Wealth: Beware of It, Be Wise With It

[James 5:1-6]

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your 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. Behold, 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. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

To those who don't want to hear another message about money or to those who think they don't need to hear it, you need this message. Be willing to be confronted with blind spots, hidden sins, pride, and our unwillingness to learn.

James is a book on faith. It talks about what real faith looks like. This text is saying that our faith is reflected in how we spend out money. James is very harsh to both Christians and non-Christians. There are non-Christians who were oppressing the poor and powerless. There were also Christians being oppressed. This passage speaks to both of them.

Three reasons the wealthy are condemned

A foolish trust in fleeting wealth

Earthly wealth is fleeting. There's no guarantee that we will keep it. It is foolish to hoard earthly treasure knowing that God is coming. American culture tells us otherwise. It tells us MONEY is what you need. You need money to weather all the ups and downs. It will give you security. So store it up. That is the message our culture tells us. At face value, this doesn't sound that bad. But behind it is an attitude, a posture of idolatry. We devote our lives to the master called money. Both the wealthy and the poor can fall into this trap. But money cannot save us from cancer, from car accidents, from anxiety, or our marriages. We were made to trust in God, not in money.

Self-indulgence Excess

James says that they only use their money for their own comfort and pleasure. They spend excessively on their selfish desires. This is the opposite of hoarding wealth. These people fulfill their desires regardless of how much it costs. They deny themselves nothing. Shopping is normal. But the problem is really what lies in the heart... we find more pleasure and fulfillment in purchasing than in God. Idolatry again. At some point, luxury no longer matters.

Oppressing the poor

These wealthy landowners were becoming rich off the backs of the poor workers. The landowners were taking advantage of them out of greed. The poor had no power, no way to fight back. Do not in the name of greed, oppress the poor, powerless, & needy.

Generous Justice by Tim Keller

In order to provide justice, we should provide rights to the powerless. Anything that takes away rights from these, is injustice. It also means not exploiting the poor. If we do not actively share our resources with the poor, it implies that we are robbing them. This is not supposed to be a guilt-trip. For the Christian, our motivation is the gospel. Jesus came to us, the helpless. He became poor so that we could become rich. He gives us what we cannot get for ourselves... a way to heaven and eternal life. We are earning to give and share. That is the heart of Christ.