Slide
1
Now
listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on
you.
What do you think of the rich?
Do you want to be rich? Do you despise the rich? Can a Christian be rich?
Genesis
13:2 Now
Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
Those who trust in their riches
will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.
A good name is to be chosen
rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor
have this in common: the Lord is the maker of
them all.
Oppressing the poor in order to
enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.
Luke
18
18 A certain ruler asked him,
“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 Jesus
said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 20 You
know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder;
You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and
mother.’” 21 He replied, “I have kept all
these since my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he
said to him, “There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute
the money[c] to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 23 But
when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. 24 Jesus
looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed,
it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who
is rich to enter the kingdom
of God.”
Slide 2
Now
listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on
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.
Can
gold or silver rust?
No.
Here
is one of those passages that many atheists gleefully say, “See, the Bible is
full of errors,” but this is speaking not literally, but spiritually. Gold and silver do not last forever, is what
James is saying, and we have seen that all too well in this past decade.
James
is telling his readers not to put their trust in gold or silver only – not to
trust their 401k.
This
is very much what Jesus was getting at in Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves
break in and steal; 20 but
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Slide:
But it is more than putting our trust in wealth. James condemns those who are wealthy and
misuse their wealth:
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. 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 the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
These
people had been unfaithful to those who had faithfully served them! The rich had failed to pay sufficient
wages. They had failed to show normal and
acceptable appreciation. They had failed
to respect these people for their faithful service. So the workers were unable to meet their
needs, as would normally have been expected, from wages that they had worked
hard for and deserved to get. But this
was withheld! So, what were they to do? They cried out to the Lord in deep anguish
and distress. After all, they’d earned
those wages. They had every right to
expect to be compensated for what they’d earned.
Immokalee
– there are many good landowners and farmers and managers, but we often hear
about those who are more slave owners than employers. In recent years there have been examples of
employers who hire immigrant migrant workers, many of them undocumented or “illegal”
immigrants. In other words – powerless to
ask the civil authorities for help. They
are paid under the table, low wages, then they have to pay their employers for
rent, and even for a shower and for every glass of water – to the degree that
the workers are not even breaking even.
This
is nothing new – my grandfather worked in a textile mill, lived in mill
housing, bought all of his food and clothing from the company store. He was not paid in money, but scrip. Payday was on Wednesday, and you would get
paid in scrip. But you couldn’t exchange
it for real money until Friday. But on Wednesday
the company had people on the streets who would exchange scrips for money at 50
cents on the dollar. And sometimes
Friday would come and the company didn’t have enough cash to exchange your
scrip for money, so it was 25 cents on the dollar. And the only place you could spend scrip was
at the Company Store.
The
world is full of good employers and great companies. And the world is full of deceitful, unethical
employers and companies.
James
has little patience with those who are rich who take advantage of the poor.
In
verse 7, James begins to shift his attention.
His readers are mostly poor, and they are beginning to wonder – what about
this Jesus who said he would return? Where
is he?
Slide:
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See
how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting
for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm,
because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another,
brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Here
are some important points about the Second Coming:
1. No one knows when it will happen.
Matthew
24:36
36
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor
the Son, but only the Father.
2. It will come, and it will come quickly and
suddenly and unexpectedly.
1
Thessalonians 5:1-2
Now,
brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very
well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night .
3.
We
are to live in expectation of this event.
Matthew
24:42-44
"Therefore
keep watch , because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But
understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the
thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be
broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an
hour when you do not expect him.
4.
Long
delay should not result in complacency, despair or forgetfulness.
2 Peter 3:3-7
First of all, you must understand that in the last days
scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will
say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died,
everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they
deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the
earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of
that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and
earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction
of ungodly men.
NIV
5.
Use
the time to prepare
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded
and self-controlled so that you can pray.
NIV
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded
and self-controlled so that you can pray.
James agrees with these teachings from different places
of Scripture.
Slide:
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See
how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting
for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm,
because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be
judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Having
said, be patient in waiting for the Second Coming, James now says to us, be
patient in all of our sufferings:
Slide
10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of
suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you
know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s
perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is
full of compassion and mercy.
I
have never agreed with the phrase, the patience of Job. Job never struck me as very patient. James uses a much better word – “perseverance.” If you can’t feel patient, at least with your
actions persevere! Just keep holding on.
This
is one of those teachings from Scripture that sounds so easy when I preach it,
but even as I say these words I know how difficult this is.
Patience
in suffering is not easy.
When
you lose your job, it is easy for someone who is employed to say, “Be patient,
persevere.” When it is you who has
cancer, or you who has a rebellious child, or you whose marriage is in trouble,
patience and/or perseverance is hard.
But
James did not live a peaceful easy life and he knew what suffering was like, so
he is not like the loud mouth on the sidelines complaining about the team – he’s
more like the coach who has been with the team day in and day out and who has
worked hard with the members of the team. He has suffered, and he knows his people are
suffering.
And
he encourages patience.
Slide
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.
In
the three stooges, Curley is in a courtroom and has to be under oath, so he
puts his hand on the Bible, raises his right hand, and is asked, “do you swear
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” Curley doesn’t respond, so the bailiff asks, “Do
you swear?” Curley says, “I don’t know
all the words – but I know all the words.”
The
point that James is making here is that we are always under oath, every minute
and every word.
This
reflects what Jesus taught:
Matthew
5
But
I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of
God, 35 or
by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great
King. 36 And
do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’;
anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Slide
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let
them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the
elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of
the Lord.
We
do this in the Presbyterian Church. Elders
– and Deacons – as well as pastors are called upon to pray with and for the
sick.
Slide
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the
Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so
that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and
effective.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
In
the Bible, physical illness was associated with spiritual sin – and while we
would not want to make too much of this, there is a relationship between the
spiritual health and the physical health. One would not suggest that cancer is the
result of sin, any more than in the Old Testament Job would accept the
suggestion that he was sick because of some sin he had committed.
BUT
– stress is a spiritual condition that impacts blood pressure, digestion, the
success rate of medications.
There
is a relationship of the spiritual and the physical.
Don’t
just go for physical healing – think of your spiritual as well as physical well
being.
Slide
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth
and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns
a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a
multitude of sins.
James
is winding down now, and as he begins to close his Epistle, he encourages
people to remember, “we’re in this together. We are our brother’s keeper – spiritually as
well as in any other way.
No comments:
Post a Comment