The Unscrupulous Rich (Part B)

So the filthy rich and the filthy poor can both be guilty of covetedness, even though one fails to gain what they covet and the other one has not. It's what is in the heart, not what is in the wallet portfolio. What is in your heart? What are you really up to?

What do you really think about the things in this world? That's what Jesus is interested in. And anything you say can be held against you or for you.

You can hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues in James Chapter 5 and his message, The Unscrupulous Rich. They, living in the day of Isaiah, they, living in the lap of luxury, flaunting their status symbols as they walked about.

Isaiah addressed them. He says, Moreover, Yahweh says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet. This mincing was not preparing dinner as they would go.

They weren't mincing vegetables or meat. They were shuffling along again, flaunting their wealth before those who were not as wealthy. And so James has precedence here in the Scriptures, something God has already dealt with, and in cases Jewish countrymen had lost sight of this, he brings it up before them. Verse 2, he says, Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Material possessions without Christ. They are corrupted. They are ruined by the fact that He's not part of them.

They will only take you so far. It is not evil to be rich, but there is evil in loving money. And of course, many really feel that if they could just have money, they'll be safe. They'll have peace. Now, certainly without money, peace is diminished.

Safety also starts to go away, but there must be a balance. And so Paul warns Timothy to warn the believers this. He says, The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. There's so much evil in the world because of this love of power, because if you have money, you can get other things too. It may not buy you love, but it can buy you lust.

And that, that is something to have. Lust for whatever it is you crave. And so, again, he says to Timothy, The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil for which some have strayed from the faith. In their greediness.

So he says it's an issue with Christians. Some Christians, they pray to God for a good job, and they get a super job, and then they leave the faith because they become absorbed by possessions. They get greedy. God gets in the way of their greed, so they walk away from God, he says, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. He speaks as though he's witnessed this, because he has.

So did James. Covetedness. Wanting more than what you should want, I guess is a very quick definition for covetedness. The last of the Ten Commandments it is, but it is the most dangerous. One to fall prey to. Covetedness will make a person break the other Nine Commandments. Because you want something, you break it. You can become a murderer, an adulterer, you can become a blasphemer, an idolater, because you want something the wrong way. The wrong things even. It is a gateway sin to greater sins.

Don't trivialize it. Paul, after his conversion, he said, I really didn't have any problems as a Pharisee, except I had the problem of covetedness. And he knew that alone damned his soul. And so, those who are not rich but love money are as guilty as those who are rich and love money. It's what's in the heart, not so much what's in the wallet. Money love. Money love ruins other love relationships. You can change that, and you would still, I think, be very, very much correct in saying, false loves kill true love. Love is one of the most special things we have, and it is one of the most difficult things to execute in Christ.

It is impossible to do it without Him. Self-enrichment engulfs the life, and so we're warned about these things. How do you feel when you see your child becoming a little bit too greedy? You say, well, how do I bring that down a little bit? And you find it's not easy. They don't usually just say, oh, okay, I got it. I'm being covetedness.

You know what? That's not good for me. They just say, I want more. Jesus said, you cannot serve God in money, mammon. You cannot serve self-indulgence and Him too. Yet, we try.

If we're not careful, we will try. Matthew 6 19, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Well, this is the foundation for all James is saying. We've been repeating this through the study of James, that he was a man who was endeared to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. We know that because of the multitude of references he makes to that sermon, and this is one of them in verse 2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten, and Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

I like sports coats a lot, and I've got one nice wool one I bought many years ago, and I still have it. There's a little spot up on the lapel because of a moth. I didn't pay for it. Nobody invited him into my house. Anyway, there was a time when this was a real big problem in that part of the world, and may still be. This is in some parts of the world.

We take, you know, we put mothballs or cedar chips or lavender or something to fight away those invasive little beasts. Acts chapter 20, Paul, I have coveted no one silver or gold or apparel. Paul stands before them and says, I'm not mixed up as a pastor.

I'm not into your money and your things. I'm into Christ. I've declared to you the gospel of Jesus Christ with tears, he said at one point. How does he maintain that level of passion knowing how he was treated by Christians and non-Christians alike by the power of the Holy Spirit? Did he have any mentors, any examples, anyone in his life that he could say, this is someone that I want to be like, and then go out and do it?

Yes, of course he did. One of them was the great prophet Samuel. I think we miss how great this man Samuel is because we tend to turn our attention to David, another great man of God. But Samuel, when he was, when the people were saying, we want a king, we don't want a man of God over us. The king is a man of God, that's good, long as he's a king.

I'm just boiling it down. And so he stands before the people and he says, here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken or whose donkey have I taken or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes?

I will restore it to you. And they said, you have not cheated us or oppressed us, nor have you taken anything from any man's hand. What a witness.

So I'm offering up a contrast here. Your riches are corrupted, but yet there are godly men who were not corrupted by riches such as Paul. He's taken no one's silver or gold or apparel such as Samuel. Who have I cheated? Who have I ripped off?

No one, they said. And so the Christian takes these things into consideration, adds them up and comes out with an answer to the temptations of life. That will most certainly come our way. And so the filthy rich and the filthy poor can both be guilty of covetedness. Even though one fails to gain what they covet and the other one has not, it's what is in the heart. Not what is in the wallet portfolio, but what is in your heart. What are you really up to?

What do you really think about the things in this world? That's what Jesus is interested in. And anything you say can be held against you or for you. It depends on who your Lord is. And so there is Matthew 6, verse 20, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

It needs to be repeated because it is worth it. In verse 3, James says, your gold and your silver are corroded and their corrosion will be as witnesses against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Once he is finished running, making sausage of these unscrupulous rich, when we get to verse 7, he shifts gears and he turns his attention to building up the saved. But this little paragraph, this intense moment, if you were sitting in that congregation in the ancient world and this letter was read to you and you were an unscrupulous rich person, you would remember that part of the sermon more than anything else. And so this graphic description of lost wealth, that's what he is now dealing with.

This is what's going to happen with your money. It will not buy you access to heaven. Matthew 13, verse 22, now he who receives seed among the thorns is he who hears the word of God and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. And the unfruitful tree in the parables of Christ gets chopped down, thrown into the fire.

Something that we do not want to happen to us, none should want that to happen. His being intense is because he cares for them. He cares for the flock that may be corrupted by them so he wants to filter them out.

But he cares for them too and hopefully they will repent. And again, I could be talking about anything else, substance abuse, I could be talking about anything other than wealth this way, any sinful thing that grabs hold of us, you could put in these lines. Again, 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 7, for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out so your gold and your silver are corroded. Now silver does not corrode and become worthless. Tarnish, it can become tarnished, polish it back up.

Gold does not rust at all. But James is making his point. That which you cherish is going to be that which is no longer something of any value, of any importance, that which you have thrown your entire soul into will cost you more than you could ever pay. In the book of Revelation, chapters 6 through 18, John is given a vision and view of the great tribulation period that is still yet to come in this world, but it will come. At the end of the great tribulation, as it is ending, he sees what happens to the great financial systems of the world. And just this little bit from Revelation 18, verse 17, for in one hour such great riches came to nothing. And yet, men live as though this is not true. Try telling this to, I don't even want to say their names. You can go online, you can look up the ten most wealthiest people in the world and there their names will be. Try telling any of this to them. Now once again, churches, good churches, have often benefited from rich Christians.

In a way they would not have benefited without them. Now this is not an attack on the wealthy, this is an attack on the unscrupulous. He says, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. All that a soul has without him will be held against Jesus.

Whatever you get without him in your thinking, in your heart, works against you. To devour oneself is to harm oneself, that's the idea. There's consequences for this behavior. I'm holding you accountable, I'm telling you you're not going to get away with this. By faith you'll see it, by faithlessness it will get you.

Choice is yours. If you are well-to-do and you are a believer, you are gifted with this wealth. It is listed in the gifts by the Apostle Paul. There are those who can give. But you have to give from this understanding, whatever you have is given to you by God, it belongs to him, it is entrusted to you and you can enjoy some of it.

There's some degree of pleasure that you are permitted, but when the tail wags the dog there's a problem. And as far as giving, you go to the Lord with that. As the poor Christians are supposed to go, we know what our duty is, we do that. But we who claim that we will praise him forever, that we will love him forever, we're not satisfied with mere duty. Duty is doing what I know I'm supposed to do whether I like it or not for however long.

It can be a hard run. It's not being a stoic, it's not being an epicarian either. It's finding that balance, it's obeying the Lord. Believe it or not, I know you won't believe what I'm about to tell you, but I'm susceptible to pity parties.

I get my little hat, my little party favor out, set up the whole house decorated and have my pity party before the Lord. Why, why, why don't you do, why can't you just a little bit? And I find it is an honor to get up off my knees and go do my duty. I'm going to do what I'm told anyway. He doesn't have to bless me for me to do what I'm told. I just had a pity party a little while ago, you should have been there.

You weren't invited, you're busy with your own. And as the Lord does, just reminds you, hey, did you see that verse in Corinthians where Paul was talking about all things he suffered? You see, I get frustrated by what I think are stupid defeats. I can understand some defeats, I've marked out some of them for the Lord.

Okay, Lord, these are approved, I can be defeated in these departments. It's the ones that I haven't approved of, where I suffer defeat and shame. Well, the king. And I look at the life of Paul and Jeremiah. Jeremiah got fed up with God, that's it, I'm done, I wish I was never born. The guy that came and said, it's a boy, let him be cursed. That's what Jeremiah said, he was so frustrated.

In the flesh, full blown. And God reels him back in. And so Jeremiah rides that roller coaster, the next minute he's praising the Lord, next minute, that 20th chapter, I believe it's the 20th chapter, might be the 23rd.

What a ride. We see it in the life of Job, we see it in Jacob, and yet we see again Paul in Corinthians all the things he suffered. After the first beat down for Christ, I would have opted for a different community. Alright, I'm moving, I'm moving, and I'm not going to that side of town again, but he goes back. They stoned Paul near to death.

The disciples gathered around him, prayed for him, and he got up and went back into the city that belonged to the thugs that stoned him. That's the kind of stuff I want. That's the kind of stuff I don't have. But that's not going to stop me from wanting it or pursuing it or preaching it. So we come to verses and we look at those with gold and silver that are corrupted and we listen again to Paul and say, I have not wanted your gold or your silver or your clothing. I just wanted to preach the truth to you. I will get my gold when I get to heaven, and it will be in the face of my Lord Jesus. And that is the template for us all. And so, he says, their corrosion will be a witness against you in verse 3. It will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

Nothing wrong with saving money, but something wrong with withholding it when it's not your place, when you have a debt that you are accountable for and you must pay. Now, he mentions the last days. Ever conscious of the last days is the Christian. It's the return of Christ. Christ has come, crucified, rose again, and is returning.

He is coming again. We don't lose sight of this as Christians. 2 Thessalonians, in a similar attack on the wicked, Paul writes to that little church, he says, and to give you, concerning the return of Christ, to give you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. You see, this man took beat-downs and many other types of sufferings, hunger, cold.

You know, it's wintertime, you know, you get a chill and he's, oh, I hate winter. Well, imagine if you had no defense against it, you just had to suffer. Well, these are the kind of things Paul put up with because he saw Christ, he knew him. He knew that regardless of what happened to him, it did not undo who Christ was. Truth meant everything to him. So you come to church near Christmas time. True Christians want truth. That's what they want. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to want the truth that falls from heaven.

No matter what the platform is from scripture, whether it is concerning the virgin birth, a judgment against the unscrupulous, the slaying of a giant, the beginning of creation, whatever it is, the Christian will receive it because the Christian knows whose hand it comes from. That is what is essential. From where does this water come? Before I put my lips on it, where does it come from? Is it safe to drink in? Several years ago on an outreach trip to Alaska, we went up way up in the mountains and there's just, you know, snow everywhere and the streams are everywhere. And I wanted to just, there's this one stream running and I was going to go and scoop up some nice cold water and drink it and the local yokel said, don't do it. They had a thing that, I probably said this enough so those of you who've heard this before do like this until I'm finished and you won't be burdened. But he said they had a thing at the time, and maybe they still do, called beaver fever.

There were parasites in the water because of the wildlife. And if you drank the water and you weren't sure if that water was contaminated or not, you would be sick for a very long time. And so it does matter what we put to our lips, what we take in, what we consume. That's what our communion table says.

Our communion table says it does matter what goes inside of us. And for us it is Christ. We read a verse like that from Thessalonians and we hear the righteous cheer it on.

Yes, God will execute justice. And then the Spirit of God says, but what are you doing to lessen the amount of souls going to hell? What are you doing?

Ask yourself, what are you doing for the kingdom? Thanks for joining us today as we took a deeper look into the book of James here on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston in Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. If you've been blessed by this program, we'd love to hear from you. When you visit the website, simply click on the contact us link at the top of the page and leave us a message. That website again is crossreferenceradio.com. Please join us again next time as we continue our study through the book of James right here on Cross Reference Radio.