This week we are looking at a
section of a letter that the half brother of Jesus wrote to early followers of
Jesus, called the book of James. Wednesday, in James 5:1, we discovered that the faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure. We
talked about the reality that to treasure someone or something is to view or
esteem someone or something as being of great worth or value.
In addition,
we saw James reveal for us the reality that we treasure treasure as our
ultimate treasure when we hoard our treasure. James point to those who are
wealthy throughout history is that we should not hoard our treasure because the
treasure of earth is temporary and will testify against us. A sign that we
treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure is when we hoard the treasure that
we have here on earth instead of leveraging that treasure in a way that helps
to meet the needs of others here on earth. Today, we will see James reveal for
us a second way that we can treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure in verse
4:
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.
Here we see
James confront those who were far from God and who were wealthy with the charge
of robbery. You see, what was happening was that these early followers of Jesus
who were of lower socioeconomic status would work for those who were wealthy
land owners as laborers in their fields. However, at the end of a long days
work in the fields, these poor laborers would come in to receive their pay only
to be denied their pay by these wealthy landowners.
In essence,
these wealthy landowners who were far from God were stealing wages from these
poor laborers who were followers of Jesus. James here paints a word picture of
the wages of these laborers crying out from the pockets of these wealthy
landowners to proclaim the wrongdoing of these wealthy landowners.
James then
proclaims to these wealthy landowners that the cry of the withheld wages, along
with the cries of the poor laborers had reached the ears of the Lord of the
Sabaoth. Now when James uses this phrase “the Lord of the Sabaoth”, he is
referring to the Lord God Himself. James point is that the injustice that was
being committed by those who were wealthy and who were far from God had reached
the ears of the Lord God. And the Lord was fully aware of the injustice that
was being committed against these early followers of Jesus.
And it is
here that we see James reveal for us the reality that we treasure treasure as
our ultimate treasure when we steal treasure from others. We treasure treasure
as our ultimate treasure when we steal treasure from others, whether it is
stealing time from our employer or stealing wages from those we employ. We
treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we steal treasure from others,
whether it is overcharging for a service or underpaying for a service. We
treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we steal treasure from others
instead of generously rewarding others for the service we receive from
others. James then reveals for us a third
way that we can treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure in 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.
Now to fully
understand what James is communicating here, we first need to understand a few things.
First, when James uses the phrase lived luxuriously, this phrase literally
means to live a life of self indulgence. This phrase conveys the sense of
living a life that revels in and is focused solely on one’s own pleasure.
In addition,
when James states that those who were wealthy and were far from God led a life
of wanton pleasure, this phrase means to indulge oneself beyond the bounds of
what would be considered appropriate and respectable. Their self-indulgence was
over the top in its nature and scope.
James point here is that those who were wealthy and who were far from
God lived a self-absorbed and self-indulgent lifestyle.
However,
James reminds those who were engaged in this self indulgent lifestyle that they
had “fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter”. But what does that mean? When
James refers to the day of slaughter here, he is referring to the day of God’s
judgment upon selfish and rebellious humanity. James here is painting a
powerful word picture to reveal the reality that just as a cow would be
fattened up until the day it met its end, not realizing what awaited them at
that end, those who were wealthy and lived a self indulgent lifestyle had
fattened themselves up partying it up without thinking of the consequences that
would await them at the end of their lives as they stood before Jesus.
And it is
here that we see James reveal for us the reality that we treasure treasure as
our ultimate treasure when we live a self-indulgent lifestyle. We live a self
indulgent lifestyle when we focus solely on our own pleasure. We live a self
indulgent lifestyle when we indulge ourselves beyond the bounds of what is
respectable. And we live a self indulgent lifestyle when we live without
concern of consequences of that lifestyle.
But not only
do we treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we hoard our treasure.
Not only do we treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we steal
treasure from others. Not only do we treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure
when we live a self-indulgent lifestyle. We see James reveal for us a fourth
way that we can treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure in verse 6:
You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.
Here we see
James charge that those who were wealthy and who were far from God “have
condemned and put to death the righteous man;” Now a natural question
that arises here is “Is James saying that the wealthy were murdering the poor?”
While that could be what James is saying, what is more likely the case is that as
the wealthy who were far from God were taking these poor followers of Jesus to
court in an attempt to get more from them, the result was that the judges were
ruling in favor of the wealthy. That is what James means when he uses the word
condemned here.
And as a
result of successfully achieving a guilty verdict in court, those who were
wealthy and who were far from God were taking what little that these poor
followers of Jesus had from them. Now in the culture of the first century,
there was no such thing as bankruptcy or public assistance. So when you take
what little was left from those who had very little, the result was often death
for those who had lost what little they had left.
James here
is charging that those who were wealthy and who were far from God with murder
as a result of taking all that was left from those who had little or nothing,
which was leading to their death. James point is that those who were wealthy
and who were far from God were oppressing others through the exercise of their
influence and power that came from their wealth.
And it is
here that we see James reveal for us the reality that we treasure treasure as
our ultimate treasure when we oppress others through the power that our
treasure provides. You see, because
increased treasure often results in increased influence and power, we can
easily treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure because of the power and
influence that the treasure provides.
However,
with increased power comes the possibility of increased corruption. And we use
the power and influence that we have to oppress others in a way that results in
us increasing our treasure, we demonstrate that we treasure treasure as our
ultimate treasure.
So here is a
question to consider: How does how you handle your treasure reveal about what
you treasure? Does how you handle your treasure reveal the reality that you
treasure treasure as your ultimate treasure? Or does how you handle treasure
reveal that reality that you trust Jesus as your ultimate treasure? Because,
the faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure.
However, we
treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we hoard our treasure. We treasure
treasure as our ultimate treasure when we steal treasure from others. We treasure
treasure as our ultimate treasure when we live a self-indulgent lifestyle. And
we treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we oppress others through
the power that our treasure provides.
However, the
faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure, but
instead treasures Jesus as our ultimate treasure and uses the treasure that we
have been given in a way that points others to Jesus as our ultimate treasure.
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