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Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip. The title of this message Comes from an old saying. I know you've heard it before. It comes from the 1850s. A man in England who came up with the saying: a fool and his money.
Soon part. But he didn't come up with the idea, though he stated it that way. That's a truth. that he derived from The scriptures. Proverbs chapter 21, verse 20.
says there is desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but the foolish man Squanders it. That's um Old-fashioned way of saying a fool and his money soon part. The first six verses of James chapter five zero in. on the issue of riches, money. And uh so um The name of this message is A Fool and His Money, as you will see.
Before we begin, Let's have a word of prayer. Father, I feel the need to pray before this message because. The nature of this text is such These are hard truths. And just like our parents who sat us down and told us hard things, but always out of love, or a good friend, or an older sibling. Lord, we feel the heart of love behind what James wrote.
Ultimately, what your Holy Spirit wants to convey in terms of warning, and sober minded truth We don't want to shy away from it, but we want to confront it and apply what we can to our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.
So It turns out that money is on people's minds. A lot than a lot more than you might suppose. About one in four Americans say that money is the thing they think about the most on a daily basis.
So you get four people standing. One of them thinks about money a lot, like most of the time during the day. One out of four say they think about money most on a daily basis. Ninety percent. Say that money impacts their stress level.
65% feel their financial difficulties are piling up.
so much so that they cannot overcome them. And 40% Say they want a fresh Financial start.
Now I may have just described some of you.
Some of you might think, yeah, I'd like a fresh financial start. Count me in there. Let me ask you a question. Would Let's just pretend that you become uber rich. Just dwell on that thought for a moment.
Oh, that money's coming in. Wow, wow. Would that make you a better person? Correct answer, no, it wouldn't. Many studies have been done about this.
One I find interesting study from the University of California, Berkeley, did a study in San Francisco.
Now, you know that California is the state. where a pedestrian's rule. If a pedestrian crosses the street, the law mandates cars stop. At crosswalks, or if a pedestrian even is not using the crosswalk. Pedestrians have the right-of-way.
Albuquerque, they'll just mow you over. But in California, Um Pedestrians have the right-of-way.
So they did this test in San Francisco. They discovered that drivers of luxury cars We're four times less likely to stop and allow pedestrians to have the right-of-way. than those who were driving more inexpensive cars. Also, Those who were driving more expensive vehicles were more likely to cut off other drivers.
So there are several studies about little things like this, but that sort of highlights it.
Now, that leads us up to where we are. James chapter 5. is a difficult text. And it is tempting for any preacher when given a text like this. uh to use sort of the old Manner of Read the text, depart from the text, and never return to the text.
But we don't do that here. We believe in teaching what the Bible says. It's there for a reason. We can't subscribe our own curriculum. God has given these things to us.
We want to find out. what it says, what it means, and what it means to us personally. But I agree with William McDonald, the Bible commentator who said these verses are seldom preached on. And here's why. The language in the first six verses of James 5 is heavy language.
It is accusatory. judgmental even. Indicting. It's tough stuff.
Now, I know I've heard the messages the last couple weeks, and Nate making the remark that. Why does he seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to preaching texts?
Well just wait till you read this. This sort of takes the cake in all of that. These verses that we're about to read are like blows of a hammer. They are unrelenting, they are unsparing, they are blunt, they are straightforward. And they're part of a larger section.
The whole section begins in chapter 4, verse 13, the text you all covered last week. This is the conclusion. to that section.
Now, again.
Something else I want to say just before we jump in.
Some of you are going to be tempted when we read this. To have a thought And the tha goes like this. This text has nothing to do with me. He's writing to the rich. I am broke.
This has nothing to do with it. I'm just going to, you know, kind of cruise this morning, check out what's on social media, and wait for the next sermon.
Well, I wouldn't do that because we're going to go through the mechanics of the text, the exegesis of the text, find out what it means. We'll get through all that. But I want to make application to all of us to some degree.
So, what I'd like to do in using this text is share with you five reasons we all. Should be careful with money, and we'll make it very applicational at the end. But five reasons why we should be careful with money. First reason. Because it can be obtained wrongly.
It can be obtained wrongly.
Now let's begin in verse one. We'll read through our text and kind of Um you you'll you'll see the um The texture of it and the tone of it right away. Verse one: Come now. You rich. Weep.
And howl. for your miseries that are coming upon you. See what I mean? In your face. Your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver are corroded, their corrosion will be a witness against you, and you will eat your flesh like fire.
You've heaped up treasure in the last days.
Now, some of you are thinking, Skip, why are you reading it that way? Because this is not a text you can read by saying, Your gold and silver are corroded. You just can't do that. You just gotta Give it straight up. 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, that's a Hebrew construction, even though it's a Greek text. The Lord of hosts. The Lord of heaven's armies. 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. The immediate question.
is who on earth is James talking about? Who is he writing this to? Is he writing this to rich? Believers. Or is he writing this to rich unbelievers who just happen to be?
in some of those churches that he is writing to. Maybe one, maybe the other, maybe both, or Here's a possibility. This could be a general statement against no one in particular. But the unbelieving world in general. A world that places money above God.
That places financial security above eternal security, and that though some of them might claim to believe in God, their real God is money. And he's just calling him out. with these verses. The New Testament does warn against Not having riches, but trusting in them. Remember, Jesus said, no man can serve two masters.
He's going to love one. He's going to hate the other. He's going to. Cling to one, he's going to despise the other. You cannot serve both God and, what's the word?
Mammon. Mammon, the god of money. You can't serve God and money.
Now in our text in James chapter 5, I want you to notice two ways. forgetting money wrongly that are mentioned in this text. First way is by withholding Wages That somebody worked for. They worked for them. They've earned it.
Somebody, the rich in this case, have held it back. Look at verse 4. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back. Bye. Fraud.
So here you got some rich entrepreneur who has a business, hires people, and doesn't pay up. The daily paycheck. And I want to just give you that background. 2,000 years ago, especially in Judaism, people did not get... Paid by contract.
You didn't sign like a five-year contract. You got paid for the work you did that day. And if you want insight into that, there's a story in Matthew chapter 20. The parable of the workers in the vineyard. Jesus' own story.
He said, The kingdom of heaven is like the owner of an estate who. who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. That evening, he told his foreman to call the workers in and pay them. You pay them every single day.
And that's because The law of Moses made that decree, Deuteronomy 24. You shall not oppress a hired servant. who is poor and needy. Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the sun go down on it. This is Connect with Skip-Heitzig.
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So it was morally wrong to let the sun go down without paying the ones who did the work. But evidently, these business people did exactly that, withholding wages. They got it the wrong way. They're keeping the money for themselves. garnering more wealth for themselves, but they actually owe it to others.
Second way it was obtained wrongly is they were controlling the legal system, the courts. Notice verse 6. You have condemned.
Now, that word condemned means you have passed sentence upon. It's a legal term. It implies they were using the courts. to legalize their immoral actions. Because they can do it.
They can afford it. And by doing that, It's It's passing a death sentence to the poor and the needy. Verse 6: You've condemned, you have murdered the just. He does not resist you. You know why he doesn't resist you?
He didn't have the money to resist you.
So, things haven't changed all that much. This is often the case. People who have a lot of money can also get a lot of political. a power behind them. They can get what they want.
They can even use the legal system to protect themselves and go after the little guy. You know, it's like the old comic strip. That says We live by the golden rule. The one who has the gold makes the rules. It's always been that way.
You've got the money, you get things done. You don't have the money, you cannot fight it in court. He cannot resist you.
So they were obtaining money wrongly. defrauding people, keeping it back. and controlling the courts.
Now let's push the pause button. And let's look at the big picture. The big picture is that the Bible And James included does not condemn having money. It does condemn. getting it the wrong way, and then once you have it, misusing it.
It is not, though, a sin to be rich. And you need to know that. It's not like, well, they got a lot of money, they must be evil. The Bible in the law even gives rules for getting and securing wealth. And the Bible even states this: this is Deuteronomy 8: The Lord your God is He who gives you the power to get wealth.
Deuteronomy 8, he gives you the power to get wealth. Moreover, the Bible commends those who would labor hard in order to get better off. Proverbs 10. The hand of the diligent makes rich. Proverbs 14, in all labor there is profit.
So Nowhere in the Bible is there the condemnation of having Money. or the right of private ownership is not condemned. It's not getting money. It's getting it wrongly and loving it inordinately. Here's the words of Jesus.
Take heed. Beware of covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things. that he possesses.
Now you know God gave a top ten list, right? Of commandments. There's a lot of commandments in the Old Testament. He has a top 10 list, the 10 Commandments. Last time I checked, the eighth commandment is still there.
Eighth commandment is thou shalt not steal. And you might think, well, I don't steal. What are you talking to me about that for? Good. But let me press it just a little bit.
Do you put in an honest day's work? Or are you on the clock always checking your social media feed, always making phone calls, kind of doing your own thing? Cutting corners. Do you come in late and leave early? Do you call in sick when you're not?
Are you paying your bills? Are you fair to your employees if you have a business? Do you cheat on your income tax? All of those are ways of stealing.
So, first reason we should be careful. With our money is because it can be obtained wrongly. Second reason. It can be used. Poorly.
James Obviously, it isn't just warning against obtaining money the wrong way, but once you have it, handling it. the wrong way. Look at verse 3. Your gold and silver are corroded, their corrosion will be a witness against you. You will eat your flesh like fire.
You have Heaped up. Treasure in the last days. You get those words? It's not wrong to have it. It's wrong to...
Keep it. Heap it up. Yeah. He's talking about financial hoarding here. Remember what Jesus Remember that story he gave about the successful farmer whose fields were very prodigious, very productive?
And he had so much stuff he didn't know what to do.
So what am I going to do?
So he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops? And he said to himself, I'll do this. I'll pull down my barns and build greater ones, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And what James seems to be saying is: do you know how dumb that is? How senseless that is?
All you're doing is feeding moths. You got so many clothes you never use. And you ought to protect them from moths eating them up. James language here. And so in the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus said, Do not lay up.
For yourselves, treasures on earth. Wear moth. And rust. can destroy. And thieves break in and steal, but But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where moths and rust cannot corrupt, thieves cannot break in and steal, for where your treasure is.
There your heart will be also.
Now I'm going to push the pause button again. Just as the Bible doesn't say it's wrong to have wealth, The Bible also doesn't say it's wrong to save money. He's not talking about saving.
So why I have I have a couple hundred bucks in my savings, got a couple thousand bucks. I better get rid of it. He's not condemning saving. In fact, In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul writes that parents should save for their children. And Jesus even gave a parable.
The parable of the talents, where an employer said to an employee, You should have put my money in the bank.
so that I get it back with interest.
So the Bible doesn't condemn saving.
So Look again at verse 3. There's a helpful phrase that'll... Kind of help us unwind where James is coming from. He says, You have heaped up treasure. What's the phrase?
In the last days. In the last days. Now, James. obviously is anticipating the return of Jesus Christ. And if you keep reading in the book of James, He believes that is going to come soon.
We'll talk about that later on. What James is doing is rebuking people for living as though Jesus were never coming back. You're storing it up, you're storing it up. We're in the last days, you're storing it up, you're storing it up. You're living like he's never coming back.
Back. You're living in luxury. Verse 5, you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. That's your God, hedonism, just you having a good time. You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
Now, I know that all of you Probably in this room have at one time or another gotten influenza. Am I right? Gotten the flu? You've had influenza.
Some of you have gotten affluenza. That's a play on words. Affluenza. Affluenza is a highly contagious social infection. Due to overabundance, it happens to be very, very common in well-to-do countries like ours.
That becomes the focus. The obtaining of wealth. And for some, almost at any cost.
So, two reasons we should be careful with money. It can be obtained wrongly, it can be used poorly. Third reason, because it will vanish eventually. It will vanish eventually. Verse 2: Your riches are corrupted.
Your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will be a witness against you, and you will eat your flesh like fire. Notice those words: corrupted, moth-eaten. Corroded.
Now gold and silver In the ancient world were the standards of wealth. Gold, silver, and richly embroidered clothing. That was the measurement of wealth. Things really haven't changed all that much. You see commercials all the time buy gold.
Invest in silver, diversify, especially when the economy is uncertain. They tell you it's good to have these metals.
So these precious metals were also the standard in the ancient world, but again, What James is talking about is that these things have been hoarded. to the point where they become useless. Grain rots. If it sits around. Garments become moth-eaten if they're not in use.
I don't know about you, but my mom used mothballs in all of our closets growing up. And she didn't need to because there weren't many clothes in there, and we were always kind of circulating them, but she always had moths.
So I went to school every day smelling like a moth ball. Gold and silver, they don't rust, but they do tarnish and become discolored. And then One day you will die. And they will put you in a box. And unlike what the Egyptians thought, that they could take it with them into the afterlife, that didn't work out so well for them.
but they would bury their kings and queens, their pharaohs, with much wealth. You cannot take it into the afterlife. This was Solomon's complaint.
Solomon, remember in Ecclesiastes, said, Vanity, vanity, it's all empty, chasing after the wind. What good is it for me to amass so much wealth and stuff, and then I die and I leave it to somebody who's going to squander it? Proverbs 23, verse 5, one of my favorite texts on this. Topic.
Solomon writes, Cast but a glance. Add riches. And they are gone. For surely they sprout wings and fly off like an eagle. We're so glad you joined us today for Connect with Skip Heidzig.
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