"Come now, you rich, weep and
howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches
are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 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. 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 Sabbath. You have lived
on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of
slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just;
he does not resist you."
wealth
misused
In a letter written to
Christians, why might James have included a whole paragraph addressing
non-Christians? The clue is found, I believe in the following paragraph
(addressed to “brethren”) and gives reason for the encouragements that follow in
verses 7-11. Now you may consider
yourself a Christian but it would be foolhardy to think yourself above the sins
into which the rich have fallen:
1.
Selfish
hoarding of money (5:2-3)
2.
Defrauding
of workers (5:4)
3.
Self-indulgence
(5:5)
4.
Persecuting
the innocent (5:6)
Seeing the unhappy end of those who selfishly enjoy the rich life on earth
should serve to help divert any envy that Christians may feel toward those who
now have what appears to be the “good life”.
This ‘end’ is not a temporal earthly experience, but rather a final
condemnation and punishment that awaits them on the day of judgment. One aspect of judgment is that Christians can
have confidence in ultimate justice.
Personal revenge is unnecessary. It would likely be inaccurate, incomplete
and ill-fitted to the true offenses. It
is much better to trust God to give to each according to their works. Ironically, all the selfish storing up and
saving of worldly riches, is in reality a storing up of God’s wrath if the needy have been
neglected.
This is not to say that wealth in itself is evil, but selfish misuse of
wealth is evil, leading to judgment and punishment. The Old and New Testaments both often speak on
the matter of wealth and poverty. Here
are some trends found throughout scripture:
1.
God
has concern for the poor, the downtrodden and the outcasts
2.
God’s
people must show similar concern for helpless people
3.
God’s people are to identify with the poor,
the pious, and the righteous
4.
The
rich and powerful will often identify with the wicked
“...he does
not resist you” implies the one who is mistreated and ill-used, is either unwilling
or unable to retaliate. This makes the
sin against them even more deplorable.
If you are in the U.S., (chances are you are), then by global comparison, you are probably quite
wealthy. So here is the question: Is God’s heart seen in your use of wealth?
Read
and Pray: Psalm 49, Proverbs
1:10-19, I Timothy 6:6-12
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