“Faith That Works: Principled Living”
James 5:1-12
Throughout his letter, James has been bold and blunt. He’s not wasted any words as he has outlined the basics of living out the Christian faith. He has told us to be tough in tough times, to stand firm against temptation, to perform deeds that match our profession of faith, to stop showing favoritism, to control our tongues, to strive for peace within our own circle of relationships, and to focus on one day – even one moment – at a time. But now, in this fifth chapter, he’s not only bold and blunt – he’s also brash. He appears to lash out at the wealthy in anger and judgment. It’s so forceful that commentators wrestle over the intended audience for these words. Did he write them for the sake of the non-Christian wealthy, hoping they would somehow hear the letter intended for the Christian church? Or did he write them for the Christians – and if so, why so judgmental? How do we make sense of this tirade that covers the first 6 verses – and how does it fit in to what follows?
I believe that James uses the six opening verses as a foil for lifting up principled living. The first six verses, it seems to me, are a WARNING ABOUT UNPRINCIPLED LIVING. “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.” What we know for certain is that James is condemning the arrogant wealthy who ill-treat others, who do not use their wealth to help others. This is A PROCLAMATION FOR THE WEALTHY. James addresses them as if he’s the Prosecuting Attorney in a courtroom. His accusations follows a long line of Old Testament prophetic warnings against nations and individuals who misuse and hoard their wealth. It is not a judgment against wealth, but against abuse of wealth.
He lays out the evidence against them. First, he accuses them (2-3) of living in excess luxury – so much so that their riches are rotting away. “Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.” Second, he points to the workers who have been unjustly abused (4): “Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.” The workers will show up to testify against them, and their words – their cries – will reach the ears of Almighty God the Great Judge. Thirdly, he proposes the charge against them (5-6): “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.”
These arrogant wealthy are like cattle that continue to feed and fatten themselves, unaware that they are actually preparing and heading for their slaughter.
THEY ARE GUILTY OF SELF-INDULGENCE. By hoarding wealth, they were depriving innocent people of the basic necessities of life. Both the Old and New Testaments make it clear that “Feasting is fine if there’s enough to go around, but self-indulgence when there are those without is a horrible crime before God.” (1)
UNPRINCIPLED LIVING RESULTS FROM FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE THE JUDGMENT. Consider Haggai 1:9-11 (NLT): “You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.” Jesus’ parable of the rich man who ignored Lazarus at his gate (Lk.16:19-31 NLT) personifies the situation well. “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’”
While James’ proclamation is intended for the arrogant wealthy, it provides A PROBING FOR ALL CHRISTIANS. We must all live in recognition of God’s judgment. God holds us responsible for what He provides for us, whether it is little or much. It raises at least two personal questions. First, HOW DO I HANDLE WEALTH? James did not condemn people for being wealthy but for how they handled their wealth. It’s not how much we possess but what we do with what we possess that matters to God. If we hoard it, if we are self-indulgent, what we have possesses us. Paul wrote (2 Cor. 8:12 CEV): “It doesn’t matter how much you have. What matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have.” This is a challenging question to us American Christians. The amount the U.S. spends annually on imported toys is $23,631,000,000. The amount spent by the next 10 highest toy-importing countries combined: $21,729,000,000. The average number of credit cards per U.S. household is 12.7. (2) According to the Self-Storage Association, the country now possesses about 1.9 billion square feet of personal storage space outside of the home… According to a recent survey, the owners of 1 out of every 11 homes also own a self-storage space. This represents an increase of 75 percent since 1995. ... But, amazingly, as the amount of storage space required by homeowners has grown, so has the average size of the American house. In fact, the National Association of Homebuilders reports that the average American house grew from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,400 square feet in 2004. So—houses got bigger, average family sizes got smaller, and yet we still need to tack on almost two billion square feet of extra space to store our stuff.(3) As Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Tim. 6:17-18): “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
A second probing question is WHERE IS MY HEART? Jesus said (Lk. 12:34) “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” When we invest in the principles of earth, our hearts will be set on earth; if we invest in the things of heaven, our hearts will be set on heaven. Recall that when Zacchaeus experienced salvation through Jesus, he said, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Once his heart was touched by Jesus, Zacchaeus’ heart was set on Jesus and his attitude towards his wealth radically changed. Where is your heart? Unprincipled living results from failure to recognize the judgment of God who holds us responsible for our wealth.
Once James delivered his warning about unprincipled living, he offered WISDOM FOR PRINCIPLED LIVING. Whereas the arrogant wealthy failed to consider the judgment of God, the victims oppressed by them longed for Christ’s return. Knowing that, James told them to EXERCISE PATIENCE. “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.” Suffering under the unjust actions of the arrogant rich, the Christians needed to change their focus from the wealth of others to the avenger of wrongs and healer of the wronged – Jesus Christ. Yes – there will be injustice. Yes – you will be treated unfairly. Yes – you will be a victim. Yes – life itself sometimes appears unfair. Yes – there will be things beyond your control. Yes – there will be events and people who anger and frustrate you. Yes – there will be things you do not understand. But be patient. God is in control – Jesus is on the throne. It is a time to CONFIRM OUR FAITH.
It reminds me of Psalm 73. The Psalmist, like the Christians in James day, was having trouble understanding why the enemies of God seemed to have it all while he and his people had so little. It angered and frustrated him – until he “entered the sanctuary of God.” There he saw God – on the throne, ruling, in control. He saw God the victor. Then, through God’s eyes, he saw the oppressor’s end. So James was saying, “Jesus is on the throne. Jesus is ruling. Jesus is in control. Jesus is coming again to make all things right and new. Then you will no longer be a victim – you will be a victor.”
So, “See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.” Like a farmer, be patient. Wait for the rains of God to come. Wait until God does His work. Such waiting, such patience, is a time to confirm our faith THAT GOD IS PRODUCING A HARVEST IN OUR LIVES. He is growing His fruit in us. (Gal. 5:22-23 GNT) “…the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.”
James continues by pointing out that we develop this patience as we ESTABLISH OUR HEARTS. “You too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near.” ‘Stand firm’ is literally ‘establish’ – to fix, settle in a state of permanence, make firm. Establish your heart on the return of Jesus Christ. Allow Jesus to do his work within you. In her book A Place of Healing, Joni Eareckson Tada reflects on how we tend to worry that the cares, troubles, and afflictions of life will wear us down, dulling our joy, diluting our hope, and robbing us of the radiance we once experienced. "In fact," writes Tada, "it may be the very opposite. It isn't the hurts, blows, and bruises that rob us of the freshness of Christ's beauty in our lives. More likely, it is careless ease, empty pride, earthly preoccupations, and too much prosperity that will put layers of dirty films over our souls.” She then illustrates the point by recalling the time she visited the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and was struck by how dirty it was from the accumulated filth of the years. She continued: “I saw a recent photograph of the cathedral. It was beautiful—and so very different from the way I remembered it. … The ancient stones glowed bright and golden. You could see details on carvings that hadn't been visible in decades. It was like a different cathedral. What a wonder a bit of sandblasting can accomplish. …When I use the word "sandblasting"—and when I think of how that process changed that cathedral in Paris—I can't help but consider that way God uses suffering to sandblast you and me. There's nothing like real hardships to strip off the veneer in which you and I so carefully cloak ourselves. Heartache and physical pain reach below the superficial, surface places of our lives, stripping away years of accumulated indifference and neglect. When pain and problems press up against a holy God, suffering can't help but strip away years of dirt. Affliction has a way of jackhammering our character, shaking us up and loosening our grip on everything we hold tightly. But the beauty of being stripped down to the basics, sandblasted until we reach a place where we fall empty and helpless, is that God can fill us up with himself. When pride and pettiness have been removed, God can fill us with "Christ in you, the hope of glory."”(4)
Exercise patience and establish our hearts, and RESPECT YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS. In Ephesians 4:2 Paul links patience with “forbearing one another” in love. James, similarly, is saying that rather than complain to our brothers and sisters, or blame them, we ought to hang in there with them and even help them through our example of patient living.
The second gem of wisdom James offers is to PRACTICE PERSEVERANCE. “Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered.” Many of the PROPHETS HAD TO ENDURE GREAT TRIALS AND SUFFERINGS. Jeremiah was arrested as a traitor and even thrown into an abandoned well to die. God fed Jeremiah and protected him throughout that terrible siege of Jerusalem, even though at times it looked as though the prophet was going to be killed. Both Ezekiel and Daniel had their share of hardships. Hebrews 11:35–38 says of the faithful prophets: “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.” Whether in life or through death, the Lord delivered them. James’ point is that the prophets suffered NOT BECAUSE THEY DID ANYTHING WRONG, BUT BECAUSE THEY WERE DOING RIGHT, for they “spoke in the name of the Lord” (v. 10) (5)
As a further example James lifts up JOB’S PERSEVERANCE. While perhaps not always perfectly patient, Job did persevere. His conviction was (Job 23:10 NLT) “But he knows where I am going.
And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.” How do we know Job was right? Because James wrote (11), “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. THE LORD IS FULL OF COMPASSION AND MERCY.” God has a parent’s heart. As Isaiah said (49:15-16): “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” We can trust and confirm our faith.
Then James ends with a word about our PROFESSION. (12) “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.” An oath originally meant to verify truth by referring to God’s law and will. But many of the Jews had come to believe that if they wanted to do or say something with authority they could merely put it in an oath, link it to God, and thereby would bind God to accomplish it. It’s the same spirit we demonstrate when we MAKE HASTY DECISIONS WITHOUT CONSULTING GOD OR WAITING FOR HIS DIRECTION – and assume that He will bring it about, bless it, and bring us through . (6) To make such assumptions is to bring condemnation upon ourselves. Our profession should not be asking God to say “Yes’ to us but saying ‘Yes’ to God. It is NOT SO MUCH ASKING GOD TO BLESS WHAT WE DO, BUT DOING WHAT GOD BLESSES. Jesus provided direction when he prayed to His Father (Jn. 17:17 GNT): “Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth; your word is truth.” Feeding on the Word of God keeps us in touch with God, instructs us in the will of God, and empowers us to live out the will of God. Paul shared the same spirit when he wrote the Philippians (2:12-13 NLT): “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” May we so live.
(1) Peter H. Davids, More Hard Sayings of the New Testament, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, © 1991 by Peter H. Davids, p. 142
(2) Copyright © 2014 by the author or Christianity Today/ PreachingToday.com.
http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2006/november/7112006.html
(3) Copyright © 2014 by the author or Christianity Today/ PreachingToday.com.
http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2006/november/2112706.html
(4) Copyright © 2014 by the author or Christianity Today/ PreachingToday.com.
http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2010/october/3101110.html
(5) Hughes, R. K. (1991). James: faith that works (p. 233). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
(6) David H. Roper, The Law Sets You Free, Words Books, Waco, TX., © 1977 by Daivd H. Roper, p. 107-108
