When Money Talks, Part 1

James says that their cry has been heard by the Lord of Sabaoth. What a great title to use at this particular text. It's a subtle reminder to the believer.

More than likely, these dispersed Jews have been abused, mistreated, they've worked, and then they haven't been paid. James says your cries have been heard by the Lord of Armies. In other words, the materialist who robs people by refusing to pay what he owes them will be dealt with by a God who's big enough to do something about it. The way we treat others financially is extremely important. For example, when we're controlled by greed, we might be tempted to defraud others or cheat them out of something we owe.

When we do that, it might seem like we're getting away with something. The Apostle James wants us to know that God is watching how we spend and use our money. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey begins a message called When Money Talks. If your money could talk, what would it say about you?

What would it reveal about your heart? Keep listening as Stephen opens God's Word next. In 1923, some of the most powerful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. They had met to strategize and collaborate on their own personal fortunes as well as discuss the economies of the civilized world. Among those present included the president of the largest independent steel company in the world, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the president of the United States' own cabinet, the most successful trader on Wall Street, the head of the world's largest industrial monopoly, and the president of the Bank of International Settlement. According to one source, and I quote, collectively, these men controlled more wealth than there currently was in the United States Treasury.

For years, newspapers and magazines had been dedicated in printing their success stories and urging the youth of America to follow their examples. And why not? I mean, money talks, right? Has it ever occurred to you that no one has ever encouraged, been encouraged by our world system to imitate poor people? You see that guy in the lane next to you driving the bucket of bolts?

Find out what his secret is. Pursue that. You see that lady dressed out of style, out of fashion?

Find out what it takes to become like her. Not hardly. Eight years after that historic conference at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in 1931, James Trunslow Adams coined the term that we use today in our culture. He delivered a speech during which he coined the phrase, the American dream. And in that speech, he encouraged everyone to join in this American dream, which is, and I quote, the pursuit of gaining status and personal recognition in this country.

In fact, any country, for that matter. The message is heard because it is intuitively related to human nature. You've heard the bumper sticker. You've seen the bumper sticker. You know, the one with the most toys wins. I was writing behind a guy this past week and his bumper sticker said, the one who inherits the most toys wins.

It's even better, isn't it? You don't have to work for it. You just get it. You just inherit it. Well, make sure you win.

I mean, that would be the winner. If you win, you get to move into that societal slice where they live by the golden rule, which is in our contemporary culture simply, it means those with the gold rule. The Bible, on the other hand, delivers a different message than the American dream. Thirty-eight parables recorded in the Gospels delivered by Jesus Christ of those, thirty-eight parables, sixteen of them deal with the subject of money. In fact, one out of every ten verses on average in the New Testament refer to possessions. While Jesus Christ never condemned possessions, he warned us of living for them. In fact, throughout the New Testament, the believer is given the message that wealth is actually a dangerous liability that can more easily bring someone to ruin than poverty. And with that in mind, in case you're thinking, well, great, Stephen, go after all those rich people here. We happen, all of us, to be among the wealthy of the world. In fact, if you own another set of clothing than the one you're wearing now, if you own an automobile or some form of transportation, if you have enough food in the refrigerator for your next meal already in hand, if you have money in a personal account, no matter what amount, you are in the top one percent of the world's wealthiest. If the nature of mankind does not lead us to a sense of, wow, we're really wealthy, you know, we're satisfied and content, unless daily surrender to the Spirit of God, the heart of the believer will always want something better, something newer, something more, something easier. The truth is money does talk.

And when it does, what is it really saying? Well, the apostle James knew this full well. And in his generation like ours, there was the temptation and danger of pursuing the dream, the American dream. So if you turn to James 5, I'm going to read from his most stunning rebuke yet. And he has already delivered a number of them, hadn't he? Just verse 1 alone is sharp. He says, "'Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.'" I love the fact that James is so likable, he's so cuddly in his revelation. The opening of verse 1 could actually read, now listen, you rich people.

He's obviously not running for office to start out like that. In fact, the words for weeping and howling refer to someone who is wailing after the dead. The words are also used in the New Testament for crying, sobbing out of shame and guilt and remorse. You see, James is going to picture in this paragraph the coming eschatological, the coming future judgment of the world of unbelievers before God.

And with that, I need to tell you there's a shift in this paragraph for the first time. There isn't any indication that the people James is speaking to or about are believers. In fact, in this paragraph, there is no use of terms like brethren. There's no call to repentance. There's no mention of these people knowing the Lord. They're not encouraged to submit to the Lord or surrender to the will of the Lord as James has done in chapter 4. What most linguists believe is that James is condemning the world system while at the same time rebuking the tendencies in the heart of the believer. James is going to expose the materialistic rush of the world, but he knows it's possible for believers to be just as materialistic as the unbeliever, just as self-centered and indulgent and guilty of the same sins. So the believer is indirectly warned as James rather harshly rebukes and condemns and warns of a coming judgment, the world.

Let me say it this way. James is going to condemn the unbeliever's focus, but he isn't going to skip the church as he does so. In fact, he's going to warn the believer not to adopt that focus. Now what he's going to do in this paragraph is define materialism.

He's going to effectively expose four sins of those who are pursuing nothing less in this culture than the American dream. The first sin he's going to refer to is hoarding. He says in verse 2, your riches have rotted.

Your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted. Now James' generation, there were three primary forms of wealth, and he's describing that all three of them are being hoarded.

The first is corn or grain. There's nothing wrong with storing corn or grain. The problem, James points out, is the fact that because they've stored more than they could ever eat, James writes, your riches have rotted.

Literally, they have spoiled, a reference to grain. The obvious implication is that they've refused to give any of it away. We would rather it rot than share. We would rather it be ruined than give any of it away.

We're just going to hoard it. Another form of wealth is clothing. James writes in verse 2, look again, your garments have become moth-eaten. The word for garment refers to that long, loose outer robe of James' culture. The robes would be richly embroidered and decorated. It would bespeak the wealth of the one wearing it. You go back through the Scriptures and discover that garments were a form of currency. Joseph gave his reconciled brothers changes of clothing. Samson promised the one who could solve his riddle would get a brand new wardrobe. Naaman brought garments to pay Elisha for his healing, a payment that Elisha refused to accept.

The Apostle Paul, as he left Ephesus after having been there for three years in Acts chapter 20, told them, I have not coveted your money or your clothing, which obviously implies it's a temptation. He's saying, I didn't envy your bank account, your portfolio, your stuff. You see, in James' generation, people wore their bank account literally on their sleeve. It was out in the open. James writes here in the text, your garments are moth-eaten, which is highly significant.

It lets us know what happened. The only clothing that can be moth-eaten is clothing that is stored over a period of time, damaged by the larva of moths. Garments that have been moth-eaten were, in James' day, practically good for nothing. James is describing then someone who is adding a garment upon garment, bushel barrel of grain upon bushel barrel, storing it all.

Let me just get a bigger box, a bigger barn, a bigger garage, a bigger attic, a bigger storage unit. That's too convicting. Let's go on, okay? Shall we? They can't eat it.

They can't wear it. But I want more of it. These are the outward indications of an inward materialistic spirit.

They are never satisfied. Now, the third and final form of wealth. In verse 3, James writes, your gold and silver have rusted. Now, since unmixed gold and silver cannot rust, James is either referring to the currency of the day, which was mixed with alloy. I have some of the pieces that date back to James' day.

You'd never know it's money. James is probably referring here since he's talking about the future judgment. In fact, if you go to the last phrase of verse 3, he says, you're storing up your treasure in the last days.

So it's rusted. James is using what's called a prophetic perfect. That is, he's speaking of something in the future at judgment with such faith and belief that he speaks of it as if it is happening now. In the context of the future judgment, keep in mind, whatever you've got will be as worthless as rusted iron. So you're hoarding stuff that rots, spoils, gets eaten by insects, becomes as worthless as old junk, is what he's saying. He's taking it there and saying, that's going to be your perspective then, so live now in light of that perspective, this point. And he's effectively saying to the one who would not repent, well, just, you know, live it up because this is all you get. Live it up.

This is all you get. You're not going to keep it forever. I came across an article some time ago. I thought it was interesting with the headline Money in the Casket. The article told the story about a man who lived exactly the way James is describing. I clipped it.

I'll share it today. His chief end was money. He loved it, hoarded it for himself, wouldn't let his wife have hardly any of it. In fact, he made her promise him that when he died, he wanted her to have all of his money buried with him. It was his, he would keep it. His wife unbelievably, dutifully promised him that she would.

When he died, he was enormously wealthy. At his funeral, attended only by his wife and her best friend, there just before the casket was closed, she had a pallbearer bring a box, open the lid, put it in, and the wife's close friend said to her, you're not foolish enough to keep that promise to him, are you? She said, I promised I would. Her friend protested all the more. You mean to tell me you're going to keep that selfish demand that you actually put all that money in the casket with him? The widow said, I sure did.

I wrote him a check. Glad you enjoyed that. Before we leave this first indictment, these are studies all of their own and we're going to get through the paragraph today. What's the difference between saving and hoarding?

Well, only the Spirit of God can give you insight into that, but let me give you some contrast, three of them, quickly. What you are saving will be used, not may be used, but will be used. What you are hoarding will never be used.

You just want to keep it. Now, what you're saving has a legitimate biblical purpose. I mean, you're saving for family needs. You're saving as the Lord opens opportunities for ministry to give. You're saving to help others. However, when you are hoarding, what you have is never available to anybody else.

It's all yours. When you are saving biblically, that's a testimony to good planning and stewardship. What you are hoarding and when you are hoarding, that's testifying secretly, maybe known to no one but you. It testifies to your lack of trust in the provision of God in your future. James moves on to a second sinful action. You have hoarding and then he's just really getting started here. Look at verse 4, defrauding.

There's the text. Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you, and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. That's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it? They're getting rich by cheating others out of what's due to them. I mean, we'd all be a little richer if we just stopped paying what we owe, right?

We're just going to keep it. They're defrauding those who have served them, worked for them. James specifically is referring to day laborers who were harvesting the large estates of the wealthy. The term laborer points to a poor migrant worker, a day laborer. He literally lived one day away from starvation.

He's a day laborer. In James' day, wages were small. He would be given at the end of the day what he earned. It wasn't enough for him to save anything, just enough for he and his family to eat. And if that money is withheld him, they have nothing to eat.

They've mowed the rich man's field. In fact, the tense of the verb indicates the work has all been finished and he's shown up to be paid and it's withheld. James writes, you've withheld their pay. That's a compound verb that indicates this isn't a delay.

This is a default. This is some kind of technicality that they've come up with and on that basis, well, sooner or later, your check is going to be in the mail. They're simply refusing to pay what they owe. This is, by the way, the same idea in the mind of Paul in Romans chapter 13 where he says, oh, no man, anything. And that verse is often twisted as a proof text against any kind of borrowing whether it's a car loan or a mortgage or a building program. The Bible never condemns borrowing or lending and even the exacting of interest for those who can pay. When Paul wrote, oh, no man, anything, the tense of the verb refers to someone who is constantly owing on a debt and refusing to make payments. He owes and he will not pay. In fact, the immediate context of that verse is the previous verse where Paul says, pay your taxes.

Stop then, owing the government your taxes. Pay up. I wonder if the timing of this text is appropriate. I didn't plan it.

It just happened. See, the language of Paul in Romans 13 is referring to somebody who has a debt that he can pay on time but he refuses to pay. Paying and not paying. These are the rich in James chapter 5. They have enough money to pay these day laborers but they are refusing to pay up.

These migrant workers are never going to get their paycheck. James, if you look again at that text, he says that their cry has been heard by the Lord of Sabaoth. What a great title to use at this particular text. It's a subtle reminder to the believer.

More than likely, these dispersed Jews have been abused, mistreated, they've worked, and then they haven't been paid. James says your cries have been heard by the Lord of armies, the Lord of hosts. In other words, the materialist who robs people by refusing to pay what he owes them will be dealt with by a God who's big enough to do something about it.

And one day he will. James condemns the materialist for hoarding, for defrauding, cheating people out of whatever he can cheat people out of. Thirdly, the third outward expression of materialism is self-indulging. Look at verse 5. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

Wow. The words James uses refer to material gain for the purpose of heaping luxury upon luxury. It can be woodenly translated as softness. It is heaping upon them the ability to where they never have to ever sweat or work. I fear the American dream is propelling people to the moment they don't have to work. Wanton pleasure is a word that refers to sexual lewdness or promiscuity.

These people then are using their wealth to add to their lives comfort, their love of comfort, their lust for comfort, and their lusts sexually. During the days of James, even the religious world was bound up in luxury and drunkenness and lasciviousness and revelry. In fact, Dionysius, the son of Zeus, one of the pantheon gods, was a favored god. He was the god of celebration, which was really tongue-in-cheek for he was the god of partying. Dionysius was the god of the weekend in Rome and he is to this day.

In fact, the entire religious system saturating the Greek and Roman world when James is writing this letter had a profound love and appreciation for Dionysius. They built magnificent temples to this god. Followers would come to these temples where they would carry out their orgies.

In the very center of the temple, archaeologists have revealed, in fact, ruins of one particular temple in Damascus still shows in the center of the temple a deep pit which was built, ornately decorated and tiled and bejeweled. It was nothing less than a place where the drunken worshipers of Dionysius would come from their feasting and revelry and literally throw up in the well. They considered that to be their offering to their god of revelry. And then they would go back and eat and drink again. In fact, the palace of Nero in Rome still reveals to this day in the middle of his main dining room a well, ornately designed and decorated, used for the same thing by Nero and his guests as they would party in their orgies. They could literally go to that well and they'd throw up and go back and fill up again. The lives of the wealthy spared no expense to gratify their every desire, their every whim. And, ladies and gentlemen, the American dream would pursue that kind of living where nothing matters, only your satisfaction, only your whim. If you've got enough money, great.

Spend it on yourself. And since the audience of James, these dispersed Jews have been deported by the Roman Caesar, they're scattered. I'm sure they're wondering if they're ever going to eat a full meal again, if they would ever have a moment's rest from work.

Nothing wrong with rest. It would seem to them, it would be tempting to believe that the gods of Rome are paying off and our God isn't. That's why I believe James is reminding the believer that these self-centered, self-absorbed, self-promoting, self-indulging people might look like they're getting away with whatever they're doing, but they are only fattening themselves up for the coming day of the slaughter of God's judgment. There's one more word as he comes to the end of his description, and I'll just call it this, ruthlessness. Ruthlessness.

One more characteristic of those bent on getting whatever they can and want. Look at verse 6. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man.

He does not resist you. James is using legal terminology here. The wider meaning in the Jewish audience would immediately understand the idea of murdering a man by depriving him of that which would sustain him.

One rabbinical statement going back to the days of James reads, and I quote, has one that slays his neighbor is he that takes away his living, which could certainly lead to death by starvation or deprivation. Because the innocent ones pictured here are poor, and the wealthy have the courts tied down and sewn up, so to speak. The poor cannot defend themselves, and they lose everything, even their living, and it all goes to the rich. And here's what happens. Let me describe it in this context.

We'll modernize it a little bit, okay? One of these poor guys works all day long, maybe several days in fact, mowing the fields of a wealthy man. He then finishes the job, and he shows up on the front porch to get his pay, and the owner refuses his salary. So the laborer calls the courthouse up. He gets the paperwork, and he files it. He takes the rich guy to court. The court however is corrupt. The judge happens to be a friend of the wealthy landowner, and there's a little transaction to make sure things are handled properly, a little deposit for any attorney involved, and the jury is rigged. So the poor man loses in court, but that's not all. The rich man, pretending to be insulted, returns the suit, sues the poor man, and wins. Now the innocent man loses not only that paycheck, but he loses his pickup, and his house, and his license, and his tools.

He's now destitute. Well, we're going to have to interrupt this message right here, because we're just about out of time. Please make sure and tune in for our next message, so that you'll hear the conclusion to this important message called When Money Talks. Stephen Davey is your Bible teacher here on Wisdom for the Heart. You can learn more about us and our ministry at wisdomonline.org. Once you get to that site, you'll be able to access all of the books that Stephen's written, as well as the complete audio archive of his teaching ministry. Go there anytime. We look forward to being with you next time on Wisdom for the Heart.