James, On Wealth

NOTES

Scriptures

James 1:9-11

1:10

But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field

1:11

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

James 2:1-7

2:5

Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

2:6

But you have dishonored the poor

2:6

Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

2:7

Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called?

James 5:1-6

5:1

Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.

cf. The merchants weeping over the city that has fallen because it made them rich.

weep and howl over the misery to come upon you implies these rich are ones who are not saved.

Zodhiates - Money is an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven and as a universal provider of everything except happiness.

5:2-3

Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire.

5:4

Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

5:5

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.

5:6

You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 It is not wrong or sinful to be rich, but there needs to be a healthy skepticism towards riches because they tend to dull our need for God. They can become the object our Hope.

Here, too, I saw a nation of lost souls, far more than were above: they strained their chests against enormous weights, and with mad howls rolled them at one another. Then in haste they rolled them back, one party shouting out: “Why do you hoard?” and the other: “Why do you waste?” —Inferno, Canto VII, 25-30

Sins of the Rich

Hoarding - Withholding Wages, gaining wealth at the cost of others

Squandering - Living in Luxury and Self-Indulgence

Condemn and Murder the righeous

Drag others into court

Blaspheme the name of God

Oppress others

Cross References

Matthew 6:19-21

Matthew 6:25-34

Outline of Sermon

Questions About The Sermon

Why would people prefer rich over the poor?
Why would the rich withold wages?
Why would James say the rich should weep?
What is the problem with being rich?
What is wrong with planning and making profit?

Introduction

Scripture Introduction

Scripture

Prayer

Sermon Introduction

FCF

BIND

The Rich in James

one of the preliminary questions I had with this study on The rich in James is who are they? In asking that I’m asking the question are they Christians or not? Let’s look at the few places where it’s difficult to understand if he’s mentioning Christians or not

Look at

 James 1:10-11
10 But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

The ending of verse 10 and verse 11 say the rich man will pass away or fade away. The question is would James say that of a Christian brother or is he mentioning the rich in general?

Then look at :

 James 2:2
2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

In this scenario, it seems to be ambiguous whether or not these are Christians who come into the assembly It’s possible they are Christians and it’s possible they are not but next verses give us some clue.

If you look at James 2:5-7, it seems that James is talking about people who do not love and honor God by the way they treat Others and the way they treat God.

 James 2:5-7
5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called?

The next time James mentions those who are wealthy is in 4:13-17. He doesn’t mention them as wealthy, but Anyone and that day in time who would go to such and such a city to carry on business there For a year would be considered well to do so it’s implied that they are wealthy.

But there’s no indication whether or not these are brothers in Christ or not Unless this letter is simply just addressed to Christians in general, which I believe that it is.

Then we come to the last section talking about the rich which is in James 5:1-6?

Here is that text, I’ve highlighted sections that seem to suggest these are not Christians.:

 James 5:1-6

1 Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days. 4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

Obviously most of this is underlined. To me if this seems odd that James would tell Christians to weep and howl over the misery coming to them.

An Alternative:

Instead of them not being Christians, but rather that they are Christians. These are Christians who are in error or living in sin by their actions.

How does James know this is taking place? Remember James is addressing this letter to the 12 tribes of the dispersion. This is a general epistle to Christians everywhere. So it is possible that James has received enough reports to all of the Christians in The area he is writing to that these things have become a problem or they are a great temptation to those who are rich.

Just like Paul would address those in Galatia about the Judaizers and lumping in Christians who have gone on with the teachings of the Judaizers, telling them that they have been severed from Christ, James is also writing to those who are Christians but are practicing sin in robbing wages from those whom wages is due or by living indulgently.

So James is addressing those who believe they are Christians who are living in sin by how they practice their businesses.

And this to me explains James addressing them in the first place, but also explains his harsh nature. Just like those in chapter 3 addressing them with their tongue. Maybe James has heard reports of Christians using their tongues in the wrong way, just like they would use their finances and their businesses in the wrong way.

Maybe you have a better take on who these rich are that James is addressing in this book. But, for now, just keep that in mind when we’re looking at the rich throughout this sermon.

James on the Rich

Humility of the Rich (James 1:9-11)

The first place James addresses the rich is in 1:9-11.

 James 1:9-11
9 The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Here James is contrasting those who are poor or in humble circumstances versus those who are rich. To the poor they should exalt because in Christ they have been raised up. Christ is one who takes those who are humble and raises them up. To the rich James has harsh words that they should exalt in their low position. That in Christ they are not the center of the universe, they do not run things. Christ is over all and is sovereign.

Anyone who is rich, who is of great means, it is easy for them to be tempted thinking that they got to where they were by their own hand. Yes, their actions contributed to their wealth is not just created by one’s own hand, rather chance, time, and those who’ve gone before them have set a foundation for them to build their wealth.

So if a wealthy Christian identifies more with the fact that they are wealthy or rich, they need to recognize that their wealth and their riches are going to fade away in all their pursuits.

It is not wrong for a Christian to be wealthy, there are many godly people who do have wealth, but there is a great temptation to those who have that wealth to forget God.

Consider those who are wealthy that are righteous, such as Job and Abraham, and the great kings of Israel. David, being king of Israel, decides to number the armies of Israel.

In 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, David numbers the people and this angers God to send either three options: David ends up taking the three days of pestilence by the hand of God.

The reason for this strike against Israel is because David was not supposed to trust in the number of men who are in his army, but rather, he should have trusted simply in God.

The principle taught by James here is this: Our wealth is not something to boast about or to take trust or security in. A 401K or investments or whatever it is are wise things to have, but they cannot be a means of boasting. After all, they can be gone in a flash.

And so one’s wealth, whether they have little or much, has no meaning when it comes to how we relate to one another as Christians.

Then why do we give Preferance of the Rich?

Despite this being true, James then continues or picks up on the theme of the rich and the wealthy by emphasizing not to give them preferential treatment when they come into our assemblies.

Look how James opens up in chapter two.

 James 2:1-7
1 My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. 3 If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called?

Here James counsels the Christians he’s writing to not to show preference towards the rich over the poor. Why would a Christian do that in the first place? That’s a question worth asking.

I think there’s two main reasons for it:

Riches can be seen as a subsitute for virtue
Rich people my scratch our backs if we scratch their

Riches can be seen as a subsitute for virtue

Riches can be seen as a substitute for virtue. If someone is rich, they obviously know how to work well with money. That requires a certain level of competence and skill.

And rich people have done something with their lives versus somebody who is poor. Could be poor because they don’t know how to use money. They are not a hard worker and they are generally not as valuable as somebody who has wealth.

This says nothing about how a rich person acquired their wealth and the means they used to get that wealth. Or doesn’t put into account a history of a poor person. They could be poor because of a number of reasons, not because that they are lazy or bad with money.

Rich people my scratch our backs if we scratch their

Another temptation to show preference to a rich person is because of the potential kickbacks one might receive.

If I’m nice to this rich person, maybe he will open some doors for me, or help me out in some way. Maybe even financially give me a gift. A poor person most likely cannot open doors for me, or help me out in some way, or give me any sort of financial gift.

This type of prejudice should not be named among God’s people. We are to show grace and deference to all people, whether or not they seem to have wealth.

The Rich Are Those Who Oppress, Sue, and Blaspheme

James then reminds the people who would seek to benefit from a rich person in their congregation that those who are rich have the means and the ability to oppress others. And they know their way around the courts to sue others. And those who are rich forget God and blaspheme him by not giving him the honor he is due.

Many of us know what it’s like to be on the other side of the rich. When Grace and I rented, we’ve had great landlords, but we’ve also had terrible landlords. We had a landlord that charged us thousands of dollars when we moved out of a house. And when I asked for the receipts of the payments, they did not send us anything. But rather they kept saying, we owe them this much money for this thing and this much money for that thing.

We had another landlord that never fixed anything with the house.

I was reading about one solar panel company that went out of business or declared bankruptcy and was not servicing the solar panels that they sold to people under warranty, but still was collecting money for those solar panels.

Don’t give preference: see how they plan. Planning of the Rich

James then, later on, gets into the mindset of those who are rich and the way they conduct business.

This is in James 4:13-16:

 James 4:13-16
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” 14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

They plan presuming all things will workout for them

There are two things that are wrong with this form of planning. First, they just presume things will work out for them. Which in some sense doesn’t seem wrong on the face of it, but James replies with the fact that no one can plan out their life in such a way.

I include this section with the rich because of the way that James speaks about them. Going to a city and spending a year there to make a profit. Most likely, this is a merchant who was going to a city to make a profit, and to be a merchant you have to be some means of wealth.

They plan not thinking of God

James rebukes them because they are not considering God in their business.

They are speaking and talking and planning as if they and just run things. This sort of planning forgets God, which one must never do.

James counsels those who are planning to do business in a city for a year to make a profit, to say and remember that it is only by the will of the Lord these things would be done. James is not saying that any sort of planning to make a profit in a city is full or wrong. Rather, if one does it without counseling God, first place, like anything in life, that is a wrong thing to do.

This also does not mean as long as you plan and say the Lord wills God is simply going to cosign anything you do. If you are planning to go to a city to commit fraud and you say, if the Lord wills we will do this, that doesn’t mean that it is okay to do it.

Rather, James is emphasizing that whatever we do, we must consider God and do things that are in accord with what he says. Whether it is business or otherwise.

Destruction of the Rich

The last section on the rich comes from the next paragraph James 5:1-6. Here James gives us specific things that the rich do that are wrong and worthy of the wrath of God.

 James 5:1-6
1 Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days.

4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

What causes their destruction?

There are three things that the rich do in this passage that are worthy of the wrath of God.

Withholding wages
Living indulgetly
Condemning and murdering the rightoues

The first two are the main temptations of wealth. Rich people tend to hold on to their worries and be miserly about them. Or they tend to live lavishly and indulge in everything they desire without thinking of anyone else.

What do they trust in?

James paints a picture of their gold and silver corroding before them and that corrosion of their wealth will be a testament against them on the day of judgment.

Why is their trust not secure?

Wealth is a benefit and a blessing from God. But when a person trusts in their wealth to keep them secure, they will have nothing to show for it on the day of judgment.

As one commentor says, “Money is an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven and as a universal provider of everything except happiness.”

Patient Response of the Rich

Humilty of the Rich

Conclusion

No notes yet.