Be patient, Jesus is coming, James 5:7-12

I would like to ask you a question this morning. What was the greatest, most significant event in world history?  I imagine if you were to ask that question of secularists, of historians and scholars, there would be a number of possible answers, ranging from the age of the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, or perhaps the Second World War.  Younger people might even consider the landing on the moon as the most significant event in world history or I imagine the most popular choice would be the invention of the internet.

However, I would suggest that all the pundits are wrong on all accounts.  I would submit that without question, the most important event in the history of the world was the coming of Jesus Christ.  Not only was He the most important figure to appear in history, but His coming had the greatest affect on the entire world than any other event in history. God, the Creator, became man and dwelt among us.  Now I could try to show how smart I am and list all the ways that is true, but I am not going to try to defend it, other than to say, that His life has affected more lives than any other event in history.  And I think that is an undisputed fact.

That brings me to my next question, what is the greatest event that will occur in the future? Will it be world peace, or for man to travel to Mars? I submit that the second coming of Jesus Christ will be the most important event in the future.  That second coming will mark the consummation of the age.  It will mark the end of the world as we know it.  The first time Jesus came to earth, He came to save the world, to bring peace to mankind.  Not a peace like the world seeks, but peace between man and God.  Reconciliation. Salvation from death which was the condemnation of the entire world. 

The second time He comes, He will come in judgment. Jesus spoke often of His second coming, sometimes by the use of parables, as in the parable of the talents, other times openly, clearly, such as to His apostles in the Olivet Discourse, in response to their question “what will be the signs of your coming?”  In that day, Jesus will come in judgment, as He said at the end of the Olivet Discourse as recorded in Matt. 25:31-33  "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

Now it is to that day when Christ will return, that James now turns his attention in this last chapter.  He has already referenced it in the previous passage concerning the judgment of the rich, saying, “it is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” If you recall from our last study, I said that the rich is another way that James refers to the unsaved, those who store up treasure on earth, who value the world’s system of success.

James is concerned about the fact that the King is returning as Jesus indicated in the parable of the talents, and His servants must give an account for their life. It’s almost ironic that James speaks in the preceding passage of the harvest, which is once again referenced in the verses we are considering today.  The harvest is an analogy of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Jesus used the harvest as an analogy of the second coming in the parable of the wheat and the tares, saying in Matt. 13:30 “Allow both (the wheat and the tares, that is the saved and the unsaved) to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

So in the previous passage, James said that at Christ’s second coming, the rich will find that their riches have rotted, they are worthless in the judgment, and instead, they have fattened themselves for the slaughter.  Misery is their reward.

But now starting in vs 7, James contrasts those that are saved with the unsaved, and speaks of their need to be patient until the Lord, the Judge of all the earth, returns and gives them their reward, and rights all wrongs.

Let’s look then at vs7, “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.  You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” 

A lot of commentators treat this section as a new topic, unrelated to what came before it.  They see much of the rest of the chapter as a series of unrelated exhortations to various Christian virtues.  And so they see patience as a Christian virtue that James is encouraging us to develop in our lives.  And so we are told to be patient, to practice patience with others, and generally they underscore the idea that as Christians we are to be this sort of docile, passive, lovey dovey people that wouldn’t say boo to a goose.

Well, I don’t think that is what James is talking about here. I don’t think he’s primarily saying we all need to have this attitude of patience in our dealings with one another.  I do think that patience is a virtue and it should be a part of our character.  But I think the primary intention of James is to say in effect - “Listen, I know that you Christians are suffering now, I know that you are being mistreated and even persecuted for your faith.  I know that you see the rich getting richer while  you seem to be getting poorer.  You may even be wondering if it’s really worth forsaking everything to follow the Lord.  But wait.  Be patient.  I promise you, the Lord is coming.  He is right at the door.  Don’t give up, persevere in the midst of your trials.  Be patient until the Lord comes back and sets right all the wrongs, and repays all injustices, and makes all things new.”

Notice that James uses an analogy of a farmer as an example of being patient. He is speaking of waiting for the harvest, while working and sowing and planting and picking weeds and all the other things farmer’s do while they are waiting for the crop to come in.  Waiting for the autumn and spring rains to have their affect.  I’m not sure what the autumn and spring rains are supposed to signify, but we can imagine that they are times of suffering or persecution or hardship that you have to endure in your life.  Trials, remember, are not meant to break you, but to strengthen you.  

And notice in vs 2 that James says we are to be patient and strengthen our hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.  So being patient is not being passive. To be patient includes working for the night is coming when no man can work.  It means persevering in faith. Hoping in trials, looking forward to Christ’s return when He will set things right.  It means to have an eternal perspective, and not just a temporal perspective.

I don’t know how much experience you have with growing things.  I’m not much of a gardener.  But my wife seems to like it.  But for me, it’s kind of like the expression, “it’s like watching the grass grow.” I guess that is a similar thought to what it takes to be a farmer.  There is a long stretch between the tilling of the ground and the harvest.  There may be a long time when it seems like nothing is happening. You wonder if the seed is germinating. You wonder if there is going to ever be any fruit for your labor.  And there are certain things that must happen which are out of your control.  You can’t control the rain, or lack of rain.  You have to trust God for that.

James says we are to be like the farmer who is patiently waiting for the harvest, knowing that the Lord is near.  The Lord is coming back soon.  There may be a sense in which we think well, James wrote that 2000 years ago, and yet the Lord has not come back yet.  Maybe He is not coming.  Maybe it doesn’t really matter. 

To that sort of doubt, I would say this. Whether the Lord comes back in my lifetime, or I die and go to be with the Lord, either way, the Lord is near.  Either way I am going to be face to face with the Lord and I will have to give an account for my life.  I should live in expectation of the imminent return of Christ, because I don’t know what my life will be like tomorrow.  I don’t know the number of my days.  I don’t have any guarantee that I will live this next year out or not.  So in any respect, the Lord is near.  The Judge is at the door.

Peter said this concerning the imminent return of Christ.  2Peter 3:3-10 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with [their] mocking, following after their own lusts,  and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For [ever] since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."  For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God [the] heavens existed long ago and [the] earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.  But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

Be patient, for the coming of the Lord is near. So in light of that, James says don’t complain. Vs 9 “Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.” The literal meaning is do not groan amongst one another out of despair.  I think the idea is don’t struggle, or wrestle against one another, or strive against one another. The Judge is standing at the door. 

I remember my second grade teacher. Her name was Mrs. Abernathy.  Second grade must be a terrible grade to have to teach. The timidity of first grade is past, and the kids just go on a tear in second grade. Or at least, I did.  I think I was probably the worst in all my class. It didn’t help that Mrs. Abernathy had a bad cigarette habit. Those were the good old days when the teachers had a teacher’s lounge where they could go smoke a cigarette.  Mrs Abernathy was always having to go to the teacher’s lounge.  And our class was in a trailer which was a bit of a walk from the teacher’s lounge, so when she would go out, we knew we had a long time to act up until she got back.  When she left, one kid would watch out the window until she was out of sight, then we would let loose.  It would just be bedlam. Complete chaos.

And that’s when all the fights would break out amongst the kids.  That kid that had pulled your hair, or tripped you, or threw spit balls at you, that was the time to get even.  The teacher wasn’t coming back anytime soon, and so you took that as an opportunity to get even. Maybe that’s the sort of thing that James was referring to.  Squabbles and fights break out, arguments start, tempers flare, we take our own revenge because we think that the teacher isn’t there and isn’t coming back anytime soon.  We start acting like the devil and we don’t think we’re going to get caught. 

In Mrs. Abernathy’s class, there was supposed to be a lookout who would let us know when she was walking back down the sidewalk.  And that would give us time to get back in our chairs and act like we were reading our books. But one day, the lookout forgot to keep watch and ended up running around like the rest of us, screaming our heads off for no particular reason.  I remember I had my coat pulled up over my head like the headless horseman.  I couldn’t see anything.  And I was running in circles screaming “My pants are on fire, my pants are on fire!” I don’t know what prompted me to do that. I was seven years old. I think my dad may have preached a message the night before about Samson lighting the tails of the foxes.  I don’t know.  All I know is suddenly I ran square into Mrs. Abernathy.  She grabbed me by the ears and dragged me into the broom closet, her face inches from mine and I remember the smell of cigarettes was overpowering.  She said, “If you don’t sit down and shut up, young man, your  pants are going to be on fire!” And with that she marched me to my desk.  I’ve never forgotten Mrs. Abernathy. 

James says, don’t act up thinking that the Lord is away for a long time, and you can act like you want with impunity.  No, the Judge is at the door.  That means the Lord will judge us by what He finds us doing.  Jesus put it in the form of a parable, saying in Matt. 24:44-51 "For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think [He will.]  Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.  But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,'  and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards;  the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect [him] and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

To that point, then James gives us an example of a man who was flesh and blood, just like us, who suffered tremendously in this life, and yet he endured it and did not lose faith.  That man is Job, whom we studied during our Bonfire Bible studies last fall.  James says in vs  10 “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  We count those blessed who endured. 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 [is] merciful.” 

Actually, we should first consider the prophets of old.  James said they suffered and were patient.  Notice James says that they are to be an “example” to us.  The word that he uses there means “a thing to be imitated.”  So we are to consider their faith in suffering and their patience as something we should imitate.   I encourage you to read Hebrews 11 and the men and women of faith listed there who suffered and patiently waited for the promise to be fulfilled. I encourage you to remember the example of Elijah and the persecution he suffered at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel.  And others like Daniel, who was exiled in a foreign land, and lived as a slave, who was cast into the lion’s den.  Or Jospeh who was also sold into slavery and then spent 13 years as a prisoner waiting patiently for the Lord to deliver him. Or Jeremiah who was thrown into a well and left for dead.  Whom the Lord told to preach, but that no one would listen to him.  All those suffered but were patient and trusted in the Lord.  Such people, James says,  we consider blessed because they endured.

Notice though in that last statement that James equates endurance with patience.  Endure is the Greek word hypomeno, which is the root word for endurance which Job uses in the next sentence.  Hypomone is translated as endurance.  It means to bear up under.  We talked about this word back in chapter one vs 2-4 which says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” 

The idea in that word brings to my mind the picture of Atlas, who is holding the world upon his back.  His whole body is straining to carry the weight.  Endurance then is not necessarily seeking to get rid of the weight, to be delivered from it, but bearing up under it.  Carrying it.  Endurance is the strength of heart, the strength of faith that perseveres in trials, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.  Sometimes, that means being faithful unto death.  Not accepting release, but enduring to the end.

Well, Job was such a man, a man of endurance.  Notice what James says, “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 is merciful.”  We have probably all heard the adage, “the patience of Job.”  It’s probably not as popular a saying as it used to be, and I suppose that’s because of the increasing secularism of the world for one, but also the new versions of the Bible do not follow the KJV in translating that verse.  The KJV says, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.”  The better translation is not patience, but endurance.  So the fact that the KJV has fallen out of favor somewhat may have made the adage “the patience of Job” become less popular.

But the fact is, when I think of Job, I don’t think too much about his patience. I’m not sure that patient is an apt description.  But I think about his suffering. And James says that you have heard of the endurance of Job.  He bore up under his suffering.  He cried out to the Lord, he even complained to the Lord about his situation, he argued with his friends over his situation.  But overall, he endured his trials without losing his faith.  His most famous statement was, “though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.”  And God eventually blessed Job because of his enduring faith. Even though God allowed Satan to take almost everything from Job, yet in the end God showed compassion and mercy upon him and restored everything that he had lost.

And though we suffer,  even if it means we die in faith, yet we will find that the Lord is compassionate and merciful to those who endure in their faith.  Who do not renounce the Lord when He does not operate like you think He should, or in the time frame that we think He should.  We don’t take our own revenge, we don’t take matters into our own hands, but we trust in the Lord.

And I think that indicates the proper interpretation of verse 12.  I don’t think that as a lot of commentators believe, James is just stringing together a series of unrelated exhortations.  But I think vs 12 is connected to vs 11.  And I would suggest that it is related to Job.  Let’s look at what he says.  “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.” 

Now that should remind us of a teaching of Christ.  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.' "But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,  or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.  Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' [or] 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil.”

So the similarity of James statement to Jesus is obvious.  But I think in context James is saying it in reference to Job.  And I would suggest that could be found in the statement by Job’s wife at the crux of his crisis.  When everything of value in Job’s life was lost, his children had died, his skin was bursting in boils so that he sat in an ash heap and scraped himself with a potsherd.  When he was at his lowest point, his wife said to him,  "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!"  Basically, she said, “you’re no more use to me, you should just die.”  She also was saying, “God doesn’t care about you, so why don’t you renounce your faith in Him and die.” 

But Job said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” I think that’s what James is getting at.  Don’t sin with your lips.  Don’t lie to escape adversity. Don’t denounce God to escape persecution.  Don’t blame others and argue with them to try to escape suffering.  Don’t sin with your mouth that you don’t fall under judgment.

When God finally speaks to Job, he is so overwhelmed at the majesty of God, that he says,"Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.” That willingness to suffer silently without reproaching God, without reproaching our fellow man, without renouncing our faith in the Lord,  is the description of enduring with patience.  James says, we count those blessed who endured.  Jesus said, in  "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when [people] insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

There will be a reward for the faithful who endure to the end, when Jesus comes back.  James tells us that the Judge is at the door.  The coming of the Lord is near.  Hold on to your integrity.  Persevere in your faith to the end. The Judge is at the door.  That is James message to Christians who live and suffer in the world, wondering where Jesus is, when will He return, why does He tarry?  James assures us, Jesus is coming soon.  The question is, are you ready to meet the Lord, and will you be received as His sheep, or cast away as the goats.  He is coming to judge the world, I hope you will be found faithful when He comes.

God’s judgement against the rich, James 5:1-6

As a general, overarching theme in this epistle, James has been contrasting the wisdom which is from the world, with the wisdom which is from above.  He has shown that contrast in a variety of ways.  For instance, James spent a great deal of time talking about the use of the  tongue, or our speech, as the evidence of which wisdom you follow - whether it’s the wisdom of the world or the wisdom from above.  You can tell by one’s speech.

But he really begins this epistle by talking about wisdom. And in those opening verses, we get some clues that I believe will help us properly understand the passage before us today in chapter five.  Notice in chapter one he talks about having faith through the trials of life, and the wisdom to do so which he says comes from God.  But then he contrasts that wisdom with the one who doubts.  The one who has faith has the wisdom from God, the one who doubts doesn’t really believe the wisdom of God and is instead following the world’s wisdom.

He then continues that contrast saying in vs 9, speaking of the brother of humble circumstances  and he contrasts him to the rich man.  Once again, we can assume that the humble follow the wisdom from God, the rich man follows the wisdom of the world.  And I think in that passage James sets the rich man as an example or illustration of one who lives by the wisdom of this world.

And again and again as we read this epistle, we see James characterize those who live by the wisdom of the world as being the rich.  In chapter 2, for instance, James contrasts the rich man with those whom he says are the poor of this world.  And again we see the parallel;  those who are poor in this world he says are actually rich in the faith, whereas the rich man oppresses the poor.  So in a broad sense, I think James is using the rich man as a metaphor for those who follow the wisdom of the world and treasure the things of this world, and he uses the poor as a metaphor for those who are rich in faith but poor in the riches of this world.

There are other examples of that as well, but I think I will let you study that out for yourselves and we will work on chapter five from that perspective; that the rich are illustrative of those who  follow the wisdom of this world, that live for the pleasure and the things they can get from this world.  That’s the default wisdom of this world, that if you work hard, if you do this, or do that according to the wisdom of this world, then you can enjoy all that this world has to offer - you can be content, satisfied, and live a comfortable, happy life. You can be rich in the things of this world.

And so we follow the wisdom of the world and we tell our kids to get good grades, send them off to a good college, to get a degree in a field with high paying jobs, and to pursue the American dream and promise them fulfillment and happiness.  Now, just to be clear,  the “American” part of that dream is not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s the same dream in Europe or Asia.  They just call it by another name.  However, in America we seem to have a better chance of accomplishing it.  We are told that we can accomplish anything we put our minds to.  And here we have enough freedom to be able to come closer to making that a reality than they might have in other countries.

So as we delve into chapter five and James rails against the rich, we need to understand that he is not necessarily pronouncing some horrible judgment on those who happen to end up with a lot of money at some point in their life.  But he is proclaiming judgment on those who live by the wisdom of the world, who have set their sights on acquiring material things as a means of finding happiness and fulfillment in life. 

Now one more difficulty this passage has is we can’t know for sure specifically who James is speaking to.  He doesn’t address the rich as brothers, or brethren, so some commentators see this as only applying to the unbeliever. But I’m not so sure that Christians can opt out of this criticism so easily.  Because I believe number one, that we have a default mechanism in our behavior even though we may be believers, which is to rely on the wisdom of the world more often than we realize.  And number two, I think all of us qualify as being rich by the metric that most of the world goes by.  Even those who live below the poverty level in America would be considered rich in many other places in the world.  But it’s not so much the amount of money or possessions that James is talking about, but the perspective of the world that believes in and follows the wisdom of the world, a wisdom that has materialism as it’s goal.

So James is condemning the world’s wisdom, the world system, while at the same time rebuking the same tendencies within the heart of the believer. He is exposing the materialistic perspective of the world, but he also knows it’s possible for believers to be just as materialistic and self-centered and indulgent and guilty of the same sins. 

So he begins with a scathing rebuke to anyone who has adopted the world’s wisdom saying in vs 1, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.”  On the one hand, he is calling for repentance from those who hold to that false wisdom, and on the other hand, he is warning of impending judgement upon those who hold to such a world view. James says, you may think you are rich, that you have obtained happiness and fulfillment in life by living according to the world’s wisdom,  but you should be mourning for what you have lost, and crying out for the misery that God’s judgment will bring upon you.

It’s the same sort of rebuke that James offered in chapter four when he called out those who sought friendship with the world, but ended up becoming the enemy of God. To be rich is to be a friend of the world, to live in agreement with the world system which is engineered by the devil and produces every kind of evil.  

James speaks of a coming time when God will judge the world. He says in vs 3, it is in the last days that you have stored up treasure for yourself.  He goes on to speak in vs 7 and 8 saying that the coming of the Lord is at near.  So the misery that is coming upon the rich is the judgment of the Lord at His second coming.  The first coming of the Lord He came bearing mercy, the second coming He comes in judgment.  And James says that the day is near.

So James goes on to speak of four sins of this materialistic, worldly wisdom in this passage that will bring about the judgment of God. The first sin is what might be called the sin of hoarding.  Wealth was held in those days in three primary forms, and he says that in all three areas, they were guilty of hoarding it. 

One form of riches was corn and grain.  We find that example in the parable which Jesus gave concerning the rich man who built more barns to store, or hoard his crops.  There’s nothing wrong with storing corn or grain— the problem James points out is the fact that because they stored more than they could ever eat— James writes, “your riches have rotted” . . . literally, they’ve spoiled.  You didn’t use it for good, for the glory of God, and so it has become foul and putrid before the Lord.

Another form of wealth was clothing. There are many examples of clothing in the Bible being used as money.  For instance, Samson gave changes of clothing as payment for whoever solved his riddle.  James is talking here about people who had so many garments they could never use them all, and so they stored them away. They can only store them away in bigger boxes; bigger garages; bigger attics; bigger rental units; bigger barns.  It’s amazing to me to see how they keep building more and more storage units.  People have huge houses, sometimes two houses,  big garages, and yet they need to rent a storage facility to hold their excess.

Notice what James says next in verse 2. Your garments have become moth-eaten.  Again, the point made is that in storing it away and not using it, the moths ruined it and destroyed it.  I remember once years ago when I was an antique dealer.  I was at these people’s house trying to buy some things, and they told me that they also had some Navajo rugs.  We went back into a bedroom and under the bed the pulled out some boxes in which they had stored these Navajo rugs which today would be worth a good bit of money.  But when we pulled them out and unfolded them, it became obvious that moths had gotten into the rugs and laid their larvae which then ate the wool.  There were large gaping holes all throughout the blankets.  They were completely ruined because they had not been stored correctly.

That’s what James is saying here, the garments that the rich had accumulated and stored away, had no value anymore because they had been ruined by moths. Jesus said that if you had two coats, you were to give one to him who had none.  Garments that are used for the Lord’s purposes do not get moth eaten. But these selfish rich people who stored up their wealth in garments found they were worthless in the day of judgment.

The third way of storing wealth was gold and silver. He writes in verse 3, “Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!”  One of the things that makes gold and silver valuable is that they don’t rust. What James is probably referring to, since the judgment is the context here, notice the last phrase of verse 3 where James says that they have stored up their treasure in the last days - what he is referring to is that it will be as if their gold and silver have turned to rust.  In the judgment, the world’s gold and silver will be as worthless as rusted iron.  When iron rusts, it becomes like the moth eaten garments - it just denigrates in your hand.

The point James is making is that the currency of the world is worthless in heaven.The things that are valued in the world’s wisdom have no value in the kingdom of God.  At the judgment, those things that you hoarded, you valued, which you sold your soul for will have no value whatsoever, and in fact James says they will be a witness against you and will fuel the fires of hell.  It’s an echo of what Jesus taught in Matt. 6:19-21 saying "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 neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I don’t know if you remember a few years ago some mortuary company had these billboards that promised you could be buried with your motorcycle or car or whatever it was that you treasured or which defined you while you were living.  I don’t know how that worked out for that funeral home.  I haven’t seen any of their billboards lately.  But I read a story not long ago about a man who had a similar ambition. His chief purpose in life was to get as much money as he could. He not only loved money and everything it could buy, he hoarded it all for himself.

In fact, this guy wouldn’t let his wife spend any of it. He made her promise that when he died, he wanted her to have all of his money buried with him in the ground. It was his and he wanted to keep it all for himself. And unbelievably, his wife promised him she would do what he asked. When he died he was enormously wealthy. At his funeral, attended by his wife and just a couple of her friends, just before the casket was lowered, the wife put a large box on top of the casket before it was lowered into the ground. The wife’s close friend said to her, ―”You’re not foolish enough to keep your promise to him, are you?” She said, ”But, I promised him I would." Her friend protested all the more, ”You mean to tell me that you kept that selfish demand of his —you actually put all that money in the casket with him?” The widow said, “I sure did … I wrote him a check.”  

So following hoarding comes the second sin of materialism, which is defrauding.  James says in vs 4,  “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.”

In this case, James is describing those who in the wisdom of the world to use people, to take advantage of people, in order to climb and claw their way to the top.  The end justifies the means, and if that means I have to step on others then so be it.  That’s the wisdom of the world  that says “go for all the gusto you can get.”  “You can have it all if you’re willing to sacrifice everything.” 

James uses the example here of a day laborer, who was according to Jewish law supposed to be paid at the end of the day, instead, he says the rich man held back his pay, and he was in danger of never getting paid at all.  I once worked for someone many years ago like that who used me to paint a house in Greenwood.  I was in a pretty desperate place at the time and really needed the money. It took me several trips back and forth to finally finish the job, but the company who hired me kept finding fault in what I had done.  So I went back and redid a large portion of it. That happened again, until I finally realized that they were just putting me off not wanting to pay me.  Then when I finally confronted them and they gave me a check, I went to their bank to cash it and was told there was insufficient funds in the account.  Turns out, that was the modus operandi of this company, to hire people to do a job and never intend on paying them.

Now that’s an extreme example of what James is talking about.  Most people aren’t that crass and obvious about it.  But there is a wisdom of the world that values making a buck over treating people fairly. And that is what it means to defraud someone.  James says the Lord of Sabaoth hears the cries of those that were taken advantage of.  That title is also translated in some versions as the Lord of Hosts.  It means the Lord of armies.  God’s might is able to rectify and repay those that do injustice to others.

The third example of the materialistic worldly wisdom is self indulgence. That’s found in vs 5, “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”  

James speaks of a life lived in luxury and wanton pleasure.  That’s the goal of the wisdom of the rich man.  These people are using their wealth to gratify their love of luxury and to satisfy their lusts for sexual gratification.

Back in James day, the Romans were notorious for gluttonous feasts and sexual orgies.  They actually had these latrines built into the temples where they indulged in these festivals so that when they had gorged themselves on food, they could throw up in the latrine and then eat some more.  In contrast to that, the Christians were displaced from their homeland, they had often lost their occupations in the process, and were probably wondering where they would get their next meal. 

From a human perspective, it looked like the rich, worldly wise people were living the best life possible, enjoying every pleasure in abundance, but James says that they are actually fattening themselves for the day of slaughter.  He likens it to the farm animal that eats and eats but doesn’t realize that it is only so that they might be slaughtered later.  He is speaking metaphorically about the judgment that will be greater because of their self indulgence. It’s interesting to think about how so much that we consider essential, that we work and spend our money on, is actually a luxury that would be inconceivable to people living a hundred years ago.  And we try to justify our lifestyle in the name of providing for our families, when really we have to have all these luxury items that we think are essential.

Just compare the average house of the generation that lived in the 50’s and 60’s in comparison with the average house today. You can’t even find a builder today that will build a house like that.  It’s not marketable unless it has a top of the line kitchen, walk in closets, a two car garage, and all the modern conveniences.  I’m not saying we have to live in a hut to be spiritual, but I am saying we have bought into the world’s wisdom for what is an acceptable standard of living.

There is a final characteristic James speaks of concerning the worldly wise rich man, and that is ruthlessness. He speaks of it ruthlessness in vs 6, “You have condemned and put to death the righteous [man;] he does not resist you.”  

More than likely James is speaking metaphorically here about putting someone to death.  But in Jewish legal terms, taking away the livelihood of someone was the equivalent of murder.  One rabbi a couple of centuries before Christ said it this way, “As one that slays his neighbor is he that takes away his living.” 

Having even a little experience in our legal system, it’s not hard to see that the rich are able to take advantage of the courts, whereas the poor are not able to afford to defend themselves.  I think using the legal system to their advantage is  what James is speaking of.  Remember back in chapter 2 vs 6 James said, “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?”

What he is talking about is that the innocent man is personally abused, beaten down and ruined by a court, that instead of dispensing justice, is able to be controlled by the rich. And according to the wisdom of the world, all is fair in love and war and business, even if it means taking everything from the innocent to stuff the pockets of the rich. Those that follow the world’s wisdom are ruthless, taking advantage by every means possible to keep themselves rich and add to their riches.

Notice at the last part of verse 6, James says that the righteous man does not resist you.

This can mean one of two things: one,  that the righteous man doesn’t have the

ability to show up in court. He doesn’t have the  money to hire a fancy lawyer; he doesn’t even have the ability to photocopy the paper to file his complaint.  There is a man that I have befriended in prison that I’ve seen this happen to again and again.  He has lost so many court battles simply because he didn’t have access to a phone, or to a lawyer, or even able to get things photo copied.  The prison charges him money to make copies, and he has no money, so he can’t make the copies and loses the appeal.

The other possible option is that the righteous man doesn’t even try to fight back legally, and chooses instead to be ruined and leave his vindication up to God.  We can’t be sure, but that latter interpretation is very likely the one James had in mind, given the use of the word righteous as a description of this innocent person.  

In that case where I painted a house in Greenwood and the business that hired me gave me a bad check, I remember I called them and asked for them to pay me what they owed me.  The guy on the telephone became so vile, so filthy mouthed, he cursed me up one side and down the other.  It was actually unnerving to hear the hatred in his voice.  I was very upset and considered all the ways I could try to legally get my money.  Then later that night I began to pray about it and asked the Lord to show me what to do.  The next morning, I wrote this guy a letter.  I said I knew that they owed me the money but I had decided I was going to forgive them for defrauding me, and I wasn’t going to take any legal action against them. I said I had also owed a debt that I had not been able to pay, and the Lord had forgiven me, and by His example, I had decided to forgive them. I tried to use it as a means of witnessing to them their need of salvation.  I never heard from them again, and I don’t doubt but that they laughed over the idea that they thought  they got away with it.  But I know that the Lord will vindicate me, that he saw what I did, and I believe over the years He has restored so much more than I lost in that deal.

Listen, the wisdom of this world says that the end justifies the means, and the goal in life is he who dies with the most toys wins. The wisdom of this world says that there is no God, or that God doesn’t care, or even that if there is a God, He just wants us to be successful in the things of this world, and so we are justified in cutting corners, or we’re justified in being ruthless or stepping on people in our pursuit of the goal.  Of course, nothing can be further from the truth. God sees, and God will judge the world for every deed, and even every careless word that they have done.

Rather than trusting in the wisdom of the world, Paul told Timothy in 1Tim. 6:17-19 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. [Instruct them] to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” 

Jesus told us how we are to gain that life in Matt. 16:24-27 and it is the opposite of the world’s wisdom.  He said,  "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.” 

I pray that if you are following the wisdom of this world today, if you are rich in this world, then you will repent, weep and howl, and ask God for forgiveness, for Him to transform your heart, so that you might escape that judgment which is coming on all the world.  Renounce the riches of this world, renounce the wisdom of this world, and in exchange the Lord will give you the next world, and the wisdom which comes down from heaven, that you might have life and have it more abundantly.  That you might obtain  an inheritance [which is] imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

The evidence of earthly wisdom, James 4:11-17

James has been continuously referring to two dominant themes in his epistle.  Pretty much everything he has said up to this point stems from one or both of these themes.  And I would say that both themes are closely related.  Those themes are wisdom and what he calls our tongue, or to put it in our common vernacular, our speech.

Wisdom and speech are related in that our speech is the evidence of wisdom.  Now he has taught us early on in this epistle that wisdom is from God.  Wisdom is the  knowledge and application of spiritual life which comes from God.  And our speech is one of the primary means of applying that knowledge.  Jesus said, “What is in the heart, comes out of the mouth.” And  Paul said, with the mouth a man confesses what he believes in his heart. Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  

So it’s not enough to just believe, but you must say what you believe and your speech gives evidence of what you believe.  But James tells us repeatedly that it’s possible to say one thing, but do another which shows that you actually don’t believe what you claim.  James says in chapter  2:14 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?”  And you will see that theme discussed again and again in all aspects of our life - this speech that belies our faith.

Now the context for what James is discussing in this section we’re studying today, is found in chapter 3, where James spoke of the tongue being a restless evil which cannot be tamed, and said that from the same fountain cannot come fresh and salt water at the same time, or good speech and evil speech should not coexist in the same mouth.

And of course, the source for that fountain is wisdom.  According to James in chapter 3, there are two types of wisdom - the wisdom which is from God, and the wisdom which is of the world. And so your speech indicates which wisdom you have, and by which wisdom you are living.  

The wisdom which is from the world is our default wisdom.  That is the natural wisdom by which we operate under most circumstances.  That wisdom is what we call science, or education, or human intuition,  or being smart, or just good old common sense.  But James says that the wisdom of the world is demonic in origin.  It does not submit to God, but thinks itself smart enough and able to be independent from God. And according to chapter 3 vs 16, this earthly, demonic wisdom is characterized by jealousy and selfish ambition.

James 3:15-16 “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.  For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”

Now to those evil characteristics of earthly wisdom, James speaks in the passage before us. He speaks of jealousy as characterized by slanderous and judgmental speech in vs 11 and 12.  And then he speaks to selfish ambition in vs 13-16 which is marked by pride and arrogance, and then finishes this section with a summary statement about earthly wisdom as being sinful in vs 17 as he closes this chapter.

Let’s look at the first evidence of earthly wisdom then that is jealousy, which is marked by slanderous speech or judgmental speech.  James says in vs 11, “Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge [of it.]  There is [only] one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?”

There is in this verse an echo of Jesus’s teaching in His sermon on the mount in which Jesus said, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

Now the way James speaks of judging is to say it is speaking against another person.  But what he is really talking about there is slander.  Slander is making a false statement about someone else to their detriment.  It’s called character assassination. Jesus’s statement seems to be more broad than that, but I think that it’s more than likely that James gives us the correct interpretation of what Jesus meant by his statement.  It means to judge with evil intent, to condemn, to damn. 

It’s the same kind of attitude which James spoke of in chapter 2, when he said that when you give preferential treatment to the rich man you have become judges with evil motives.  And then he says concerning that quickness to judge others, in vs 13, “For judgment [will be] merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”

It’s important that we understand correctly what James is teaching here concerning judgment.  You often hear people rebuke a pastor or concerned Christian who raises questions about a person’s behavior, by saying, “Do not judge, lest you be judged.”  However, right after Jesus spoke about not judging, He then went on to say beware of false prophets, and that you shall know them by their fruits.  So in that sense, we are to judge others with righteous judgement, basing our judgement by their fruit, by their behavior.  

James is also not telling us that we shouldn’t rebuke others who are sinning. That is a necessary part of evangelism, to tell sinners that they have fallen short of the kingdom of God, that their sin has condemned them to eternal punishment, and that there is a way of salvation for those who repent of their evil deeds.  James speaks to that in the last verse of chapter five, saying, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,  let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

But the slanderer is not interested in saving the sinner, but in maligning someone. People tend to think that the way to exalt themselves is to put down others.  So the idea that James is getting at here is the one who condemns with his speech another person, attacking him, speaking ill of him, maligning him, by that which is not necessarily the truth. When you slander someone, you’re not talking about them for their good, but to hurt them, to condemn them. James says this is devilish. 

 It’s interesting to note that in vs 7, when James references the devil,  he uses the Greek word diabolos.  Diabolos is interpreted as the devil, but literally it means the slanderer.  And in vs 11, to speak against someone means to slander them.

In Rev 12:10 we see that description of the slanderer applied to the devil, saying, “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”  Slander is the modus operandi of the devil.  He accuses the Christian before God. And he uses other people to slander one another and accomplish that same purpose.

In addition to doing the work of the devil, James says that the one who judges with evil intentions puts himself above the law, and in effect, puts himself on par with God as a judge. Blind to his own sin, the slanderer is not aware of the seriousness of his error.  Jesus said by what measure you judge, you will be judged.  And so we need to leave judgement to God, and focus on removing the mote out of our own eye, before we focus on the speck in another’s eye.

James says there is only one lawgiver and judge, who, of course, is God.  We all are going to be judged by God for every careless word that we speak.  So if we understood the law properly, then we would all cry out for mercy.  And our salvation is based on mercy, for by the keeping of the law is no one made righteous.  If we depend upon mercy, then how much more should we be merciful to others, rather than to condemn them. 

James says, “but who are you, to judge your neighbor?”  By that question, he reminds us of the royal law, which is to love our neighbor as ourselves.  If we loved our neighbor as we love ourselves, then we would not slander them, we would not condemn them, but we would show mercy towards them, because that’s what we desire for ourselves.

The next example of earthly wisdom that James discusses is what he called in chapter 3, selfish ambition. Selfish ambition is simply pride, and pride is marked by arrogant speech, which is boasting.  James says  starting in vs 13, “Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are [just] a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  Instead, [you ought] to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."  But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

Now again, it’s important to understand what James is saying, and what James is not saying.  He is not saying that it’s wrong to make a business plan.  He is not saying that it’s wrong to have goals.  There are plenty of admonitions in the Bible about preparing for the future.  Or how about the godly example of Joseph whose plan called for saving during the years of plenty for the years to come of famine?  So the problem is not having a plan.

But what James is talking about here is the pride of man that makes plans and boasts as if he were the captain of his destiny and the master of his life.  As if he has all the time in the world at his disposal.  James is speaking of the ludicrousness of taking for granted the fragility of life, and that what you have in life is from God, even to the very next breath that you breathe.  

James says the problem is that you make plans apart from the wisdom of God. You make plans according to the wisdom of the world which is sourced in pride.  But James says, you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. As an example of that, I can’t help but think of what life was like before the virus.  We took so many things for granted.  No one could have imagined three years ago what life would be like today.  No one could have imagined the freedoms that would be lost, the businesses that would be closed down, the lives that were lost, the effects on life and liberty that have come as a result of this virus.

I will confess that lately I have felt the effects of it more than ever.  One thing that I’ve become more aware of is my own vulnerability.  I used to think I was bullet proof to a certain extent. I don’t know if it’s my age or my health or a combination of both, but lately I feel vulnerable. I realize more than ever the fragility of life.  We take good health for granted when we are healthy.  And I will say we take our liberties for granted until we lose them.  We take peace for granted in this country.  I pray that we don’t wake up one day to the harsh realities that it seems we are headed for.

James says that it is arrogant to make plans as if God does not control the outcome of the world, as if we can make ourselves rich, we can make ourselves successful, we can do what we want without considering the Lord. Whether the world realizes it or not, everyone is totally dependent upon the mercy of God for their next breath.  Paul said in Acts 17:28, “for in Him we live and move and exist.”

James says that your life is but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. I’m sure you have all seen the early morning mist that hovers just above the ground on some chilly mornings.  But when the sun comes up it disappears.  It was just vapor.  That’s a picture of the temporary nature of our life.  By the time we start to figure it out, it’s over.

Moses wrote about that in Psalm 90, saying, ‘’ we end our days with a sigh.”  He went on to say “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is [but] labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.”

So instead of making plans in our arrogance, irrespective of God, instead we ought to say, “if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  God is sovereign in our lives.  He has numbered our days. He directs our steps.  Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

To say that “If it’s the Lord’s will…” is not a mantra that we tack on to our plans, like when we pray “in Jesus’s name, Amen.”   It’s not a way to sanctify our own plans.  But it means to submit to the sovereignty of God in every thing we do.  The Scottish hymn writer Horatius Bonar put it this way; “no part of day or night from sacredness be free.”   Everything we do we do for the Lord.  Even things as mundane as your day to day work are to be done as unto the Lord.  Even our submission to civil authorities is for the Lord’s sake.  Even the love that spouses are to have for one another is to be as unto the Lord.  

To say “If it’s the Lord’s will…” means simply to put the Lord first in your life.  For the Christian, there is no separation between the secular and the sacred.  There must be no distinction between my will and God’s will.  Our will is to do God’s will.  Whatever we do we need to do for the glory of God. Therefore, the Christian should accept the lordship of Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives, living in obedience to the will of God as revealed in the word of God.

As Solomon’s wisdom tells us in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Finally, we come to a summary of this section on earthly wisdom in vs 17. The wisdom of the world produces sin.  James says, “Therefore, to one who knows [the] right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  There is a wisdom that produces sin.  It’s the earthly wisdom that is demonic, and produces every evil thing.  There are sins of commission which we have looked at, such as pride and slander and boasting.  But there is also a sin of omission, of neglect.  

We have been given wisdom in the word of God.  God speaks to us about what we should do, and what we should not do.  Sometimes it’s easier to focus on what we should not do. Far too often we think we’re ok because we haven’t committed any of the gross sins of the flesh like adultery or murder or so forth. But there are also some things which we should do, and if we neglect to do them, after having been shown the truth, then James says that’s a sin.  To neglect the commandments to love one another, to forgive one another, to edify one another, to pray for one another and other commandments like those, is just as grievous a sin as the sins of commission.

In our study on Wednesday nights we are looking at Revelation, and particularly the second coming of the Lord.  The first coming of the Lord He came to show mercy, but in the second coming the Lord comes in judgment.  And this is what the Lord Himself had to say about that coming, and the judgment which He will render; particularly the judgment He will give to those who knew His will, and did not do it.  

Luke 12:42-48 “And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time?  "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.  "Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.  "But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves, [both] men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;  the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect [him] and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.  "And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,  but the one who did not know [it,] and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

You have been given much this morning.  You have been given the knowledge of God’s will.  I urge you to show wisdom now and do it  - to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of it.  I urge you to submit to the will of God in your life, that the Lord will be sovereign over your plans, over your work, and over your life.  Don’t resist the Lord in pride, thinking that you have plenty of time to serve the Lord later, but for now you want to live like you want.  Don’t believe the false lies of the devil, and give place to pride and selfish ambition.  But rather “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”