Ill-Gotten Gain (Part 3 of 4)

The Bible is clear that money isn't evil, being wealthy isn't a sin, but sometimes the way in which money is acquired or the way it's used, these can be clearly sinful. We'll learn about the perils of ill-gotten gain today on Truth for Life as Alistair Begg continues our study in the book of James.

In preparation for our study, I'd like to read from the Old Testament from 1 Kings chapter 21. Some time later, there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth, the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace.

In exchange I will give you a better vineyard, or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it's worth. But Naboth replied, The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. So Ahab went home sullen and angry, because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers. He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, Why are you so sullen? Why won't you eat? He answered her, Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, Tell me your vineyard, or, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place. But he said, I will not give you my vineyard. Jezebel his wife said, Is this how you act, as king over Israel? Get up and eat.

Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed a seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth city with him. In those letters she wrote, Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king.

Then take him out and stone him to death. So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, Naboth has cursed both God and the king. So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. And they sent word to Jezebel, Naboth has been stoned and is dead. And as soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you.

He's no longer alive but dead. But when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth's vineyard. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel who rules in Samaria.

He's now in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Say to him, This is what the LORD says, Have you not murdered a man and seized his property? Then say to him, This is what the LORD says, In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood, yes yours. Ahab said to Elijah, So you have found me, my enemy. I have found you, he answered, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD.

I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel, slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Naboth and that of Bashah son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin. And also concerning Jezebel, the LORD says, dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.

Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. There was never a man like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel. When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted.

He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite. Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me?

Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son. Amen. We thank God for his Word. Now to James chapter 5, and then just one further moment as we pause and ask for God to help us. Father, we turn now to this portion of the Bible that is not the easiest, certainly not to preach, and not particularly easy to respond to either. And we ask for clarity of expression and understanding, the right sense of conviction that you alone bring about, and for a sincere and genuine interest to have our lives brought into line with the truth of the Bible. For it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Well this morning we began to look at the first six verses of James chapter 5, and this whole issue of ill-gotten gain, this stinging condemnation of the fraudulent and extortionary, extravagant people who were abusing those who were poor. And we said that probably the best way to come to grips with the passage was to summarize the charges that are leveled against these individuals. And we only managed to deal with one of them, and that was to recognize, as it says at the end of verse 3, you have hoarded wealth in the last days. These individuals discovered that that which represented wealth in grain and oil had rotted, their clothes were beginning to become moth-eaten, and the things that they had attached greatest value to were going to be the occasion only for mourning and for wailing. We noted that James was not issuing a blanket condemnation of the wealthy nor of wealth in and of itself, but that he was directing his comments to this particular cluster of individuals represented by the idolatry of a self-serving life that loved money rather than loving God. And we noted in the words of J. C. Ryle, and I think helpfully, that it is possible to love money without having it, and it is possible to have it without loving it.

And in the context of this mourning, we then continue. The second charge that is leveled is that these same individuals have failed to pay the wages to the workmen. That's in verse 4, the wages you've failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. Now once again, James is not just coming out of left field, as it were, with these charges and allegations. There has to be some foundation and substantiation for them and some basis upon which he makes them. James knew the Old Testament Scriptures. So again, he would be familiar with the words of Proverbs 14.31, He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Let me say that to you again. It's Proverbs 14.31. He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, namely God, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. And God, throughout the Old Testament, makes special provision for the workmen. And we could turn to many places, but we needn't go beyond perhaps just one or two quotes. Deuteronomy 24, 14, and 15. The Word of God says, Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy.

Let me just let that settle for a moment, all right? Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy. Contemporary thought in American business, British business too. We were colonial empire builders, so we have our own problems. Is that if that's what we can get away with, that's what we'll pay them. After all, what would they do if we gave them three times as much?

Well, of course, we don't know what they would do, but they would do a little better than they're doing. And the Word of God to his people was very clear. Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy. Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it.

Otherwise he may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. If you recall, when we studied in the book of Ruth, we saw how in the scenes of harvesting that Ruth engaged in that this kind of picture was apropos. And if you've been in certain countries in South America and down in that in-between area between the North and South America, you will know that this kind of day-working situation is not unusual at all. And if you've been, for example, in the vastness of Mexico City, you will have seen the day workers standing outside construction sites from the earliest hours in the morning. And at a certain point, one of the foremen will come out and will be able to take in as many as they need for the day. And then they will work for an entire day, and at the end of the day, they ought to receive their pay for their depending upon it in order for their subsistence existence.

And it really would be quite ignoble for somebody to ask the individuals to come in to expend the energy and skill that they have for the hours of the day and in the heat of the sun and everything else, and then to tell them at the end of the way, Well, I'm sorry, we'll be getting back to you with your wages later on." Says Calvin, what can be more base than that they who supply us with bread by their labor should be pined through want? And yet this monstrous thing is common. For there are many of such a tyrannical disposition that they think that the rest of mankind exist only for their benefit. This is Calvin writing a long time ago.

A reminder to us that man's inhumanity to man, which makes countless thousands mourn and worry, is a feature of life that transcends cultures and times—hence the applicability of the Bible. And this is the charge. The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. It's a graphic picture, isn't it, of the wages retained by the employer. The stingy employer, lining his own pockets, finds that his till, which he has now locked for the day, is making noises as he tries to get out of the office and on his way. And the money is shouting, You should give this away! You should pay this to your workmen! And so on. And the cries of the harvesters, verse 4b, are mingling with the cries that come from the bags of unpaid wages.

And the Lord Almighty is listening and will act in judgment. Now, the little asides that I make, you know are little asides. I often actually find myself walking away from my pulpit when I do this.

I think over time you've begun to detect that when he walks away, it's kind of like you don't really need to pay much attention to him when he walks away. But I've always thought about this in relationship to this whole idea of having thirty days to pay your bills. You know, when artisans and workmen have to lay out for the materials to do the work in your house, and they carry that, and they do the work, and the work is finished, and then they don't get paid. Well, you say, Well, I pay them. Well, I pay them.

Okay, that's fine. But the sort of general standard and pattern is—and people tell me—that bad payments and bad debt and bad follow-through on the part of professing Christian people is not unusual. And that they have on their books the names of people for whom they have worked, fulfill the responsibility, done their due, exactly what they were asked, and have not as yet received their pay.

Well, I think James 5 has something to say to every one of us every time we're tempted to ever play that game. Now I'm back behind the pole. Thirdly, you have lived in luxury. That's the third charge. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. That's what I said this morning.

These charges are absolutely crystal clear. Because the rich man's punishment didn't lie in what he did as much as in what he failed to do, as in Luke chapter 16 in the parable of the rich man in Lazarus. The problem for the rich man was not that he was intrinsically a rich man, but it was that his riches blinded him to the needs of the poor man. And poor old Lazarus, even the dogs were there just to lick his sores, and that was the kind of comfort that he received, and he would have gladly eaten from the stuff that the rich man had his servants throw out after they'd had a big dinner party. But the rich man was oblivious to all of that.

His luxury had sort of deceived him as to what it means to live in the real world. Listen, you rich people, weeping well because of the misery that is coming upon you. You've hoarded it.

You didn't share it. You haven't paid the wages. And you've lived in luxury and self-indulgence. Now, the word that is used here for luxury is a word that would be… It's not just, you know, you bought yourself a cashmere sweater.

The word that is used here for luxury is a word that would be used for you have lived delicately, or you have pampered yourself, or you have essentially set your life up in such a way as to give yourself over to the wanton indulgence of your senses, so that all the things that will make your life cozy, comfortable, and fine and dandy has become the pursuit of your existence. And it is that which, James, under God, is challenging. There's really nowhere to hide from that kind of thing, is there? That's why, again, one of my favorite country-western songs of all time that you're so tired of hearing me quote—but the reason I quote it so often is because it just fits on so many occasions, doesn't it? No wonder they wouldn't play this in the sixties, when it was done by Ray Stevens. Because it was regarded as an offense to the capitalist system of America, that Ray Stevens is in the McCarthy era. Ray Stevens must have been an insurrectionist. Maybe he was a communist.

Who knows what the Joker was? But we're not gonna have that playing on the radio. That'll get people upset. Itemize the things you covet as you squander through your life—bigger cars, better houses, term insurance on your wife, Tuesday evenings with your harlot, and on Wednesdays it's your charlatan. Your analyst is high upon your list. And so it goes on.

It's a devastating piece. Remember what it was called? Mr. Businessman. Mr. Businessman. Spending counterfeit incentive, wasting precious time and health, placing value on the worthless, disregarding priceless wealth. You can wheel and deal the best of them and steal it from the rest of them.

You know the score. Their ethics are a bore. You better take care of business, Mr. Businessman, before it's too late. Now, you can go back and check and see whether what I tell you is right.

But the majority of radio stations refused outright to play that lyric. Why? Too close to the bone. Fourthly, charge number four gets worse. You have fattened yourselves. You have fattened yourselves in a day of slaughter. What is this all about?

I think it's fairly straightforward, isn't it? You've fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. Now, it may be that this is a contrast between what the rich are doing—i.e., living self-indulgent lives—while the lives of the poor are being snuffed out. In other words, you've fattened yourself while the poor people are being slaughtered. That may be what it's saying.

I don't think it is. I think it's the picture here of an unwitting beast eating away quite happily. If you go across the back way here, wherever it is—I never know the road names, but there are famous Scottish cows over here called Galloway Belties or Belted Galloways, but they have the white wrap around their tummy and then the two black pieces on the outside. And they're really lovely and wonderful-looking, and especially the wee ones. And I pass them, you know, maybe four days out of a week, and they just munch away.

Sometimes they're up in the high field, sometimes they're down in the low field. And then my wife told me last year, she said, did you see the sign that was there? And I said, no. Yes, she said they were selling the beef. I said, what beef? She said, the Belties. I said, no, no.

No, they're just there so I can talk to them every day when I'm coming back. No, she said, no, they're munching away so that they can be slaughtered and so that they can be eaten. Like unwitting beasts, these acquisitive misers were fattening themselves quite happily, unaware of the fact that with every munching bite, they were making themselves more ready for a visit to the abattoir. Alec Matias suggests that James is in this issuing a warning to any who might be attempted to follow the example of these people and thereby imperil themselves on the day of judgment. And in a classic Matiarism, he writes just one sentence, and he says, O to be a thin cow on the day the butcher comes! O, to be a thin cow on the day the butcher comes!

In other words, better to have your ribs showing than your belly bulging. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. We'll hear more tomorrow about the misuses of wealth. It can be challenging to live as God's people. I hope you're benefiting from these very practical lessons from the book of James. In fact, if you've missed any of this study, you can easily catch up online.

All of Alistair's teaching can be heard or watched for free on our website at truthforlife.org, or you can watch or listen through our mobile app. Our current series is simply titled A Study in James. We're focusing on volume three, but you can access all of the messages from the complete four-volume study through the book of James without cost. If you'd prefer, the series is also available on a USB. 40 messages on a portable thumb drive.

The USB is available for purchase for our cost of $5 in our online store at truthforlife.org slash store. At Truth for Life, we know that life can often be busy and demanding. It's easy to get caught up in the here and now schedules and the to-do lists. Our prayer is that the Bible-centered teaching you hear on this program provides you with a quiet respite, a break from your busyness, time to take a deep breath and to reflect on God's word, time to be refreshed. I hope you're finding this study in James to be helpful in this way. I am excited to let you know about Alistair's new book. He's just released a book titled The Christian Manifesto. In this book, he examines what Jesus taught in the landmark sermon that is recorded in Luke's Gospel, sometimes referred to as the Sermon on the Plane. The book provides foundational teaching for every believer. Alistair unpacks some of Jesus' most familiar teaching. You'll learn about forgiveness, about integrity, obedience, what it is that brings blessing. As you read The Christian Manifesto, you'll find the lessons challenging. They require you to take a long hard look, not only at God's word, but at yourself as well.

At the same time, you can't help but be encouraged by the invitation to look to Christ and to enjoy the blessings of life in God's kingdom. Request your copy of The Christian Manifesto when you give a donation to support the teaching ministry of Truth for Life. Let me mention there's also a study guide that goes along with the book. You can purchase that for $3 in our online store or you can download it for free. Request the book, purchase the study guide through the mobile app or online at truthforlife.org. Give us a call at 888-588-7884.

I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for starting your week with us. We hope you'll join us tomorrow as we'll conclude our study in the book of James. We'll hear a stern warning to the greedy and tender encouragement for the poor and depressed. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.