Rev. David Holwick ZJ James series #15
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 11, 2007
James 5:1-6
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I. My nice car.
A. I get many comments on my Lincoln.
1) Heated leather seats, sunroof, CD-changer.
2) Usually it is a sense of wonder that a pastor can have one.
a) Then they recall that Oral Roberts probably has one.
b) Am I paid too much?
3) I respond that it was a generous gift, courtesy of Dale
Sullivan.
B. The guilties of wealth.
1) Christians have often slammed the rich, as James does.
a) It is a heritage that goes back to the O.T. prophets.
2) A famous medieval example was St. Francis of Assisi.
Francis stole expensive clothes from his rich dad and used
the money to rebuild an abandoned church with his friends.
His irate father dragged him to the public square in Assisi
and asked the local bishop to demand that Francis give
up the project.
Instead, Francis took off his clothes in front of the crowd
and renounced all his possessions and inheritance.
He was inspired by Jesus - and maybe James, too.
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II. James's radical blast.
A. James sounds like an Old Testament prophet on the issue of wealth.
1) He is inflamed, direct, and a little overboard.
2) One out of every five verses in James focuses on money.
B. It still scandalizes us today.
Upton Sinclair was a novelist and social reformer around the
time of World War I.
His most famous book was called THE JUNGLE, an expose of the
meat packing industry.
Sinclair once read today's passage to a group of ministers.
He put it in modern language and said it was written by
Emma Goldman, a rabble-rousing anarchist of the time.
We would call her a terrorist today.
Here is what Sinclair read:
Yes, you idle rich, you may howl about what we mean to
do to you!
Your riches are rotten and your fine clothes are falling
from your backs.
Your stocks and bonds are so tainted that the ink on them
should turn to acid and eat holes in your pockets and
your skins.
You have piled up your dirty millions, but what wages have
you paid to the poor devils of farm hands you have robbed?
And do you imagine they won't remember it when the revolution
comes?
You loll on soft couches and amuse yourselves with your
mistresses; you think you are "it" and the world is yours.
You send militiamen and shoot down our organizers, and we
are helpless.
But wait, comrades, our time is coming!
The ministers in the audience were so enraged they declared
she ought to be deported.
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C. We need to be warned, because we envy the rich.
1) In many cases, we ARE the rich.
If you and your spouse are bringing in $40,000 a year,
you're doing better than half the households in America.
Or, as a Washington think tank recently pointed out: If
you're a teacher married to a policeman, your combined
household income puts you in the top 25 percent of
all households in the nation.
If your household income is $170,000, you're among the
nation's top 10 percent.
Income is only one way to look at it.
How much have you saved away?
This includes the equity in your house, your investments,
your bank accounts, your retirement accounts.
(Minus your credit card debt, of course.)
Across all households, the national median net worth is
$86,000.
Half of your fellow citizens have more than that, half have
less.
The top 10% have a total net worth of more than $833,000.
Right now there are well over 7 million households in the
United States with a net worth of $1 million or more.
Together, they have assets worth $32 trillion - that's a "t".
The super-rich have $20 million or more in assets.
Every year, 3,000 new households join this select club.
If you are a proud member of it, our Building Finance
Committee would like to have tea with you this week....
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2) The Bible says wealth has its desires, and its dangers.
3) There is the temptation to value worldly wealth above God.
4) There is also the temptation to gain more wealth by
exploiting others.
III. Soaking the rich.
A. James is addressing the rich pagans outside the church. 5:1
1) In chapter 1:9-11 he seems to address rich Christians.
2) Here in chapter 5, the rich are unbelievers bound for hell.
a) He doesn't refer to them as "brothers."
b) He doesn't call on them to repent, but only to weep.
c) Similar to condemnation by Old Testament prophets.
B. No rich people in heaven?
1) Some think Bible teaches this.
a) Jesus said it is easier to shove a camel through the
eye of a needle than for a rich guy to enter heaven.
b) Tony Campolo raises question: "Can Christian own a BMW?"
His answer: Jesus wouldn't own one.
2) But there are many examples of rich believers in Bible.
a) Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Joseph of Arimathea.
b) Jesus says rich can get into heaven, but it takes a
miracle.
C. Wealth has a way of demanding our allegiance. Matt 6:24
1) Dollar bill says, "In God We Trust." (hold up bill)
a) But we know better - we still have to pay cash.
2) Wealth can be an attempt to buy a little piece of heaven
here on earth, at the expense of genuine heaven in the
life to come.
3) Money has a not-so-subtle way of becoming our god.
The folly of hoarding.
Bertha Adams died on Easter Sunday in Palm Beach Florida
in 1976.
She was 71 years old.
The coroner's report said that she died of malnutrition.
She had been known to beg for food, and only weighed 50
pounds when she died.
Authorities found her home to be "a pigpen . . . a big mess!"
It appeared that Bertha died penniless.
Then two keys were found, that led to two safety deposit
boxes.
The first one had over 700 shares of AT&T stock and
$200,000 in cash.
The second one had only cash, $600,000.
Her great wealth did her no good.
James sees such hoarding as obscene because it corrupts
and corrodes life.
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IV. Here come de judge.
A. James says we are in the "last days." 5:3
1) Standard expression of time before Second Coming.
a) Not distant future, but our present situation. Heb 1
2) James' condemnation is not future, but present.
a) John teaches same thing, both with salvation & damnation.
b) The rich are being condemned right now.
c) The evidence is in the condition of their wealth.
B. Our treasure can be secure in heaven, or rusted on earth.
1) Wealth back then was usually in form of grain, clothes
and precious metals.
2) James describes each category as being rotten, eaten up,
or rusted.
3) No matter how secure something may seem, before God it is
nothing.
V. Difficult truths.
A. Everyone will answer to God.
1) Judgment is coming.
a) It may already be here.
b) Are you dissatisfied with your life?
1> God may be speaking to you before it's too late.
2) There will be no turning back, no second chance.
a) Many will be utterly shocked on that day.
b) Jesus tells us many people will assume they are
Christians and Jesus will let him in.
1> But he won't.
2> The reason: their actions didn't match their mouth.
B. The way we live shows what we really believe.
1) Is our lifestyle luxurious, or simple?
a) The Amish emphasize this.
b) But we should not be limited to horses and buggies.
1> [or cars with chrome mufflers painted black]
2) It is a matter of financial priorities.
a) Are you always in debt?
b) Are your purchases practical, or just impressive?
c) Are you generous with those less fortunate?
d) Does God get your tithe?
C. The longer we live a certain way, the harder our hearts become.
1) James never offers them salvation.
a) They are condemned, though they still live.
2) It is never too late and God does not give up on us,
but we can give up on him.
a) Example of Pharaoh: the longer we oppose God, the
harder it is to come to him.
b) They are told to weep and wail because they are too
far gone.
c) Repentance is possible, but unlikely.
D. Is your hope in God, or your money? 1 Timothy 6:17-18
"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.
"Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be
generous and willing to share.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#31344 "She Starved To Death With $800,000," by Rev. Robert AuBuchon,
Kerux Sermon #14160, "The Love Of Money."
#31356 "Deport Her!" by Upton Sinclair, adapted from his "The Profits of
Religion," [1917]; the context of the ministers' meeting is from
R. Kent Hughes' commentary on the Book of James.
#31364 "Stripping In The Public Square," by David Holwick (from Internet
sources such as http://www.notablebiographies.com/fi-gi/~
francis-of-assisi.html, .
#34856 "Where Do You Stand In America's Wealth Spectrum?" by Lee Eisenberg,
America Online, November 5, 2007.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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