James 5:1-3 - The Spiritual Pitfalls of Wealth (Session 15)

Could your pursuit of wealth be silently eroding your spiritual foundation? Today's episode peels back the layers of this complex issue, guided by the profound teachings within the Book of James. Together, we confront the hard truths about the perils of affluence and its potential to lead us astray from what matters most. You'll uncover the wisdom of investing in heavenly treasures over earthly ones, and why the way we handle our wealth speaks volumes about our values. The conversation is a stark reminder that while wealth in itself isn't inherently evil, it's the heart's attachment to it that can be our undoing. Join us as we explore these timeless biblical lessons, which hold the key to a life rich in spirit and truth. 

Transcript

Glenn 0:15

Today on Reasoning Through the Bible, we're in a section of the Scriptures that talks about wealthy people, riches and what riches do to people. And, steve, there's time in my life when I always kind of wanted to be a real wealthy person, but when I get to passages like this, it gives me pause, because today's passage is going to beat up on rich people pretty badly.

Steve 0:36

Well, it's not only passages like this, glenn. But then you have the secular stories of people that have great wealth and then it just doesn't seem like your life is the same. Then they start worrying about how they're going to keep the wealth. They have to have extra security. They can't live their lives the way that they used to. It seems like that wealth sometimes brings more problems than what it does pleasures.

Glenn 0:59

It would seem that being wealthy would be advantageous, but again, today's section really gives a rough picture of wealth and rich people. Turn in your Bibles to James, chapter five we're going to start there and a little bit of review. Book of James, of course, was written very early, prior to a lot of the other books of the New Testament. He's writing to Jewish people and these are people that are still sort of feeling their way through this Christian life. He starts out in chapter one saying take joy in your trials and endure through temptations. In chapter one he also says to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Glenn 1:40

James is very practical, very down to earth. In chapter two James talks about beware of all personal favoritism. Treat everybody the same. God has a great heart for treating people the same and treating people fairly. One of the keys to chapter two is the verse where it says show me your faith. The idea there is that we can't see faith, but we can see, or the works we see, that people are justified through the works. It's the works we see, but James would agree with the apostle Paul that it's the faith that is where the righteousness gets accounted to us and he supports that as well. We spent quite a bit of time in chapter two talking about that.

Glenn 2:25

Then in chapter three he talks a lot about the damage that can be done by the tongue. He compares the tongue to the rudder of a ship, where this great ship can be turned by this small rudder. Same thing with the human life. If we can control the tongue, then we can control the human life. But of course that's the challenge. Then in chapter four he talks about including God in our daily plans. I'll just go off and do business without considering is this honoring to God? Is this right in what God would have me do? Have I taken God into my account Today? In chapter five, especially the first half of the chapter, he's pretty blunt, pretty rough with rich people and Steve. Any kind of thoughts on this section before we start? Because James is James and he's going to be quite direct and clear on what he thinks about rich people.

Steve 3:18

I think that he's showing that their wealth is in the wrong place. It's earthly wealth I think we'll see that as we go through here versus wealth or treasures that need to be built up in heaven.

Glenn 3:31

So, if you have your Bibles, turn to James five and read along with me. I'll read the first six verses. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted. Your rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure you have to hold. The pay of the laborers who mow your fields and which has been withheld by you cries out against you, and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of want and pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man. He does not resist you.

Glenn 4:23

Steve, we warn the audience here that's not a very high view of rich people. This has some poetic language. It's very blunt, direct, very descriptive of what God speaking through James, what God thinks about rich people. The tone to me would suggest that he's not speaking to just regular church members here. I think he's speaking to the community at large because he doesn't preface this with brethren. He just right out of the chute, starts saying you rich people, but matter of opinion. Any thoughts?

Steve 5:02

on this. I agree with that. It's also talking about there in verse one and about the miseries that are going to be coming upon them. As we started out in this session, the more wealth that, it seems, people create, they have problems and issues that come along with it. Now, I do know some people that are wealthy and are very, very strong Christians and they support the ministries that they want to support their local churches and stuff, and you know what? They don't seem to have a lot of miseries that come on them. So I do believe that it is what great wealth isn't something that's bad necessarily. It's what you do with it. I think James here, by the description that he's given in these verses, these wealthy people that he's talking about just are not doing it and using that wealth in the right way.

Glenn 5:51

Right and I would agree. I've known some wealthy people that had good hearts, that were Christians that use their wealth wisely, but I've also seen a lot of non-Christian wealthy people that live as this versus miserable lives. The tone that he uses here again look at this Come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. To me he's speaking to people that you just generally don't talk to, brothers and sisters in Christ like that. I think he's speaking to the community at large.

Glenn 6:24

When I read this, what I think of immediately is that in those days there wasn't so much a middle class like we have now. There were these fabulously wealthy people, and then there was everybody else, and everybody else lived day to day and they would get paid today for the food they had to buy today and work tomorrow for the food you have to buy tomorrow. And so there wasn't a lot of in regular families. There was not a lot of wealth that got passed on from generation, father to son, type of things. We had people that were living hand to mouth, that were, by our standards, quite poor, and then you had these other people that were just fabulously wealthy. I think that's the situation that James is speaking of here. I think you'd agree, steve. It's not the money that's the evil here. What does the rest of the New Testament say? It's the love of money that's the root of evil. It's what the money is doing to people. That seems to be the emphasis here.

Steve 7:21

Well, as we saw here, what is James been talking about in all these previous chapters? Show me your faith, Show what it's supposed to produce. You see a poor man. If you don't do anything, you just tell them to have good luck on their problems. What good does that do? All the things that James has previously been talking about obviously works into this last chapter. He has an abandon. Everything else he's talked about.

Glenn 7:45

Again, verse one. He's saying weep and howl for your miseries, you rich people. Now if, steve, how does that work? Because average person in our day sees the wealthy people, and how could they have any problems? They've got all the food they want, they've got beautiful large homes and large estates. They drive around in nice cars, fly around on airplanes. What kind of a problem could a rich person have? Isolation?

Steve 8:13

That's the main thing that I see throughout my lifetime is that very, very wealthy people become isolated in many instances If they're not a Christian and they're not out in the Christian community. Many, many times it isolates them because other people come about. They want a part of their wealth. They're always trying to borrow from them or two. They have ideas that they want them to invest in. They kind of sequester themselves off from the normal people. They build around themselves a community of people that they pay bodyguards and other security features to build around them. All of a sudden they just kind of sequestered off by themselves and isolation sets in. That's not what everybody don't want to do a broad breaststroke but we have seen in our lifetime with the super wealthy that's a pattern that does occur isolation.

Glenn 9:11

A few years back, there was one of the wealthiest men in America was asked to give a commencement address at a college graduation. I remember reading his comments in the news. Again, this is one of the richest people on the planet at the time. What he said was most of the wealthy people he knew were lonely and they were defensive Because of just what you said a minute ago, steve. People are trying to get your money. If you're that wealthy, people are always coming to you wanting something from you. They tend to have to isolate themselves.

Glenn 9:46

If we look at the lives of these people that get held up in the media they're a star, they're a movie star, they're a famous, wealthy person the initial image is that wow, they must have everything, a life of ease. But if you peel back the curtain just a little bit, you see that many, if not most, of these people, their lives are just falling apart. People don't love them, people are just using them. They are just miserable people that living miserable lives. Just because of all this. They don't have the same family, normal relationships that people are supposed to have. What would seem like these people must have everything together because they're so wealthy, they're actually very miserable.

Steve 10:30

Yeah, glenn, and I also look in here and see that in these first three verses of James when he's talking about rust and moth eating we've made comparisons with James and other chapters and verses that he kind of harkens back to Jesus' sermon on the Mount and he makes other references to Jesus' teaching.

Steve 10:49

When I see him mention these items that the wealth that you have, you have clothes that are moth eating and your gold and silver is rusted, I see in him harken back to what Jesus said back in Matthew, and there's three verses here I'd like to read Matthew 619-21 where Jesus said Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal, for there your treasure is, there your heart will be. Also, I think that James is kind of referring possibly to what Jesus taught when he's talking about these rich people and he's comparing them and saying look, remember, jesus said don't store up your treasure here on earth, store it up in heaven, because your treasures on earth are moth eating, they're going to rust. I think that's kind of a comparison that James is making here.

Glenn 11:52

Most of us are never going to be fabulously wealthy. Most of us wouldn't call ourselves rich. The question here, though, steve, is that most of us will have money issues, and we will have a pursuit of money in our pursuit of money just in order to pay our bills and live on. Will that, or can that, distract us from what is important, namely family and the Lord? God, can money get in between us and people we love and our?

Wealth, Trust, and Pitfalls

Steve 12:19

Lord, yeah, I think it can. A person needs to work themselves into a situation where they're not letting the money control them, and wealth sometimes does that. For all the reasons that we've already listed, it isolates you. People that come that you don't know want to try and take the wealth away from you in various ways of schemes and scams that might be out there. You throw up defensiveness, you throw up barriers. It just brings a lot of issues and miseries, as James points out here. So, yes, and it can get in between you and God if you let it.

Glenn 12:56

There's an interesting point here, in the middle of verse 3. Look at the middle of verse 3. He talks about how gold and silver will consume your flesh like fire. What he's saying here is that these riches, this wealth is going to eat you up. Why do you think that is, Steve? Why is it that wealth would consume our flesh? That's a very descriptive picture, but what is it about money and the pursuit of money? That would just burn us up.

Steve 13:24

Well, if that's all that you're pursuing is more and more wealth, then you're not doing things, you're not spending time with your family, you're not spending time with God, you're not pursuing God. Your pursuit of more and more wealth consumes you, as James put it here. It consumes you as a fire. You put all your focus on it. That's all that you see is how can I get more wealth, more wealth, more wealth, more wealth? Those people, they'll say once I get to the point that I have the wealth that I'm looking for, then I'll spend time with my family, then I'll spend time with God. But what happens is is that they get busy, busy, busy pursuing it and it just consumes them. They never, ever, get to that point of back to their family or to God.

Glenn 14:13

If I remember right, there was a John D Rockefeller who was one of the wealthiest men in the world and somebody asked him one time how much is enough? He said just a little bit more. Look at verses two and three again. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-y. Gold and silver have rusted. I think here, steve, this is a description of falling apart, of decaying.

Glenn 14:37

I think of not only individual people, but I think countries do this. When countries get very wealthy, they tend to rot from within. It's usually not the external enemies that take over the wealthy countries, it's the internal rot that's caused by the wealth. I think it happened to Rome. I think it happened to our country is that God tried us through the testing of wealth and we failed because we're rotting from within. That's the picture here. Just like an individual person can not handle wealth well, same thing can happen with countries not handle wealth very well. Now here's a question. What did he say back in chapter two about what to do if a rich person comes into the church? Remember when he was giving?

Steve 15:28

that example Well, I think he believed told us that don't show favoritism towards them.

Glenn 15:33

Right he's saying don't show favoritism. What do we tend to do with wealthy people? What do wealthy people tend to expect? They tend to expect to be treated a little different and get that way because people are always trying to get some of their wealth from them. I think it creates this problem in interpersonal relationships on multiple levels. Here's another question with this, steve. In this passage he's condemning people because they're putting their trust in their money, in their wealth. Can we put trust in money? There's some of us in society that, well, gee, I've worked hard all my life, I've managed to do well, I've saved money, I'm secure. I didn't want to be destitute when I got to my old age. I've worked hard, I've built up a wealth and now I'm comfortable. I have confidence in my wealth that I've built up. Is that a problem? What is it about wealth that we can't always depend?

Steve 16:29

on. We can't always depend on the banks where the wealth is in. We can't depend on the companies that the wealth is invested in. Those things can fall overnight and that's happened throughout history. There's been people that have had great, vast amounts of wealth that have disappeared overnight through stock markets and other types of ways, through country upheaval. The institutions in which you have your wealth invested, they're not always as secure as one might think.

Glenn 16:59

Money can be stolen. Wealthy people tend to spend, as we alluded to earlier, spend a lot of time trying to keep someone else from stealing my money. That consumes me with my time. Your time is really the most valuable thing you have. You can always make more money. You can't always make more time. But also international and national monetary systems tend to fail periodically, and has happened in the past and will happen again. There's been quite wealthy people that wake up one day and the money system has just turned to dust. It happened during the Great Depression and can happen, will happen again periodically. Countries that happen.

Glenn 17:38

So it's nice to have a confidence. If you were to ask the apostle Paul, he said I've learned how to abound and I've learned how to be abased. Well, if you were to ask him which one's better, I think he'd say well, what do you think? It's better? To have some money, but we can't put our confidence in the money. That's the problem. Put your confidence in something that, through external controls, can turn it to dust.

Glenn 18:00

Here's the way I would put it. Money can buy a bed, but it can't buy sleep. Money can buy a house, but it can't buy a home. Money can buy doctors, but it won't buy health. Money can buy friends, but it won't buy love. Money can buy fun, but it won't buy true contentment. Money can buy sex, but it's not going to buy satisfaction. Yeah, money can buy all these external distractions to keep our mind off of. What am I going to do with my guilt inside here? It needs to be washed clean by the Lord God, but the money and all the things tend to get in our ways. That's the challenge and that's what he's saying here. These fabulously wealthy people had gotten there by taking advantage of the people around them. Here's the next question, Steve no matter how rich you are, how much of it are you going to leave when you die?

Steve 18:51

Every single bit of it. You're not going to take it with you. You're not going to have a big trailer load of money hauling it off to whichever direction that you might be going in your afterlife.

Glenn 19:01

I had a doctor once tell me that it's of no advantage to be the richest person in the graveyard. You didn't buy yourself anything. You're still in graveyard. What does God promise about taking care of our needs? You remember?

Steve 19:14

in the New Testament. What does he say? Well, he says asking you shall receive, and he talks about the bread that's provided in the Lord's prayer, the model prayer, the pray for our daily bread, which hearkens back to the manna that was given to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness, and that we should ask and know that God is going to take care of us and that he wants to take care of us. Of course, that's a reciprocal thing, in that we should also want to worship him and go to him with our needs. I want to stress needs, not necessarily wants.

Glenn 19:51

Well, that was exactly the next thing I was going to get to. He tells us in the New Testament my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory, philippians 419. He doesn't say my God will supply all your wants or all your fleshly desires, but just the opposite He'll supply all your needs according to his riches and glory. This passage tells us to just be careful with the love of money. Where is God's heart in relation to the poor and the downtrodden? Well, he's obviously has a. That's why he's got passages like this. God has a great heart for the poor and downtrodden.

Steve 20:32

Yeah, we see that all throughout scripture that God blesses the poor. Jesus said that I came to heal the sick and we saw through his miracles he constantly healed. My recollection is everybody that came to him for healing Jesus healed. He often went to the poor people. His 12 disciples was a cross section, but they were some of them were fishermen, which wasn't a wealthy occupation. His inner circle were people that the Pharisees found problems with because it says he eats with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus put himself among what we might say the common people. He didn't hang out with the wealthy people. He had some interactions with them. His message was consistent, whether they were wealthy or common, but he had more interactions with poor people than he did with wealthy people.

The Danger of Material Wealth

Glenn 21:37

Seemed to have a great heart for poor people throughout the Bible. In the New Testament, steve, you mentioned where Jesus said don't let your treasures get built up on earth where moth and rust destroy. But he also says things like be on your guard against every form of greed. He said that in Luke 12, 15. If money and material wealth is of our primary focus, we need to be very, very careful. Because of all these things. I've met many people that would say I would give everything I had if I just could get my family back, if I could get the love of my children back. People get so focused on the money. Notice, in these passages what he says is that these riches will be a witness against you. That's probably where we ought to stop here, but next time we're going to talk about that, because he says these will be a witness against you in the last days. From this we can draw some conclusions about what God says about the last days. We'll touch on that and keep on reasoning through the Bible next time.

Steve 22:41

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.