INTRODUCTION #25
1. Open your bibles to James 5:1-4.
2. In this passage James has a large number of warnings for those who are rich.
(1) Please understand that the term “rich” doesn’t mean that if don’t have an abundance of money and material things then these warnings are not for us.
(2) These warnings are far us even if we are classified as “poor” and only have very few material things. A poor person can misuse and mishandle small amounts and be just a sinful as those who are extremely rich. The “one talent man” of Matt. 25:14-30 went to hell because he didn’t use his “one talent” like God wanted him to.
(2) James 5: 5&6 also present warnings to the rich, but we will discuss those in another lesson.
3. Other passages in the bible inform us that many of God’s most faithful servants were rich. This helps us to know that it is not riches “per say” that condemn an individual.
4. Riches become sinful when more trust in shown in riches than trust is shown toward God. Riches also become sinful when riches are used for the wrong things.
5. Let’s begin our discussion of the warnings that James gives in these four verses. DISCUSSION
I. FIRST, JAMES 5:1 WARNS THE WICKED RICH THAT THEIR FUTURE IS GOING TO REAP MISERIES. The misuse of money and misery usually exist together!
1. Let’s read James 5:1. “ 1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!”
2. James is warning the wicked rich that the punishment of Gehenna [the Greek word for hell] will be the final and eternal destiny for the wicked rich.
(1) The wicked rich are advised to weep and howl in anticipation of the horrible miseries that they will experience.
(2) The tenses of these verbs “weep” and “howl” show that they are to begin to weep while on earth and to continue to howl each day that they live because the “miseries” for the future will be unbearable.
3. Turn to Matt. 25:30. This is one among a few verses spoken by Jesus that give descriptions of the miseries that will come upon the wicked rich in hell.
(1) Let’s read Matt. 25:30, “And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
(2) Drop down and let’s read v. 46, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
(3) Turn & let’s read Mark 9:48, “where ‘ Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.”
(4) Turn to Luke 16:19 & ff. This is a report of a wicked rich man that neglected to use his money to help the poor. Let’s start reading at Luke 16:19, “19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
5. There are a lot of other passages that warn the wicked rich about the horrible future that that they are going to experience, but this should be enough to motivate us to not misuse and not have the wrong trust in our material blessings.
6. In summary of this first point: wealth and misery very often go hand in hand. James is not saying that wealth, per se, is bad, nor that wealth, per se, causes misery. But he is saying that there are certain tendencies inherent in the possession of wealth that can cause misery. Paul teaches in I Timothy 6 that the man who craves being rich pierces himself with many sorrows. His money never satisfies him. It always disappoints him -- whether he gets the money or whether he doesn't. If to gain wealth is our aim then misery is always our lot.
II. SECOND, JAMES 5:2&3 WARN THE WICKED RICH THAT THEIR RICHES WILL NOT LAST.
1. Let’s read James 5:2&3. “2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”
2. Probably all of us have picked up corrupted or rotten tomatoes, apples, peaches, grapes or other types of fruit and vegetables. Things that are extremely rotten might cause us to have an upset stomach.
3. If the rich that place too much trust in material things could just visualize those material things as being corrupt and rotten and not good for anything it would help them to have a much better life on earth and in eternity.
4. Numerous clothes can look immaculate hanging in a closet, but if they have holes eaten in them by moths they are worthless.
5. “Gold and silver” will not “corrode” or “rust” but James uses such language to further emphasize that material things will not last!
6. In the middle of verse 3, the phrase, “their corrosion (or rust) will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire” is stated by James to remind the selfish rich that they should have shared their material riches with the poor and needy and in helping spread the gospel.
(1) Though silver and gold coins do not literally acquire rust, or deteriorate in this manner, and to the natural eye they may shine with dazzling brilliance, they may, through hoarding, become corroded in the sight of God and thus become a testimony against their possessors in the day of judgment.
(2) There is a story that is told that helps illustrate the mistake of putting too much trust in material things. A miser had a secret hiding place for gold and silver coins. His house had a basement, and unbeknownst to the neighbors, his basement also had a sub-basement.
On occasion he would enter the sub-basement where he had his money concealed, spending time there letting the coins trickle through his fingers.
On one such occasion, the door of his secret chamber was blown shut, trapping the miser in his secret place until he died.
Years later, when a construction crew was demolishing his house, they discovered that the miser’s bones were lying over the top of his gold and silver.
His bones resting on top of the silver and gold revealed his selfishness. It would have been better if his bones would have been found, with him in the form of praying.
7. Look again at verse 3, the last phrase, “You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”
(1) “Last days” is not likely a reference to the time immediately before the second coming of Christ. These people were not faithful Christians and were not being selfish with their material things with the though that those material things were going to benefit them at the second coming of Christ.
(2) “Last days” would refer to them having “retirement savings” and possibly “stocks and bonds” for their retirement years. They made plans for their future, but like the rich farmer of Luke 12:15-21, they left God out of their plans.
(3) It is both right and necessary for us to make preparations for old age, but there is more to our future than our financial requirements.
(4) Turn to Matt. 6:33. Matt. 6:33 contains a promise from God. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
1) “These things” in the context of Matt. 6:33 refers to our food, our drink, our clothing – actually all of our daily necessities. Jesus is saying that the very best way to have what we need each day and to prepare for our golden years is to serve God faithfully.
2) But many today are like the rich people of James 5; they are laying up treasure, but it is the kind that is temporary in nature, and it will result in their shame:
8. Summarizing the second point that James makes is that as our wealth deteriorates, so does our life. Our wealth will rust and rot away and the same thing will happen to our life. The more emphasis that we place on wealth the more our life will become less and less meaningful and more and more empty.
III. THIRD, JAMES 5:4 WARNS THE RICH THAT THE CRIES FROM THEIR LABORERS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PAID FAIR WAGES ARE BEING HEARD BY GOD!
1. Let’s read James 5:4, “4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”
2. The rich had gotten their wealth by under paying their employees. A worker deserves a fair day’s wage. And equally so, the worker must give an honest day’s work. Paying an unfair wage is just as wrong as stealing, robbing and embezzlement.
3. The rich men that James uses for an illustration owned fields and employed farm-workers. James accuses these wealthy landowners of having cheated their laborers by defrauding them of their wages. This might have been done in various ways, such as claiming the worker did not work diligently, or that he broke some tool, or spilled some grain.
4. Turn to Lev.19:13. In Lev. 19:13 the Mosaic Law required the employer to pay the wages of the laborers daily; their pay was not to be kept back even for one night: "Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning".
5. In the 21st century, both management and labor (employer and employee) have rights. All too often employers have taken unfair and wrongful advantage of their workers; all too often, employees have taken unfair and wrongful advantage of their employers.
A faithful Christian employer will treat his workers right; and a faithful Christian employee will do the very best work possible to earn the wages for which he has
agreed to work.
6. James 4:4, the last phrase, has a very serious warning to the rich who are unfair toward their employees.
(1) James is teaching, “the cries of the underpaid workers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth”. Not the ears of the “the Lord of the Sabbath”. “Sabbath” refers to the seventh day of the week. James using not “Sabbath”, but “Sabaoth”.
(2) “The Lord of Sabaoth” means the Lord of hosts. The phrase, “the Lord of Sabaoth” is used here and in Romans 9:29. These are the only two times it is used in the New Testament. It is used two hundred and eighty two times in the Old Testament. This is the name of God who fought on the side of Israel in the Old Testament.
(3) God is the ruler of the angelic hosts and of the heavenly bodies -- the sun, the moon, and the stars. James is using the designation “the Lord of Sabaoth” as a reference to the fact that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe. James is teaching that oppression, wherever it is found, moves God to action - perhaps not immediately - but God hears the cries of those who have been oppressed, and judgment is certain to come, sooner or later.
7. Turn to Eph. 6:5-9. This passage makes references to masters and slaves and yet in our day and age we would apply the work principles that are spoken of to employers and employees. Let’s read and make a few comments from Eph. 6:5-9, “5 Bondservants [or we make application to Employees], be obedient to those who are your masters [employers] according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave [employee] or free [employer].
9 And you, masters [employers], do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
In Eph. 6:5-9 Paul is teaching that both employers and employees are to be fair and loyal to one anther in their work relations.
8. Let’s take time to read a few verses that impress upon us that the “Lord of Sabaoth”, who is our “Master in heaven”, sees and hears everything that goes on between employers and employees.
(1) Turn & let’s read, Proverbs 15:3: "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good."
(2) Turn and let’s read Jeremiah 23:24: "Can any one hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the LORD."
(3) Turn and let’s read Hebrews 4:13: "And there is no creature hidden from his sight: but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
9. These things that James, Paul and these other bible writers have said should keep all of on our toes toward showing respect and fairness to one another out in the work world.
CONCLUSION
1. Turn in your bibles to 2 Chronicles 16:9. Let’s close this discussion, by not only calling attention to the fact that God knows what is going on between employers and employees, but that God also knows what each and every one of are doing every split second of our life. Let’s read 2 Chronicles 16:9, “9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…..”
2. Turn to Job 31:4. Job acknowledged, and so should each one of us, that God knows every step we take. Let’s read Job 31:4, “4 Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps?”
3. Turn to Job 34:21&22. Here, Elihu, one of the three that visited Job also stated that God knows every step that we take and that there is no place that man can hide. Let’s read Job 34:21, “21 “For His eyes are on the ways of man, And He sees all his steps. 22 There is no darkness nor shadow of death Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”
4. Turn to Zechariah 4:10b. In the later part of this verse we are taught that God’s eyes are scanning the whole earth. Let’s read Zechariah 4:10b, “They are the eyes of the LORD, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
5. If you need to obey the gospel, you know and God knows.
6. Don’t hesitate, but be willing to express your belief, repentance, confession and be baptized.
7. You may already be a Christian and need prayers!
7. Please come as we stand and sing!
