THE LETTER OF ST. JAMES

Warnings to the Rich

James 4:13-17

INTRODUCTION

When Dr. Milton Cunningham served as interim pastor at First Baptist, Corsicana, he made a rather startling statement: "If you are not rich, rejoice! You are going to go to heaven!" Now I know that he didn't mean that literally; however, he was trying to make a point which both Jesus and His step brother James made in their teachings: riches pose a real danger for the person who possesses them.

Why would riches pose such a danger? First, because riches can give a person a sense of worth and value he does not have. A person is not better than any other person simply because he has more money. He just has more money. Period. Second, a person with wealth can tend to rely upon that wealth rather than upon God. He believes he lives only in this world where money does matter. He does not realize that his ultimate destination is eternity where earthly money does not matter one whit. Jesus was not joking when He claimed: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19:24).

THE ARROGANCE OF THE RICH (4:13-17)

The first situation James addresses is that of the businessman who decides on a plan on how to make money. His overall plan is this: "We shall go to such and such a city and shall spend a year there and shall engage in business and shall make a profit."

On the surface this does not seem like a bad deal. Surely James is not saying that we are not to make business plans, plan for the future, plan for retirement, etc. No. What James is condemning is the attitude behind the statement. First, the repeating of the word "shall" demonstrates an arrogance on the part of the business man. Come hail or high water, that businessman is going to succeed. James though first says: "You don't know about tomorrow!" C.S. Lewis has said: "We are not safe." That statement applies to all of life here on earth. God doesn't guarantee anything here on earth; He guarantees a blessed future with Him in heaven. Life here on earth is uncertain.

You don't think so? How many of you are doing better financially today than you were doing a year and a half ago? How many of you thought that when the stock market was at 14,000 that it would plummet to 6,500 within a year (2008-2009)? "Oh, it will come back! It always does." It is not predicted to plummet once more. The person who guarantees financial security through the stock market is trying to sell you something. The financial world is uncertain.

"But," you might say, "I took all the necessary steps to make sure my finances were OK." A lot of people went into real estate in the 90's and 2000's because real estate is always a safe investment. Little did you know that in the halls of Congress and in the halls of financial institutions that people were monkey-ing around with the system which would lead to a serious financial, housing crisis. "But we always rebound." Maybe we will; maybe we won't. Even today the economy is still fragile. You don't know about tomorrow.

Second, James claims that this attitude is so arrogant because it doesn't take into account how fragile a person's life is: "You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." James' step Brother told a parable which dealt with just this very issue, the parable of the rich man (Luke 12:16-21). In that parable a man works to amass all the riches he can and then stores them up for his retirement. He retires and then what happens? Bam! He dies! Is Jesus saying we shouldn't plan for retirement? No. He is saying though that you need to live life in light of the fact that you may not be here tomorrow. Some say you need to live like Christ could come and rapture you at any moment. That's true, but He can come for you in 2 different ways: first the rapture and second your death.

All this may sound morbid, but it is true. Each year we don't just bury old people in our churches and communities; we bury teenagers AND people in their early 50's killed in tragic accidents. We seen seemingly healthy coaches get diagnosed with cancer. We don't know what tomorrow holds for us because we ourselves are so fragile.

Instead of living arrogantly, we need to exercise humility. How to live with humility? James says: "Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall LIVE and DO this or that.'" (Notice that the 2 verbs "live" and "do" refer back to what James just said about "tomorrow" and "life being a vapor.")

Before we look at what James means by this statement, we first need to examine what he does NOT mean. He does NOT mean that we are just to attach this statement to our plans without meaning it. So many of us are guilty of misusing Jesus' statement that we are to pray in Jesus' name. What we do is we just say our prayers and at the end of them we tack on the phrase, "In Jesus' name, amen." That is NOT what Jesus means by praying in His name. Attaching the phrase "if the Lord wills" to our plans is not what James means either.

Instead James means that we are to follow the Lord in designing our plans. Yes, we have to have a job and yes, we do have to make plans. There are good business practices the Lord wants us to honor; however, everything we do, including our business is to be placed under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Does He want me to be engaged in this or that venture?

In 2009 I felt that I could no longer physically continue teaching 3 courses at the college and work full-time at the church. So, I decided to do the sensible thing--resign from the college. One night though as I was walking and praying I started weeping because i felt an overwhelming sensation from the Lord that I could not leave the students at the college. The Lord has so richly blessed me with a treasure from C.S. Lewis which I just couldn't keep from the young people. I just knew that I couldn't face the Lord on Judgment Day knowing that I had something to give to the students but didn't give it [parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30)]. Not only the way we conduct ourselves in business is important; the business we are actually engaged in is important to the Lord.

"Oh," you might object, "it's not like I did anything wrong when I had this attitude. I didn't murder anybody. I just didn't have the right attitude." James’ response? Knowing what to do and NOT doing it is just as bad as doing something you know you shouldn't have done: "To him who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." There are no excuses.