“Listen, You Rich Men” (Part 1 of 2)

You've probably heard someone say that money is the root of all evil. It's actually a misquote of 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 which says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

That's very different. So is it wrong for Christians to be wealthy or not? Is it somehow godlier to live in poverty? Alistair Begg has the answers for us today from God's Word on Truth for Life.

Now we read in the New Testament, James chapter 5 and verse 1. Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded, their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

Look, the wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. Incidentally, the Lord Almighty there is the NIV's translation of Lord Sabaoth. He is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord Almighty.

One of the most wonderful names, designations, of God in Scripture. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

You have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you. Well, thanks be to God for his Word of Prayer, and then we'll look together at the Bible. We call upon you now our gracious God and loving Father, beseeching you because in you all of the fullness of wisdom and light is found, and asking that in your mercy you will enlighten us by the Holy Spirit so that we might have a true understanding of the Bible. We pray that you will teach us by your Word to place all of our trust in you and to serve and honor you as we should so that we might praise and glorify you in all things, and we might also build up our neighbors by our good example. We pray that we might learn to render to you the love and obedience which children owe to their parents, since it has pleased you, heavenly Father, to receive us in Christ as your children. And in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. While we continue our studies in James, I want to remind you this morning of something that is familiar to us but important—namely, that to think Christianly or to think biblically is not simply to think Christian thoughts or to think biblical thoughts, but it's to think all of our thoughts from a Christian and biblical perspective. It is, if you like, to take a leaf from C.S. Lewis when he says, I believe in Christianity as I believe in the rising of the sun, not simply because I can see it but because by it I can see everything else. And when a man or a woman becomes a Christian, then it alters one's view of things. In some cases, it merely heightens an affection or a love.

In other cases, it replaces it. Sometimes it completely changes our view in relationship to a moral or an ethical issue. It certainly will have an impact on our view of time, of beauty, of prestige and significance, of what it means to be secure in our society, and certainly what the Bible has to say about poverty and about wealth. And it is to this issue of wealth and riches that we now come, in the course of our studies, reaching the first verse of chapter 5 this morning. And I'm inclined to the view that is offered by Calvin many centuries ago and other commentators subsequently, that James here is addressing primarily the unbelievers in this little diatribe, and that what we have in these opening verses is akin to the kind of prophetic lament with which we become familiar in the Old Testament. We won't belabor this.

It isn't worthy of it. But to understand what I mean by that, you could turn in your leisure to Ezekiel chapter 29, where the Word of God comes to Ezekiel as follows. Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, speak to him, and say, This is what Yahweh says, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, you great monster, lying among your streams. So we have this prophetic word that is issued against Pharaoh and his forces. And although Pharaoh is addressed by it, the audience listening to it is not Pharaoh and his leadership team, but the people of God, so that they might learn, so that they might be comforted by the awareness of the fact that what is in store for Pharaoh, despite all of his pride, despite all of his apparent forcefulness and enmity, is actually his overturning by the living God.

So that the word is issued to Pharaoh in the hearing of God's people, so that inferentially they may understand what's happening to him, thereby encouraging them to recognize that although it appears that Pharaoh's winning, one little word shall fail him. You have, actually, the same mechanism employed by Jesus in the Gospels, where, for example, in Luke's Gospel in chapter 10, you can find it, he addresses the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, I forget just exactly what they are, and he pronounces a woe upon them. Woe to you, he says, because of what is coming upon you. Once again, the inhabitants of those cities are not in earshot of what Jesus is saying. It is a prophetic lament issued against those places in the hearing of his disciples so that they might learn that those who are opposing Christ and his kingdom will finally be overthrown.

Now, we wouldn't want to make too much of this, but let me just quote Calvin as he opens up his remarks. James, he says, has a high regard to the faithful, that they, hearing of the miserable end of the rich, might not envy their fortune, and also knowing that God would be the avenger of the wrongs they suffered, they might with a calm and resigned mind bear them. Whatever we have in these six verses, we have certainly a stinging condemnation of ill-gotten gain. And James is showing his readers the absolute folly of setting a high value on wealth, of envying those who are these rich oppressors, and of feverishly trying to obtain what others have.

And what he is doing here is he is making it clear that despite the fact that to all intents and purposes, the rich appear to have it made in the shade. In actual fact, they should be the ones who are wailing and moaning and groaning because of the misery that is coming upon them, and in light of the fact that although they are enjoying sumptuous meals and living in self-indulgent luxury, what they are actually doing is fattening themselves, verse 5, for the day of slaughter. So in other words, his perspective totally alters the view of self-aggrandizement and the ability to secure for oneself that which classifies us in this way, in order that the readers may rest in the fact that God will execute his judgment in his time. Now, the way that we get to this, of course, is in part because he distinguishes throughout his letter by the use of brothers, which we may legitimately translate brothers and sisters. So, for example, in verse 11 of chapter 4, it is to the brothers and sisters that he says, Do not slander. In verse 7 of chapter 5, it is to the brothers and sisters that he urges patience. Again in verse 8, again in verse 10, again in verse 12.

But here, as interestingly in the previous paragraph that ended chapter 4, there is no such designation that heads it. And it would appear to be that James recognizes that the rich people who are addressed here, because there is no solution to their predicament, because he gives no hope or resolution for them, because it is only judgment and condemnation that awaits them, that is not true of a Christian. So while there is an inherent warning to the rich amongst the community that reads this letter, it is a warning against the sin of covetousness—a sin which brought down Ananias and Sapphira, a sin which revealed Judas Iscariot in his true colors. So the warning sounds out clearly to all and any who are tempted to misuse the gift of wealth. The point is not the extent of one's wealth but one's attitude to the wealth we possess. That's very important. Because some of us want immediately to use this as a mechanism for disavowing anybody further up the food chain than ourselves.

But we didn't do that. My wife and I just came from Haiti this week. Adding to the confusion was a tropical storm and the devastation of people's lives literally washing away in front of them, their homes just being wiped out before our very eyes, walking through small communities with no running water, no sewerage, no electricity, no lights, no nothing at all. Beggars at every place.

And there was no possibility then of me thinking somehow or another that rich did not fit me. Let me tell you, to quote Paul Simon, one man's ceiling is another man's floor. And all of us here this morning need to take particular attention to what's being said. What we have, says Derek Prime, in these verses is a burst of righteous indignation reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets.

That's what I'm suggesting to you—a burst of righteous indignation reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets. Now, it would be possible for us to go immediately into the detail of this text. But the more I looked at this and studied it this week, the more I said to myself, I think it is vital that we have a more comprehensive understanding of what the Bible in total has to say about poverty and wealth before we come to this particular prophetic lament. And so I began to write down things that the Bible teaches us concerning wealth and poverty, and I came up with eleven of them before I was finished.

I stopped at eleven, and I'm going to give this eleven to you now. I wrote in my notes that the heading for this morning would be, Listen, you rich people. I think I'm going to change that to a long introduction to James 5 verses 1 to 6. Because that's really what this is. But this is not filler. This is not because I haven't done this study. This, I believe, is foundational material so that we might, if you like, have the ten pegs in place before we start to pull up the superstructure, before we pull on these ropes. So if you have an ability to take notes, you will be well served.

If you don't, then I hope you have a good memory. First of all, the Bible doesn't cast any aspersion or suspicion upon riches in and of themselves. The Bible does not cast any aspersion or suspicion upon riches per se. If it did, it would be surprising that in a context in which he lambasts these rich oppressors, that he would use Job and God's goodness to Job as an illustration. Because, as you know, Job was a really rich man. Oh, but, says somebody, yeah, we know that, but he got it all taken away, and he had boils, and everything fell apart.

Uh-huh. But if you look at verse 11 of James 5, he says, you have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. You've seen what the Lord finally brought about. Do you know what the Lord finally brought about? Do you know the end of the story of Job?

Well, let me tell you it, and you can go and check it out for yourselves. Job 42 10, after Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. Twice as much as he had before. You thought he had a lot when you start Job. You read the end of 42, you go, wow!

Unbelievable! And that's exactly what James is saying. You know what God did with Job, because the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

There's no condemnation in it. And you know what? After Job got a real good working over, he went back out, and he was an entrepreneur all over again, and you know what he did? He did it twice as bad as he'd done it before.

No! It says it is an evidence of the Lord's compassion and mercy that when he had been through the wringer, he came out ahead of the game, twice as prosperous as he had begun. That's the first point. The Bible doesn't cast aspersions or suspicions upon riches per se in and of themselves. Secondly, the Bible consistently warns against and condemns the vices which are the snares of the rich. 1 Timothy—at the end of 1 Timothy, Paul is giving to young Timothy all these instructions, and he gives instructions concerning those who are actually rich people in his fellowship.

And he exercises a warning for them, and it reads as follows. Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. In other words, the rich are not denounced for being rich, but they are warned about yielding to the temptations to which the rich are prone.

There are peculiar vices that are the snares of those who have. Thirdly, the Bible teaches us that godliness with contentment is great gain. We're still in 1 Timothy 6.

In fact, we're quoting the sixth verse of 1 Timothy 6. Contentment is the opposite, if you like, of covetousness. Covetousness is a form of idolatry.

Idolatry is sin. And in verse 8, if your Bible is open, you will see that Paul says, And I can tell you what you need in order to be contented. If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. One of the loveliest things that happened on our trip—and we were traveling with a company of people—was to see a teenage girl, sixteen years of age, very American, at the end of a day walking through these villages, reaching down and taking off her Nikes that had been purchased for her by her father in Nordstroms in order to go on the trip, taking them off and handing them to a girl of similar size and stature who was a Haitian girl that she'd met in the village. It just suddenly struck her. Why should I have all these shoes? And this girl walks in her bare feet.

You can have my shoes. You see how messed up we are? If we have food and clothing, we will be content. That is an alien concept, isn't it?

It's an alien concept. Fourthly, the Bible teaches us that riches are an expression of God's kindness. They're not the only expression of God's kindness, nor even would we say they're the supreme expression of his kindness, but nevertheless, they are. We saw that in the reference to Job there in James 5. And also, we picked it up, didn't we, here, as he makes it clear that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment?

Verse 17. You see, if we get this wrong, we go severely wrong. We go severely wrong. It is an expression of God's goodness to us that we have these things.

And if we fail to recognize that, then we will become inherently masochistic, or we will deny the benefit of the things, or we will be constantly running down everything we have. Oh no, this doesn't mean anything to me. Oh no, I don't want this at all. No, I don't really enjoy this.

Tell the truth, of course you do. It is lovely to have a nice meal. It is a wonderful provision of God. It is a peculiar thing to have running water, and for that we ought to be thankful.

It is super to be able to live within the framework of these things. God gives us these things richly to enjoy and more besides. God is not a killjoy in relationship to these things, and his perspective on wealth and goodness and provision is not marred by our inability to understand the framework of his purposes. God, who sovereignly bestows things for us to enjoy, may sovereignly take them away so as to teach us to enjoy him and not to enjoy them. He gives us them in order that we might love him. He doesn't give us them in order that we might love them.

And if we start to love them rather than love him, he may have to take them away so as to show us that ultimately our only joy is in him. And I will trust in you alone. I will trust in you alone.

For your endless mercy follows me. We can't say that if we are trusting in something other than God. If we have food and clothes, if God blesses us and provides us with riches, we see it as an expression of his kindness. Fifthly, the Bible teaches us that there is a peculiar responsibility that falls to the rich. That falls to the rich. We're still in 1 Timothy 6.

Command them to be good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. And interestingly, verse 19, in this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. It's not our purpose to expound this, but it is interesting, isn't it? What Paul is saying is that when we go into our earthly treasure and we take from our earthly treasure in order to benefit those who live with earthly impoverishment, while we are removing from the bank of earth, we are actually depositing in the bank of heaven. Isn't that what he's saying? We take it out of here and give it there, and people say, Are you crazy giving all that away?

You say, No, you don't understand. There's a test at the end of this life. There's a terminus to which we're coming. There is a payday that will come. None of this will come with me in my coffin. None of it will come with me in my coffin. Therefore, I'm taking it now, and I'm giving it here.

And in actual fact, I'm making a deposit there. It's nothing other than Jesus. Lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, and you'll have them eaten up for you, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, and you'll find that they do not fade away. If you're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life, we'll hear more about what the Bible has to say about poverty and wealth tomorrow. If you enjoy listening to Alistair's teaching from the book of James, you can download any of the messages in this study for free. The series is simply titled A Study in James.

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I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening today. As we're learning, God doesn't condemn people because they have money. So when does wealth change from being a blessing to becoming a roadblock? We'll find out tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.