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A Warning to the Worldly Wealthy

James: Faith Works
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Pastor Jojo Ma

 

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

A life of comparison rarely results in a life of contentment.

As Christians, we should pursue contentment --- being thankful in what God has given to us and what He has provided for us.

I.          A warning to the worldly wealthy [v1]
II.        A warning to the hoarding wealthy [vv2-3]
III.       A warning to the extravagant wealthy [v5]
IV.       A warning to the unjust wealthy [v4,v6]

I.         A warning to the worldly wealthy [v1]
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

The question isn’t “do we have money” or even “are we rich”. No, the question is this: How do we use our money and what is our money doing to us?

II.        A warning to the hoarding wealthy [vv2-3]
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

Lk 12:15 one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Mk 4:19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

The apostle is putting up a big red stop sign and warning everyone of this kind of lust --- a passion to accumulate and amass and hoard up the things of this world and its corresponding selfish lifestyle.

III.      A warning to the extravagant wealthy [v5]
5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

It should be even more unsettling to those who hoard and self-indulge in pleasures while the sensors of their heart show no concern for their condition or for God.

IV.       A warning to the unjust wealthy [v4,v6]
4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts…6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

We should consider our own lives first, we should reflect on how we use our resources and what our money will say about us on that final day.

Have I been generous as God has been to me in Christ or have I hoarded for myself? Do I live to bless others or defraud them? Is my life one of giving or accumulating?

Let us live believing that the riches of this world are fleeting and that our life with God is forever rewarding.