Being rich can make us spiritually poor.
A story is told of a rich man who was on his death bed. He called in three of his friends, a pastor, a doctor and a lawyer to give them a strange request. He gave each of the men an envelope with one million dollars in it. He instructed the men that during his burial, each of the men were to take the envelopes and throw them into his open grave. The rich man wanted to prove that he could indeed take it with him. Well, the rich man soon died and his three friends came to the funeral and committal. Each of them in turn threw an envelope into the open grave before the casket was covered over. After the service, the three met for coffee together. The pastor was the first to open up. He said, “Fellows, I have a confession to make. The church was desperately in need of money to repair the roof. So I took out $200,000 from the envelope and used it for church expenses.” The doctor spoke up next. He said, “Since we’re having confessions, I took out $500,000 to help fund the new wing on the hospital.” The lawyer responded and said, “I’m surprised at you gentlemen. I would like you to know that I put in a cheque for the total amount.”
Riches can make us spiritually poor. Whatever you think about money, you have to admit that it has a huge amount of power. We may laugh at that story, but what if you were in that situation? What if you were given a million dollars and told to throw it away? Wouldn’t the thought cross your mind to use some of that money for other purposes? Our maybe you’d be tempted to show up that night at the burial site with a shovel. None of us is immune from the influence of money on us. This passage gives a very clear warning about wealth. For us, living in North America, the richest continent in the world, we need to pay attention to what God is saying in these verses (read James 5:1-6).
Pray. Being rich can make us spiritually poor.
This passage begins exactly in the same way as the previous passage. “Now listen...” James wants to catch our attention, to make us take notice of this very important topic. In this passage he addresses a particular group of people. He talks to rich people. Now I think it bears notice that he isn’t talking to rich people in general. He isn’t speaking about rich people in the world and complaining about them. He is addressing this message to rich people. He expects the rich people he is addressing to actually read the letter. Who would read this letter? Only the people in the churches the letter was sent to. So this message is addressed to rich people who were adherents in the church. They were Christians, or at least they appeared to be so on the outside. Now this isn’t the first time James talks about rich people in the church. Back in James 2:2-3, he talks about a specific situation where a rich person comes to the church and gets the best seat, while a poor person has to sit on the floor. So there were rich people attending the services.
Now think about today. Who are the rich people in the church today? Who are the rich people at BTBC. You know, people have a funny perspective on being rich. We have this attitude that no matter how much money we have, no matter how high our income is, we aren’t really rich. After all, there are people with so much more than we do. We’re not Bill Gates or Donald Trump, after all. If you went up north a little bit and visited some of the monster homes on Major Mac and Kennedy, and asked the people who live there if they thought they were rich, I bet a large majority of them would say no.
You see, wealth is always relative. But I think we compare ourselves against the wrong people. Instead of comparing ourselves against the billionaires of the world, how about if we compare ourselves to the villagers in Papua New Guinea or the squatters in Manila. How wealthy are we compared to them? Let me tell you, we are rich compared to these people. And when you think of pure numbers, what do you think: Do you think there are more poor in the world, or more billionaires?
I don’t want to overwhelm you with statistics, but let me give you a few, to give us the correct perspective of where we rank in the world in terms of wealth. Almost half the world, over 3 billion people live, on less than $2.50 a day. At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day. Right now about 925 million people are experiencing malnutrition. That’s about three times the population of Canada. According to UNICEF, about 22,000 children die every day because of poverty.
Are you rich? Am I rich? Compared to a huge percentage of the world, yes you are. And so am I. How many of you have ever lived in a third world country? If you have, then you know what I’m saying is true. When people in Papua New Guinea found out we were from Canada, they knew we were rich, because compared to them, even a person collecting welfare in Canada had so much more wealth than they did. Let’s not fool ourselves, we are rich. And when the Bible says, “Now listen, you rich people,” we can’t think it’s addressing the Bill Gates’ of the world. This passage is talking to us.
Now if we take this passage to speak to us, what does it tell us to do? It tells us to change our attitude toward wealth. It says we need to weep and wail with misery because of the judgement that is going to come upon us because of our wealth. This is exactly opposite to how most of us view wealth. When you get a bonus or a raise at work, what do you think? Do you think, “O no, I just got more money! I’m going to be under greater judgement.” Or what if we buy a lottery ticket and win, not saying that any of you buy lottery tickets, but just imagine for a minute. You win the grand prize of 20 million dollars. Do you think, “O great now I’ve got more money to hold me down and lead me into sin.”? No, that’s probably the farthest thing from our minds. Our natural reaction to money and wealth is the love it, to pursue it, and to make it one of our highest goals of life. We need to change our attitude toward money and wealth. Instead of seeing it as the most desirable thing in the world, we need to look at it like enriched uranium. It can be useful in the right circumstances, but if we get too close to it, it will contaminate us, make us sick and eventually kill us. We need to very careful how we view money and wealth. If we have been lured to worship and love money, then we need to weep and wail. We need to repent. This command hearkens back to James 4:9 where we are told to grieve, mourn and wail and change our laughter to mourning and our joy to gloom. We need to see wealth and money from God’s perspective.
Now why is the Bible so negative about money? Verses 2 and 3 give us two reasons. The first reason is found in verse 2 (read verse). Money does not last. It says here that our wealth will become rotted and moths will eat our clothes and in verse 3 it says our gold and silver will become corroded. The things that we love so much, that we’ve spent so much of our time and energy and attention in getting will be burned up one day. Your house won’t last. Your car will eventually rust out. Your designer shoes will wear out. Your new iPhone will malfunction. Money and wealth were never meant to last for eternity. And if your things out last you, you can’t take it with you. You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul. You never see a coffin with safety deposit boxes built in.
Money does not last. But what is worse, not only will all our worldly possessions be destroyed, but they will take us with them. Look at verse 3 (read verse). The picture here is our wealth, our gold, silver and possessions are being eaten by rust and then this rust coming on us and eating us up too. It’s kind of a gruesome picture, but it illustrates how closely we become tied to our money and wealth. We come to love our possessions so much, we come to identify with what we own, that when they are destroyed, we are too. Some people say that money and wealth are neutral. That means that it has no effect on us either good or bad. But that’s not the view of the Bible. Take a look at Matthew 6:19-24 (read passage).
Jesus again warns about the transitory nature of money. He warns us not to set our hearts on money. And then He ends the passage by telling us we have to choose who we are going to serve. We can either serve God or we can serve Money. If you have the NIV Bible you will notice something strange about the word money in verse 24. Do you notice it? It is capitalized. In the KJV the name Mammon is used. Money is personified, because money often takes the role of god in people’s lives. Just think of the attributes of divinity that money has. People see it as all powerful. Money can protect us and deliver us. Money can give us freedom and it seems to be omnipresent. Jesus was well aware that money is not neutral. It has a call on us that few other things can.
Think with me for a minute. How many people have given their hearts away to money? How many people make it their life goal to become rich? This desire for wealth begins at a very young age. Just go into any elementary school and ask the kids what goals they have in life. A sizable portion of them will say they want to get rich. How many people do you know who have said something like, “I want to make a million dollars before I reach the age of 30?” Too many.
If our hearts are tied on money and wealth, then when our possessions are destroyed, we will be too. There was a rich man driving a brand new BMW. He took a curve too quickly and flipped the car. When the policeman found him he was lying in the grass, looking at his wrecked car and hitting himself in the head saying, “O my BMW! O my BMW!” over and over again.
The police officer, shook him and said, “Fella, what’s the matter with you, you’ve lost your left arm in the crash.”
The rich man looked down at where his arm used to be and said, “O my Rolex! O my Rolex!”
We may laugh at that story, but how many people would rather lose just about anything else than their money? They sacrifice their family, their relationship with God, and even their health, so they can get money and wealth.
Being rich can make us spiritually poor. The rest of the passage lists four particular sins that riches can lead us into. The first sin is this: Lack of trust in God. Look at the last part of verse 3 (read verse). The first condemnation is that the rich have hoarded their money. What is hoarding? It is piling up money in an unreasonable amount. Now why do people hoard money? They do it for security. They put aside money for a rainy day. They use it as a safety net in case some sort of disaster happens in life. Now I’m not saying we shouldn’t safe money or invest in a retirement fund, but we need to be very careful what we are putting our trust in. Are we trusting in our savings or retirement fund to protect us and provide for us, or are we depending on God?
Do you remember the story of the Israelites wandering the in desert after being delivered from Egypt? (Exodus 16) They had no food so they cried out to God for help and the Lord answered. In the morning the Israelites found the ground covered with white flakes. They didn’t know what it was, and that’s how it got it’s name, manna. It sounds like the Hebrew term, “What is it?” It was food from heaven and it tasted like wafers soaked in honey. God directed the people to collect only enough for the day. In fact, the ones who tried to save some for the next day were reprimanded. The extra manna became rotten and filled with maggots. Now why did God tell the Israelites to only collect enough for the day? He wanted them to begin trusting in His provision.
When we have lots of money the tendency is for us to stop relying on God. We forget that we need Him and instead depend on ourselves and our stash of cash. I think this is a major reason why the spirituality of so many in North America and Europe is so shallow. Our spiritual vitality is sapped by the overabundance of wealth and our dependence on it. On the other hand, in many so called poor counties, the church is booming and Christians have an infectious and vibrant faith. They have to trust in God in practical ways on a daily basis, and they discover every day, that God is faithful to provide.
Being rich can make us spiritually poor. The first sin wealth can lead us into is: lack of trust in God. The second sin listed here is found in verse 4 (read verse). The second sin wealth can lead us into is: taking advantage of others. In this example, the rich were taking advantage of their workers by refusing to pay them what they agreed on. This verse echoes the command in Deuteronomy 24:14-16:
Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Another way we take advantage of others is delaying payment. For the poor, in biblical times this was especially important since they were counting on getting their pay at the end of the day so they could enough to eat for the night. Now I think this verse has direct application to those of us who employ others. That includes owners of companies, to those who hire people to do house repairs, to people who hire babysitters. We have to be fair in what we pay people. Sometimes that means we need to pay higher than minimum wage. It may also mean that we don’t necessarily try to get the best possible deal. We need to be fair with the people we employ. Another important factor is paying people on time and not letting them wait. It’s true that sometimes people we hire to do home improvements can charge us more than they quoted or do less than they promised. But I have friends who are private contractors who have just as many complaints about their customers. They do work for someone and then their client refuses to pay. Or they delay payment putting the contractor in a very difficult position. When we hire someone, we need to be careful to not take advantage of them. We should be known as employers who are generous and fair. We pay the amount promised and maybe even more and we do it in a timely manner.
Being rich can make us spiritually poor. The first sin wealth can lead us into is: lack of trust in God. The second is: taking advantage of others. The third sin is found in verse 5 (read verse). The third sin wealth can lead us into is: indulging in luxury. When we have money and wealth it is easy to live a selfish and wasteful lifestyle. We satisfy our every want and whim. We buy more than we can reasonably need or use. We get bored of our perfectly functional possessions and we buy new ones just because we want something new and shiny.
When I came back from living in Papua New Guinea I was struck by the extravagance and wastefulness of our North American society. We pulled out our old cordless phone from storage. But it was sitting in our crawlspace for three years and the rechargeable battery was dead. So I went to get a replacement battery. Guess what I found out? The battery cost more money than a new cordless phone which was better and could do more. So what did I do? I threw out a perfectly good phone and bought the new one because it was the most economical way to go.
I walked into the grocery store and I was immobilized by how many different kinds of yogurt there were. Back in Papua New Guinea our store was lucky to stock any. I went into Canadian Tire and I was bowled over by the rows and rows of shelves stacked to the ceiling of stuff.
But one thing that really struck me when I came back was how people here are captivated by trivial things. People are all excited about the newest iPod or they brag about the new ring tones they’ve downloaded for their cell phone. And I thought, what a waste. But it wasn’t long before I was pulled into this mentality as well. I find myself obsessing over the latest and greatest gadget. I buy stuff I don’t need. And this is all for myself.
This verse says that when we live in this way it’s like we are stuffing ourselves like a suckling pig that will be slaughtered and cooked. We sin deeply when we use the resources God has given us to satisfy our own desires.
Tony Campolo, a Christian psychologist and speaker, tells the story of being invited to speak at a women’s mission conference. Just before he was to give his message, the convener read a letter from a missionary in Venezuela who needed $5,000 to complete a wing of the hospital she was working in. The leader asked for Campolo to pray for this missionary. Campolo responded by saying, “No”. Instead he pulled out his wallet and took out all of his money and put it on the altar. Then he challenged everyone else in the auditorium to do the same. Campolo said that by the time everyone put in all of their money, if there wasn’t enough money, he would make up the difference. At the end of the offering there was over $7,000. Campolo didn’t have enough time for a full message but he said, “The audacity of praying and asking God for $5000 when he’s already provided us with it.” He ends the story by saying this:
The church of Jesus Christ has been given the resources to meet the needs of the world and the problem is that the church of Jesus Christ is pocketing those resources. It’s keeping the resources that God has planned for us to use for others and spending it on ourselves. And we’re saying, “Lord provide. Lord provide. Lord provide.” And the Lord is up there saying, “I did provide. I’ve provided everything that was necessary to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to meet the needs of the oppressed. And you people who I trusted with my resources are not using those resources as I have willed for them to be used.”
The material blessings that God has given us were never meant for us to use on ourselves. When we spend the resources that God has given us on ourselves, to indulge in luxury, then we have sinned.
Being rich can make us spiritually poor. The first sin wealth can lead us into is: lack of trust in God. The second is: taking advantage of others. The third is: indulging in luxury. The fourth sin is found in verse 17 (read verse). The fourth sin wealth can lead us into is: we destroy others by our wealth. This verse talks about the rich taking an innocent man to court, condemning him and then killing him, all because of wealth. Things like this certainly happened in history. I think of the story of King Ahab and Naboth. Do you remember that story? It’s found 1 Kings 21. Ahab was the king of Israel. He had all the power and wealth. He had all that he wanted, everything except for a little plot of land beside his palace. This was owned by a man named Naboth. The king offered Naboth a fair price for the land but the problem was that Naboth refused to sell because the land was his family’s inheritance passed down from generation to generation. So Ahab moped around until his wife took notice. She learned of his frustration so she concocted a scheme to get the land. She conspired with the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city to falsely condemn him and then stone him to death. That’s exactly what they did during the next town festival. After his death Ahab went out and took his land as his own.
Now you may say, that’s what’s happened before. It may even be happening today, but I’m not doing it. I’ve never murdered anyone. I’ve never condemned an innocent man. But I wonder. Has our lifestyle of unbridled consumerism not affected others around the world?
Have you heard about the suicides in the manufacturing plants in China? Foxconn, one of the largest companies that produce consumer electronics in the world, had 17 suicides last year. Joel Johnson, a technology writer travelled to China to tour one of the Foxconn plants to investigate the cause of the deaths. He asks himself the question, “Did my iPhone kill 17 people?” At the end of the article he writes this conclusion:
Every last trifle we touch and consume, right down to the paper on which this magazine is printed or the screen on which it’s displayed, is not only ephemeral but in a real sense irreplaceable. Every consumer good has a cost not borne out by its price but instead falsely bolstered by a vanishing resource economy. We squander millions of years’ worth of stored energy, stored life, from our planet to make not only things that are critical to our survival and comfort but also things that simply satisfy our innate primate desire to possess. It’s this guilt that we attempt to assuage with the hope that our consumerist culture is making life better—for ourselves, of course, but also in some lesser way for those who cannot afford to buy everything we purchase, consume, or own.
When that small appeasement is challenged even slightly, when that thin, taut cord that connects our consumption to the nameless millions who make our lifestyle possible snaps even for a moment, the gulf we find ourselves peering into—a yawning, endless future of emptiness on a squandered planet—becomes too much to bear.
When 17 people take their lives, I ask myself, did I in my desire hurt them? Even just a little?
And of course the answer, inevitable and immeasurable as the fluttering silence of our sun, is yes.
Just a little.
Joel Johnson, as far as I know, is not a Christian, but even so, in his soul, he feels somewhat responsible, even if only a little, for the deaths of those 17 workers. He feels responsible because he knows that his consumerism, his comfort, his wealth, his riches is not without cost. Our lifestyle is costing the planet and those less fortunate on this planet. For us to live in luxury, others suffer.
Being rich can make us spiritually poor. The first sin wealth can lead us into is: lack of trust in God. The second is: taking advantage of others. The third is: indulging in luxury. The fourth is: we destroy others by our wealth.
After reading this passage, how should we respond? Let me quickly give you five suggestions. We won’t have time to develop any of these suggestions in depth, but if you want to follow up you can come to the Sunday school class after the message.
First, admit it, we are rich. We have to see how much wealth we really have and how we will be held accountable for all that we have been given. Jesus Christ said, to him who has been given much, much will be required.
Second, learn to be stewards. The Psalm 24:1 says: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all who live in it.” What we think we have is not really ours. Everything you think you own is really owned by the Lord. We are simply stewards. Our job is to look after God’s stuff to benefit the owner and not us.
Third, trust God to supply our needs. God often uses money as a test of faith. If you read the biographies of any of the great missionaries you will see that they had to learn to trust God to provide for them when they didn’t have any money. God often uses money as an elementary way to test and grow our faith.
Fourth, use money to invest in the eternal. In Luke 16 Jesus tells an interesting story about a manager who embezzled his master’s money. When he found out he was going to be fired, he met with some of his master’s debtors and reduced their debt. Jesus makes this conclusion in Luke 16:9: “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” We need to use our worldly wealth to invest in people. People are eternal.
Fifth, have a soft heart for the poor. This theme runs through the book of James. Chapter 1:27 says: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphan and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Chapter 2 verse 15 says: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good it?” And of course this passage we’ve been studying. The Lord cares for the poor and the oppressed and hears their cry. We need to begin having on our heart what God has on His. We need to have a soft heart for the poor and we show this concern by giving.
Being rich can make us spiritually poor. But that doesn’t have to be. We have been entrusted with so much. We can use our wealth to bless others. Let’s pray.
