WEBVTT - James 4:13-5:8 - The Wealth Idol 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:12.240 Life Audio. Good morning, faithful listeners, Welcome to the Bible 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.680 Explain podcast on this lovely morning. And Hi, my name 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:16.680 is Jen I'm the host of this podcast. I'm so 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.880 thankful that you're here to share a delicious cup of 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.079 coffee with me as we discuss James Chapter four and 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.160 five the Book of James. Out of all of the 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:28.200 letters that I've read so far, I feel like connects 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.720 the most with each other. So James is referencing stuff 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:35.360 that he talked about back in chapter one, so I'm 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.920 just ignoring the chapter breakdowns at this point. So today 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.040 we're going to talk about part of both James four 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.519 and five today and it's going to tie together very 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.320 well as you're going to see. But as usual, faithful listeners, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.839 before I get into today's episode, please listen to a 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.720 sponsored advertisement. Well, thank you so much, faithful listeners for 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:56.400 listening to that sponsored ad. And while that was playing, 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.440 hopefully you got a chance to grab your Bible and 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.080 also a cup of coffee or tea for this discussion today. 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.720 So we're going to start in James four and read 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:10.280 verses thirteen through James five, verse eight. As usual, I'll 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.240 be reading from the web or the world English Bible. 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.160 Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, let's go 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.600 into this city and spend a year there, trade and 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.039 make a profit. Yet you don't know what your life 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.959 will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.240 you are a vapor that appears for a little time 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.240 and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, if 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.800 the Lord wills, we will both live and do this 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.760 or that. But now you glory in your boasting. All 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.840 such boasting is evil to him. Therefore who knows to 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.280 do good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin. 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.920 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.920 that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted, and your 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.680 garments are moth eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:56.520 and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.560 and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.960 up your treasure in the last days. Behold the wages 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.880 of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you've kept 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.040 back by fraud. Cry out, and the cries of those 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.520 who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.680 of armies. You have lived in luxury on the earth 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.880 and taken your pleasure. You've nourished your hearts as in 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.000 the day of slaughter, you've condemned, and you have murdered 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.560 the righteous one. He doesn't resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.440 until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.079 for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.480 it until it receives the early and late rain. You 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.880 also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:42.320 the Lord is at hand. So hopefully you can see 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.119 how James four and James five connect to each other 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.800 so well the two passages we read today, And if 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.160 you don't see the connection, we will definitely talk about 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.760 it together. But so far in this letter, James has 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:57.880 addressed multiple things that might pull our hearts away from God, 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:03.440 specifically selfish ambition, being friends with the world, being partial 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.840 to people who are rich over people who are poor, 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:10.679 desiring riches and wealth for yourself. In fact, in James four, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:15.160 verse four, here's what he says, you adulterers and adulteresses. 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.200 Don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:20.960 toward God. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.480 the world, makes himself an enemy of God. And I 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.520 don't believe James in this passage is talking about, you know, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.560 having friends that aren't necessarily Christian, or going to establishments 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.200 that aren't Christian, or spending your money on something that 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.680 is secular or you know, not related to the Church. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.640 I don't believe that's what James is talking about. You know, 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.680 we have to live in the world and we're going 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.120 to encounter people who are not Christian all the time, 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.360 and we have to navigate those kinds of situations in 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.839 a healthy way. So what James is talking about here 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.960 is not necessarily that, But he's talking about wanting to 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.840 be like the world while being a Christian, wanting the 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.480 things that the world offers. Kind of like in the 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.560 Old Testament, where the Jewish people were supposed to be 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.880 set apart as God's children, as holy, and yet they 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.240 were always looking at the other nations. They were always like, 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.080 what are the other nations doing? What kind of gods 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.880 are they worshiping, what kind of prosperity do they have, 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.800 what kind of kings do they have? And they were 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.640 constantly saying, we want to be like the other nations. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:21.800 We don't want to be a set apart holy nation 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:25.080 to God. This is the kind of attitude that James 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:28.400 is talking about with us Christians, do we want the 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.400 things that the world offers us, or do we want 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.159 the things of God? We can't have one or the other. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.039 Jesus himself, on the Sermon on the Mount said, you 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.679 cannot serve both God and Mammon, or in other words, 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.240 money wealth. You can't serve two masters, because you'll either 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.760 hate one and love the other, cling to the one 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.560 and despise the other. James was seeing this as an 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:54.600 issue in the early Church, where people were desiring wealth 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:59.599 and riches and selfish ambition and personal prosperity. That's why 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.480 he said, and verse thirteen, which is our passage for today. 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:05.800 Come now, you who say today or tomorrow, let's go 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:07.680 into this city and spend a year there, trade and 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.080 make a profit. Yet you don't know what your life 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.919 will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:15.200 you are a vapor that appears for a little time 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:19.680 and then vanishes away. So what is James saying here, Well, 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.680 he's not saying that it's wrong to make money. He 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.240 is not saying even that it's wrong to make a prophet. 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:29.680 What he is saying is that it's wrong to completely 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:34.440 forget the one who grants you wealth, to believe that 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.200 you are the one who grants yourself this kind of wealth. 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.800 In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter eight God warns against this 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.520 very behavior in verses eleven through eighteen. So let's read 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.679 that it says, beware lest you forget Yahweh or God, 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.960 in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.440 which I command you today. Lest when you have eaten 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:59.880 and are full, and have built fine houses and live 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.839 in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.200 your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:08.320 you have is multiplied, then your heart might be lifted up, 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.320 and you forget Yahweh, or God, who brought you out 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.039 of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.200 and who led you through the great and terrible wilderness 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.360 with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.359 was no water, who poured water for you out of 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.480 the rock of flint, who fed you in the wilderness 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.680 with manna which your fathers didn't know, that he might 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.479 humble you, and that he might prove to you to 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.440 do you good. At your latter end, unless you say 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.640 in your heart, my power and the might of my 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.279 hand has gotten me this wealth. But you shall remember 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.839 Yahweh or God, for it is he who gives you 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.240 the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.200 which he swore to your father's as it is today. 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.960 So this is God himself in the Old Testament, warning 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:00.680 his people to not forget him, to remember where they 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:05.160 get everything from. Who gave them the promised land, who 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.160 gave them the wealth that they're going to receive. It 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.960 is God himself. It says that all good things come 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:16.000 from God, because he created everything. Everything belongs to the creator, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.880 and he shares his creation with us. He shares the 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.040 wealth with us. It belongs to him first. So when 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.800 we get to wealth, it's not coming from ourselves. And 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.680 sometimes people have a tendency to boast in that. Look 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.520 how much wealth I gained from myself, from all of 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.800 these different things that I did. That's what Deuteronomy eight 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.320 is warning against, and that's also what James is warning 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.600 against in James four. He says in verse fourteen, yet 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.800 you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow, 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.080 For what is your life? For you are a vapor 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:52.640 that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Basically, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.320 our lives are nothing in the grand scheme of eternity. 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:57.440 Our lives are like a breath. That's all they are. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.640 It is minuscule when you think about the the time 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.440 of our lives versus all of eternity. We have short 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:07.000 lives here on earth, and we do not know when 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.400 the end of our life is going to come. We 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:12.720 are like a vapor that appears for a little time 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.119 and then vanishes away verse fifteen. For you ought to say, 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.000 if the Lord wills, we will both live and do 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:23.080 this or that, and all such boasting is evil to him. Therefore, 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.800 who knows to do good and doesn't do it to him? 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.200 It is sin any kind of boasting that a Christian does, 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:34.600 where they act as if their achievements gained them anything. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.960 That kind of boasting is a sin us. Christians, we 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.839 should be boasting in God. This is something that Paul 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.480 actually said quite often. He's like, I don't boast, but 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.520 if I'm going to boast, I will boast in the Lord, 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.200 because he is the only thing worth boasting about. In fact, 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.440 the Book of Philippians ties pretty perfectly into this portion 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.960 because Paul talks about contentment and how he learned content 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.959 and how he used to be a really well known pharisee. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:07.000 He was also a Roman citizen, so he had some 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.840 prestige that he ended up rejecting completely because the Gospel 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.680 was so much better to him than any earthly achievement 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.240 that he could ever have. So he says, I have 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.120 learned how to be content with a lot, and I 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.840 have learned how to be content with a little. And 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.360 the secret to that contentment is that I can do 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.720 all things through Christ, who gives me strength. That's what 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.160 James is talking about right here. It is God who 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.000 gives us strength. It is God who gives us the 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.840 ability to work and to make wealth. It is God 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.400 who is giving us these things. So we should be 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.360 thankful in our hearts toward God if we gain any 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.839 kind of success whatsoever, because it was God who gave 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.720 us that success, instead of turning it around on ourselves 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.040 and being like, oh my gosh, look at the amazing 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.080 thing that I just accomplished. Look at how cool all 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:01.640 I am. Look at what I was able to do. 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.200 Look how much people like me. That is why I 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.680 am so successful in this area. Instead of doing that, 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.560 which is it's easy to do that, right because we 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.439 are proud of some of those successes. We worked hard 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.199 for some of those successes, and it's easy to turn 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.600 them around on ourselves. But ultimately it is God who 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.720 has given us every single one of those things. So 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:23.880 we need to turn those things back to God and 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:28.040 be in complete thankfulness to Him for the successes and 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.319 achievements that we receive here on earth. It says in 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.680 verse seventeen, to him. Therefore, who knows to do good 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.600 and doesn't do it to him, it is sin. So 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:42.080 if somebody knows that they should be doing something good, 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.200 whether it's something good for somebody else or even just 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:49.000 giving thanks to God for the achievements that we receive, 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.440 and we don't do it, we are actually sinning this 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:56.680 verse my mom When I was a little kid, I 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.920 was homeschooled for eight years, and my mom that verse 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:03.960 actually on my desk because I was a very lazy 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.120 student looking back on things, so she taped that verse 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.040 to my desk. So I've had this verse memorized for many, many, 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.440 many many years. Because if you know to do something 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.880 good and you just don't do it because of laziness, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:19.520 or fear or pride. You're actually sinning if you do 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.400 not do that good thing that you know you should do. 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.760 And this actually ties perfectly into the next verse in 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:31.560 James five one, it says, come now, you rich, weep 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.199 and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.280 Verse two. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.400 moth eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.440 their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.680 will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.640 your treasures in the last days. Now in this portion, 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.360 James is not necessarily addressing the church. For the most 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.600 part in this entire letter, James has been addressing the church, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.760 but now it doesn't seem that he is. Instead, now 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.120 it kind of seems like he's addressing the rich that 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.760 he previously mentioned in James two, six and seven. Going 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:09.959 back to that, here's what this says. Don't the rich 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.240 oppress you and personally drag you before the courts. Don't 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.560 they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called. 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.600 So it seems that the people that James is addressing 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.640 have been persecuted, specifically by the rich and we don't 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.520 know who these rich people were, but they were targeting 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.880 the church. And now in James chapter five, it sounds 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.640 like he is addressing these people directly for two different reasons. 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.800 I would guess. The first reason is to give comfort 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.400 for the persecuted, saying that yes, the rich are getting 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.720 away with all of these evil things that they're doing 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.199 right now, but they are not going to get away 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.439 with it for long. That's the first reason. And the 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:54.160 second reason he's addressing this is because he's noticing a 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.920 problem in the church where the average congregant wants to 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.720 become like these wealthy rich people and want to do 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.720 the same things that the rich are doing. In fact, 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.880 he addresses that in James chapter two, where he mentions 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.280 how some church congregants are showing partiality against poor people. 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.800 The poor are walking in and they're making the poor 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.840 sit on the floor while the rich and the wealthy 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.360 that walk through the doors get the best seat in 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:25.160 the house. That kind of partiality is a sin, because 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:27.920 in the eyes of God, everybody who is a child 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.400 of God is the same, whether you have an abundance 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.480 of wealth or whether you are extremely poor. If you 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.680 are a child of God, then you are the same 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.040 as all the other brothers and sisters in Christ. It 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.480 does not matter your status, or your class, or your 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.439 heritage or your culture. None of that matters. You are 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.880 equal as a child of God. So those are two 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.600 reasons I believe that James is addressing the non saved 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.080 wealthy to give comfort to the oppressed and to warn 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.679 the church not to be like these wealthy men and women. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.960 And here's what he says about them. You rich, you 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.719 need to weep and howl for your miseries that are 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.920 coming on you, meaning the punishment that Jesus is going 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.199 to give them. And here's why. Your riches are corrupted, 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:18.360 and your garments are moth eaten verse three. Year gold 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.680 and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:24.480 a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.840 So this brings me to a parable that Jesus stated 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.680 in Luke twelve thirteen through twenty one. In fact, we're 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.760 going to spend some time here in Luke twelve because 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.640 much of what Jesus says in this chapter relates to 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:43.160 our passage in James. Starting in verse thirteen, Jesus was 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.880 speaking to the multitudes, And here's what it says. One 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.520 of the multitudes said to him, Teacher, tell my brother 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.240 to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.080 man who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? 0:14:55.520 --> 0:15:00.080 He said to them, beware, keep yourselves from coveteousness. A 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.160 man's life doesn't consist of the abundance of things which 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.720 he possesses. He spoke a parable to them, saying, the 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:10.320 ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.960 within himself, saying, what will I do? Because I don't 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.800 have room to store my crops. He said, this is 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.000 what I will do. I will pull down my barns, 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.520 build bigger ones, and there I will store all my 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.640 grain and my goods. And I will tell my soul, 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.560 you have many goods laid up for many years. Take 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.960 your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.440 to him, you foolish one tonight, your soul is required 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:36.240 of you the things which you have prepared. Whose will 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.240 they be? So is he who lays up treasure for 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.000 himself and is not rich toward God. So that parable 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.960 was Jesus kind of warning these two brothers over the 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.640 sin of greed that they had. They are apparently fighting 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.920 over some inheritance that was left to them. And I'm 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:58.480 sure some of you faithful listeners listening have experienced the 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:03.680 messiness that inheritances can sometimes cause. And that's what's happening 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.800 between these two brothers. They're fighting over something regarding the inheritance. 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.720 And so Jesus first and foremost, he's like, who made 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.800 me the arbitrator for you guys. He's like, I'm not 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:15.600 going to judge this for you guys, but here's what 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.120 I will do. I will warn you over the dangers 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.560 of greed. So he says to them, beware and keep 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.320 yourselves from conveteousness. For a man's life doesn't consist of 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:30.160 the abundance of things which he possesses. So the things 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.560 that we gain for ourselves here on earth do not 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.960 matter in the grand scheme of eternity, is what Jesus 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.720 means here. Yes, we need them to survive, and Jesus 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.520 and the Father know that we need these things to survive, 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.600 but they are only here for a temporary protection for 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.880 us and for temporary entertainment, temporary needs. That is what 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.360 all of our stuff really comes down to so Jesus says, 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.360 life consists far more than the things that you gain 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.360 for yourself. And then he's beaks this parable to them. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.040 In verse sixteen, the ground of a certain rich man 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.720 produced abundantly, and he reasoned within himself, saying, what will 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.840 I do because I don't have room to store my crops. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.760 So basically, there's this rich guy who has been blessed 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.959 abundantly by God. In fact, his crops are producing so 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.399 much that he doesn't even have enough barns to be 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.320 able to hold all of the crops that he gets 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:24.800 from his fields. So here's what he decides to do. 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.359 He says in verse eighteen, this is what I will do. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.200 I will pull down my barns and I will build 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.920 bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.120 and my goods. So he's like, Okay, I'm gonna get 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:35.760 rid of the little barns and I'm going to make 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.399 brand new, big barns so I can store all of 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.440 these crops. And then I'm going to take a many 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:43.840 year long vacation because I have so much food, I 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.840 have so much wealth, and I'm just gonna sit back 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.640 and enjoy life and eat, drink and be merry. That's 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.359 what it says right here. But this was foolish for 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.280 many reasons. Because here's what God says to this rich man, 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.199 You foolish. One tonight your soul is required of you. 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.600 So this man was far more interested in the things 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:06.919 that he could gain here on earth than he was 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.800 in the eternal. He was only focusing on this life. 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.560 He was not focusing on the life to come. He 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.480 probably never even thought about it. In fact, it's clear 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.320 from the way he's talking that he wasn't thinking about it. 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:21.320 He was only thinking about this retirement that he's going 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:24.160 to have, this vacation he's going to take and all 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.479 of the food and wealth that he now has. He 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.560 can just take it easy and rest and relax. That's 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.399 the only thing that was on this man's mind. He 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:36.080 was not thinking of the eternal. And God said to 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.880 the man, tonight your soul is required of you. Essentially, 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.720 tonight is the day of your death. So now what 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.840 the things which you have prepared, Who's will they become? 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.480 And then Jesus concludes this parable by saying, so is 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.919 he who lays up treasure for himself and is not 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:58.600 rich toward God? So this man made several flaws. He 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.280 didn't think that he was going to die that very night. 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:03.960 He thought he had way more time ahead of him. 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:06.720 He's planning out years in the future. He was not 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.320 thinking I could die at any moment, and I don't 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.760 know where my soul is going to be. And he 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.520 was building up all of his treasures for his temporary 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:21.080 earthly experience and not for the eternal which was to 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:23.199 come after his death. And he could have been a 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:25.600 young man for all we know. And maybe that's why 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.800 he thought that he had so much more time, that 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.040 he could enjoy life here on earth before thinking about 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:36.280 the eternal. And that's what James chapter five is talking 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.640 about here. He's talking about the rich who are doing 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.520 the exact same thing as that rich man in the 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.960 parable that Jesus gave. They are building up treasures here 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.679 on earth without thinking about God, without thanking God, and 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.480 also while mistreating other people. In fact, they're not even 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.639 paying the hired workers that they have. It says in 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.680 James five, verse four, Behold the wages of the laborers 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.840 who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.720 they cry out, And the cries of those who reaped 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.040 have entered into the ears of the Lord of armies. 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.520 You have lived in luxury on the earth and have 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:16.600 taken your pleasure. You've nourished your hearts as in the 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.199 day of slaughter, and you have condemned, and you have 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:23.199 murdered the righteous one. He doesn't resist you. Don't be 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:27.640 like these evil wealthy people who break the laws, who 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:31.040 mistreat the Christian who are laying up their treasures here 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.320 on earth. This is not the model that you want 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.480 to follow. In fact, just as a side note, in 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.359 Deuteronomy twenty four fourteen through fifteen, there's a law that 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.719 God gave to the wealthy for paying their hired hands. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.760 Here's what it says. You shall not oppress a hired 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.120 servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.080 of your brothers or one of the foreigners who are 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.199 in your land within your gates. In his day, you 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.960 shall give him his wages. Neither shall the sun go 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:58.159 down on it, for he is poor and sets his 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.360 heart on it, unless he cry again to Yahweh, and 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:05.400 it be sin to you. So that's God actually telling 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.760 the wealthy landowners that have hired hands to pay them 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:15.080 every single day and to not withhold their payments, because 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:18.679 something that wealthy landowners might have liked to do was 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:23.400 to withhold the payment from their hired hands, to almost 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.439 force them to keep working so that they had to 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:32.080 finish out the year on their farm, and then the 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.560 wealthy guy would be like, Okay, here's your payment at 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:36.879 the end of the harvest or something like that. But 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:39.680 that was corrupt and evil because these people were poor. 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:42.960 They were living day to day, and they needed those 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:45.639 wages on a day to day basis. So God actually 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:50.040 commanded the landowners to pay their hired hands every single day. 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:54.000 But these wealthy individuals in James chapter five aren't doing that. 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:58.440