2. KEY TEXT
“For where your
treasure is,
there will your
heart be also”
Matthew 6:21
3. • James 5:1
THEY WILL
BRING
MISERIES
• James 5:2-3
THEY WILL
DEVOUR THEIR
OWNER
• James 5:4THE CRY OF
THE LABORERS
• James 5:5
FATTENED
FOR THE
SLAUGHTER
• James 5:6
KILLING THE
JUST
4. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your
miseries that are coming upon you!” (James 5:1)
We see the wicked amass great fortunes
many times, and that may seem unfair to us:
“Behold, these are the ungodly, who are
always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely
I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed
my hands in innocence.” (Psalm 73:12-13).
God commanded Habakkuk to wait when he
asked about that (Hab. 2:3). They will be
given their do in the right moment. The unjust
rich men will weep and howl that day.
Spiritual wealth is more long-lasting and more
worthy than those material possessions. Our
possessions may vanish anytime, but the
“treasures in heaven” (Mt. 6:20) will last
forever.
5. “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your
gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness
against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up
treasure in the last days.” (James 5:2-3)
James understood the wealth of the ungodly from a spiritual point of view.
Farm
products
are rotten
WEALTH
Expensive
garments
are moth-
eaten
CLOTHES
Gold and
silver are
corroded
MONEY
Riches corrupt he who “lays up treasure for himself, and is
not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21)
The way we use our money is meaningful.
WHAT WE SEE
WHAT GOD SEES
6. “Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you
kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have
reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” (James 5:4)
The salary must be paid according to
the agreement: after a day, a week, a
month… The cry of those who are not
paid on time goes up to God.
Holding back the salary of the employees is SIN:
“You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor
rob him. The wages of him who is
hired shall not remain with you all
night until morning.” (Leviticus 19:13)
“The Lord Almighty” will not
hold anyone guiltless who hold
back the salaries for his own
profit.
7. “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have
fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.” (James 5:5)
What can we learn from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus on this (Luke 16:19-31)?
“God had made the rich man a steward of His means,
and it was his duty to attend to just such cases as that
of the beggar… Everything with which he was
surrounded, his round of amusements, the praise and
flattery of his friends, ministered to his selfish
enjoyment. So engrossed was he in the society of his
friends that he lost all sense of his responsibility to co-
operate with God in His ministry of mercy. He had
opportunity to understand the word of God, and to
practice its teachings; but the pleasure-loving society
he chose so occupied his time that he forgot the God of
eternity.”
E.G.W. (Christ’s Object Lessons, cp. 21, pg. 261)
Is it worthy to “live on the earth in pleasure
and luxury” for some years, but to lose the
chance to enjoy heavenly riches for eternity?
8. “You have condemned, you have murdered
the just; he does not resist you.” (James 5:6)
Selfish oppressors have inflicted pain and killed many innocents
since the murder of Abel (Gen. 4:8).
“The testimony of these ‘condemned’ and
mistreated righteous will rise up in awful
condemnation of all oppressors in the day
of judgment. The oppressed righteous are
not able to resist the tyrannous rich in this
life, and will secure justice only when God
arises to avenge their cause. Then their
cause will be vindicated, they will be
compensated, and their ungodly
oppressors will be destroyed.”
(SDA Bible Commentary, on James 5:6)
The riches of the powerful corrupt justice on
earth many times.
9. “The talents which the Lord gives to
His servants are varied, but all are to
blend in a perfect whole. God desires
us to regard money as His gift, and to
use it accordingly. To abuse any of His
gifts is a betrayal of sacred trust. And
in misusing his Lord’s entrusted
capital the steward does harm to his
own soul and blocks the way so that
truth cannot do its appointed work.”
E.G.W. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, No. 1575, pg. 352)
10. JAMES,
THE BROTHER OF JESUS
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