From our Journey Through James series, our Sunday service on June 25, 2023, James 5:1–11. The morning ran long, so we split James 5 into two parts, and this is the first. Watch the full message: A Journey Through James 5 on YouTube.
We began our journey through James a couple of months ago. James was the half-brother of Christ and the pastor of the Jerusalem church, and he wrote to the scattered Christians fleeing persecution throughout the Roman Empire. They gathered in their churches every Sunday and heard the word, but they had not become doers of the word. God wants you to show love, not favoritism. God wants you to show genuine faith through your works. God wants you to control your tongue, because the tongue is a fire that can ruin the course of our lives. God wants you to have a wise lifestyle, to be at peace with your Christian family, to avoid condemning others, and to control your arrogance and humble yourselves. In James 5 there are a few more lessons, and because the morning ran long we split this chapter into two parts. This first part looks at two of them: beware the dangers of wealth, and wait patiently for the Lord.
Beware the Dangers of Wealth
For the first time in James, we have a rebuke that is not aimed at believers. We know this because of verse 7: “Be patient therefore.” The Christians are not the ones being rebuked. This is a rebuke against the wicked and a warning for believers: do not be jealous of the wicked’s wealth, because in the end it is not to their benefit but to their destruction. Wealth is not evil in and of itself, but it will always be an obstacle on the path of God rather than something that directs you to it. Jesus says it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Why? Because he can rely on his riches in this world. Those with wealth just throw money at the problem and it goes away. Why do I need Jesus? I can throw a million dollars at it and it will disappear today.
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
James 5:1–3
These rich men are not suffering now. They are living in luxury. But their riches are corrupted, their garments are moth-eaten, and their gold and silver are cankered. They are storing up wealth for themselves, and it is going to rot away. James is probably referring to three types of wealth. “Riches” carries the idea of possessions or property, likely food storage, like the grain you store for other years. No matter how much food you store, eventually it rots away. The rich fancy clothing is slowly eaten away by moths. And the gold and silver, your money, is slowly corroding. It does not matter what kind of riches or comforts you have. All of them will go away, if not in this life then at the end, because no one can take their riches to the grave. When you stand before God, your wealth will not be a testimony for why you should go to heaven.
The Lord of Armies Hears
They were cheating the people who worked for them. You hired people to plow your fields and kept back their pay by fraud. You did not pay a fair wage. You are heaping up money for yourself, nickel and diming everybody who works for you. God hears that employee who has been cheated by their employer. Their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. If you are not familiar with the word, that is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies. That is not a peaceful term. God hates greed, and He hears the cry of those who suffer from it. “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton” means you have lived comfortably in luxury. “Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter”: you are like a fatted calf ready to be killed, and you have fattened yourself up for the day of judgment. The Christians had done nothing against these rich people, and yet the rich came and condemned and killed the just. Though we may suffer under people with such power, God is watching. The Lord of armies is standing by for the day of judgment.
Wait Patiently for the Lord
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James 5:7–8
So what should we do in response? We wait patiently for the Lord. We are to be like the husbandman, the farmer, who waits for the precious fruit of the earth. Is this just saying, “The Lord is coming back someday, or you’ll die and go to heaven, so just wait”? No. It is not saying do nothing. Does a farmer do nothing while he waits for his crops to grow? No, he still has work to do, and that is why this illustration is used. David Guzik wrote that the early rain came in October or November and was essential to soften the ground for plowing, and the latter rain came in April and May and was essential to the maturing of the crops shortly before harvest. We are waiting for God to prepare the ground for our ministry, so that it is tender and ready, and then for the harvest of the fruit of our labor when the time comes. The farmer tends his field and removes thorns while looking heavenward for the coming rain. We ought not stand idly by. We should wait patiently for the day of judgment while doing the work of Christ in our lives.
Do Not Grudge One Against Another
“Grudge” has the idea of sighing or moaning within yourself. Life is so hard. When is God going to do something about it? The church people of this day were complaining to each other: when is Jesus coming to collect His church? They were tired of the Roman Empire scattering them from their homes. Jesus said this generation would not pass until the kingdom came in power, and that was talking about church growth, but they thought it meant Him literally returning. So they were bitter and sighing and groaning about it, and James says they had it all wrong. Do not sigh and groan to each other, lest you be condemned. “The judge standeth before the door.” I like this because of Revelation, where Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Everybody uses that passage for unbelievers, as if God is knocking at your door to be saved, but that passage is written to the church, to one of the seven churches. Jesus is outside the church knocking, asking to be let in. Here James is telling individual believers that the judge is at the door. You have locked Jesus outside. He is listening, and He can hear your complaints. Why is Jesus outside in your life? Let Him in. Your bitterness is not of Christ, and your sorrow and sighs are not of Christ.
Take the Prophets as an Example
You need encouragement, so take the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Think of David, who ran from Saul for years, just trying to do the right thing: “I can’t kill the king, he’s God’s anointed, I won’t touch him.” That was righteous, and yet for years he suffered affliction for doing the right thing by the person he was showing mercy to. Jeremiah was the weeping prophet who mourned over his nation, as we should mourn over ours. Isaiah stood up against the wickedness of his day. Elijah prayed for rain to stop for three years to get his nation back on track. We come to church and preach about these people and say, “Isn’t that a great story?” And then when it comes to our own lives, we say, “This is horrible.” Your glasses are the wrong set. Take off the bitter glasses and put on the glasses of Christ’s compassion. You are living those stories. Your life can be a testimony just like all those other people in the Scriptures. “We count them happy which endure.”
The Patience of Job
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Job is the one we associate with enduring the most hardship. He lost everything and had no answers, and even his comforters came and mocked and condemned him. That word pitiful means full of compassion. We never learn why Job went through all those things. We just know that it was for Job’s benefit, that in the end God doubled everything he had, and that Job remained faithful. We have seen the end of the Lord, but we do not know what is going on in the middle. Job was never told what was going on in the middle either. We do not know why we are facing hardship, but we have seen the end of all these stories: God was full of compassion and had tender mercy. Instead of sighing and groaning, we ought to look at the Scriptures as an example: “I’m not alone. I’m not the first person to endure hardship, and I won’t be the last. God, I don’t know where you’ve taken me, I don’t know why I’m here, but I know where I’m going.” So consider this. Are we Christians who are groaning and complaining, just waiting and praying, “Lord, return, take me away from this, I’m ready to go home”? Or are we Christians who are the farmer waiting for the rain: “Lord, I’m in a drought spiritually, and I’m waiting for you to send that early rain so I can plant the gospel in someone’s life”?
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