James series – “The Litmus Test for life”

James 5:1-6

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on 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 workers 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 the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

We have seen in the last several lessons in James who we really are in our innermost self. Apart from Christ, we become full of ourselves. It’s called pride. Pride is placing our selfish nature and desires in the place where only the Lord should be. As we continue in our series “The Litmus Test for Life” we come to the 9th test, “The Treasure Test.” James has already touched on treasure in the second test, “The Poverty and Prosperity Test” in James 1:9-11. It was there he reminded us of how our view of money impacts our heart, our head and our hands. Now James is going to reveal how our riches can adversely affect our relationships. Our greatest treasure is not our riches but our relationships, something we often loose sight of in our society. We live in a culture that is constantly putting profit ahead of people. James says that our treasure is not tied to profit but rather how we treat people. When we lose sight of our relationship with God it’s not long before we start living for greed. For a believer when it comes to business the bottom line has very little to do with money and everything to do with ministering. My prayer as we go through the treasure test is that our attitude to assess would reflect Christ and not the culture. James now turns from plans based on presumptive to pride, to pride based on our pocketbooks. He reveals the result of a walk based on wealth instead of God’s Word. How greedy pride causes us to use wealth the wrong way instead of using the riches and resources God has given us to reach people for Him. So that wealth becomes tied to our witness about the Savior instead of trying to use it to satisfy our wants. As a way to serve and honor God instead of to promote self. To do that James highlights the wrong way to use and abuse wealth as he reveals three examples of greedy pride. It is said that money does funny things to people, but doesn’t it? Actually, money doesn’t do anything to people. Money is an inanimate object. It’s a thing. It can’t do anything. It can’t really change people. But what happens is, money reveals who a person really is on the inside. It removes many of the barriers that keep people from acting like they really want to act. From showing who they truly are. From uncovering their innermost self. Our society says that Money makes the man, but the truth is that money doesn’t make the man it reveals the man. Because how you handle treasure reveals the one in whom you trust. Many of us are trusting in money instead of the Messiah. Society tells us that possessions reveal your social position but the truth is they reveal Your heart position. Many of us have hearts that are tied to treasure instead of God’s truth.  Our government focuses on finances as a gauge of how well we are doing but God focuses on our faith not our finances. And faith is not fueled by our finances but our trust in God the Father. Your view of riches reveal whether you are trusting in God as your source of security or in your treasures.