Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
Someone once said, "Money talks. It says goodbye." I know that I have heard money say that to me many times. That is certainly one thing money does say. But money says a lot more than merely, "Goodbye." In fact, often the appeal of money is very seductive as it whispers in our ears its sweet nothings. Money is very alluring. And it is never silent.
Money does talk. It talks to us and it also says things about us. And what it says matters. Money matters. It matters to the Christian for a number of good reasons. How we handle money, or allow ourselves to be handled by it, has the power to cause us to grow spiritually or be severely stunted in our growth. For the Christian, developing the ability of being a good steward of material resources is absolutely essential. And what money says to us will be determined by our heart attitude toward God. You see, our relationship to money really has to do with our relationship with God.
Before we look at the text, let me ask you a couple of important questions. How do you handle money? What impact does money have on your life? Do you use money wisely? Are you a tightwad or a spendthrift? Do you save wisely? Do you give generously? Does money control you or do you control it? How would you evaluate your use of money?
James is writing to people he describes as rich. Now you may not see yourself as rich. Most people do not. Even rich people often don’t see themselves as being rich. But before you dismiss this passage of Scripture as not applying to you, think again about your situation. We live in the richest nation in the world. The average American is considered rich compared to most of the rest of the world. Not only that, we happened to live in one of the most prosperous areas of the country. Additionally, we live in one of the most prosperous places in that area. The average family income of the area within five miles of this church is over $89,000. Now your combined family income may be less or it may be more, but you would still be considered rich by most standards. God has certainly blessed us. And with that blessing of comes the responsibility of using what God has given us wisely. So, James is speaking to us as well. And what he gives us is some very practical advice. If we listen to his advice and put it into practice the money that we do have will become a blessing to us and to others too.
In this passage, James rebukes rich people for the way they were acquiring and handling their money. Let’s not only look at what they were doing wrong but at what we can do right. I want us to look at three principles that will enable us to avoid the wrong use of money and pursue a course of action that will make our money matter.
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 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. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
– James 5:1-3
The first principle concerning our use of money is don’t hoard it greedily but manage it wisely.
Some people want all the money they can get just so they can have it. Money becomes their goal. They spend their lives seeking money. They acquire all the money they can. They store it up. They don’t use it — they just keep it.
For these people, money has become their idol. An idol is anything that takes the place of God. Money has to be in the top two or three of the most popular idols. Money becomes an idol when we put our trust in it. It becomes our security.
But God never intended for money to be a goal in itself. We are to use our money, not hoard it. You have probably heard of some people who died after living lives of frugality and selfish self-denial. From all outward appearances they seemed poor, but they weren’t, because in their mattresses they had stuffed hundreds of thousands of dollars. They didn’t spend it — they just kept it. For what? For many years Hetty Green was called America’s greatest miser. When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at $100 million, an especially vast fortune for that day. But she was so miserly that she ate cold oatmeal in order to save the expense of heating the water.
We read in 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NIV): People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Timothy warns us of the many problems that come with a desire to be rich. He tells us to beware; it’s a trap!
Noticed what Timothy says and does not say here. Let’s look first at what he does not say. He does not say that money is evil. He does not say that money is a root of evil. Rather, he says that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Money is not evil in itself. Money is a tool. But when we start to desire money and to desire riches we succumb to its temptation and fall into a trap. There is a line in the movie Wall Street that applies to what we are talking about here. The young stockbroker, played by Charlie Sheen, is doing everything he can to make lots of money. He is approached by an older and wiser stockbroker, who tells him, "Watch out — money will make you do things you don’t want to do." This is what Timothy is saying.
Again, money is meant to be used. If you don’t use it, you lose it. God gives it to us so that we can put it to use. If we do not, it will say goodbye. This is why James can say in verse three: Your gold and silver are corroded. God does not intend for us to hoard things. Remember the manna in the wilderness? God told the Israelites to gather only enough for that day. The only day that was an exception was the day before the Sabbath. On that day they could gather enough for two days. If they tried to hoard what they gathered, it spoiled. The same thing is true for us. Look in your refrigerator. Look way in the back. The stuff that spoils is the stuff that you have been keeping around too long. Greed makes you hoard things. In Luke 12:15 (NIV), Jesus said, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
The message is clear. Don’t trust in things but in God. And use what he gives you. In 1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV) we read: 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.
Recognize that God has a purpose for the stuff he puts in your hands. You are a steward of all you possess. A steward is a manager. All that we have comes from God, and we must handle his money wisely. We must provide for our needs now. We must provide for our needs in the future. We must help others and we must support his work through the local church. And how we do this? Well, we must make a plan to do this. It’s called a budget. A budget is simply a plan to spend our money on the things that we want to spend our money on — the priorities in our life. A budget forces you to look at your priorities. Are you spending your money on the things that are really important to you? The answer is probably yes. But that is not the real question we should be asking. The real question is this. Are you spending your money on the things that should be important to you?
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
– James 5:4
The second principle concerning our use of money is don’t withhold it deceitfully but earn it honestly.
James notes how these rich people were deceitfully withholding the wages of the day laborers. In that day the landowners would hire people for the day to work in the fields. The wages for the days work were due at the end of the day. But these wealthy landowners were trying to keep the money just a little longer. They were defrauding the workers. And they were also violating an Old Testament law. In Leviticus 19:13 we read: You must not cheat your neighbor or rob him. You must not keep a hired worker’s salary all night until morning. These landowners knew this but violated it anyway.
The message is that we must walk in honesty and integrity. Don’t cheat. Don’t steal. Pay your bills. Pay your taxes. Don’t rob God. No shortcuts. No deceiving others.
Why do people desire money so much, even to the point where they are willing to do anything to get it or keep it? Perhaps they think that it will make them happy. But it does not. Benjamin Franklin said, "Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one. If it satisfies one want, it doubles and triples that want another way."
On the other hand, honest hard work is ordained by God. We should all know that, after all, we live in America. Americans and live by the philosophy of capitalism.
Here are some interesting definitions: Communism: You have 2 cows, the government takes 1 and gives you part of the milk. Socialism: You have 2 cows, the government takes 1 cow and gives it to your neighbor. Fascism: You have 2 cows, the government takes both, and sells you the milk. Nazism: You have 2 cows, the government takes both and shoots you. Bureaucracy: You have 2 cows, the government takes both, shoots one, milks one and pours milk down the drain. Capitalism: You have 2 cows, you sell one, and buy a bull.
Proverbs 13:11 (NLT) says, Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows.
We believe in hard work. And for the Christian, our motto should be: Work hard and trust God. God ordained work so that we could provide for our needs. So, work hard. But don’t be a workaholic. Keep work in balance. Work is a tool, not a goal. When you are lying on your deathbed, you will not be thinking of how you should have spend more time at the office. That will not be important then. Don’t make it too important now. But if you earn your living honestly you can keep a clear conscience before God, and that will be important to you forever.
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. – James 5:5-6
The third principle concerning the use of our money is don’t spend it selfishly but give it freely.
Many people labor under the misconception that the things money can buy will make them happy. So they spend money on themselves in big ways. They don’t just buy the necessities. They don’t just treat themselves well. They indulge themselves. They live in luxury as much as they can. It is "lifestyles of the rich and famous."
But rather than making us happy, this kind of thing makes us selfish. It changes us. And ultimately, it will bring us down. In Proverbs 21:17 (NLT) it says, "Those who love pleasure become poor; wine and luxury are not the way to riches."
The antidote to selfishness is to give freely. When we give, we are following the example of God himself. God is the greatest giver. There is something about giving that breaks the back of greed. To disagree with Gordon Gecco in the movie, Wall Street, greed is not good. But giving is good. Giving will set you free. It will change you as well. It will give you a rich heart.
Additionally, God will bless you as you give. The well-worn cliché is true, "You can’t out give God." Listen to what it says in Proverbs 11:24-25 (NCV): Some people give much but get back even more. Others don’t give what they should and end up poor. Whoever gives to others will get richer; those who help others will themselves be helped.
Jesus said something similar in Luke 6:38 (NLT): If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving—large or small—it will be used to measure what is given back to you.
God always blesses what you give to him. And when we give, we are storing up treasure in heaven. This is what we should be doing. This is what Jesus told us to do. He said in Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV): "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Jesus did not say that where our heart is we would put our treasure. He said the opposite. Where we put our treasure is where our heart will be. What we invest in we are for. If you invest in your marriage, you want it to succeed. If you invest in a business, you want it to succeed. If you invest in your church and kingdom work, you want it to succeed. If you put your treasure in the kingdom, your heart will be there as well.
Manage money wisely — earn it honestly — and give it freely.
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