Senior Pastor Mark Stafford

The writers of the Bible and Jesus Himself considered money to be both extremely valuable and extremely dangerous.  Money can bring with it God’s blessing and incredible joy when it is used in the way that God instructs us to use it.  But… it can also ruin people who don’t handle it carefully.  Today we’ll also be looking at a warning from Jesus’ brother, James, about how money can be extremely dangerous.

As we look at the scripture today, I want to help maximize the joy and blessing we receive as we are good stewards of the Lord’s resources.  James did not say that it is a sin to be rich.  In fact, many of the people in the Bible were quite wealthy.  Job, David, Solomon, Josiah, Philemon, and Lydia were all considered to be notable saints and were quite well-off.

Abraham was also very wealthy. The Bible says that he walked with God and was greatly used by God to be a blessing to the whole world.  You are probably wealthy too.  According to TheGlobalRichList.com, a family that brings home $50,000 per year after taxes is in the top .3% of the world’s wealthiest people.  A family bringing home $10,000 per year is in the top 15% of the world’s wealthiest people.  As a nation we are wealthy.  A wealthy person can be godly, but they can also be destroyed by their wealth.

There are three areas we’ll look at this morning as they pertain to wealth and godliness.  We’ll look at the differences between how the wicked wealthy and the dedicated disciple handle possessions, people and pleasure.

Nothing more clearly reveals the state of a person’s heart than their bank statement.  Any tax person will tell you that they can tell a lot about a person’s priorities by how they have been spending their money over the course of the last year. We exchange our money for whatever is what is most valuable to us:

• If we value convenient food, then we exchange money for fast food.
• If we value education, then we exchange money for books and tuition.
• If we value being entertained, then we exchange money for movies and concerts.
• If we value transportation, then we exchange money for vehicles and gas.                                 
• If we value the discipleship ministries and the spread of the gospel, then we exchange our money for the services of the local church.

The movement of our money reveals our true priorities.  A careful examination of our spending patterns can reveal the condition of our spiritual health or the lack thereof.  James begins this chapter with a strong rebuke.  It is one of the strongest rebukes I’ve seen in God’s Word.

It is a scathing, blistering and scalding condemnation of those who claim to be believers, but their managing of wealth would reveal something quite contrary.  These rich people were probably wealthy landowning farmers who professed to be believers when in fact, they were in love with their harvested grain, their clothes, their gold and their jewels.  They loved their things and acted indifferently towards God.  Look at James 5:1-3:

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. ² Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ 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.”

Remember that salvation is by grace, through faith in Christ alone.  James is making a point here that it is impossible for a person who is placing their faith in grain, gold and clothes to be saved.

The wicked wealthy love possessions

more than God – James 5:1-3, Mark 10:17-23, Matthew 6:19-21

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Mark 10, verse 17.

The love of material possessions tends to make a person focus their mind’s attention and heart’s affections on the things of this world and it dulls them to the greater, eternal realities of heaven.

Over time, the love of wealth can become a slave master.  Materialism enslaves and those enslaved by materialism begin to have their values corrupted.

• The more they acquire, the more they are possessed by their possessions.
• They are owned by what they own.
• They sell their souls for more grain and gold

The obsession with material wealth pulls that person away from faith in Jesus and it can even rob them of the inheritance of eternal life.  It reminds me of the parable of the rich young ruler in Mark 10.

The Rich Young Man

¹⁷ And as he [JESUS] was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus has an interesting response to this question.  His first response is to question him about the “good teacher” comment.

¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

Jesus is trying to establish here that He is God and not just a good teacher.  Then He turns to the law as uses it as a diagnostic tool to reveal true motives of this young man.

¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he {young man} said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

Jesus doesn’t argue with the fact that he followed these commands.  On the surface, this young man might have appeared very moral.  But… Someone can obey God’s commands on the outside, while desiring material things more than they desire spiritual things on the inside.

When someone loves material things more than they love the pursuit of God, it is a violation of the 10^thcommandment in The Law.  What is the 10^th commandment?  It is the command not to covet.

A desire for something that God has asked you to give up is the root of a sin called covetousness.  To covet is to want something that GOD doesn’t want you to have.  Listen to the request that Jesus (God the Son) makes of this young man…verse 21…

²¹ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Jesus is offering the deal of a lifetime.  He is offering eternal rewards and heavenly treasure in exchange for a few perishable possessions.  Still the rich man can’t let go.  Verse 22 says, “²² Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

The young man was asked by Jesus, the Son of God, to give up some possessions and he refused.  He did not understand the value of treasure in heaven.  He valued his temporary, perishable, earthly possessions more than he valued following Jesus.  He was confronted with the law that said, “do not covet.”  His reaction to that law revealed who he really was: an unbeliever.

When the law revealed his lack of faith, he did not repent, nor did he ask for Jesus’ strength to help him overcome the lure of his possessions.   He simply walked away, unconverted and unchanged.  To that response…²³ …Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

While the Bible encourages careful saving and investing strategies and providing for the needs of our families, it is also dead-set against the love of money – especially when affections for wealth eclipse our love for Jesus.

In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus was very clear when He said, “¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” The dedicated disciple submits to these words and redirects their energies to obtain eternal rewards and heavenly treasures.

The dedicated disciple shows their love for God by investing in His Kingdom – Luke 6:38, Proverbs 10:22

God rewards his people when they trust Him enough to step out in faith and use their money in the way He instructs them to use it.  In Luke 6:38, Jesus says, “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

In Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle, he talks about a time when a man named Scott Lewis (the owner of Scott Machinery) attended a conference with Bill Bright ( the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ).

At this conference, Bill had just challenged the people to each give 1 million dollars over their lifetime to help fulfill the great commission.  To Scott this amount was laughable.  It was far beyond what he could ever imagine giving since his machining business was generating a modest income of under $50,000 per year.

Scott talked to Bill.  Bill asked him, how much did you give last year?”  Scott said, “$17,000.”  He felt pretty good about that amount because it represented about 35% of his income.  Without blinking an eye, Bill responded, “Over the next year, why don’t you make it a goal of giving $50,000?”

Scott thought Bill hadn’t understood. Fifty thousand dollars was more than he’d made all year! But Scott and his wife decided to trust God with Bill’s challenge, asking Him to do the impossible. God provided in amazing ways.  With a miraculous provision on December 31, the Lewises were able to give the $50,000 the next year. The following year they set a goal of giving $100,000. Again, God provided.

In 2001, they passed the one million dollar giving mark. The best part is they aren’t stopping. ^[i]

Proverbs 10:22 tells us that riches can be gained as part of the Lord’s blessing in our lives.  It says. “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.”  That last line is critical.  When the Lord gives the increase, it comes “without sorrow” attached.  There was no sorrow when Scott earned $100,000 more money in a year because he had the joy of reinvesting those funds back into God’s eternal kingdom and the joy of receiving heavenly treasures and eternal blessing for taking a huge step of faith!

Please turn back to our text in James.  The wicked wealthy were not only guilty of loving their possessions, but some acquire their wealth by dishonest means.  Far from being generous to people, they exploit them instead.

The wicked wealthy exploit people for personal gain – James 5:4, 6

Look at James 5:4, “⁴ 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.”

Day-laborers were an essential part of Israel’s agricultural economy.  Laborers were often hired and paid by the day and they usually did not have legal contracts with their employers.  Rich men in James’s time would hire these laborers and promise to pay them a certain amount.  In this instance, the laborers completed their work, but the rich landowner kept the laborers’ wages for himself.

Lacking the security of a steady source of income, these day-laborers depended on those day-to-day wages to feed and clothe their families.  If wages were “kept back,” it likely meant that the laborer went without eating that night and would start out the next day trying to get more work on an empty stomach.  All the while, the rich man financially benefitted from the completed work.

To compound the issue, if the worker tried to take the rich man to court, his troubles would escalate to an even greater level.  Look at verse 6, “⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.”  Most commentators say that the “murder” spoken of here is likely “judicial murder.”  It is when a rich man took away the ability of a poor man to make a living.  (They got blackballed).

If a poor person tried to sue for wages he was owed, he would likely lose because the court system at that time was controlled by the rich.  The poor man had no way of collecting his wages because he did not have the resources to use the court system effectively.  If a poor man was exploited, he was helpless to defend himself.  Such an injustice would cause a “crying out.”

James talks about two types of “crying out” here.  First, there is a cry of unpaid wages from the accounts of the rich.  Verse 4 says, “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you.”  The second cry is from the harvesters themselves because of their pain caused by being exploited.  These two cries do not go unheard.  The passage says that the shouts reach the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

God is the original Avenger. “Hosts” (some say sabaoth) are the names for angels in heaven.  This passage says that the God-of-angel-armies hears the crying out of the exploited and will avenge the injustice.  You wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of God’s retaliating so James encourages the dedicated disciple to pay a fair wage.

The dedicated disciple pays a fair wage – James 5:4, 1 Timothy 5:18

1 Timothy 5:18 reminds us that the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and that “The laborer deserves his wages.”

This prophetic cry from James is against any person or any nation that gains riches at the expense of the poor.  It is written primarily as an indictment against unbelievers, but sadly it can be true of some Christians as well.

You might think, “well we have laws against exploitation today, don’t we?  How does this apply?”  The principle of not stealing wages from others is still very applicable to you and me personally.  Let me give you 3 examples:

1. Consider the waiter or waitress who is working for minimum wage and tips.  When they perform a service adequately for you, they should be blessed by how you compensate them.  Don’t exploit them by holding back a tip owed to them for good service.
2. Consider the Christian employer. Some well-meaning Christian employers will exploit their workers and justify it by saying something like, “we want to give more money to missions this year, so we are cutting back on wages for our staff.”  On the contrary, this passage encourages Christian employer to pay their employees what they are worth and to offer good benefits to their families first and then to give generously to charity… trusting God’s ample provision for their company.
3. Consider the Christian in debt. This passage suggests that Christians should pay their bills on time and in full.  Every unpaid bill represents a worker who is missing out on part of his or her compensation for a service (or product) already given… but haven’t been paid for yet.

Lastly, our passage this morning addresses the addictive, accumulation of wealth for personal luxuries.  These luxuries can draw us away from Jesus and away from the needs of God’s people.  Verse 5 says,“⁵ You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”

The wicked wealthy aggressively pursue personal pleasures and ignore the needs of others – James 5:5

In a magazine article in a publication called “The Richest” it listed the most ridiculous purchases made by billionaires. Here are my 5 favorite ones:              

10. Casino mogul Stanley Ho spent $330,000 not once, but twice on white truffles.
11. Leona Helmsley set up a $1,000,000 trust fund for her dog
12. The CEO of software giant, Oracle, Larry Ellison, bought a $110 Million home.  He owns 7 other mansions as well
13. Russian business mogul Roman Abramovich spent almost the equivalent of $1 billion on the  largest and most expensive yacht in the world.
14. Sultan of Brunei (Bru-nay) (Hassanal Bolkiah) bought his own gold-plated 747 aircraft complete with gold-plated furniture and solid gold wash basins.[1]

The rich young ruler would have felt right at home with this group of billionaires!  Now I don’t think the wealthy landowning farmers that James was addressing had this kind of money, but the principle is the same.  Whether you are buying up gold trimmed 747’s or buying up farmland, these rich people were all indulging in their riches while spiritually they are starving to death.  The text says, “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”

The Greek word picture is that of cattle fattening themselves up before they go to the butcher shop.  The word picture suggests a rich person living in a short season of luxury only to prepare themselves for an eternity in hell.  It’s a sobering thought!

Luxury has a way of fattening up a person so that it draws their focus away from Jesus – even when He’s standing right in front of them!  When you compare these extravagant expenditures with the examples of the scriptures, the contrast is especially shocking.

The righteous disciple aggressively pursues God’s eternal pleasures for themselves and others – 1 Corinthians 8:1-5

Turn in your Bibles to 1 Cor.8.

Some of the New Testament believers were so excited about showing their love for the Lord Jesus and spreading the gospel that they gave sacrificially in the midst of their poverty.  Let’s read what Paul said about the Macedonians in 1 Corinthians 8:1,

“8 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme povertyhave overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”

In Verse 2 it says that the Macedonians gave out of their abundance of Joy.  Jesus was so valuable to them, they were willing to use their money as an expression of worship to show other people the infinite value of His worth.

The Macedonians gave “beyond their means.”  What does that imply?  It means that when they added up all the figures, it didn’t work but God still provided.  You could call it the Lord’s ‘supernatural math.’ (I’ve experienced this many times in my life.)  When we operate in the natural, one plus one equals two.  But when we submit our finances to the Lord and act on a faith that God will supernaturally bless what we freely give to Him, one plus one equals five, ten, fifteen, one hundred times more.

Application: God gives us opportunities to be a blessing to others with the wealth He provides

God distributes wealth unevenly.  He doesn’t do that because He loves some people more than others.  He does that so that you and I can be a part of His distribution of resources.  We get the opportunity to distribute His resources to His children to spread His gospel on His behalf.

I want you to experience God’s generosity.  That begins with your willingness to let go of the God’s resources to invest some of them back into God’s Kingdom.

• This week, I want to challenge you to seek the Lord about your giving.  Is He calling you to give more?

o   If you value the discipleship ministries at this church, it is a great place to give

o   If you are moved by the needs of the poor, then Old Town Mission and House of Ruthalways need more resources (Baby bottle drive begins next week!)

o   If you want to help with the needs of orphans, Christian Family Care or Reese’s Rainbow are wonderful organization that help place orphans in homes

• Is there an area where you need to make a greater sacrifice for the furthering of His Kingdom?
• Is there any account, investment or possession that you are currently treasuring more than Jesus?

Let’s seek the Lord together this week so that we can be making eternal investments with the wealth that God has provided us.

[1] http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/world/ten-ridiculous-purchases-from-prominent-billionaires/

[i] Read more: http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Feb/16/twelve-giving-stories/#ixzz3g6EbSeKe