. Do you know anyone like that? We call that OCD or planning ahead, James calls that hoarding. Having more than you really need.
One author (Daniel M. Doriani) said, “Because material wealth is transitory, fleeting, and easily spoiled, hoarding is senseless.”
James also says that riches will corrode. That gold and silver will corrode. Which we know that gold and silver do not corrode, but James wants to show how long riches actually last. Last week we talked about planning ahead and how we can make plans for the future if we don’t know what lays ahead tomorrow. It is the same question here, how can you hoard and load up on stuff, when you have no idea what is coming. How long our stuff will last.
Here is a question, does hoarding show a lack of faith in God? Archbishop Oscar Romero said, “How many there are that would better not call themselves Christians, because they have no faith. They have more faith in their money and possessions than in the God who fashioned their possessions and their money.”
When we hoard, we are saying, we don’t trust you enough God, I need to make sure I have everything I need. In the book of Exodus, when the nation of Israel was wandering through the wilderness, God said he would send food from heaven every morning. They were to take what they needed for a day. Some took more than they needed for a day because they were unsure if God would send food the next day. After one day though, the food was rotten and filled with maggots. Don’t hoard, don’t have more than you need.
In his book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Ron Sider said, “Most Christians in the Northern Hemisphere simply do not believe Jesus’ teaching about the deadly danger of possessions. We all know that Jesus warned that possessions are highly dangerous – so dangerous in fact that it is extremely difficult for a rich person to be a Christian at all. Jesus said in Luke 18, ‘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.’ But we do not believe Jesus. Christians in the United States live in the richest society in the history of the world surrounded by a billion hungry neighbors. Yet, we insist on more and more. If Jesus was so un – American that he considered riches dangerous, then we must ignore or reinterpret his message.”
So when is enough enough? When do you get to the place where you have too much?
In verse 4 the rich are condemned because they have defrauded their workers. James is referring to Amos, where he said that that the rich trample on the poor. This is where it is easy for us to pull away and say, James isn’t talking to me. You might think, I don’t have any workers. Or if you do, I pay them a decent living.
A few years ago, a friend named Shane Claiborne really challenged me on this point. He asked me about the companies I buy my clothes from, and the gospel they preach. He said, when you put on a t-shirt, you are giving that company free advertising. You better agree with the gospel they are preaching.
Let me ask you something, the clothes you have on this morning, who made them. Were they made in a decent workplace, by someone who was paid fair wages, or were they made by a child in the 3rd world, in a horrible work environment, for 15 cents an hour?
Just because we don’t abuse people does not mean we don’t play a part.
Here is what I mean. A company makes something, we buy it, so the company stays in business. They do whatever they can to make as much money as possible, which makes sense in our culture. But to make that, they often have to cut corners. Because we keep buying their stuff, there isn’t any reason to change.
There is a great scene in Michael Moore’s documentary The big one where Philip Knight, founder and former CEO of Nike, which has become notorious for its abuse of workers overseas, invites Moore to talk with him. So Moore goes in to meet with Knight bearing a gift – two first class tickets to Indonesia. And he invites Knight to fly to Indonesia and simply walk through his factories. Phil busts out laughing and shakes his head, “No, no, not a chance.” Moore tells him that he just wants to walk through and check out the operation, and then asks, “Have you ever been to see your factories where your shoes are made? Have you ever been to Indonesia?” Knight says, “No, and I am not going to go.”
When a company does that, what gospel are they preaching? Because when we buy from them, we are supporting that gospel, we are saying, it is okay what you do in your factories. Before we disconnect ourselves by thinking that is in another part of the world like the movie clip. It is easy to think that. Over 50% of US garment factories are sweatshops. Even here in the US, where we have laws to protect workers. So this affects the companies we buy from. So is it okay as a Christian to buy from a company that makes their clothes in sweatshops?
I don’t think this is being legalistic as much as it is being human. But this is difficult. Some of the coolest clothes are made by some of the worst companies. Katie and I have talked about this because the “cutest” maternity clothes are made by a company that uses sweatshops for almost all of their clothes. We have gone back and forth, should we buy them anyway, and we decided not to. I don’t say that so you think we are really spiritual, only to show you that it is possible. It is possible to say, it is wrong and we don’t want to be a part of it. We want to be part of a different gospel.
I would encourage you this week to go to our discussion blog, there are a bunch of links on there where you can find out about companies who use sweatshops. The only way any of this will change is if people don’t buy from them.
What about schools and jobs? What gospel do they preach? When you look for a college, or your child looks at colleges? Does that college, does that private school pay their faculty and staff a fair wage? When we go to a school, we say we are okay with how they do things, it is the same as buying something. What about a job? What gospel does your company preach? Do they pay everyone a fair wage? Do they preach a gospel you are in agreement with?
It is easy to say, that is naïve, that isn’t possible. James is saying, we have to try. In his book, God’s Politics, Jim Wallis says the world needs wind changers. Wind changers are people who stand up and say, this is wrong, the wind is going in the wrong direction, our culture is living wrongly, something needs to change. Christians are supposed to be wind changers.
At the end of verse 4 James uses the term Lord of hosts to describe God. That was always a phrase that conjures up the image of God going to war, in this case, against the wealthy to defend the oppressed poor.
Verse 5 because they live a self – indulgent lifestyle. It is easy to see self – indulgent and think, I look out for others, I’m not that selfish. This is how Webster’s defines self – indulgent: excessive or unrestrained gratification of one’s own appetites, desires, or whims. Let me ask you, any of those words describe you? They describe me more than I want to admit.
When God tells the rich that hoarding, oppression, and wage fraud lead to judgment, it notifies every listener that those sins violate God’s will and nature. James helps us “keep a healthy distance from the seductive power exercised by wealth and the luxuries of civilization.”
Again, James is not against being rich, just how we use those riches.
When James uses the term day of slaughter in verse 5, he is using another word for the day of judgment. Immediately, the original audience would have thought of Jesus and Amos, they would think, the sheep and the goats, what James does is brilliant. He shows that this is not a new idea. He is showing God’s passion for the oppressed and his passion for the rich to use their resources wisely.
Many times in the Bible, when people spoke of the rich and poor in this life, they talked about their fortunes changing the next life. The rich becoming poor and the poor becoming rich. The ease of the rich becoming the ease of the poor, and the suffering of the poor becoming the suffering of the rich. The same is true of James.
This leads to a lot of questions in my mind. I hope it is clear that James is not against being rich. But he does raise some questions: How much is enough? Can we have too much? Does our desire for security and excess significantly dull our ears that we barely hear God’s voice? Does wealth bring all that we hope it will bring?
A recent survey asked people, what would make you happier? 32% said if they were smarter and 48% said if they were richer. In Forbes magazine, University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener surveyed 49 of the wealthiest Americans. They reported only slightly higher levels of happiness than the average American. Of those 49 Americans, each with a net worth over 100 million, 80% agreed with the statement that “money can increase or decrease happiness, depending on how it is used.” Many of those surveyed said that they were basically unhappy, and one of the wealthiest person in the survey said that he “could not remember the last time he was happy.”
So how much is enough? When do we have too much and need to let go of things? This past week I looked up statistics comparing our country with those around the world. I found some startling things:
• 1 out of every 2 children in the world live in poverty.
• There are 640 million people who do not have access to clean water.
• 1.2 Billion people live on 23 cents a day, 6 billion people in the world. The wealthiest 1 billion people in the world, which we are a part of, have an average income of roughly $70 a day. Half of the world lives on less than $2 a day.
• 12% of the world’s population uses 85% of the world’s water. 40% of the world lacks basic sanitation. 1 billion people are without safe drinking water. Americans consume 26 billion liters of water annually.
• Every 16 seconds somewhere in the world, someone dies of hunger. While 2 out of 3 Americans are considered overweight.
• Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half the world does on all goods combined.
• 80% of the world lives in what is called substandard housing. New home square footage in Ireland, 900 sq. ft. UK, 815, these are average size. Japan, up to 1000 sq. ft. Average new home in the US, 2349 sq. ft.
• 1% of people own a computer. 1% of people have sworn at their computer. Little known stat. 1% of people in the world have a college education.
• 8% of people in the world own a car. 1/3 of American families own more than 3 cars.
• The US consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. China is second, and they have over a billion people, yet they use 5 million barrels a day. 20 million barrels, if they were put in 1 gallon cans, they would circle the equator 6 times. 147,000 miles of cans a day.
• 50% of the homeless people in our country are below the age of 9
• In Tucson, 1 in 4 people live below the poverty line
It is easy to hear this and think, just numbers. What happens in our world though is that we see these numbers and we are numb to it. Joseph Stalin is credited with saying that “the death of one man is a tragedy, while the death thousands is just a statistic.” While these are numbers, they represent people like you and me.
Henri Nouwen said, “In the face of the oppressed I recognize my own face, and in the hands of the oppressed I recognize my own hands. Their flesh is my flesh, their blood is my blood, their pain is my pain, their smile is my smile.”
This past week, a friend of mine shared a story with me that I asked if I could share. He wrote it down for me: One of our new employees approached me during his first couple of days on the job, explaining that he and his family had just lost their home and had moved into the Motel 6 until they could find another place to live. He asked if he could get an advance on his first check because the hotel manager needed a $50.00 down payment on the room for the week. I explained that our company does not issue payroll advances; we are not in the banking business. The employee was disappointed and shared that he and his wife and their daughter would be sleeping in their car if he could not find the money. I told him I was sorry but there wasn’t anything I could do.
I am not in the banking business either and frankly, I have my own financial challenges and struggles. With five dollars in my pocket, I figured there wasn’t much I could do to help. As I dropped this guy off at a job site, he shook my hand saying, “I understand but I would appreciate anything you can do . . . I have faith in you.”
Why did he have to say that?
That day in my devotional this is what it said: Be thankful, both of you, that there is One who knows, One who marks every crisis, every effort, every heartache. For you both, who are not idle hearers, you must know that every troubled soul I tell you of is one for you to help. You must help all you can. You do not help enough. As you help, help will flow back and your circle of helpfulness will widen more and more. Abundance is God’s supply. Turn out all limited thoughts. Receive showers and in your turn, shower others.
That evening after work, I went to the ATM, drew out $50 from our account, drove to Motel 6 and knocked on his door. With a tear in his eye, he shook my hand and said “God bless you.” I told him “He already has.”
As I said, we have our own financial challenges. Frankly, our projections indicated that we were going to have a hard time covering our next two house payments. The following day, a good friend came up to my wife and handed her an envelope saying that she wanted to help us because she loved us.
The envelope contained twenty-five $100 dollar bills.
The reason this is important to talk about is that Mother Teresa said, “As Christians, our job is to the voice for those who don’t have a voice.” I keep thinking, if I was one of those numbers, I hope someone would use their voice for me and change the wind.
So how do you use your voice? Maybe it is to give things away you don’t need. Maybe you have 4 TV’s and you know of a family that would like to have one but can’t afford it. Maybe there is someone you know of that is having a hard time making ends meet, and you can give them some money. Even a little bit helps.
Maybe this week, you go onto our discussion blog, learn about companies that use sweatshops to make their clothes and you stop buying from those companies. Tell your friends about that. If enough people feel that is inhumane, maybe we can change the wind.
The next time you see a homeless person, you give them some money to buy food. Maybe you get some lunch at a restaurant and give it to them.
Maybe you have never worshipped by giving back to God. This morning might be the first time when we worship by giving our money back to God in offering that you do that. God is looking for people who are willing to hold onto their stuff loosely.
Here is something to keep in mind, nowhere in the Bible does God tell the poor to go and find the church, to go and find the Christians. But over and over, God tells the church, go and find the marginalized in your society. Go and find the overlooked, take the church to them and do something about it.
I closed with this quote a few weeks ago, but it fits again. Soren Kierkegaard said, “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get ahead in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.”
