09/20/15 Are You Oblivious?
Life is
a Test Series – James 5:16
Intro: Materialism
The story is told of a
prosperous, young investment banker who was driving a new BMW sedan on a
mountain road during a snowstorm. As he veered around one sharp turn, he lost
control and began sliding off the road toward a deep cliff. At the last moment
he unbuckled his seat belt, flung open his door, and leaped from the car, which
then tumbled down the ravine and burst into a ball of flames.
Though he had
escaped with his life, the man suffered a horrific injury. Somehow his arm had
been caught near the hinge of the door as he jumped and had been torn off at
the shoulder. A trucker saw the accident in his rearview mirror. He pulled his
rig to a halt and ran to see if he could help. He found the banker standing at
the roadside, looking down at the BMW burning in the ravine below. “My BMW! My
new BMW!!” the banker moaned, oblivious to his injury. The trucker pointed at
the banker’s shoulder and said, “You’ve got bigger problems than that car.
We’ve got to find your arm. Maybe the surgeons can sew it back on!” The banker
looked where his arm had been, paused a moment, and groaned, “Oh no! My Rolex!
My new Rolex!!”
God gives us material possessions so we will enjoy them, not so
we will worship them. What’s important to you? Are you oblivious to what is
important? Several months ago there was a small group bible study called
“Radical” David Platt was the author of this study; and it was radical and
defiantly biblical. The life is a test series presents a reality check on
materialism and just maybe it might be some for you to make some radical
adjustments. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke
12:34
Text: James 4:1-6
“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries
that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion
will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have
heaped up treasure in the last days. 4Indeed the wages of the laborers who
mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the
reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. 5 You have lived on
the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of
slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not
resist you.”
Application: What is it that you enjoy and what is it that you
worship?
If I pull out a dollar bill and put it in the air for all of you to
see, does money talk? If money talks,” said a popular comedian, “all it ever
says to me is good-bye!” Two themes run through chapter 5 of James; trouble
& prayer. James did not say it was a sin to be rich. After all, Abraham was
a wealthy man, yet he walked with God, and was greatly used of God to bless the
whole world. James was concerned about the selfishness of the rich, and advised
them to “weep and howl.”
1. Listen Now: vs. 1
“Now listen, you rich people, weep
and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.”
Strong warning, is the
money talking to you, are you taking or giving? “But whoever has this world's
goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does
the love of God abide in him?” 1 John 3:17
We can now spend endless hours on
reality shows watching the way hoarders live. James gives a whole new meaning
to a hoarder in this text to me. The rich cannot afford to be rich hoarders the
cost is their soul. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For
we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But
those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many
foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed
from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.” 1Timothy 6:6-10 Jesus gives commands, not considerations; we are to
go, sell, give, come, and follow me. The length for which we go and obey will be
the return Christ will give.
2. The Witness will Testify against you: vs. 2-3
“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.”
Riches will vanish, grain will
rot, corruption is implied, gold will rust; and garments will become
moth-eaten. Nothing material in this world will last forever. The seeds of
death and decay are found in all of creation. It is a great mistake to think
there is security in wealth. James not only saw a present judgment (their
wealth decaying, their character eroding), but also a future judgment before
God. Jesus Christ will be the Judge, and His judgment will be righteous.
God
will call on a witness on that Day of Judgment. First, the rich men’s wealth
will witness against them. Their rotten grain, rusted gold and silver, and
moth-eaten garments will bear witness of the selfishness of their hearts. There
is a bit of irony here: the rich men saved their wealth to help them, but their
hoarded riches will only testify against them.
3. Your Cries will be Heard by the
Lord: vs. 4
“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.
The wages they held back will also witness against
them in court. Money talks! These stolen salaries cry out to God for justice
and judgment. God heard Abel’s blood cry out from the ground, and He hears this
stolen money cry out too. The workers will also testify against them. There
will be no opportunities for the rich to bribe the witnesses or the Judge. God
hears the cries of His oppressed people and He will judge righteously. This
judgment is a serious thing. The lost will stand before Christ at the Great
White Throne. The saved will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. God will
not judge our sins, because they have already been judged on the cross; but He
will judge our works and our ministry. If we have been faithful in serving and
glorifying Him, we will receive a reward; if we have been unfaithful, we shall
lose our reward but not our salvation: “If anyone's work which he has built on it
endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will
suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 1
Corinthians 3:14-15
4. Watch How You Live it Might Haunt YOU: vs. 5-6
“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.”
Worldly desire, which is the final end and consummation of
all pleasures, sucks the bones and, like a cannibal, eats your own flesh: “At
the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.’ Proverbs
5:11
There are many a poor who have felt their existence was like the invisible
man, no one could see you. James doesn’t want us to live life thinking were
invisible. Two ways to look at treasures; the rich have treasures that are
materialistic, the poor have waiting them treasures in heaven. “Then Jesus,
looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your
way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." Mark 10:21
Conclusion:
Remember what James teaches; it is possible to be “poor in this world” and yet
rich in the next world. It is also possible to be “rich in this world” and poor
in the next world. The return of Jesus Christ will make some people poor and
others rich, depending on the spiritual condition of their hearts. “For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What we keep, we lose. What
we give to God, we keep, and He adds interest to it. A famous preacher, known
for his long sermons, was asked to give the annual “charity sermon” for the
poor. It was suggested that if he preached too long, the congregation might not
give as much as they should. The preacher read his text from: Proverbs 19:17 “He
who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he
has done.”
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly.” John 10:10
Are you oblivious to how your money talks? Can you
afford to be?
In : Sermon
Tags: "life is a test series" "book of james"
blog comments powered by Disqus