WARNING TO RICH OPPRESSORS JAMES 5: 1-6

WARNING TO RICH OPRESSORS

   Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.  Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  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.  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.  You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.  You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.   James 5:  1-6  (NIV)

LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE COMMENTARY



   James proclaims the worthlessness of riches, not the worthlessness of the rich.  Today's money will be worthless when Christ returns, so we should spend our time accumulating the kind of treasures that will be worthwhile in God's eternal kingdom.  Money is not the problem.  Christian leaders need money to live and to support their families;  missionaries need money to help them spread the Gospel;  churches need money to do their work effectively.  It is the love of money that leads to evil and causes some people to oppress others in order to get more.  This is a warning to all Christians who are tempted to adopt worldly standards rather than God's standards as well as an encouragement to all those who are oppressed by the rich. 

  (At the time of James' writing), poor people who could not pay their debts were thrown in prison or forced to sell all their possessions.  At times, they were even forced to sell their family members into slavery.  With no opportunity to work off their debts, poor people often died of starvation.  God calls this murder.  Hoarding money, exploiting employees, and living self-indulgently will not escape God's notice.

Matthew 6:  19-21

   Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  (NIV)

  I am working on a way where you can contribute to this ministry if you are not already in the habit of supporting your local church.  In the Book of Malachi, God says, ..."Return to me, and I will return to you."  

"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'

"Will a man rob God?  Yet you rob me.

"But you ask, How do we rob you?'

"In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse---the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me.  Bring the whole tithe" (tenth of your net earnings) "into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.  TEST ME IN THIS", SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY, "AND SEE IF I WILL NOT THROW OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT SO MUCH BLESSINGS THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE ROOM ENOUGH FOR IT.  I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the Lord Almighty.  "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.

  If you don't already tithe, God is looking for obedience, not sacrifice.  Sometimes just starting, even if it is just with a little, is enough to establish a great habit.

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