Once again we ask: is it possible to be righteous and rich?
Hi, welcome to today's little lesson which is a continuation of our previous little lesson
talking about the potential of being righteous and at the same time being rich, trying to
do our best to answer that question, not from one verse taken out of its context in the
Bible, but by looking at a little bit more context.
And, currently, we're looking in James chapter five which starts off James says, "Come now,
you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you."
It seems like carte blanche condemnation of anybody who has any degree of wealth.
As we continue reading, we see that James is targeting a specific group of wealthy people,
those who have had no concern for the poor, have not used their richest to help the poor.
They've got rotting food.
They've got moth-eaten garments.
They have food and clothing that could have helped the poor but they didn't care.
They just let it rot.
It benefited the bacteria.
It benefited the moss and the same thing with their gold and silver.
It's piled up and it's not being given to anybody.
It's not being invested to help anybody.
It gets even more clear who James is condemning, the kind of wealthy people that he's condemning
in James five in verse number four.
"Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by
you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached
the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth."
Now, we find out James is condemning wealthy people who got their wealth, who gained their
wealth on the backs of the poor whom they employed and never paid.
Well, that's wrong.
But what a blessing it would be if they had paid them and you're providing those folks
with an opportunity to earn money and that would have been totally the opposite of what
they did do, employed them and didn't pay them.
This is the one thing that the wealthy do have the blessing of being involved in is
providing opportunities for other people and to help an economy to grow by giving people
chances to be employed and to use their skills and to pay them what they're worth as is determined
by the marketplace of their hard work and so forth.
Again, the condemnation continues.
"You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure."
These are just the guys sitting on their couches plucking the grapes and plopping them into
their mouth as somebody fans them type of rich people living luxuriously in wanton pleasure
because they happen to own some lands so they don't have to work.
They can just cash in on employing other people who they don't ultimately pay.
Oh, my goodness.
"You have fattened your hearts," James says, "in a day of slaughter."
No doubt these are the kind of folks that Jesus was also condemning when he talked about
"Woe to you who are rich and well fed and laughing now."
James continues, finally verse number six, "You have condemned and put to death the righteous
man."
Here we have the height of evil in these wealthy people whom James condemns.
They have been condemning righteous people to the degree of casting their vote against
them.
I suppose during their jury duty or, in some context, "Putting to death the righteous man
and he does not resist you," James says."
Oh, my goodness.
You can see just to carte blanche condemn all wealthy people would be a mistake based
upon what James wrote in James chapter five verses one through six.
Now, interestingly, reading in the wider context of James, we find that James is very complementary
towards two very wealthy people who are not like the wealthy people he described in his
fifth chapter.
In James two, well, James talks highly about Abraham who is a perfect example of a man
whose faith in God showed up in the actions and the deeds and the works of his life.
James goes so far to say, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered
up Isaac his son on the altar?"
The scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness."
There's a guy who was righteous and rich.
In fact the Bible talks about how God made Abraham rich and James goes on, "He was called
the friend of God."
It's very complementary things about a very wealthy man.
He was righteous in God's eyes, declared righteous by God's eyes even in his wealth and he was
called the friend of God.
Now some folks say, "Well, of course, the New Covenant that's all changed."
Come on now, come on, come on.
Use your brain, please.
To say that fundamental moral ethical principles change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant
is utterly absurd.
It's like claiming that God himself has fundamentally morally changed.
God cannot look at something as respectable a hundred years ago that he abhors today,
right?
Right.
Because God doesn't change.
He's perfect in his morality and in his justice and his ethic.
Well, another guy whom James complements rather highly, a real rich guy is in the same chapter
that we read about his condemnation of the unrighteous rich guy.
Look at James chapter five, verse number 11.
He's encouraging his readers to endure their trials and so forth.
He said, "You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's
dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and merciful."
Well, if you read the Book of Job, in the end, he had twice as much as what he had in
the beginning and, in the beginning, he was a millionaire.
But read Job's testimony very closely in the Book of Job and you see that he was a guy,
a righteous rich man who had no need like the rich ruler to liquidate because he was
liquidating all the time taking care of orphans and widows and those who are less fortunate
than the poor.
Plus, employing perhaps hundreds of people in his business and with all of his livestock
and so forth, he couldn't take care of it himself.
These are some things to think about.
Can you be righteous and rich?
You can but you got to love God all your heart, you've got to love your neighbor as yourself.
And, if you do, it's going to show up in what you do with your money.
Thanks so much for joining me.
Until next time.
The Lord bless you.
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