Jesus once used the illustration of a camel passing through the eye of a needle to describe the impossibility of rich, materialistic people ever getting into heaven.  It was a shocking statement that made even his closest disciples despair of ever getting in themselves.  Yet, it has been explained away time and again by bad theologians and prosperity preachers.  No Bible scholar takes Jesus’ statement as anything other than what it was, a startling assessment of the impossibility of loving both God and money. You’d have a better time stuffing the largest of all Palestinian animals through a needle’s eye than shoving the world’s rich through the door of heaven.

The disciples got the point.  And they figured that if it was that hard for the rich, it was probably pretty much impossible for them too.  And Jesus agreed.  With man it is impossible.  But fortunately he added, with God all things are possible.  Whew!  Lucky us!  We’re rich but safe!  Hey, who says we can’t have it all?  Not so fast.  Should all of us living in affluence breathe a sigh of relief?

I think Jesus said what he did to really cause us to think about what we value and where we find our security.  It’s all very simple: You can’t love God and money.  Friendship with the world is enemy-ship with God.  Loving money is the root of all kinds of evil.  Seeking it is a sign of the unsaved.  Storing it is a sign of folly.  Sharing is its one legitimate use.  And before you tell me that “your not rich”.  Let me remind you our comparison can’t be with the person down the street or living in Beverly Hills.  Think about the world.  Over half (more than 3 billion) people in our world live on less than $2/day.

Tonight we are going to talk about how we can “Go for the Gold” – it’s all about treasure, money, our possessions.  The Bible says more about money than about many other topics, including such biggies as sex and heaven.  Like our words, our wallets serve as spiritual indicators.  They tell us the condition of our hearts.  Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Let’s look at James 5:1-11

James 5 addresses this topic in the context of early Jewish Christianity. He has been talking to believers primarily, but in this passage, he seems to expand audience to include unbelieving Jews who may give his letter a hearing. Many orthodox Jews tended to be wealthy landowners and businessmen.  Many Jewish Christians lost their businesses and were forced to become indentured to their countrymen as glorified slaves.  James writes this section to correct the exploitation that inevitably occurred in such an inequitable system.  But James also writes to challenge us concerning our use of wealth.  All of us are susceptible to the kinds of excesses and misuses of money common in that day.  How many of us have closets full of things we don’t need and never use?  How many of us have thrown away more things than a third of the world will ever own?

I will grant that this is a difficult topic, but if you’ve been following Christ for some time, it isn’t a new topic. God has shown us in the Word that it’s a command for us to care particularly for our poor brothers and sisters in the world. Therefore, to walk away from this series on James, to walk away from what we’ve seen in the Word over and over again is sin.  It’s eternally serious. Faith that lasts is obedient to the will of God.

1.  Have confidence in the justice of God.
This emphasis on the poor in James leads to the harshest language, I think, in the entire book. In vs. 1-6, and I want you to see a background for this language. What James is emphasizing is that the judge of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, is coming, the judgment of God is coming. This is the tone that permeates the background of these verses, and it takes us back to the end of James 4.  Remember what he said?  Our lives are a mist. They are here today and gone tomorrow, but because the judge is standing in the door and the judgment of God is coming.

Now I want to point out something extremely important here in James 5. These first six verses are most likely addressed to rich unbelievers. He never calls them brothers, he only tells them to weep and to wail. He never calls them to repentance.  And James doesn’t give an indictment on wealth in and of itself.  But it’s an indictment of their sinful use of wealth. Now, you might ask, “Well why, in the midst of a letter written to Christians and churches, why would James go off on the unbelieving rich?”

I think he’s reminding the church that the justice of God is going to be played out.  Especially those who are being oppressed under the rich they could trust that even though injustice was playing out in their lives day by day by day, the justice of God was coming.  I also think that even though this section is addressed intentionally toward the unbelieving rich, there are powerful warnings to the believing rich, Christians who had wealth, that their lives were to look very, very different from this picture right here, He’s coming back to that two-systems thesis – that God’s people would not be living like those under the world’s system.  So I want you to hear this as you are.  Because we all identify more with wealthy in the church especially in comparison to the rest of the world.

He’d coming to judge the sinful things they had done that he lists here. Number one, he’s coming to judge the sinful for hoarding wealth.  Again, it’s not indicting them for wealth in and of itself but for what they were doing with it, they were hoarding it. They were storing up stuff in barns to use Jesus analogy in Luke 12. They were storing up their possessions and their clothes and their money, saving it away, hoarding it, it was rotting and corroding.

And James says, You will burn up with it. This was the picture. Their treasures on earth would bring about their torment in eternity.  Remember, Luke 12, that parable that Jesus told. A rich man 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 and I’ll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. Is this not a portrait of the American Dream?  That’s what we’re after in our culture. And Jesus said, You are a fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.

So the call rings out to us – be very careful of storing up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy or thieves break in and steal. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy and where thieves can never break in and steal.Second, God’s coming to judge the cheating workers. In that day, the concentration of land was in the hands of the few landowners who would, in satisfying themselves, oftentimes neglect their worker’s wages. Now, for a worker who is oppressed and poor to be neglected of wages would mean possibly to go without daily food.Third, James tells them that they will be judged for living in self-indulgence.  Look at the imagery here in v. 5, “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”  Let that soak in.  Like a cow who is gorging himself on food moments before he goes to the slaughter. This is the picture of people who gorge themselves on luxury and self-indulgence, he says, enjoying it all when the reality is in an instant you’re life will be over.  What a picture and what a stern warning against the self-indulgent mindset inherent in our culture’s ideals and values.

Every generation has its blind spots.  On my first mission trip in Germany I was able to visit the Buchenwald Concentration Camp – that’s where Bonhoeffer was imprisoned before being transferred to Floessenburg Concentration Camp to be executed.  Buchenwald was a spiritually dark place where heinous murders took place.  Yet over 60 years later, German youth still feel the weight of what took place in their country.  Most don’t like to even talk about it.

I have to wonder what it will be for my generation.  A generation of wealthy American Christians who live with blinders on in regards to the poor of the world.  A generation who spends over $450 billion annually on Christmas while the global clean water epidemic could be eradicated with $10 billion.  A generation with more disposable income and passion for solutions yet we ignore the thousands who die daily in poverty or sickness.  Many dying from illness that we can prevent with a quick trip to Circle K or CVS.

Now I remind you, this was a word to the unbelieving rich. This condemnation, those who’ve trusted in Christ, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So take heart, find strength in that. At the same time, pause, church, pause for a minute and just ask if there’s evidence of hoarding wealth. There will be temptations at every turn to fold back into the culture around us and not live under God’s system – especially in regards to wealth.  So my challenge to you would be to store up treasures in heaven. Let’s not be worried that we’re not going to have enough for ourselves. Let’s live for the sake of those who are in need and let’s trust God. Let’s trust God, that’s the whole point.

2.  Have a longing for the return of God
And what God is saying, is, I know you’re surrounded by injustice, but trust God. Your cries have been heard by the Lord of Hosts.  We serve a God who delights in showing His power and His greatness by hearing the poor and coming to their aid, by defending those who are needy, and that’s the point. The King is coming, be patient until the Lord’s coming.  Look at v. 7, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”

V. 8 changes the way we live in this world. “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”  How often do I need reminding of this!  This world isn’t my home.  We’re passing through, so why store up more stuff in barns if he’s coming back?  You and I should spend our time on making sure people around the world are ready when he comes back. It changes how you live and how you spend.  So our prayer becomes, God help us to be confident in your justice, to look toward your coming and to await your coming, to live eager for your coming.

3.  Have patience in our present suffering
This is the clear theme in the next part of this letter starting in v. 7-11. He starts with the illustration of a farmer in v. 7, “Be patient like a farmer that is waiting for the harvest.”  In an agricultural society in a context where weather is not just something that happens, weather determines whether or not you live or die – you become dependent on the rains.  If there’s not enough rain, there’s drought, if there’s too much rain, there’s rot, if there’s frost on the crops.   All of these things that the farmer has to be patient and because the farmer cannot control them.

Trust in God with what you cannot control and also honor God with what you can control. In v. 9, James mentions they were grumbling against one another, they were complaining to another and there was temptation to speak in ways that did not honor God in the midst of their struggle.  He paints the picture of a judge standing at the door.  You want to be found faithful when he comes back.

The last illustration he gives takes us back to the OT.  Remember the prophets?  Remember Job?  Forty-two grueling chapters. When is this going to end? Why is this happening?  And he gets to the end and he says, My ears have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.  The whole point in the story of Job is that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. That’s the end that Job gets to. When you are walking through suffering, I urge you, to remember this is not the end. You’re in the valley, but it’s not the end.

The end, the purpose of God, he will show himself compassionate and merciful.  So like a farmer, trust in the harvest, honor God in what you can control.  Like a prophet, speak the truth of God and like Job, hope in God, knowing His purpose will prevail.

So to wrap it all up, James is all about gospel obedience. When we live like this, it’s the overflow of the One that lives in us, the One who died for us and rose again on our behalf and we are united with His life.  These workouts for our faith are the overflow of the gracious gospel of Christ being formed in our lives.  So these workouts of our faith have a goal – and that goal is to bring glory to Christ.  What if the world saw that there are people whose lives look radically different because they’ve been transformed by faith in Christ?