James 5:1-20

Dangerous Wealth

James ends his letter with some very stout words against the rich. It is a word for our country today.

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 average worker in this country makes less today in terms of real dollars than he or she did in 1966. In the last 45 years the workers, the ones who mow the fields and actually produce something by their labor have gained exactly nothing. In fact, they have gone backward. Why? Because they don’t work hard? No. The answer is in verse five about the rich.

You have lived on earth in luxury and selfindulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. We live in an age of extravagance unrivaled since the so called “gilded age” of the nineteenth century. Luxury car commercials are as common as popcorn. The idea of paying top dollar, not even for quality, but for the prestige of being exclusive is the accepted norm. It is difficult to find words adequate to the task of describing the ridiculous levels of self indulgence witnessed by the top of the economic strata in our country. Actually, there is one word that fits - unconsciousable. 

You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. There is money to be made in creating enemies. If you can identify some enemies then you will be well funded to provide “protection” from them. There has always been a lot of money in murder; whether it is pulling the trigger for a boss or starving an orphan for another per cent of profit margin.

Do I hate the rich? Not at all. Jesus died for us all, and in the eyes of the vast majority of the earth’s population I would be considered rich. I am just simply trying to take James’ warning and state it in words that are less easy to ignore in our time and place. 

There is a day of reckoning. The Lord is coming. It’s pretty clear whose side He is on.