Day 18 - 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting
Day 18 - James 5:1-6
SCRIPTURE:
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.
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.
LESSON:
This section of scripture has always thrown me for a loop. As I read through James there are references to trials and tribulations and also to rich people causing problems for the believers. There is a command to avoid favoring the rich or showing partiality. There is even a reminder to not be boastful of what you will accomplish in the future which comes right before these verses. But these verses still come out of the blue! It’s like a complete and utter attack on the rich. So what gives?
What James is actually doing is wrapping up his letter in a three part conclusion. We’ll look at the second and third parts over the next several days. The first part, which we read today, is a warning to everyone who abuses what has come from God. James has already told us earlier that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) James makes the point that there is danger in wealth. We may be tempted to rely on our financial resources instead of God. Or we might be tempted to think that we provided these material possessions through some power of our own. Either way, if we love money more than God we are in trouble. Jesus even tells us that the “love of money, is the root of all evil.”
James is not condemning money in this passage, rather he is condemning the actions of the wealthy. They had chosen to cheat, steal and defraud those around them. Their focus is clearly on “heaping up treasure,” which is materialism. The obsession with the here and now. This temporal, material, created stuff.
“One of the mysteries is how Christianity ever came to be regarded as the opium of the people. There is no book in any literature that speaks so explosively of social injustice as does the Bible. It does not condemn wealth as such, but there is no book which more strenuously insists on wealth's responsibilities, and on the perils that surround the man of wealth.” William Barclay
The ones who James warns of impending judgment are the ones who are focused on accumulation of wealth at the expense of mercy, justice, and generosity. They choose to pursue their own passions instead of the will of God. They put wealth in the primary position in their life and make an idol out of the created thing. They attain the temporal at the expense of the eternal.
What can we learn from this section of James? We must take inventory of ourselves. Are we living for money? Are we heaping up stuff? What is our purpose in life?
God wants us to live in such a way that the blessings that he gives us become a blessing to the world around us. Use your wealth to further the kingdom of God. Use your position and influence to change the world for good. Make a difference through the blessings that God has poured out in your life! Don’t allow wealth to be your primary pursuit in this life. Pursue Jesus!
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
This section of scripture has always thrown me for a loop. As I read through James there are references to trials and tribulations and also to rich people causing problems for the believers. There is a command to avoid favoring the rich or showing partiality. There is even a reminder to not be boastful of what you will accomplish in the future which comes right before these verses. But these verses still come out of the blue! It’s like a complete and utter attack on the rich. So what gives?
What James is actually doing is wrapping up his letter in a three part conclusion. We’ll look at the second and third parts over the next several days. The first part, which we read today, is a warning to everyone who abuses what has come from God. James has already told us earlier that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) James makes the point that there is danger in wealth. We may be tempted to rely on our financial resources instead of God. Or we might be tempted to think that we provided these material possessions through some power of our own. Either way, if we love money more than God we are in trouble. Jesus even tells us that the “love of money, is the root of all evil.”
James is not condemning money in this passage, rather he is condemning the actions of the wealthy. They had chosen to cheat, steal and defraud those around them. Their focus is clearly on “heaping up treasure,” which is materialism. The obsession with the here and now. This temporal, material, created stuff.
“One of the mysteries is how Christianity ever came to be regarded as the opium of the people. There is no book in any literature that speaks so explosively of social injustice as does the Bible. It does not condemn wealth as such, but there is no book which more strenuously insists on wealth's responsibilities, and on the perils that surround the man of wealth.” William Barclay
The ones who James warns of impending judgment are the ones who are focused on accumulation of wealth at the expense of mercy, justice, and generosity. They choose to pursue their own passions instead of the will of God. They put wealth in the primary position in their life and make an idol out of the created thing. They attain the temporal at the expense of the eternal.
What can we learn from this section of James? We must take inventory of ourselves. Are we living for money? Are we heaping up stuff? What is our purpose in life?
God wants us to live in such a way that the blessings that he gives us become a blessing to the world around us. Use your wealth to further the kingdom of God. Use your position and influence to change the world for good. Make a difference through the blessings that God has poured out in your life! Don’t allow wealth to be your primary pursuit in this life. Pursue Jesus!
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
PRAYER:
Father, help me to seek you first. Help me to love you more than material wealth. I know you will provide everything I need for this life. Help me to be generous to others just as you have been generous to me. Thank you God for everything good in my life! Amen!
Father, help me to seek you first. Help me to love you more than material wealth. I know you will provide everything I need for this life. Help me to be generous to others just as you have been generous to me. Thank you God for everything good in my life! Amen!
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