James - Chapter 5

1Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your 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. 4Look! 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. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

There must have been a lot of rich men in the Judean Church who were consumed with worldly pleasures. This is the fourth time in this short letter James blasts the rich.

Here, he writes about the worthlessness of riches. It’s not a sin to have money. Money is necessary to live in this world. But money will be worthless when Christ returns, so we need to be storing up the kind of treasures that will be worthwhile in heaven. So money is not the problem. Christians need it to live and support their families, churches need it to do their work effectively, and missionaries need it to spread the gospel.

1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

Somehow this has been translated as ‘money’ being the root of all evil. But it’s the LOVE of money that causes the problem, making people so greedy they are willing to cheat others in order to obtain more.

Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Here's a thought: Although this is not what the verse above is saying, I want you to think about this idea. You reveal where your heart is, where your loyalties are, by how you handle and spend your money. Look through your checkbook, or take note of how you spend your money. If someone was watching you, would they be able to tell your loyalties are to God? Or would they see selfish self indulgence of worldly pleasures instead?

In vs. 5, James is comparing the rich self-indulgent people to cattle that continue to eat and fatten themselves up on the day they are to be slaughtered, totally unaware of their coming destruction.

In vs. 6, he writes about how hoarding money and exploiting employees causes us to be murderous. The ‘innocent men’ he speaks of here are defenseless people, laborers, poor people who could not pay their debts. Back in the first century, whenever a person couldn’t pay his debts, he was thrown into prison or forced to sell all of his possessions. Sometimes people were even forced to sell their family members into slavery. They often died of starvation. So in point of fact, the rich man who would not pay his laborers was guilty of murdering them because of his own self-indulgence and greed.

7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near.

One day the Lord will return and all of our suffering will be over. Keep your eyes and your heart fixed on that day.

When a farmer plants his crops, he must be patient while waiting for his crops to grow. But the farmer doesn’t just sit around and wait. He has a lot of work to do to ensure he has a good harvest. His entire summer is full of laboring until the harvest.

In the same way, we must be patient in awaiting the return of Christ, and we must stay busy doing the work God has commissioned us to do—teaching the gospel to all the ends of the earth.

We cannot make Christ return any faster, just as the farmer cannot make his crops come in any faster. But both the farmer and the Christian must live by faith, looking toward the future reward for their labors. Don’t live as if Jesus will never come back; continue to work faithfully for Him.

9Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Matthew 7:1-5 1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

We can’t be shifting blame to others when things aren’t getting done. Keep your focus on what you should be doing and not what others are NOT doing. Sometimes it’s easier to blame others rather than owning up to our share of the responsibility. Before you judge others for their shortcomings, remember Christ is the judge and will come to evaluate each of us.

Matthew 25:31-46 31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

So Christ will come and He will judge each of us according to the things we have done, or not done. In Jesus own words, when we cause pain to another human being, we cause Him pain, or when we do something to help someone else, we are helping Him.

10Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Be patient. God will come through. James is reminding us of how patient the prophets had to be. He goes on to mention Job who persevered through many trials and tribulations. He and the prophets were faithful, knowing they were doing the work God wanted them to do. And God eventually rewarded them for their perseverance and faithfulness.

12Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.

Why do we find it necessary to swear to something? It’s because we want people to believe what we’re saying is the truth. But if we earn the reputation of being an honest person, we wouldn’t have to swear. People would believe us just on our word alone.

If you’re prone to exaggeration or lying, people will doubt your word. By avoiding lies, half-truths, and omissions of the truth, you will become known as a trustworthy person and people will believe your simple yes or no.

James is not condemning the taking of solemn oaths. He is condemning the flippant use of God’s name or a sacred object to guarantee the truth of what is spoken.

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Here James is telling his readers how we should handle our problems.

• If we are in trouble, we should pray. Hand your troubles over to God and believe He will help you through whatever it is.
• Unhappy? Sing songs of praise. This will inevitably lift your spirits. When we sing songs of praise, we are reminded of God’s love and mercy, which helps us put our trivial problems into perspective.
• If we are sick, we should contact the leaders of the church so they can pray for us. He mentions oil because in scripture, oil was both a medicine and a symbol of the Spirit of God. Either way, Jesus is Lord over both the body and the spirit. So whether we are ‘sick’ in spirit or physically sick, the members of Christ’s body (the church) should be able to count on the other members for support and prayer. Elders and church members should stay alert to pray for the needs of all the church's members.

Notice in verse 15, it isn’t the oil that heals, but the “prayer of faith”. The Lord heals when he hears our prayers “offered in faith”. All prayers are subject to God’s will and His time-table. So again, we must be patient and faithful.

On the network news about a year ago, it was reported that doctors and scientists have now come to the conclusion prayer helps people get well. Of course, some of them are trying to say it’s only because we ‘think ourselves well’, but others are convinced there is more to it than that. Isn’t it refreshing when the rest of the world figures out what we’ve known all along?

James goes on to write about spiritual healing. If someone has sinned, we are to pray for them so they may be forgiven and healed. The sinner must repent, but by going to the Church and having others pray for them, other things are accomplished.
First, if someone has sinned against another individual, he or she must ask their forgiveness. By praying together, this encourages both to forgive and put the problem behind them.
Second, if the sin has somehow affected the church, we need to confess it publicly so the problems can be set right. Third, sometimes we need loving support as we struggle with a sin. By confessing it to others and having them help us through it, it helps us conquer the temptation.

17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Sometimes we tend to use prayer as a last resort, when all else has failed. But this is backwards—prayer should come first. The Christian’s most powerful resource is communion with God through prayer. The more we use this resource, the stronger we will become.

James talks about how Elijah’s prayers were answered. During his struggle against King Ahab and idolatry, Elijah once prayed for a drought that would cripple the evil king. God responded by withholding rain from the land for over three years. Later, Elijah prayed for rain, and it came in torrents.

James comments on the faith of Elijah by saying he was only a man, like us. In other words, our prayers have the same potential power as the prayers of Elijah, since he was just as human as we are.
But as James has stressed all the way through his letter, prayers of such effectiveness are possible only when we pray in faith and pray with the proper motives. Prayer is the conduit for taking any and every concern to God—seeking his aid and expressing our thanks to Him for His blessings.

19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

When one of our fellow Christians falls away, we should try to help them get back on track. By taking the initiative, praying for them, and acting in love we might be able to bring them back to God and his forgiveness. By doing this, you will have saved this person from the fires of hell. This is the kind of thing for which we will receive rewards on judgment day.

This letter by James stresses faith in action. Living right is evidence of faith. Members of the Church must serve with compassion, speak lovingly and truthfully, live in obedience to God’s commandments, and love each other. We must be an example of heaven on earth, drawing people to Christ through our love for God and for each other. If we truly believe God’s Word, we will live it day by day.

God’s Word is not just something we read and think about, but something we do.