“The Book of James
Pastor Mike Barnett, July 16, 2006
13Now listen, you who
say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what
will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the
Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and
brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to
do and doesn't do it, sins.
1Now listen, you rich
people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your
wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your 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. 4Look! 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. 5You have lived on
earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of
slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent
men, who were not opposing you. James
James 4:13-14 says:
13Now listen, you who
say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what
will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes. James
4:13-14
·
The
underlying Greek verb, (lego) means to say something based on reason or logic.
·
James rebuked
those who __________________________(logically) think through and articulate
their _____________________(plans) as if God did not exist or care.
·
In this
context, the desire to make a profit has become such a towering priority that
it has overshadowed everything else.
NOTE: James is not
arguing against the making of money or even against the desire to make money,
rather, he is against the attitude of self-contained certainty with little
regard for God.
·
Wise planning
and strategizing in business is not, of course, sinful in and of itself, but
commendable.
·
No spiritual
principles are violated by anything the businessmen said.
·
There is
nothing wrong with talking about future plans.
·
The problem
lies in what they did not do.
·
They did
extensive planning, but in the course of their planning, they totally ignored
God - God was no part of their agenda.
·
We sin we do
not involve ______________(God) is our future
_________________________(planning).
·
There is no
sin in planning to make money.
·
James is not
attacking their profit motive, but their _________________________(exclusion)
of God.
·
The allusion
to traveling to other cities and making allot of money and being influential
can be ploy of the devil to ________________________(distract) the Christian
from doing God’s will.
NOTE: Life is far from
simple. It is a complex matrix of forces, events, people, contingencies, and
circumstances over which we have little or no control, making it impossible for
anyone to ascertain, design or assure any specific future.
1
Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring
forth. Prov. 27:1
·
Life is
_________________________(unpredictable) and to make it seem understandable
100% of the time is _______________________(arrogant) in God’s eyes because he
wants us to ___________________(trust) him on a _________________(daily) basis.
Matthew
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Rom.
28And we know that
in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.
Rom.
Psalms 37:3-5 says:
Prov. 3:5-6 says:
5 Trust in the LORD
with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways
acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6
Job 8:9 says:
6 "My days are
swifter than a weaver's shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.
7 Remember, O God,
that my life is but a breath;
my eyes will never see happiness again.
8 The eye that now
sees me will see me no longer;
you will look for me, but I will be no
more.
9 As a cloud
vanishes and is gone,
so he who goes down to the grave [a] does not return.
Job 7:6-9
Isa 40:6-8 says:
6 A voice says,
"Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field.
7 The grass withers
and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on
them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers
and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands
forever." Isa 40:6-8
1 Peter
24For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall, 1 Peter
·
It is a wrong
response to think we will outlive our plans.
·
Just leaving
God out of your life is itself _____________________(sin).
TWO WAYS TO SIN:
1) Sins of ________________________(commission)
2) Sins of ________________________(Omission)
·
Those who
know God’s will are responsible to obey it, and if they fail to do so they sin.
·
Sins of
omission are rarely isolated from sins of commission.
INSTEAD, YOU OUGHT TO
SAY, “IF THE LORD WILLS, WE WILL LIVE AND ALSO DO THIS OR THAT”
·
God is to be
the center of all the Christians Plans.
19I hope in the Lord
Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive
news about you. 24And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.
Phil 2:19,24
Deut 32:39 says:
39 "See now that I
myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
Deut 32:39
Job 12:9-10 says:
9 Which of all
these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is
the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind. Job 12:9-10
Psalm 39:4-5 says:
4 "Show me, O
LORD, my life's end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.
5 You have made my
days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before
you.
Each man's life is but a breath. Psalm 39:4-5
Heb
27Just as man is destined
to die once, and after that to face judgment. Heb 9:27
Rom 12:1-2 says:
1Therefore, I urge
you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will. Rom 12:1-2
Prov. 27:1 says:
1 Do not boast about
tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring
forth. Prov. 27:1
Hosea 13:3 says:
3 Therefore they
will be like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears,
like chaff swirling from a threshing
floor,
like smoke escaping through a window.
Hosea 13:3
·
Making plans
without considering God is evidence of a proud
_______________________(unsurrendered) life.
·
The fact is life
here on earth is ____________________(short) and ____________________________(transitory).
Luke 12:16-21 says:
16And he told them
this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He
thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he
said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones,
and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself,
"You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy;
eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God
said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.
Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how
it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward
God." Luke 12:16-21
·
For James the
real question is how to ____________________________(approach) life when the
outcome is uncertain.
·
His answer is
to trust in God’s __________________________(sovereignty), not in human plans.
Prov
21 Many are the
plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that
prevails. Prov 19:21
·
James is not
against planning - boasting in our own accomplishments and/or our plans, on our
_________________ ________________(own terms) is the issue.
·
The attitude
God desires is one that seeks his ___________________________(favor), not the
praise of the world.
·
Boasting is
not a ____________________(trivial) matter – God despises it because it usurps
his authority over our lives!
·
THIS BOASTING
IS THE SIN MENTIONED IN
·
The merchants
plan and carry on as if God were unimportant or do not even exist.
·
Instead they
should have made their plans in prayer and in the anticipation that God may in
fact change these plans.
·
PLANS SHOULD
BE MADE IN __________________(PRAYER) AND IN
________________________(SUBMISSION) TO GOD’S _________________(Will).
Luke
47"That
servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what
his master wants will be beaten with many blows. Luke 12:47
·
THERE IS
SOMETHING ABOUT FAITH THAT TENDS TOWARD CERTAINTY. BUT CERTAINTY CAN BE ANGEROUS
WHEN IT MAKES US BLIND.
·
JESUS, LIKE
JAMES, TRIED STRENOUSLY TO OPEN THE EYES OF HIS CONTEMPRARIES TO SEE THEIR NEED
FOR REPENTANCE. HE IMPLORED THEM, “STOP JUDGING BY MERE APPARENCES.
James 5:1-6 says:
1Now listen, you rich
people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your
wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your 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. 4Look! 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. 5You have lived on
earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of
slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent
men, who were not opposing you. James 5:1-6
Proverbs
22 The blessing of
the LORD brings wealth,
and he adds no trouble to it. Proverbs 10:22
The Fact is though…
Duet
18 But remember the LORD
your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so
confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. Deut
8:18
1 Timothy
10For the love of money
is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered
from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s. 1 Timothy 6:10
Isaiah 10:1-4 says:
1 Woe to those who
make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
2 to deprive the
poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of
my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
3 What will you do
on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
4 Nothing will
remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned
away,
his hand is still upraised. Isaiah 10:1-4
God angered is towards
those who take advantage of the poor.
Amos 8:4-10 says:
4 Hear this, you
who trample the needy
and do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying,
"When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?"—
skimping the measure,
boosting the price
and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor
with silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The LORD has
sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.
8 "Will not
the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the
9 "In that
day," declares the Sovereign LORD,
"I will make the sun go down at
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your
religious feasts into mourning
and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an
only son
and the end of it like a bitter day.
Amos 8:4-10
1 Chronicles 29:3 says:
3 Besides, in my devotion
to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for
the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy
temple: 1 Chron 29:3
Mark 12:42-44 says:
42But a poor widow came
and put in two very small copper coins,[a]worth only a fraction of a penny.[b]
43Calling his
disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has
put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their
wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live
on." Mark 12:42-44
·
Believers are
to use their wealth to _______________(win) the _________________(lost).
Luke 16:9 says:
9I tell you, use worldly
wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be
welcomed into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9
·
Believers are
to use their wealth to _______________(care) for those in ____________________(need).
Galatians:
10All they asked was that
we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Galatians
2:10
·
Believers are
to _________________________ _________________________(financially support)
those in ministry.
1 Corinthians. 9:4-14
says:
4Don't we have the right
to food and drink? 5Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with
us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas[a]? 6Or is it only I and Barnabas who must
work for a living?
7Who serves as a
soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its
grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? 8Do I say this merely
from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? 9For it is
written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out
the grain."[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
10Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because
when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the
hope of sharing in the harvest. 11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is
it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? 12If others have this right
of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?
But we
did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than
hinder the gospel of Christ. 13Don't you know that those who work in the temple
get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what
is offered on the altar? 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those
who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:4-14
·
GOD COMMANDS
BELIEVERS TO GIVE GENEROUSLY TO HIM THROUGH THE CHURCH BECAUSE HE WANTS TO BE ______________________(LORD)
OF ____________________(ALL) IN OUR LIVES.
Ecc 5:10-11,13
says:
10 Whoever loves money
never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied
with his income.
This too is meaningless.
11 As goods
increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?
13 I have seen a grievous
evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner. Ecclesiastes 5:10-11,13
1 Tim
17Command 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. 1 Tim 6:17
·
James indicts
the wicked rich for uselessly hoarding food (meat, fruit, grains etc) that
would inevitably rot.
·
Wealth in
biblical times was also measured in terms of garments.
·
The hoarding
of garments was just as foolish and useless as hoarding food, since such
garments were in danger of becoming moth-eaten.
Jesus said in Matthew
6:19-20:
19"Do not
store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in
and steal. Matt 6:19-20
·
James sees
all this hoarding as senseless – what is the point of feeding moths?
·
Wealth in
James day, could be measures in precious metals, chiefly gold and silver could
literally become rusted.
·
Technically
these metals do not rust, but James is painting with the eye of a prophet.
·
The utter
inability of riches to deliver individuals from God’s judgment is a frequent
theme in scripture.
Prov. 11:4 says:
4 Wealth is worthless in
the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death. Prov.
11:4
Zeph
18 Neither their
silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the LORD's wrath.
In the fire of his jealousy
the whole world will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of all who live in the earth." Zeph
1:18
Matt
26What good will it be
for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man
give in exchange for his soul? Matt
Rev.
20:15 says:
15If anyone's name was
not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev.
20:15
James provides three
reasons for the wealthy landowners to weep.
1) Their wealth is _______________________ (temporary) and
subject to the ravages of time.
2) They will be judged and condemned for this _____________________________(selfish)
use of temporal goods
3) They have been adding to their material treasure as
if the world will go on __________________________________(forever).
Matthew 25:31-46 says:
31"When the Son of
Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne
in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the
King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the
world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the
righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or
in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King
will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he
will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you
gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was
a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not
clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also
will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will
reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of
these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they
will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46
·
Jesus says
that he considers our treatment of the poor, the imprisoned, and the thirsty to
be our treatment of him.