WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:04.400 I also want to say I appreciate very much. 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:12.960 Many of you know that a little over a week ago my sister died, and we were in New Mexico to try to be with the family. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:20.640 And Jane and I were really touched with the many expressions of love and condolences, a hard time. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.839 It's always hard when a loved one is lost, isn't it? 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:25.600 Anyway, that was wonderful. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:27.760 We feel like we're a part of a family here. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:30.559 We appreciate that very, very much. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.600 I'd like to like to ask you to turn, if you would, please, to James chapter 5. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:55.520 As we begin to wind down in the perusal and study of this book, the book of James, chapter 5. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:07.120 By the time the school year rolls around, which is here almost around the corner, it'll be Christmas before you know it. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:08.879 You realize that, don't you? 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:19.680 Now, coming from another part of the country, I've when I've said that, I realize that people kind of get irritated when I said, Christmas is right around the corner. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:23.359 It's like, can't you allow us to enjoy this beautiful weather? 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:25.760 Do you have to remind us of what's coming? 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:35.120 But you know, last winter, it was a wonderful, beautiful, mild winter, and I'm assuming that's the way it always is around here. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:38.319 So let the snow come. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.480 I think we need to pray, don't we? 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.640 Let's pray. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:56.239 Heavenly Father, we would truly say, let whatever you want in our lives to come. 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:15.039 Because what you want and what you sovereignly and graciously arrange for us and allow in our lives is good and you use it for good, even if in and of itself it is so painful and hard and even bad. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:22.479 You are a God who takes bad things and uses them for your good purposes. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:26.719 And so all we really want is what you want. 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:28.159 Really. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:36.240 Heavenly Father, you have a passage before us that is not an easy passage. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:49.280 And I pray that we would have ears that are open and a heart that is willing to ask, what in the world, if anything, does this mean for me? 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:56.080 And so we ask, Lord, uh, teach us, we pray, in Jesus' name. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:57.199 Amen. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:06.719 Um we uh we have been walking slowly through a difficult book. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:23.599 Not difficult because of the complexity of what James had to say to the believers in the first century, and by the miracle of the inspiration of the scriptures and preservation of the scriptures, what God also has to say to us as well. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:37.199 Not because it's so difficult to understand, it's not all that difficult to uh to study, it's just difficult to hear at times, and it's difficult to live out. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.520 And yet it is God's word. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.639 It was his word for them, and it's his word for us today. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:55.840 Um I would have to say that this passage in particular is one that I approach with a measure of fear and trepidation. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:02.319 Um I would have just as soon given this passage to Scott or somebody else to deal with. 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:15.520 Because this is like the entire book, hard-hitting, direct, in your face, practical, true, and necessary. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:24.480 But there's something about the tone of this passage which uh which I find a little bit difficult. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:43.199 So as I've been approaching this message this morning, um one of the several weeks ago, I I showed you a couple of uh pages from a page-a-day calendar uh designed for pastors, kind of insider jokes for pastors. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:56.639 And as I was approaching this passage, uh one of those particular pages, it was from March 6th, uh came and I want to show it to you, but I need to set it up for you first. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:09.680 This portrays a senior pastor uh sitting and talking to his associates, and they are looking at the preaching calendar. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:17.040 And what that says, you can't possibly read it, it's far too small, but let me tell you what it says there. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:20.480 So the senior pastor, speaking to the associate pastor. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:26.959 All right, I'll preach on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Easter. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:40.720 You can have the role of women in the church, speaking in tongues today, biblical inerrancy, and oh yes, our special fundraising Sunday. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.639 See, this is every pastor's dream. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:57.120 Um again, I I find this passage actually not so difficult in and of itself, but because of the tone. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.560 So would you follow along as I read? 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:09.439 And as we seek to open ourselves up to the question, does this have anything to say to us? 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:10.800 Okay. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:18.000 I'm reading in the ESV, chapter 5 of James, verses 1 through 6. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:26.720 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:32.480 Your riches have rotted in and your garments are moth-eaten. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:42.240 Your gold and silver have corroded, their corrosion will be evidence against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:59.439 You have laid up treasures in the last day, 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. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:03.600 You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:07.360 You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:16.079 You have condemned and murdered the righteous people, and he, referring to God, does not resist you. 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:19.600 God is speaking to you, he is saying. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.720 So have a wonderful Sunday. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:39.920 What we have here is a blistering, blistering condemnation and hellfire and brimstone. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:48.319 And we don't like to hear it, and sometimes it's not a lot of fun to say it. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:56.399 Um this is a passage that our only response can be, ouch, ouch. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.519 But then also, does this have anything to say to us? 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:23.120 Um this topic of God's seething, righteous condemnation of people who are wealthy and abuse and misuse their wealth, live in luxury and self-indulgence. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.399 This is not a message that we'd like to hear. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:34.480 And I suppose, I suppose it's possible that this has no application to any of us. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.279 I suppose that's possible. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:43.759 But let's not be so quick to assume that this applies to someone else. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:50.480 Maybe the person sitting in the other pew, or maybe somebody who's not in church this morning. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:55.120 Does this have anything to say to us? 00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:59.679 It's not a topic that left to myself, I would choose to speak on. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:04.399 But then again, I haven't been left to myself to decide what to speak on. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:11.279 Well, we do here is we take a book of the Bible and we just work our way through it. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:15.279 And whatever happens to come to the surface, that's what we talk about next. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:23.200 And it's amazing to me how invariably there's something there for many of us. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:32.080 Far more than if I were to select a topic in which I said, Oh, Tim and Twyla really need this one, so here's for Tim and Twyla. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.600 When I try to do that, Tim and Twyla never show up. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:39.600 Or the Tims and Twylas that are sitting all throughout. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:45.039 So what we just do is we take what God has before us and we try to say, Lord, what are you saying? 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:45.759 What does it mean? 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:47.440 What does it mean to me? 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.000 And uh open ourselves up to God. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:58.879 You know, sometimes I wonder with whatever happened to Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.399 Can't we just stick with that? 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:02.159 Well, that is absolutely true. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:07.440 Jesus loves us, and we do know that because the scriptures have said that. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:15.519 But there's many other things that Jesus has said besides, oh, I love you, how wonderful you folks are. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:17.519 You're just the best thing. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:21.360 You're something special, you're the only one of your kind. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:24.720 And yet that's what we want to, what we want to hear. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:29.600 And by God's grace, he makes us into something special. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.240 It's not because of us, it's because of him. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.919 Uh and boy, are we the only one of our kind. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.559 Look in the mirror. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:40.000 Wow. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:52.799 Um, you know, the disciples, I'm struck and I'm reminded of Jesus in the upper room with the disciples. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:02.399 And I remember, and there's so much about the upper room discourse, John chapter 13 through 17, that I absolutely love. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:07.120 Um, you know, in my father's house there are many dwelling places. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.279 If it were not so, I would have told you. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.759 I go and prepare a place for you that where I am you may be also. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:20.960 Um and he talks about his love for his people and his protection for his people and the tenderness. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:25.360 Uh and when I read the Upper Room Discourse, that's what I want to hear. 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:41.360 When I really read it, I hear him saying some things to his disciples the night before he was to be crucified, some things that were disturbing to them, and yet I'm not so interested in hearing those. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:52.480 Um there's an interesting verse in uh in Mark chapter 14, actually Mark 14, 18 to 19. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.159 Let me see if I can find that. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:02.480 Mark 14, 18 to 19, uh in this is also what was uh said in the upper room. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:25.360 John in the upper room discourse talks about it, but Mark 14, verses 18 and 19, uh, part of that same discussion, Jesus said, and as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.480 Now that was disturbing. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.360 That was concerning to them. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:43.279 And they didn't say, Oh yeah, that must be Judas, although this was said specifically about Judas. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:54.639 But what they said was they began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after the other, is that Judas? 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:55.360 Is that Judas? 00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:57.279 Is that no, that's not what they said. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:01.759 They said one after the other, Lord, is it I? 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.440 So surely he was talking about Judas. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:07.120 Well, surely he was. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.399 He was also talking about Peter. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:16.399 Within a few hours, Peter would deny him three times. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:24.879 So let's not be so quick to assume that the difficult passages don't apply to us. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:25.600 Okay? 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:31.039 So, uh and and I don't know exactly how this passage. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:35.279 I will make some suggestions of how it might apply to us. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.519 But I don't know what God is saying to you personally this morning. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:47.679 I tend to believe He is saying something to each of us if we will open our ears and respond. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:14:00.879 We are confronted with uh inconvenient truths, truths about our own heart, if we will listen and apply. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:05.519 So again, just let's not be too quick to dismiss it. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:06.240 All right. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.799 So just a big picture of what we have in these verses. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:19.519 Uh Jesus was writing to Jewish Christians, what we would call messianic Jews, mostly. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:35.440 There were no doubt some Gentiles in the churches, but the churches in the area to which James, uh younger brother of Jesus, was writing, were clearly believers who had found in Jesus the Christ, their Messiah. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:40.879 And they were scattered around, particularly the northern part of the Mediterranean basis. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:49.840 And there were in the churches to whom he was writing, there were people who were wealthy and there were people who were poor. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:55.120 And he has something to say very directly to both. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:15:09.679 There are people who were oppressed and abused, and there were people who were oppressors and abusers in the same church, sitting next to each other on Sunday morning with their best Sunday morning face on. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:21.120 And why would we assume that if this applied to them, it doesn't apply to us? 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:22.799 Maybe it doesn't to you. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.039 Maybe it does. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.679 In that day there was no middle class really to speak of. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.320 You had the wealthy and you had the impoverished. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:16:00.639 The middle class really didn't develop until 15, 1600, 1700s as trade and the rise of cities and so forth developed in Europe. 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:07.919 So you had the rich and the poor, and we would put ourselves probably in the middle class. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.600 Most of us would uh would say we're not rich. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:23.600 Um, hardly anyone, although some in our midst are in very difficult financial situations, but we would quickly identify ourselves with the middle class. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.519 And so what does this say to us? 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:52.960 Well, the fact of the matter is that the uh the kind of life that we have today, and I'm not saying this to make us feel guilty, but the fact of the matter is the kind of life that we have today in our middle class society was far above uh what uh even in the Middle Ages the nobility had. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:58.799 Our homes have more creature comforts in them than most medieval castles. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.000 It's true. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.480 It's absolutely true. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:14.480 So, in fact, most people in the world would view us as affluent and wealthy. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:18.079 It's just the way it it is. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:24.400 So again, let's let's not be too quick to say, no, this doesn't have anything to do with me. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:36.480 Uh James has is saying to us in this passage that faith that works, and that's the theme that we've taken for the book of James, faith that works. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:51.599 Faith that works demands serious personal reflection about how we acquire, manage, and use our financial resources, be they great or be they small. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:18:12.000 A real living faith requires that we honestly, sincerely reflect upon how we view, use, steward, manage the financial resources that God has entrusted to us. 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:16.640 And if we're not open to being challenged in that area, then we're not listening. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:35.039 We're not listening to God because He constantly and consistently challenges us and reminds us that we need to be thinking about how we view material things, how we manage them, what our heart attitude towards them is, how we acquire them. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:41.359 These are all things that significantly interface with our spiritual lives. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:53.920 The book of James says repeatedly, and we've seen all of these passages, that our spiritual lives and our material financial lives are intimately intertwined. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:19:14.319 So in James chapter 1, verses 9 through 11, he has already said to us that the rich should not boast in their loftiness and their arrogance, but rather should realize that this life and the things of this life are fleeting and they will not last. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:22.480 In James chapter 1, 26 and 27, we saw that God is not impressed with the same things we are. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:35.440 We're impressed with powerful, influential, wealthy people, people of power, and we want to hang out with them, and we want to be thought well of them, and we want to chase after the things that wealthy, influential people have. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:38.480 And that is not what God values. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:56.079 It's apparently what we value, but God values people who hang out with and highly esteem and serve the lowly and the needy and who have compassion for people who live in very difficult situations. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:01.039 Do we esteem the same thing God values? 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:02.720 Well, yes and no. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:18.960 But the fact of the matter is we're much more impressed in desire of chasing after wealth and influence than we are truly being compassionate and involved with those in our midst. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:23.039 And there are those in our midst who are very needy. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:32.000 Parenthetically, this is not a church that does not care and is not generous. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:34.720 That is not at all what I'm saying. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:44.720 When a need is presented, and even in recent weeks, there was a specific situation in which a particular need was presented. 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:57.599 And what what the response was of the group of people here in our midst who saw that and pulled out their pocketbook and pulled out their checkbook was beautiful to behold. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:01.200 And when I heard about it, it almost brought tears to my eyes. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:13.279 I am not suggesting that we are unresistant to God's instructions to us to care and serve the needy among us. 00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:23.039 I'm just saying that James says how we handle our resources says something about where we're at in our spiritual lives. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:29.039 Chapter 3, verse 13 and following talked about wisdom from above and wisdom from below. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:33.680 Wisdom from below is worldly, unspiritual, and demonic. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:45.920 And then he says that expresses itself and is characterized by selfishness, lack of mercy, and compassion for those who are less fortunate than ourselves. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:53.440 Our spiritual life and our material attitudes and actions are closely intertwined. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:59.759 Chapter 4, verse 3 a clear fact that our prayers are sometimes. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.359 Not answered because we're praying for the wrong thing. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:10.160 We are praying that God would bless us so we could take that blessing and have a good life. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:13.599 And James says, God does not answer that prayer. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:15.599 That's not a godly prayer. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.720 Lord, can I have more that I can have more? 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:24.799 Or does God bless us so that we can give more and serve more? 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:30.799 And if we're just praying for material blessing for our sake, don't bother. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:33.119 Just don't bother. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:53.119 It's not that material blessing is wrong, but why would you think that if God increases our financial means, that that means we should live a better life, an easier life, have more things, more enjoyable, be able to take better trips, be able to have a nicer car, have a bigger house. 00:22:53.279 --> 00:23:00.960 Why would we assume that God's blessings on us automatically mean that we ought to have a higher lifestyle? 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:02.160 Where do we get that? 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:04.160 We don't get that from Scripture. 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:07.440 We get that from our society and our culture. 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:25.039 In this passage, in a simple way, James does three things, and I want you to be attentive to them, and then I'm going to go through these few verses and explain each of these three one by one. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:26.319 He does three things. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:32.319 He announces God's judgment on rich and oppressive people. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:42.079 Rich people who misuse the means and the influence that God has given them. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:24:02.640 He will encourage the oppressed by the sure and certain fact that God will one day most assuredly set right every wrong. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:23.519 And the counterpoint to that is that God will most assuredly judge every selfish, oppressive tendency, every bone in our bodies that takes the things that we have and uses them wrongly. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:26.640 The judgment of God falls upon that. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:32.720 Thirdly, he warns us of the grave danger of materialism. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:40.400 So let's uh let's just, the exposition of this passage is the ouch. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:45.359 The application of it is, Lord, is it me? 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:46.400 Is it I? 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.720 But we need to feel the ouch, not slide away. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:56.640 This may not apply to you, it may apply to you. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:01.680 But we need to listen to the to what God says. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:12.240 James begins with a vivid reminder of the terror, the absolute terror of approaching judgment. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:20.640 The absolute terror of the condemnation of God when it falls on men. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:29.440 A vivid reminder of judgment that is about to come in the terrible day of the Lord. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:41.039 So James says, Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:43.759 Weep and howl. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:26:00.160 James describes a horrible reality about which the scriptures clearly speak, about which gentle Jesus, meek and mild, who only went around telling people how much he loved them, wrong. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:12.400 Jesus also made very clear the piercing soul, destroying reality of judgments. 00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:15.200 Weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:20.160 It is a discussion of the description here of God's wrath. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:21.680 And this is harsh. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:22.720 This is hard. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.119 There is nothing pretty about this. 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:27.759 Weeping and gnashing of teeth. 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:34.319 These are extreme words, these are extreme expressions, weeping, wailing. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:38.640 There is a howling. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:49.839 Yeah, folks, I'm not going to take the time to go through what the prophets have said to us. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:56.640 I would ask you, I'd ask you to write those down and look these up and have a wonderful afternoon. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.079 And I actually mean that. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:07.359 Because when we neglect something that God repeatedly says, we are hurting ourselves. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:09.519 He says it for our good. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:17.920 And these are just three of scores of places in the Old Testament where God gets in our face. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:19.440 Okay? 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:26.000 With the approaching terror of judgment. 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:47.200 And these passages, along with ours this morning, including Jesus' words in Mark 9, describe the shrieking, howling, frantic terror of those who undergo the condemnation of the damned. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:50.319 Let me repeat that. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:28:09.759 These and scores of other passages, Old Testament and New, repeatedly describe the shrieking, howling, frantic terror of those who are undergoing the tortures of the damned. 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:13.440 We used to talk about that. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:18.880 We don't very much anymore in our evangelical world. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.240 This is a reality. 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:25.839 This is part of what the scriptures say, and this is part of who our God is. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:44.480 And by God's grace, we have a cross, we have a substitute, we have salvation, we have a savior, so that by faith what we deserve gets placed on Christ, and what Christ deserved but didn't get, we get. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:47.200 The cross is this great exchange. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:52.799 What we deserve, Jesus God, and we get what we don't deserve. 00:28:53.119 --> 00:29:08.480 But do not for a moment underplay the reality of the horror, the shrieking cosmic existential terror of the condemnation of the damned. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:10.160 That is real. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:15.359 And that ought to drive us to the cross. 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:22.319 One of the reasons we're celebrating the Lord's Supper after this message this morning. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:41.279 So what we have in verses two and three is the selfish, excessive stockpiling of wealth, which the Bible here calls hoarding. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:46.480 Verse 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:57.279 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:13.759 Now, what he is talking about here, gold and silver and the treasures that are laid up, your riches have rotten, your garments are moth-eaten, etc. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:20.480 This is uh this is the expressions of wealth in the New Testament time. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:30.640 The expressions of wealth in the New Testament time had to do with grain, plentiful grain that was harvested and stockpiled. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:37.599 Not necessarily wrong, but it can become wrong if it's for my own selfish purposes. 00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:41.119 But this was an expression of wealth and affluence. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:43.599 It was stockpiling of grain. 00:30:43.839 --> 00:31:02.000 It was also, and James has spoken before in this book, about excessive, excessively beautiful and expensive clothes and jewelry, and that was the expression of affluence. 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:05.680 And he says, all of that will be gone. 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:09.039 All of that will be gone. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:19.039 Perhaps the equivalent things, um, now unless you're a farmer, uh, I don't have a problem stockpiling too much grain. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:23.839 I don't think most farmers have a problem stockpiling too much of it, right, Mike? 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:30.400 But we stockpile our wealth and and and it shows up in other ways. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:36.880 It shows up by our frantic efforts to get the largest retirement nest egg we can possibly get. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:46.000 It shows up in our fancy homes and our cars and our toys and our boats and our snowmobiles and my library. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:49.680 You know, if I were to talk about the things, you haven't seen my library. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:54.799 I didn't pack it in the back of our little Ford Escape, but you know, that's a big treasure to me. 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:57.839 I have invested heavily in that library. 00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:03.440 So we all tend to stockpile things. 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.519 Um it could be almost anything. 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:16.720 It could be a second home, it could be a spectacular vacation that we give ourselves. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:20.240 And I'm not saying those things are inherently wrong. 00:32:20.799 --> 00:32:29.680 What is being talked about here is what is the attitude about this drive to constantly accumulate more and more and more. 00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:36.079 And Jesus, James actually makes two major points here. 00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:40.559 He says, none of it, none of it will last. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:33:06.160 We're hopefully familiar with what he said in Matthew chapter 6, uh, verses 19 and 20, where he said, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break into steel, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:14.160 And throughout the New Testament, throughout the Gospels, Jesus reminds us that none of this stuff lasts. 00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:34.720 All of the accumulation of our wealth, whether it's a selfish, frantic effort to get as much as we can, or whether it's just all that we've got, we barely are able to survive, all of our wealth will one day be destroyed. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:46.400 You see, when we put our focus in material things, it's like investing things that are precious to us in a known failure. 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:59.839 The reality is it's a terrible investment when we invest in material things, when we hoard them, when we gather them, when we try to hang on to them, because all of them will be destroyed. 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.640 It's the worst possible investment. 00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:06.240 It's guaranteed to result in zero. 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:08.079 Guaranteed. 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:10.800 Guaranteed to result in zero. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:13.760 You will not take it with you. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:16.239 It doesn't mean it's evil. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:27.280 It just means if we are driven to have our lives acquire more and more and more, we're investing in a stupid investment. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:30.400 Stupid investment. 00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:34.000 All of my investments are stupid. 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:43.599 Now, I may, by God's grace, be able to use them to provide for myself and for other people, and that's not stupid. 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:46.719 But the hard attitude to want more and more. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:51.119 And the things we invested in are not lasting. 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:08.159 He said that before he was martyred in Central America in the 50s. 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:15.199 He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:17.840 And that's very much the spirit of this. 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:34.800 But when we lose our job, we have trouble seeing that as something that God has graciously done for us. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:42.719 When we're in full health and vigor, we say, praise God, how good God is. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:50.320 And when God sends us a doctor's report, do we still say God is good? 00:35:51.840 --> 00:36:00.079 When we're young and in love and God gives us a partner and God gives us wonderful kids, well, at least some of the time they're wonderful. 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:04.079 But what about when God takes away a loved one? 00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:11.440 Can we see the reality of a God who loves us and knows what we need? 00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:17.599 And sometimes because He loves us, He knocks the props out from under us? 00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:23.840 When things are going well, it is much harder to trust God, frankly. 00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:26.559 Have you experienced that or not? 00:36:26.880 --> 00:36:34.079 When life is a beach and it's sunny, it's pretty easy to praise God. 00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:46.400 When life stinks, when life hurts, when we're racked with pain, physical, emotional, relational, whatever. 00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:49.760 Has God in his goodness changed? 00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:54.239 Or do we not have perhaps the right picture of God? 00:36:54.719 --> 00:36:56.000 Look at Job. 00:36:56.239 --> 00:36:58.000 What did God do to Job? 00:36:58.159 --> 00:36:59.760 And you say, yeah, well, Satan did that. 00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:01.280 You don't read very well. 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:10.400 Satan could only do what God allowed him to do, and God's purposes for Job were to use Satan for his good. 00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:31.599 If we don't have a view of God that allows us to see that God lovingly and graciously does things to us, I said that intently, to us, for us, that hurt, then we have a very impoverished view of God. 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:34.239 It's not the God of the Bible. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:47.119 The second point that he makes here is that wealth is entrusted to us to use and not to stockpile. 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:58.320 The reality is that whenever we misuse the good things God gives us, they go bad on us. 00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:02.079 It'd be like hanging on to an egg for too long. 00:38:02.559 --> 00:38:03.440 What happens? 00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:07.599 Just leave the egg out on the counter for a few weeks. 00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:10.800 Doesn't even take that long. 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.960 It's not nice. 00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:15.039 We know that about eggs. 00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:17.920 How come we don't know that about our nest eggs? 00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:29.039 You see, our material resources, if we don't use them for the purposes for which God gives them, then they have a way of going bad on us. 00:38:29.119 --> 00:38:45.440 And what he says here is that this becomes something that is corroding and rotting, and it will it will eat your flesh like fire. 00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:56.559 Now, if he was saying that in today's terms, he would say, our material blessings, if we're not careful, will become like a cancer that rots our souls. 00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:58.480 Rots our souls. 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:07.440 If we put our focus in material things, we will not experience the true blessings of God. 00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:15.440 It's not because material things are wrong, it's because if we're not careful, our heart attitude about them is wrong. 00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:26.960 We must not misuse the gifts and the good things that God gives us. 00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:32.000 Excuse me. 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:39.840 The abusive power of wealth and things that wealth brings. 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:43.440 Verse 4. 00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:59.039 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, though the wages, their wages are crying out against you, and the cries of harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:05.840 Verse 6, you have condemned and murdered the righteous person, he does not resist you. 00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:17.039 The wages of the laborers whom you have defrauded, he said, cry out against you as they reach the ears of the Lord of hosts. 00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:33.440 Now, in this talking about was the economic system of day laborers in the New Testament. 00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:59.920 And just to help us understand what that's uh all about, in the Palestinian economy, the Palestinian economy used hired day laborers rather than slaves, in part because a slave could cost more than he otherwise would cost more if he converted to Judaism, because he'd have to treat the slaves differently. 00:41:00.480 --> 00:41:09.199 The hired laborers would be the younger sons of peasant families or peasants forced off their land due to the foreclosure of mortgages on their property. 00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:11.599 These laborers lived hand-to-mouth existence. 00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:14.719 Today's wages brought tomorrow's breakfast. 00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:18.480 Today's wages were needed for tomorrow's breakfast. 00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:22.559 When the wage was not paid at the end of the day, the whole family went hungry. 00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:28.159 Despite a host of Old Testament laws, ways were found to withhold payment. 00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:33.039 One might withhold them until the end of the harvest to keep the worker coming back. 00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:40.960 He might appeal to a technicality showing that the contract had not yet been fulfilled, or he might be just too tired to pay that night. 00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:44.960 If the poor worker complained, the landlord could blacklist him. 00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:48.159 If he went to court, the rich had better lawyers. 00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:51.679 This is the kind of thing that's being talked about here. 00:41:53.599 --> 00:42:00.800 The abuse of laborers, the selfish, wrong abuse of laborers. 00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:10.159 So he talks about the ability to manipulate the judicial system by the rich and the wealthy. 00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:13.280 They had better lawyers. 00:42:13.519 --> 00:42:16.000 That was back in Jesus' day. 00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:18.480 Not a whole lot has changed. 00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:25.840 If you have a good enough lawyer, if you can afford it, you'll probably be able to get along and not have to pay. 00:42:27.039 --> 00:42:40.480 He talks about, well, the abuse of power in general, the abuse of power in general is something that we recognize. 00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:43.280 It fills the newspapers. 00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:47.519 It fills the political discussion today. 00:42:50.000 --> 00:43:00.480 The most powerful political figures, and I don't care if you're talking about Democrat or Republican, they have found ways to get around the system. 00:43:01.679 --> 00:43:07.440 Found ways to get around the system because of their power, their influence, and their wealth. 00:43:08.079 --> 00:43:13.199 God will most assuredly condemn that. 00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:19.920 God will one day most assuredly set every wrong right. 00:43:21.119 --> 00:43:23.599 And we need to pay attention. 00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:28.079 Because the same tendency is within you and me. 00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:33.360 You get a little bit of authority, a little bit of power, you have a certain position. 00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:42.800 And the tendency, the danger for me and for you is to self righteously abuse that. 00:43:43.119 --> 00:43:44.719 That's us, folks. 00:43:44.960 --> 00:43:46.880 It's not just people out there. 00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:49.840 We see it in extreme forms. 00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:53.280 Do we ever ask ourselves, Lord, is that me? 00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:56.480 Is there anything about that in my life? 00:43:58.320 --> 00:43:59.599 Abusive treatment of work. 00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:02.559 We just talked a little bit about that. 00:44:02.719 --> 00:44:05.039 We'll come back to that in just a minute. 00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:09.360 And then finally, sinful and self-indulgent living. 00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:13.119 Verse 5. 00:44:15.920 --> 00:44:20.960 You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 00:44:21.599 --> 00:44:25.360 You have fatted your hearts in the day of slaughter. 00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:34.960 He talks here about a life of ease. 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:36.960 Verse 5. 00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:41.280 You have lived on the earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:46.639 Luxury, the word itself, means soft and pampered. 00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:52.400 We live our lives as softly and as pamperedly as we can possibly make it. 00:44:53.360 --> 00:44:54.400 That's us. 00:45:00.400 --> 00:45:08.239 The picture here is of the rich and the powerful whose affluence secures for themselves a life of ease. 00:45:12.400 --> 00:45:19.119 As though God's purposes are to give us an easy life. 00:45:31.119 --> 00:45:46.480 And yet we preach gospels, we proclaim them, we have television programs, radio stations, megachurches are filled with the message that you're really something special, and God wants you to have all of the good things in life. 00:45:46.639 --> 00:45:53.760 And if you don't happen to have those, then there must be something deficient with you, because we know God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. 00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:55.039 That is baloney. 00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:57.679 We said that last week, and we'll say it forever. 00:45:57.920 --> 00:46:01.280 That is not what the pictures, the scriptures portray. 00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:05.119 God does not exist to give you the good life. 00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:08.239 Wait a minute. 00:46:09.280 --> 00:46:12.880 There is a life to come that is good. 00:46:13.599 --> 00:46:23.360 And by his grace we may enjoy great blessings and moments of joy, and we can enjoy the good things that God gives us. 00:46:23.599 --> 00:46:25.920 It's not that those are wrong. 00:46:26.800 --> 00:46:28.719 But is that what we deserve? 00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:30.480 Is that what God is for? 00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:35.760 And if God chooses to bless us, is that so that we'll have a comfy life? 00:46:36.159 --> 00:46:37.920 More secure life? 00:46:38.320 --> 00:46:40.159 That's the American way. 00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:47.360 That's not the biblical pattern of who God is or what a God follow how a God follower lives. 00:46:47.440 --> 00:46:49.119 I'm sorry, it's just not. 00:47:16.480 --> 00:47:22.320 A calf that was raised for a particular purpose, that at a day of festival it would be slaughtered. 00:47:22.559 --> 00:47:29.519 The prodigal son comes back, the father says, Wow, now it's time to bring out and slaughter the fatted calf and we're going to have a party. 00:47:29.679 --> 00:47:34.000