2019-09-29 James 5:1-6 MISERABLY RICH (2): JUDAS OR MARY

MISERABLY RICH (2): JUDAS OR MARY (James 5:1-6) September 29, 2019 Read James 5:1-6 – Ray Hicks was a skilled storyteller with prestigious awards from the Smithsonian and National Endowment for Arts. But he constantly turned down invitations from Johnny Carson and others. Continued to live in his remote mountain home – without modern conveniences. He said, “I see’d what money done to others. I don’t want much. I just want enough to do me.” That’s a valuable lesson that too many of us never learn. Jas has harsh language for those who overvalue riches. Living for money may be great now, there is a heavy price to pay later. It will “eat your flesh like fire” (3), leading to a “day of slaughter” (5) – descriptions of hell. Yet his audience is the church! He’s challenging whether or not their faith is real. One telling sign? Overemphasis on money, loving it more than Jesus. However good such people have it now, their end is “misery.” They may be rich, but they are miserably rich. They seem to be privileged, but actually they are 5-fold abusers. Last week we saw that I. Lovers of Money Abuse Their Riches. By hoarding them. God doesn’t give wealth to hoard, but to distribute. II. Lovers of Money Abuse Their Fellowmen. They build on the backs of the poor. Rather than love others as themselves, they love themselves to the exclusion of others. Now, today, 3 more ways money-lovers are abusive. III. Lovers of Money Abuse Themselves V 5) “You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.” So you ask, “How could rich-living be called self-abuse?! Luxury; self-indulgence? Sounds pretty good to me. Bring it on!” Read on. “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” How does a cow or a sheep feel when it is eating away in a feeding operation? Splendid, right? Life is good! Don’t even have to move BUT – where is it leading? The slaughter house! There’s going to be a high price to pay for living the high life now. So with the miserably rich. The Crime – So is it a crime to be rich. No – the crime is to use what God’s entrusted to us merely to satisfy our own whims. Forty years ago a 23-yearold turned the advertising world on its ear with the phrase – “I don’t mind spending more for L’Oreal – because I’m worth it.” Jas is describing is a lifestyle devoted to the best because – I’m worth it. Sticks in your mind, doesn’t it? It’s justified everything from jewelry to designer clothing to 1 epicurean foods to palatial homes. I had one Xn young woman justify her Rolex by saying, “God wants His children to have the best.” Now don’t go hide your Rolex; it’s not the watch, it’s the attitude that condemns. “Luxury”, from a root which means “soft”. It depicts a party lifestyle without hardship, devoted to pleasure and revelry. “Self-indulgence” (τρυφαω) –to “live beyond the bound of propriety” -- a person who pampers themselves to as much as possible with little or no thought of others. The crime isn’t having money – the crime is spending it only on ourselves. With thousands dying daily of starvation; with over half the world’s population never having heard the gospel of Christ; with more than half living on less than $2 per day, can we justify self-indulgent lifestyles – before God? The crime isn’t having money. The crime is using whatever we have for our own self-indulgence. We have excuses. Poverty is such a big problem, I can’t scratch the surface. Why try? One guy knew. Walking the beach, he came upon thousands of beautiful starfish washed ashore, and dying in the sun, so he picked one up and tossed it into the sea. Then another and another. Another guy spotted him: “Why are you doing that?” He replied, “I’m trying to save the starfish.” The other man laughed: “Are you crazy? There are so many it won’t make any difference.” The first man replied as he threw another back: “It will make a difference to that one.” You see, money’s not the crime. Living a selfindulgent lifestyle when there’s someone we can help – that’s the crime. The Calamity – Near Term – But how is that self-abuse? It seems more like self-preservation and certainly self-satisfying. But get ready for a shock. God says in I Tim 5:6: “But she who is self-indulgent (our word) is dead even while she lives.” Wow! The Bible says that? It does! God says, the selfindulgent person, pampering every whim with “I’m worth it!” is already dead. How could that be? Bc he’s like the guy who fell from the Empire State Building. Passing the 20th floor, someone hollered, “How’s it going?” He yelled back, “Everything’s great so far!” Key phrase – really key phrase – “so far!” He’s a dead man who doesn’t know it yet. So. the miserably rich. Things are great so far, but there’s both near and long-term implications coming soon. Fascinating, some of the most self-indulgent people ever on planet earth never found satisfaction? Howard Hughes, a pleasure guru, from business to social to sexual, died a hopelessly paranoid recluse. Jack Higgins, renowned author of The Eagle Has Landed said, at the high point of his career, there was one thing he wished he’d known as a little boy: “When you get to the top, there’s nothing there.” Worldly success never satisfies. It’s like the Communist ruler 2 who asked a farmer how things were going. “The potatoes from our harvest will reach to God.” The official replied, “This is the Soviet Union. There is no God.” The farmer replied, “There are no potatoes either.” See, we were made for God; without Him there is no lasting joy. Money is no substitute! Tennis great Boris Becker said, “I had won Wimbledon twice before, once as the youngest player. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed. … It’s the old song of movie stars and pop stars who commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy. I had no inner peace. I was a puppet on a string.” And the most self-indulgent man in history summarized life this way: “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” It doesn’t matter whether it is houses, power, prestige, wine, women or song. In the end, it’s all vanity. Even in this life self-indulgence can’t ultimately satisfy – to engage is to abuse self. The Calamity – Long Term – But far worse is the long-term prospect. “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” “Live for yourself,” Jas says, “and all you’ve really done is made yourself fat for the slaughter – adding new guilt against the day you’ll give account to God.” How could Jas write that to believers? Bc believers have a judgment, too, right? I Cor 3:1315: “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” Self-indulgence robs us of eternal reward! Enjoy it now, bc you’re spending eternity’s riches. But Jas’ language describes the eternal punishment awaiting the unbeliever. How can that be if he’s writing to the church? Bc he’s targeting professing believers, who really aren’t. Their profession is a sham. True faith works. And theirs is not. Their self-indulgent lifestyle exposes a false profession. So we need to ask, could we be miserably rich? You don’t have to have a lot to be miserably rich. You just have to want a lot – and then live a lifestyle devoted to giving yourself all you can because “I’m worth it.” Jas is saying, “Enjoy it now because the day of accountability is fast approaching.” A London play was called “The Cupboard.” Clive Barnes gave it a three-word critique: “The Cupboard? Bare.” Is our self-indulgence covering a faith that is absolutely bare? Now’s the time to ask bc a self-indulgent lifestyle, teamed with false faith, will in the end be the ultimate in self-abuse long term. IV. Lovers of Money Abuse Their Future 3 Note the future of lovers of money. V. 3: Hoarding “will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.” 4b: Using others results in “the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.” 5b: Self-indulgence shows “you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” That’s not a bright future. “The Lord of hosts” (emphasis on God’s power) is keeping tabs. Hoarded wealth may bring feelings of security now, but later it will burn like a branding iron. The illicit pleasures of today will merely increase the level of judgment later. This is not a pretty picture. Whatever God gives – big or little – can be wonderful if enjoyed according to His instruction. I Tim 6:17) As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18) They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19) thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? What we have isn’t just for us; it is for others as well; sharing it is the way to really live; it’s a way to be rich in the life to come as well. Isn’t that a worthwhile goal? But clutching it to oneself will lead to a disastrous future. Charles Spurgeon used to tell of a maid on a great ship that hit an iceberg and was about to sink. Heaps of gold coins had somehow spilled from the safe. So she gathered up as much as she could, wrapped it around her waist and leapt into the water where she sank like a millstone. Her joy was short-lived; her self-indulgence only prepared her for destruction. That is Jas’ message. Love of money feels good now, but leads to disaster later. The miserable rich don’t know they are miserable, but they will when they have to answer to God for how they had used His money. Their professed faith will be shown to be false. Robert Murray M’Cheyne lived in the early part of the 19th century, but his words are astoundingly appropriate for today: I am concerned for the poor but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you in the great day. . . . I fear there are many hearing me who may know well that they are not Christians because they do not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudgingly at all, requires a new heart; an old heart would rather part with its life-blood than its money. Oh my friends! Enjoy your money; make the most of it; give none away; enjoy it quickly for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity.” Being rich, or even wanting to be, is a serious disadvantage spiritually. As William Wilberforce once said, "Prosperity hardens the heart.” It leads to a bleak future unless handled with great care. 4 V. Lovers of Money Abuse the Savior V. 6: You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.” Tough to interpret. Most take it as the final straw in the downward path of the miserably rich. They actually go to court to condemn innocent poor people to maintain their lifestyle. Overworking, underpaying, and finally, if necessary, squashing anyone who tries to stand in their way but is unable to resist them. It would be like the old cartoon where someone asks, “What is the Golden Rule?” And someone answers, “The one with the gold makes the rules.” That defines our world, doesn’t it? It could be the right interpretation, painting a horribly degraded picture of someone in the clutches of the love of money. We’ve seen them depicted on TV, and known some in real life. But there is another possibility, stronger, I think. Literally the v. reads, “You have condemned and murdered the Righteous Man who does not oppose you.” It’s not saying lovers of money have killed poor people in general – it says “the righteous one.” It doesn’t say “the righteous poor”, it says “the righteous one.” It doesn’t say “who could not oppose you”; it says “who does not oppose you.” It’s a voluntary word. It’s referring to Jesus. Lovers of money forget the only absolutely perfect one who was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, yet He did not resist. Why? Because He was giving His life for us – to pay the penalty for the very sin of idolatry that the miserable rich are practicing. They have forgotten the only One who can bring true riches. And by their worship of money, they have made themselves part of the lynching party that He submitted to on their behalf. All our other sins pale by comparison to this one. We’ve crucified our Savior. Remember a couple of days before Jesus died, His friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, freshly raised, held a dinner. Jn 12:3-6: “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” This perfume was very expensive – worth a year’s wages or more – probably her life savings, and she pours it on the feet of Jesus. Incredibly extravagant. 5 She’s figuratively saying, “All my worldly goods; all my security; all that I have is yours.” Judas, meanwhile, protests the waste -- bc he wants it. And shortly he sells Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The miserable rich contrasted with the immeasurably rich. We must ask – which are we – not which do we profess to be. Our actions show who we really are? Mary or Judas? Are we still pounding in the nails of the righteous One driven by love of money, or is it all submitted to His control? Who are we? Judas or Mary? Conc – Years ago there was a movie, To Each His Own, for which Olivia de Havilland got an Oscar. A real tearjerker! She has a baby out of wedlock, gives him up in a complicated twist, but helps from afar, being around the boy only briefly when he is 4 years old, never revealing her identity. Loves him from afar, does all these wonderful things for him, sacrifices for him, but he never knows. Near the end he’s grown, getting married and an older gentleman friend of hers says to the boy, “Can’t you put this all together? Don’t you know who this woman is? Don’t you remember you thought she was your aunt when you were with her. Don’t you remember – and don’t you realize who she really is.” Suddenly the light goes on. In the last scene everyone is dancing. She’s just hoping he’ll have a happy life when he walks over to her and in the last line of the movie says, “Mother, may I have this dance?” He suddenly remembered, “Now I see who you are, what you’ve done for me. I remember, and I want to honor you.” And so we must remember the One who died for us. We must not let love of money or anything else come between us and Him. Don’s abuse yourself; don’t abuse your future; most of all don’t abuse the Savior. Make Him your Savior. Mary – or Judas? Let’s pray. 6