Entering now into the last chapter of James’ letter, we are met with a blunt warning to those who are rich. While James has in mind particularly wealthy landowners (who may not even be Christians), his warning applies universally to all people for all time.
To be wealthy is not a sin in and of itself. We never read in the Bible that a person is sinning merely by being rich. Job is a classic example, a man who was very wealthy. And God took away Job’s wealth but not because he was sinning. Indeed, the first verse of Job’s story describes him as “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1).” There are other lessons in the Book of Job and it is not my purpose to teach them here, but the book ends with God’s not only restoring job’s wealth, but giving Him twice what he had before. My point is simply that there is no sin in merely being rich.
James’ most pressing interest is to warn against the danger of allowing money to take on a divine status. He warns against living for riches and oppressing others in the hopes of financial gain. He warns that God sees and knows all things and will judge us for our failure to use money wisely. Here’s how James puts it in James 5:1-6:
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.
4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.
Let’s examine these verses more closely, noting two discernible warnings that rise from the text.
Money may Deceive us
To be deceived is to be duped into believing something that is not true. The implicit deception addressed by James has to do with the judgment to come. James is saying that those who are rich—and again he has in mind wealthy landowners who were mistreating their laborers—are living in such a way as though there were no judgment to come. They are living as though Jesus were never coming back.
The deception is evident in the way James addresses these wealthy landowners: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!” James’ cry suggests that these rich folks were laughing when they should have been weeping, reminiscent of his earlier teaching: “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom (James 4:9).”
It’s as though James were saying, “You guys may be living it up and laughing it up today, but one day the judgment will come. Don’t be deceived. It will come: weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.”
James illustrates the transitory nature of material possessions. He says, “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.”
He is addressing the sin of hoarding our wealth, hoarding our possessions. The word “corrupted” here conveys the idea of rotting away. James says, “Your riches are rotting away.” Much like today, the abundance of clothing was a sign of wealth. James says, “Your garments are moth-eaten.” In essence he asks, “Why store up so much clothing in order to feed moths?” The hoarding of one’s possessions raises questions of responsible stewardship.
How many of us have to rent a storage facility to store more “stuff?” If so, shouldn’t the fact that we actually pay someone by the month to keep our “stuff” give us pause? We are paying for something to be locked up and maybe never used!
Have you ever watched the American television show “Hoarders” or “American Pickers?” In the latter show, a couple guys travel all over the country looking for old things they can buy to resell. In their journeys they come across a lot of interesting characters, many of whom have barns chock-full of “junk.” What is most surprising is how often one of the “pickers” will find some small, obscure item amidst so much surrounding junk and make an offer to purchase it from the owner. Very often the owners have great difficulty selling what they have: “Nah,” they reluctantly respond, “I can’t let that one go.” So it is placed back down among the vast sea of surrounding clutter.
Many of us watching shows like that shake our heads in disbelief. But what about us? Are we guilty of hoarding? How much clutter fills our dressers, our closets, our attics, our basements? How many of us have to rent a storage facility to store more “stuff?” If so, shouldn’t the fact that we actually pay someone by the month to keep our “stuff” give us pause? We are paying for something to be locked up and maybe never used!
Once again, James echoes teachings of his half-brother, Jesus:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).
James continues: “Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”
This phrase, “the last days,” is a reference to judgment, judgment day. These wealthy landowners have been deceived by the immediate gratification they are receiving from their possessions. It is as though their possessions and their lives will go on forever. James addresses that deception with sobering truth.
While gold and silver do not actually corrode, James is not talking so much about the physical properties of precious metals as he is talking about the failure of these possessions to survive the day of judgment. On that day much that seemed so valuable and important will be worthless and unimportant.
And, while the popular truism about money is helpful: “You can’t take it with you,” there is one sense in which our riches may be “present” after we die. James teaches that some of us may see those riches again when they “witness against us” on the day of judgment. It’s a frightening thing to imagine that our possessions may appear on the witness stand before the Lord as if to say, “I am his god.” He did not worship You. He worshiped me.”
Money may Deceive us. Secondly:
Money may Destroy us
Where James warns the wealthy that riches “will eat their flesh like fire” he’s warning what will happen if money becomes their god. Money cannot save us from the fires of judgment. Money has the potential, then, to destroy us. He adds: Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”
Apparently these greedy landowners were treating their laborers unjustly. Day laborers were common in New Testament times. You’ll recall where Jesus said that when we pray we are to say, “Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11),” which suggests many folks worked for the bread they would receive that very day. They labored during the day—usually in fields—and would be paid at the end of the day for their labor.
The Old Testament was very specific in commanding that day laborers be treated justly whether they were believers or unbelievers:
“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.
Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you (Deuteronomy 24:14-15).
Failure to pay a man his wages at the end of the day was a sin. This is the sin addressed by James in this text. The wealthy landowners held back the wages (“kept back by fraud”) rightly due to the reapers, the ones who had “mowed (their) fields.”
As a result, James says “the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” This phrase means “the Lord of hosts,” or, “the Lord of the heavenly armies.” It’s a title that stresses God’s sovereignty. God sees all things, hears all things, knows all things, and controls all things. He knows what’s going on with these wealthy landowners and He will not remain silent.
Again James uses picturesque language to describe the judgment. He says that the unpaid wages “cry out.” It’s as if the money that these greedy landowners had kept in their closets or underneath their mattresses begins to speak, or to cry out: “Unjust! Unjust! Pay the day laborer!”
It’s as if the money that these greedy landowners had kept in their closets or underneath their mattresses begins to speak, or to cry out: “Unjust! Unjust! Pay the day laborer!”
And while the rich landowners apparently are deaf to the cry of this money, nothing is wrong with God’s hearing. God hears the cry. The sovereign God who is just and one day will render a final, complete, and just judgment—He hears all things.
James goes on to suggest that these greedy, wealthy landowners were acting in ways that led to the deaths of those who were oppressed. The righteous laborers were in no position to resist and consequently died at the hands of the rich: “You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.”
Ironically, however, it is the rich landowners who are soon approaching their own doom. James puts it this way: “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.”
During a recent summer I was visiting some of my family who live in Western Nebraska. They are true Americans, farmers for decades in the heartland. We would sit down to breakfast or dinner and I would say something like, “This sausage is really good.” And they’d say, “Well, that’s Janelle’s pig.” Or we’d sit down at dinner and I’d say, “These steaks look good” and they’d say, “Yep, that’s Kerry’s cow.” This was a bit unusual to me as I was in the habit of buying sausage and steaks at the local grocery.
But think of it: you drive past fields of cattle and you nearly always see them eating. They’re just lying around and eating. Eating, eating, eating. It seems like a pretty good life, right?! Of course, what those cattle do not know is that they are eating—to be eaten! They don’t know that this “life of luxury” is leading them to a certain doom. They are being fattened for the day of slaughter.
This is precisely what James says is happening to the self-indulgent rich: “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.”
Do you see the danger of allowing riches to become our god? Our riches can deceive us into thinking that life is merely about self-indulgence, ease, buying, or hoarding. And we may obtain more riches by oppressing others. Like a grazing cow, we just munch away, all the while fattening ourselves for the slaughter—the judgment to come.
This warning is not just for “other people” we believe to be rich. This passage is for every single one of us, no matter the level of our income. Frankly, most of us living in America are rich in terms of history and geography. We are far wealthier than generations before us and far wealthier than folks living across the globe.
Three Actions to Take…
By way of application, let me suggest three actions to take in response to James’ warning.
1) Be Wise: Live with Eternity in View
Recall what James said at the end of chapter 4: “What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. You ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live…(James 4:14-15).”
Live with eternity in view. Never forget that this world is not your final home. Don’t be deceived by riches—or anything else. The day of judgment will come when we will give an accounting of whether we have bowed before Jesus Christ and followed Him as Lord. Don’t allow riches to be your god.
The Apostle Paul also warns what will happen if money is our god. He says:
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:9-10) .
Live with eternity in view. Money comes and goes. Solomon wisely advises: “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle (Proverbs 23:5).”
So live with eternity in view. Live for Jesus. Know that true wealth is found in Him. As the Apostle Paul says of Christ: “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).”
True wealth is found in Christ. Love of money is but a cheap substitute for love of Christ. Love Christ, really love Him, recalling what He has done for you. Think of Him throughout the day and meditate upon His works on your behalf.
Be wise: live with eternity in view. Second action:
2) Be Content: Enjoy what You Have
At the beginning of our study we noted that being wealthy is not a sin in and of itself. What is wrong is a wealthy person’s sinful attitude toward wealth. In the same way, however, a poor person can also have a sinful attitude toward wealth.
JC Ryle observes with inimitable simplicity: “It is possible to love money without having it and to have it without loving it.” 1
In the oft-quoted platitude: “Money is not the problem, love of money is the problem.”
Be content: enjoy what you have. Don’t live beyond your means. Third action:
3) Be Generous: Give to Bless Others
Rather than hoarding, give. Rather than collecting, give away. Be a good steward. Save for the future.
In a sermon on tithing, John Piper challenges Christians to give beyond the traditional tithe (10 percent). He argues: “My own conviction is that most…Americans who merely tithe are robbing God. In a world where 10,000 people a day starve to death and many more than that are perishing in unbelief the question is not, ‘What percentage must I give?’ but, ‘How much dare I spend on myself?” 2
Good question. Christian Author Randy Alcorn seems to agree. He writes: “God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving.” 3
Be generous. Give to bless others.
What About You?
- How is James’ teaching similar to Jesus’ parable of the “rich fool” in Luke 12:13-21?
- What is your opinion on tithing? How much do you give and why?
- Of Jesus Paul said, “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).” What exactly does that mean? How does it apply to you?
- The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 22.
- “I Seek Not What is Yours, but You” sermon accessed March 19, 2020.
- The Treasure Principle (Multnomah Publishers), 2001. Page 73.
Ellen
Thank you🙏