July 22, 2002
BaptistWay Bible Study for Texas lesson for Aug. 18
A relationship with Christ is a thing of real value
_____By Adam Thomas
_James 4:13-5:6
___4:13 Now 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." 14 Why, 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. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
___5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your 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. 4 Look! 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. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
___Ah, the dog days of summer. Only in Texas can one escape piercing triple-digit heat in the sun, only to be rescued by balmy triple-digit heat to be found waiting lurking in the shade.
___It is in times such as this that I rely on an old psychological trick. I think of Christmas. Yes, in August, I think of Christmas. Not that I should start my Christmas shopping (but maybe I should), or begin to decorate my house with lights and wooden elves, but I think of the cold.
___I think of those mornings when I roll over in my bed to turn off the alarm clock and feel the ice-cold sheets and then try to find that warm spot I just left. I think of the pure joy that I have when I open the shades and look out to find pure white snow covering my yard. (That did happen a couple years ago, believe it or not!) I think of bundling up in as many sweaters and coats as I can realistically fit on and plunging out to greet another day.
___But I also think of all the other trappings that surround Christmas. I think of the many plays performed by local children's ministries. I can hear the carolers braving the cold to warm another's heart with song.
___And there are so many stories that surround Christmas. One story is "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Who can forget Ebenezer and his hearty "bah-humbug"? Who doesn't get a little misty-eyed at Tiny Tim and his innocence and humility? Who hasn't imagined what the ghosts of Christmas really looked like? The story of Ebenezer's transformation from being a--well, a scrooge--to the personification of Christmas joy is a classic.
___In this week's lesson, James writes about those who boast of their wealth, aiming his scathing remarks at the merchants. (It wouldn't be hard to place Ebenezer--or even us--in that group.) They have the entire upcoming year completely planned--where they will go, what they will do and how much money they will make.
___One can just imagine these men all gathered together in a room. The maps are laid out upon the table so they can plot the course they plan to take. The path is decided upon, which town they will stop in first, second, third and so on. And it is all so they can make the most profit. They can't stay anywhere too long, because there are so many other towns to hit. Oh, the profit they will reap!
___James rebukes these proud men, pointing out that life is but a mist. Who knows where they will be next week, even tomorrow, much less the next year?
___In a chilling lesson, Ebenezer Scrooge learned all too well how unexpectedly a life can be lost--the lives of others as well as our own. In his encounter with the ghost of Christmas yet to come, Scrooge was confronted with the future demise of the innocent Tiny Tim. Scrooge also found his own grave and vowed at that moment to change so that he might avoid the horrifying outcome that had been foretold.
___The proverb, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth" (Proverbs 27:1) offers wisdom when one develops this more humble attitude.
___Interesting to note is that James never rebukes the making of plans. He even goes so far as to say "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." What James opposes in these merchants' plans is the absence of God in their thinking.
___These merchants suppose they are in control of their lives. They direct where they will go. They are in control of what happens to them. God plays no part. They are self-made men.
___We are more aware than they as to God's part in our lives. We acknowledge God's sovereignty and pray to God about our plans. But how many times do we make our plans first and then ask God to bless them?
___Instead, we should do as James writes, "If it is the Lord's will." From the very outset, we should ask God to guide our planning. We should ask God to be a "light for our path" (Proverbs 119:105). We should pray that our plans would first originate in his will for our lives.
___An important component of James' instruction is contained at the close of this chapter. Knowing what is right and failing to follow through is just as wrong as knowing what is wrong and doing it anyway. Our sins of omission are just as serious as our sins of commission.
___To be truthful, many of us are probably more often guilty of the former than the latter. When we know what God asks of us, or we know what his word tells us we are to do, we are bound to that task. To ignore that in search of fulfilling our own desire is a bold denial of God. To put our will before the will of God is sin. It also betrays an arrogance that we might know better than God what is best.
___James then turns his attention to the oppression of the poor. He has harsh words for the rich oppressors. His criticism refers to how the rich use their money and how they go about gaining their wealth. James comments that the wealth of the rich has rotted and moths have destroyed their clothes.
___In the Orient, outer robes were richly embroidered and were used as a sign of wealth. They were even passed down as family heirlooms. James' statement may have been a reference to that practice. One problem with the practice was that in the summer those clothes were stored in high temperatures. The damage moths wreaked would be extensive.
___Many of us have had hand-me-down clothes, but not often do we pass down clothes in the same way as they did back then. We must ask ourselves, however, how many of us are guilty of showing off our wealth with the things we buy? We must have that certain car, because only the rich have that car, or we must live in a certain neighborhood, because only the wealthy live there.
___James also writes about our preserving our wealth. Gold and silver don't rust, but his implication is that in the coming judgment, their wealth will mean nothing and they will have no value.
___Again, it is interesting to note that James never mentions that having wealth is a bad thing. His remarks are directed at the rich who are wasteful and hoard their wealth.
___In fact, Jesus taught his disciples in the Parable of the Talents that for a person to be able to legally and ethically make money and not do so is wrong.
___To the servant who was faithful with much and doubled his master's money, much was given. The other servant was timid and stored his master's money. He was not being faithful even with only a little. The little he had was taken from him, and he was punished.
___Jesus never tells us we are to live a life of poverty. Jesus did ask the "rich young ruler" (Matthew 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-31; and Luke 18:18-30) to sell all and give the proceeds to the poor. But that was not a blanket command to all who want to follow Jesus. Rather, it was to get this particular man to see that he had let his riches get between him and God.
___We must reflect on our lives in a similar way. We are to be faithful to the Lord with what we have, whether that be wealth or the absence of wealth. Riches cannot become our god.
___James next addresses the issue of how the rich attained their money. He has very stern words for their greediness in not paying their workers proper wages. In Deuteronomy 24:14-15, it was written that hired workers should be paid daily for their work, because their hearts rest on it.
___The custom at that time was to pay workers daily so that they could provide for themselves and their families' daily needs, such as food. The situation James is dealing with finds the rich not paying wages. Instead, they were using those wages due their workers so they could live extravagantly and fulfill their luxurious desires.
___He even compares this to killing an innocent man. The Jewish understanding of killing a man was much broader than we understand today. Aside from a physical death, one could kill a man by quenching his spirit, his enthusiasm and his hope. By denying him his right as a citizen, and keeping him from the full life he is deserving of, one can kill him.
___This phrase could also refer to 2:6 and the act of the rich bringing the poor to court, or even to the slaying of Jesus, who was often referred to as the "Righteous One" (Acts 3:14; 7:52; 1 John 2:1; 3:7; Matthew 27:19 and others). What James is saying here is not that it is wrong for a man to possess riches. What is wrong is when the riches possess the man. That is when something has gone awry.
___Ebenezer Scrooge was consumed by his wealth. He was not willing to pay his clerk proper wages or even donate a portion of his wealth to charity to help the poor at Christmas time. In the effort to accumulate his wealth, he hoarded and skimped and pinched pennies wherever he could.
___James teaches us that this oppression, this desire to hoard, to show wealth, is a sin and that the cries of the oppressed will reach the ears of the Lord Almighty, and the rich oppressors will be judged for their sin.
___Adam Thomas, a native of Midland, graduated from Hardin-Simmons University and is a master of divinity student in the university's Logsdon School of Theology
Questions for thought and discussion
___Who are the rich oppressors today, and how are they oppressing the poor? Who are the poor in today's world? Can examples of each of these groups be found in the church, and are there examples of this oppression in the church?
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Learning activities
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