James 4:13 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:6 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.”

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.”

James 4:13 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:614Why, 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.

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 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:615Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

16As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

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 in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

James 4:13 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:6 1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

James 4:13 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:63Your 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.

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.

James 4:13 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:6 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

James 4:13 - 5:6James 4:13 - 5:65You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

6You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

6You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Rich Man, Poor Man

Larry Cline - Hardin Valley Church of Christ - 3/30/2014

• A prevalent blindness…• We need to pray for the vision of Elisha instead

of the eyes of Gehazi.• In spite of walking in the dust of Jesus’ sandals

for a couple of years, Judah the son of Simon was blind.

Are We?

1. A Biblical Perspective On Wealth & Poverty

• The first human couple was given the whole world to enjoy making it obvious that possessions are not wrong in themselves.

• The Bible nowhere condemns wealth.

• “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10)

2. James’ Charges Against The Unjust Rich

A. Insensitivity (v. 2-3)

• Wealth in those days consisted of food, garments and money.• 2Your riches have rotted and your garments have

become moth-eaten. 3Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. (James 5:2-3a)

• ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ (Luke 12:19)

• “FOOL!”

• Don’t hoard wealth, use it!• Time and disuse cause rotting, rusting

and ruin.

B. Injustice (v. 4a, 6)

• Deuteronomy 24:12, 15

• 12“If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.”15“You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the LORD and it become sin in you.”

The Jewish writings say…

He that takes away his neighbor's living slays him;

and he that defrauds the laborer of his hire is a murderer.

(Ecclesiasticus 34:22)

• Injustice was something Jesus understood.

• The preacher never stopped talking about money.• The congregation clutched their billfolds and

squirmed.• He told them not to worry so much about stuff

that’ll rot.• He told them that the folding stuff was not the

currency to buy meaning and happiness.

• He singled out one man and told him to sell everything and then give the proceeds to the poor.

• He had them shaking their heads when he said, ‘Happy are the poor.’

• Some of the best-dressed stomped out, their noses in the air.

• A few of the wealthy and powerful slipped quietly into a backroom and had a contract put out on the young preacher’s life.

And it only cost them thirty pieces of silver

C. Indulgence (v. 5)

• Character + Wealth = Great Good• Self Indulgence + Wealth = Sin• Those James addressed fed themselves on their

riches while they starved to death.• They were like pigs that eat themselves into the

slaughterhouse.• They were not aware of the hands of the hopeless

except to step on them.

3. The Poverty Of Unjust Wealth (vs. 3b-5)

• “Weep and wail”

• The greatest poverty is not empty pockets but empty souls.

• A lack of judgment today does not mean a lack of judgment tomorrow.

• Witnesses against the unjust:

• Rotten grain• Tarnished money• Moth-eaten garments• Unpaid wages• Mistreated workmen

• Within ten years of James’ letter the Roman General Titus had destroyed Jerusalem.• God never judges by a bank account or statement

of worth. He probes the heart where no surgeon can reach looking for righteousness and where it is lacking His judgment follows.

• One Final Story• Revelations 3:17b

• “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

• WHY?

• Revelations 3:17a• ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become

wealthy, and have need of nothing.”’

• We need to take a cue from Bartimaeus

• “Son of David have mercy on me!”

• “Rabbi, I want to see” (Mark 10:47-51)

With His grace, we can have the vision of Elisha instead

of the eyes of Gehazi.