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| JAMES LESSON #66 All this stuff is happening in my life and it�s not fair. How come they have money and I don�t? How come her husband�s well and mine is dying of cancer? Why do they have a large home and no kids, and I have a small home and 9 kids? Why did my husband lose his job and yours get to stay on? The list goes on and on and on � bottom line is, we all scream at one point, �That�s not fair!� It�s not. People aren�t fair. Many of you are hurting deeply in response to things done by people who aren�t doing what they ought to be doing. They are creating unfair circumstances because they are refusing to live the way they ought to live. What�s God�s answer? Hang on � I�m coming�in the meantime, �abide.� The last chapter of James dedicates itself to that particular message. James wraps things up by reminding this little group of believers that the Lord is coming and this time, it�s not to redeem � it�s to judge. He talks to them about the need for patient endurance and the urgency for prayer. James moves into those two areas by looking at the �rich man.� This is his second venture into that subject � James 1:9-10 If you�re rich and life hasn�t been fair � somehow you�ve been undercut or underrated � or for some reason you�ve lost you�re riches. James tells you to �glory in that humbling process. Glory in the loss. Glory in the process that�s brought you low because it has reminded you of the temporality of life in the here and now.� In that humiliation you learn to run to God � not to your own self-sufficiency � why? Because you ran out of answers. James 1:11 -You can�t take it with you. You�re dust � and back to dust you go. Those riches will not go with you. The kings and pharaohs built their tombs � tribes have buried their dead, putting in foods, and riches � but they were all left behind and are still present and accounted for. Death ends all �fleshly life connections� � but death does not end it all. This is where we want to go- James points out right away when he begins with chapter one that the brethren are in the thick of things. In the middle of the hardness God turns to the rich and says, �If you�re in these trials and you have been humiliated, glory in it because it shows you the temporality of these things. It�s giving you proper perspective. It�s reminding you of Who you are not- and of Whom you belong.� James 2:1-7 He mentions the rich again. When he mentions the rich he refers to them as �my brethren.� In James 2:1 he addresses �personal favoritism.� He talks about showing favoritism to the rich. He tells them not to go there � don�t base your judgment call on what a person wears, the color or style of their hair, whether or not they drive a great car or have a high paying job � don�t think less of the one who lives in a one room efficiency and barely has enough money to catch the bus downtown. James 2:6 It�s the rich people that are putting you down. It�s the rich people that are keeping you poor. It�s the rich people that are oppressing you. It�s the rich people that have the money to take you into court and take all the money you ever thought you�d have and more. You�re honoring them???!! You�re not to be that way! You�re not to be a respecter of persons. The flip side is that you are not to put down the rich either! James 5:1 Here is the second �Come now!� -or �Listen to me!� The first �Come now� is found in James 4:13. (Read both) In James 5:1-6 James does not refer to them as �brethren.� He does not give them a rosy future. There is no indication of what he says about them in verses 1-6 that would indicate they are believers. So, he�s again turning to the rich. READ James 5:1 The phrase �weep and howl� means to wail out loud. It is in the present tense meaning that they are to keep on doing it. READ James 5:2-4 You have been out there working in the fields under the oppression of these rich people � these people who are treating you like slaves. These rich people are not giving you a fair wage for your labor. These rich people are holding on to your money so that they can gain interest in the bank. The people are crying out to God for help. God hears them. READ James 5:4-5 �Wanton pleasure� is a lifestyle of wasting: An example would be to have a closet that holds 150 suits � and live in a neighborhood where people have nothing. Another example would be to build a multi-million dollar home for two people � that�s surrounded by village people who have no windows or doors on their homes. This is the �wanton pleasure� he�s talking about. READ On �James 5:5-6 All the way through James, James has been talking to the �brethren.� Why does he shift modes all of a sudden and say, �Come now you rich?� What we�re looking at here does not describe a true Christian. Why does he do this? In the middle of his �lecture on how to live� � James issues a warning to the �ungodly rich.� Is he saying it�s a bad thing to be rich? No. I think you can be rich and very Godly � we�ll look at that �but James is talking right here to the �ungodly� rich man � as though he were attempting to �comfort� the Godly brethren who have been treated unfairly. In all of this James wants to show us a contrast. He starts off wanting us to see the end of the rich man � He�s just shown us that. He�s fattened his heart for the day of slaughter � miseries are about to come upon him. He�s given us a view of the future judgment of the rich man. James has repeatedly called for �joint effort opportunity� and �righteous living� all the way through the tough stuff these young believers are encountering. He�s been explaining that the tough stuff they�ve been going through is going to make them strong- mature- and like Christ. He�s told them to put away their desires and not yield to temptation. He�s told them to not just be �hearers� of the Word, but �doers� also. He�s been telling them to live by the Royal Law of love�the law that tells them to love their brothers as themselves and to love the Lord with all their hearts, minds and strength. He�s told them about a faith without works that�s warned them about their tongues and how they talk. He�s taught them about the wisdom from above and the wisdom from beneath. He�s told them in James chapter 4 to stop their quarreling. He�s told them that they are quarreling and fighting because they are having desires that aren�t being met. They see these rich people having basically everything they want. He�s told them to stop quarreling. He�s told them that they don�t have because they don�t ask. He�s told them that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Then he tells them to stop judging and points out that there is only one judge. Then he tells them not to plan their lives. Let God plan their lives. Go where God says to go. If the Lord wills I will do this- If the Lord doesn�t will, I won�t do this. Don�t make plans independent of God. Man � talk about a tall order! Those guys had to be reeling. They were trying to grasp hold of this teaching while being faced with harsh rejection and opposition from not only Rome � but from their families and friends. Right in the middle of all of this he turns and starts going at it in a different direction. He wraps things up � there are a bunch of rich people over here who seem to have no troubles � life�s a breeze. They seem to even get PREFERENCE by Christians. The Christians are honoring them over the brethren. They are standing there saying - Yeah James, I hear all this stuff you�re throwing at us � but look at the end of the rich man�s life � the man who�s pursued his riches and has not pursued God � look at his life. What�s with the program here? We�re supposedly serving God � some of us are literally losing our lives � we�ve gone against everything we�ve learned � some of us have lost our families � and all you can do is go on and on about how we�re supposed to do this and that? What�s the point? Look at those guys � they�ve got it all. How�s this all fit in the equation? James turns around and says, �Hear what I�m saying!� Oh howl and wail rich man � for miseries and troubles are coming upon you! Then he says �Listen- God�s not deaf- He�s not blind to what�s going on. He knows who�s doing what. He knows who�s hurting � who�s been shafted � who�s been shunned and left out. (James had to be one very gutzy guy!) � because right in the heat of all the accusations and questions He tells them to do what? Look at James 5:7 Now isn�t THAT just the line you hope to get? Why �be patient?� The rich man is going to get his due. God�s not deaf. He�s heard your cries. Be patient. Mark the word �patient.� It�s a key word here. Ok � so your back�s against the wall � the bills aren�t getting paid � so and so just got laid off- your pink slip is laying on the desk � and the guy next to you who makes twice as much money, gets a raise. Everything in you begins to scream- That�s not fair! � My response: Be patient! Your response? Get a life! What is it to �be patient� in this picture? Just shut up and hurt? We�re going to look at it tomorrow. Loving you, �Copyright Jim and Robin Hibschman 2001 |
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