The faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure...

At the church where I serve we have been spending our time together looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of James. James was the half brother of Jesus who repeatedly doubted Jesus claim to be God, but became a follower of Jesus who was the pastor at the church in Jerusalem and who was ultimately killed for believing that Jesus was God.

James turned from being a doubter in Jesus to being a pastor of Jesus church and an author of this letter that is recorded for us in the Bible after seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead. And as we look at this letter that was written by the half brother of Jesus, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around several timeless truths that occur in a life of faith that works itself out in a way that results in us living lives that look like Jesus.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that the half brother of Jesus wrote to early followers of Jesus, called the book of James, we will see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works.  So let’s discover that timeless truth together beginning in James 5:1:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.

James begins this section of his letter to early followers of Jesus with a very pointed message to a very specific group of people. When James uses the phrase “Come now, you rich”, this phrase if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this “Now listen here, those of you who are rich”. 

Most likely, James is addressing those who were far from God and were financially well off and who were demonstrating prejudice against followers of Jesus who were poor. As we discovered earlier in this series, there were followers of Jesus that were being exploited by those who were well off and were far from God. These individuals were demonstrating prejudice by dragging these early followers of Jesus off to court in an attempt to get more money from them as they spoke of Jesus in a disrespectful and demeaning way.

And in the midst of this letter to these early followers of Jesus, James decided to turn his attention to these wealthy individuals who were far from God so as to give them a piece of his mind. James gives these individuals who were wealthy and who were far from God a piece of his mind with a powerful and pointed statement: “weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.”

Now this statement, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Now listen here, those of you who are rich and who are demonstrating prejudice against the poor by exploiting them and dragging them off to court so as to get more from them. You better get ready for what is coming to you. You better get ready to weep crocodile tears and to wail and cry aloud over the trouble and tribulations that are coming to you. You see, you are going to wail and cry aloud because you are about to experience God’s judgment as a result of how you have been treating others as a result of your desire for more wealth”.

And it is here that we see James reveal for us a timeless and true principle when it comes to the faith that works. And that timeless and true principle is this: The faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure. Just as it was for followers of Jesus in James day; just as it has been for followers of Jesus throughout history, the faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure.

Now, a natural question that could arise here is “Well Dave, that sounds great, but what do you mean when you say that the faith that works does not treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure?” Simply put, to treasure someone or something is to view or esteem someone or something as being of great worth or value.

And the faith that works does not view the treasure that we accumulate here on earth in such a way that makes that treasure preeminent and of ultimate value and worth. The faith that works does not value or esteem treasure as being of ultimate value and worth because the faith that works esteems and values Jesus as our ultimate treasure.

Now another question that could arise at this point would be “Well Dave, if that is the case, if the faith that works treasures Jesus as our ultimate treasure instead of treasure, then how can we know when we are treasuring treasure as our ultimate treasure instead of treasuring Jesus as our ultimate treasure?” That is a great question. And in James 5:1-6, we see James reveal for us four specific ways that we treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure. We see James reveal for us the first way that we can treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure in verses 2-3:

Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

Here we see James reveal for us the reality that we treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure when we hoard our treasure. Apparently, those who were rich and who were far from God were stockpiling all of their treasure. And because they were stockpiling and hoarding all of their treasure, James proclaimed to them that “Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted”.

James proclaims this statement to the rich to explain and remind them that the treasures of this earth do not last but are only temporary. James point to those who are wealthy throughout history is that we should not hoard our treasure because the treasure of earth is temporary. James here is echoing the words of his half brother Jesus, who said the following in Matthew 6:19-21:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

James then makes a seemingly cryptic statement in the second half of verse three when he proclaims “and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.” But this morning, what does that even mean? To understand what James is communicating here, we first need to define some terms.

First, when James refers to rust, here is referring to the corroding effect that time has on the treasure that those who were wealthy were hoarding and stockpiling for themselves. James then explains that it is the corroding effect of time that will serve as a witness to testify and provide the proof that those who were wealthy treasured treasure as their ultimate treasure by hoarding all of their treasure. James point to those who are wealthy throughout history is that we should not hoard our treasure because our treasure will testify against us.

In addition, when James states that the rust of the treasure that has been hoarded will consume your flesh like fire, James is painting a word picture of God’s judgment. In the letters that make up our Bible, fire was often used as imagery of God’s judgment on the selfishness and rebellion of humanity. James point here is that those who selfishly hoard treasure do so in a way that reveals their selfishness and rebellion and exposes them to God’s judgment of their selfishness and rebellion.

James then hammers his point home by proclaiming “It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” When we see the phrase, “last days” in the letters that make up the Bible, this phrase refers to the final chapters of God’s story here on earth that began with the arrival of Jesus and will end with Jesus return to earth.

James is reminding those who are wealthy throughout history that we should not hoard our treasure because the end of God’s story is coming. And at the end of God’s story, all of humanity will give an account to Jesus for how they lived their lives here on earth. And part of that accounting will involve how they handled the treasure that they were given here on earth.

And 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.

Friday, we will see James then reveals for us three additional ways that we can treasure treasure as our ultimate treasure...