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True RichesTwo businessmen, met while vacationing at Miami Beach, there they began to compare notes. The first man said, “I’m here on insurance money.” “I collected $50,000 for fire damage.” “Me too”, the other replied. “But I got $100,000 for flood damage.” After a long pause, the first man turn to his new friend and asked, “Tell me, how do you start a flood?” Today as we continue our studies in the wonderful book of James we have come to what is some of the harder teachings of the bible. How God deals with our wealth and how he would have us use our wealth. James takes this topic and he hits his readers hard, I think as we study this portion of text it is important to remember what his purpose in writing this is. First James is writing to Christians, but Christians who have no heritage, no history to follow. Apparently by this point revival was happening, many people were coming faith in Christ, they received the free gift of salvation, by the grace of our Lord yet some of them were continuing to live as if they were still in charge of their lives. Some of these new believers were still trusting in their own abilities, talents and their earthy treasures, so James deals with them hard. His purpose is simple, to help them understand how to walk in the Spirit. To stop using others to get ahead and to fulfill the Royal Law, “love your neighbor as yourself.” He want them to understand what true riches are - and to see that their hope / their trust - need to be in God and not their wealth, or riches or any other thing. READ THE TEXT JAMES 5:1-6 TRUE RICHES The "War Cry" carried a story about a tenant farmer who had worked hard for many years to improve the production of the land. Then something happened that caused him to become very bitter. When it was time to renew his lease, the land owner told him he was going to sell the farm to his son who was getting married. The tenant made several generous offers to buy it himself, hoping the man's decision would be reversed. But it was all in vain. As the day drew near for the farmer to vacate his home, his anger finally got the best of him. He gathered seeds from some of the most pesky and noxious weeds he could find. Then he spent many hours scattering them on the clean, fertile soil of the farm, along with a lot of trash and all the stones he could collect. To his surprise the very next morning the owner came walking up to the house, as they talked the land owner informed the farmer that the plans for his son's wedding had fallen through, and therefore he would be happy to renew the lease. He couldn't understand why the farmer exclaimed in agonizing tones, "Oh, Lord, what a fool I've been!" The lesson is clear: Whatever we sow, we will eventually reap. What are we sowing with our wealth. You may say well the farmer was not
wealthy and I am not wealthy, so James is not writing to me. It is not the
amount of our wealth that James deals with, but how we acquire our wealth and
how we use it. See compared to the rest of the world we are all wealthy, and
we will all answer to God as to what our personal wealth has accomplished for
the Lord. TURN TO LUKE 12:16-26 / 31 Here we read again about a man who was blessed with an abundance and his entire focus in upon things. He is only concerned about how he can take store up his riches and not have to worry about the future, and yet his future was not even in his control. This is the mentality of many people in the culture we live in today. Get it, spend it on yourself, or hold onto it for dear life. You can have this mentality if your poor and a spendthrift, always in debt, wondering how you will pay this month’s light bills or if you can have this mentality if you are wealthy and enjoying every luxury. It’s the mentality that we trust in things that are temporal and not eternal, and we are not trusting in God. Compare that mentality with the teaching that Jesus gives in verse 22-31, how we are to have an eternal perspective and not just a earthly/ or temporal perspective on things. God is the one who provides, and to trust in riches or talents or anything else is foolishness. Our priority is clear, seek first the kingdom of God. The executive that trust in his abilities and career could see his company fold. The great collage football player who trusts in his talents, may never make the pros, or he could be injured, it is foolish to trust our futures to anything except the Lord. For he is the one who blesses with riches and he is the one who gives the talents. Trusting in treasures is temporal, trusting in true riches, the fullness of salvation and the provision from God, is eternal. As James highlights the contrast between temporal wealth and true riches, he gives us three self centered attributes that manifest themselves when we trust in the temporal instead of the eternal. 1. CHEATING OTHERS. How many stories have we heard of the wealthy businessman/ who cheats the small business owner, some of you in this room, have be cheated out of your wages. One contractor friend of mine was building a vacation home for a wealthy lawyer and when it came time for the final payment he gave him a portion of what he owed him and basically said that you can sue me if you want but I will keep it in court so long you’ll go broke. And even a couple of weeks ago someone in this congregation was working at a company where the owner decided to close the operation and not pay his people for the last week they worked. James reminds those who would do business in such a way when they indulge themselves – James reminds them that “God hears the cries of those they have wronged.” Notice - that his point is simple. “Live for the eternal.” Live your life in an upright way because the day will come when all such actions are brought to light. Like Jesus said. “Seek first the kingdom of God.” Its all about priorities. Trusting in earthly/ temporal riches can lead to cheating others, and God knows what you are doing. The second thing that trusting in the temporal does is leads to a life of. 2. SELF INDULGENCE. Like Jim Bakker of the PTL ministry scandal of a few years ago, with his air-conditioned dog house, and other outrageous things. Such extravagances in a world full of poverty are just heaping judgment upon their own heads. Now there is noting wrong with having wealth, there is nothing wrong with having nice things, and enjoying the many blessings that God has provided. Wealth is not the problem, money in and of itself is totally neutral, it is nether good nor bad. The bible does not condemn wealth, there are many wealthy men in the bible, Abraham, David, Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright © 1988.), to name a few. Wealth is not the problem, but like all of man’s relationship with God the issue is how we view our wealth and how we use our wealth. The bible teaches: 1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Money and wealth are not a problem in and of themselves but when a man/ a woman, begins to look to their wealth for all their hope, as the thing to trust in. Then that man/ that woman is a lover of money and not a lover of God. They are trusting in the Lord and have wandered from the faith. Wealth is a relative thing. We in America are wealthy, even the poorest in this congregation is extremely wealthy compared to 90% of the rest of the world. Look at the pictures from Nicaragua, see how people live just three hours from America. We are wealthy, and if God has blessed you with a little or a great deal, it is how we view our wealth, how we acquire our wealth, and what we do with our wealth what God sees. Jesus taught a couple of principles. 1. YOU CAN NOT TAKE IT WITH YOU SO – SEND IT UP AHEAD. Matt 6:19-21 "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 moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. It is true that you can not take it with you. Your wealth that is left behind will be enjoyed by someone else and of course the government will take their cut. But Jesus taught you that although you can not take wealth with you, you can send it on up ahead. When you arrive at the Pearly gates of heaven, streets of Gold, and walls of Precious stones, there you will be like Adam and Eve in the garden, they were naked and felt no shame. But great will be the rewards for those who have laid up treasures in heaven. How do you do that? Simply use what you have been given on earth to work for God’s kingdom. And trust in the Lord as your source of hope and not your things. You can say, “I don’t have much”, then what little you have is what God wants you to use. Use your talents for God, use your skills for God, use your mind for God, use your money for God. You can not take your earthy blessings with you, but you can invest them in heaven and send them up ahead as jewels and crowns in glory. 2. TRUST GOD AND NOT YOUR WEALTH. The second principle that Jesus taught concerning wealth is what our overall teaching is today. That we place our trust in the Lord and not in anything else including our wealth. TURN TO MATTHEW 19:16-26 What an incredible turn of events, this guy comes to Jesus in sincerity and Jesus answers his question. But he couldn’t leave it alone, he couldn’t stop with “great thanks Jesus I have kept these commandments.” See the problem was this guy knew in his own heart that there was still something missing, something important was lacking, and what was lacking was not poverty, but priorities. Jesus knew this young man was trusting in his wealth, most likely he got his money the old fashioned way, - he inherited it. But Jesus knew that was where his faith was, it was in the abundance of his wealth and possessions. So he tells this guy give it all up. Did he really need to sell it all? Maybe, for him that was the only way, but the principle is the same with all things in our relationship with God - what Jesus was looking for was a change of heart. This young man needed to put his hope/ his trust, in the Lord and not in his own wealth. Then Jesus gives us one of the harder teaching in the bible, that it is easer for a camel to go though the eye of a needle then for a man like this to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now I have heard the teachings about the eye of the needle being a little door in the wall of Jerusalem, but we can find no historic evidence that this is true. I believe Jesus was referring to a literal camel, and a little needle, its impossible. The apostles picked up on that, when they ask, “who can be saved.” Well salvation is of the Lord, no man can save himself, no woman can enter heaven without the Lord doing a great work. Jesus tells them, “nothing is impossible for God.” How do you get a camel though the eye of a needle? Simply grind him up real fine in a meat grinder. And that is a picture of what the Lord wants to do for each of us here today. He desires that we die to self, we are ground up so fine that there is nothing in this flesh that we trust in, rather our trust our hope is in the Lord. Crucified with Christ, the Apostle Paul spoke about that. Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus principle concerning wealth is, “have true riches, trust in the Lord as the provider, and use what he has blessed you with for his kingdom.” The Rich Young Ruler and his obviously wrong choice, it was too hard for him but think about his relative wealth. No matter how much wealth he had, he could not— ride in a car. Have any surgery, turn on a light, buy penicillin, hear a pipe organ, watch TV, wash dishes in running water, type a letter, mow a lawn, fly in an airplane, sleep on an innerspring mattress, or talk on the phone. If he was rich, then what am we? We see that trusting in earthy temporal treasures leads to cheating others, it leads to a life of self indulgence, and finally it leads to. 3. NO SATISFACTION. James tells his readers that they have condemned and murdered innocent people. The futility of trusting in treasures is that it becomes a never ending cycle of indulgence that will never be satisfied. There is no end in sight. Like Amelia, Marcus, who bought thousands of pairs of shoes while she and her husband ruled the Philippians with a rod of iron, and taxed the people until they finally revolted. Somewhere inside she thought that just one more pair of shoes would give her some peace, some contentment, some happiness, satisfaction. But try as she may, there was only emptiness and no satisfaction. Or consider these quotes. Earthy wealth if not used for God’s kingdom will rot, it will rust, and it provides no lasting joy.
I read about a pastor who had a man come to him with a prayer request. He had purchased a lottery ticket that would pay him Millions of dollars - if it turned out to be the "lucky" one. He asked the pastor, to pray that his number would be picked so he could give some money to the Lord, to build a new building. The minister hesitated, the said, "All right, but first let me ask you this: Are you willing to give God the same percentage of your present weekly income?" The fellow looked surprised and dismayed. "B-b-but I need that to live on," he stammered. This man's heart / his priorities were not right with God. His seemingly spiritual request was merely a cover-up for selfishness. And there is no satisfaction for that. When our hope is in the things of this world, be that money or possessions, or even our own abilities/ talents there will be no satisfaction. We will need a little more, will be a little more stingy, and we will be a little further from God. What was happening when James wrote this portion of text? We can not be totally sure, but we can see there were men / women who horded their wealth and used others to gain it. So James simply reminds them what Jesus taught, God knows your heart, he sees what you are doing. In Matthew 18 Jesus tells the story of a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him so much money he was not able to pay. So the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. But the servant fell on his knees and pleaded for mercy and said, “I will pay back everything.” The master had mercy on him, canceled the entire debt. Then the servant went out, he found a man who owed him a small amount of money he grabbed him and began to choke him and demanded that he pay back every cent. The man begged for more time to pay it back but he refused and had man thrown into prison. Well some other folks saw what had happened, and they went and told the master. So the master called the servant a “wicked servant” and turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. Jesus concluded that teaching with. Matthew 18: 35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Jesus teaches, its all from the heart, the rich man here is gracious and giving, the poorer man, has a attitude of the love of money, see wealth is not the issue, the issue is heart. Having a heart yielded to God, trusting in Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. Prov 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow. In our text today we see how we should live when guided by the Spirit.
1st. IF YOUR POOR, TRUST GOD. The March 1988 Rotarian tells a story about a bounty of
$5,000 offered for each wolf captured alive. It turned Sam and Jed into fortune
hunters. Day and night they scoured the mountains and forests looking for their
valuable prey. Exhausted one night, they fell asleep dreaming of their
potential fortune. Suddenly, Sam awoke to see that about 50 wolves with flaming
eyes and bared teeth surrounded them. He nudged his friend and said, Jed, wake
up! We’re rich! SING/ PRAY/ BENEDICTION.
Series: James -Through the Bible |
(C) High Sierra Fellowship 2008 |
