Part 9 of James: Don’t Trust in Riches

James 5:1-12 (CSB)

1 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. 

2 Your wealth has rotted and your clothes 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 stored up treasure in the last days. 

4 Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies. 

5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 

6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.

7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 

8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.

9 Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!

10 Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience. 

11 See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.

We’ve reached the last chapter of the book of James. James has continually urged us, as he said in chapter 1, to look intently into the mirror of God’s perfect Word and examine how we measure up. Have you felt challenged? Hopefully, you have felt encouraged and not discouraged. He has been direct and to the point: to follow Christ, our words and actions must line up. It’s not enough to know what God’s Word says, we must do what it says, because, as he said repeatedly in chapter 2, “faith without works is dead.”

Most recently, at the end of chapter 4, we read James’ warning to not play God in other people’s or our own lives. He cautioned against pride which would have us make plans and try to live by our own rules or will, instead of depending on and trusting in God. It wasn’t a warning just about making presumptions or making plans; it was a warning to those who would trust in wealth or self-sufficiency instead of God. Now, in chapter 5, he addresses the people who are most likely to think they can live independently of God: the rich.

I think it’s clear that the believers James was writing to had admiration, and possibly even a fixation on the wealthy. It seems they may have placed great hope in their own wealth, or they had a desire to impress and gain favor from the rich. Maybe they wanted to be wealthy and aspired to run in those circles? Either way, James doesn’t hold back in rebuking both their attitudes and the corrupt rich themselves.

You might recall, back in chapter 1:9-10, James admonished them: “Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his exaltation, but let the rich boast in his humiliation because he will pass away like a flower of the field.” And in Chapter 2, he rebuked them for favoring the rich over the poor, even though the rich were the very people oppressing them, dragging them into court, and blaspheming the name of Christ.

Then, as I mentioned, in chapter 4:13-14, he said, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.”

More than just speaking about the danger of planning without God’s leading, in hindsight, I think James was calling attention to the mindset of those who are fixated on wealth and making money. He was setting the stage for a direct rebuke here in chapter 5.

Let’s read what he says, starting with the first three verses: “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. Your wealth has rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.”

It’s important to note, like his previous rebukes, where he called people murderers or adulterers, James is not speaking directly to the believers he is writing to. Rather, like an Old Testament prophet, James is speaking this way to address a situation we all find ourselves in, certainly even today. The world is run by oppressive, ungodly rich people. James wants to warn the church not to admire or envy these corrupt people.

Because, as we know, this treasure that these “rich people” have stored up is not going to last.

Does this remind you of another Bible verse? Once again, James seems to be echoing words from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Look at what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 5:19-21. He says, “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This goes directly along with what James has been saying all along: Don’t listen to the world’s wisdom and don’t be friends with the world, because the world tells us to place our trust in money and store it up. In the world’s hierarchy, it’s the wealthy who hold power and influence. If we’re following the world’s wisdom and are trying to be friends with the world, then we will try to impress people and flaunt our wealth. We will favor the wealthy over the poor. But why would we want to impress or gain the favor of people who are headed for destruction?

Not only will these rich people’s treasures not last, but they’ve amassed their wealth unjustly. James continues rebuking the rich in verses 4-6 with further accusations. He says, “Look! The pay that you withheld from the workers who mowed your fields cries out, and the outcry of the harvesters has reached the ears of the Lord of Armies. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and have indulged yourselves. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.”

Do these people sound like people we should favor or seek approval from? They are cheating their workers out of fair pay and looking out only for themselves. They’ve condemned and murdered the righteous, and the righteous don’t resist them.

But why don’t the righteous resist? Because they trust God to act.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes that the wording “he doth not resist you” is similar to the way James 4:6 says that God resists the proud. It explains, “Such a one…takes as his law…the rule of not resisting. He submits patiently, certain that in the end he will be more than conqueror.”

In other words, the righteous endure injustice, not out of weakness, but out of faith. They believe that God will deal with the proud, so they don’t need to take vengeance themselves.

That’s why James then pivots back to the believers, and he instructs them: instead of trusting in riches, or obsessing over the actions of the wicked, we are called to wait on the Lord. We don’t need to resist or fight back with our own strength, because God Himself will resist the proud; He will bring justice.

Let’s read what James says next, in verses 7-8: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.”

James has now turned directly to these believers he’s writing to. There is no reason to believe the wicked, corrupt oppressors are part of the church. They are in no way living as those who follow Christ would live.

Now, brothers and sisters, he says, look at the example of a farmer. A farmer depends on rain. He or she cannot make the rain fall. A farmer has to be patient and wait. In the same way, we cannot make God act. We have to be patient and wait for His timing. But, as James notes, we can strengthen our hearts, knowing the Lord will return. And from James’ perspective, we don’t have long to wait.

Verse 9 says, “Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door!” The time for Jesus to return will be soon, because He stands ready at the door.

Then James adds in verse 10, “Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name as an example of suffering and patience.” James is instructing us that even though we see all the injustice in the world, and how the rich seem to prosper, we should not grumble about one another. We need each other in the body of Christ to help strengthen one another. If we all turn against each other and complain and fight, then we will only harm ourselves further. Instead, we should look to the Word of God and see all the good examples of how we are to patiently endure suffering as we wait for the Lord.

Then, in verse 11, he gives us one example of someone who endured suffering. He says, “See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about—the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

Job, you might know, suffered horribly. He lost his children, his wealth, and his health. Yet through it all, he did not curse God. He endured suffering, and in the end, the Lord rewarded him. James is telling us to remember people like Job. We must hold on to our faith in the goodness of God, even when we are being persecuted.

All of this reminds me of how James began this letter. James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

If we endure, our faith will grow and mature. We cannot follow the world’s wisdom; we must cling to what the Word of God says and follow its instructions.

Then he adds something that might seem out of place at first glance. He says in verse 12, “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no,’ so that you won’t fall under judgment.”

Does James mean “above all” in this whole letter? Or “above all” while we wait for the Lord’s return?

I think he must mean “above all” in this particular section. Instead of being like these unjust rich people who withhold pay from their workers, we must mean what we say, and do what we say. Like he said earlier in the letter, we need to keep a tight rein on our tongue. Instead of saying, “Oh, I swear I will pay you,” we just need to do what we say we will do.

James says, let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no, so that you won’t fall under judgment. This is the judgment that the rich oppressors will face. We don’t want to fall under the same judgment.

Again, in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He says this same thing. Matthew 5:33-37 says, “Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, you must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.”

Our yes must mean yes, and our no must mean no, otherwise, how can anybody trust us? If we are willfully trying to deceive people, then our behavior is evil. Or if we don’t mean to harm somebody, but we go back on our word because suddenly saying yes is uncomfortable for us, then we are being selfish and self-serving. James warns us that we will face judgement if we continue on that path of deception.

I was reading Psalm 15 the other day in the new First Nations Version, and it jumped out at me as being very applicable to what James has been saying. Describing what a righteous person is like, Psalm 15:4-5 (FNV) says, “The ones who give no respect to those who walk a dark path, but they highly honor those who deeply respect Grandfather. They keep their promises even when it hurts to do so. When they give to help others, they do not expect more in return. And no one can offer them enough to tell false stories about those who have done nothing wrong. The ones who live in this way will stand tall and never be moved.”

I really like the way the FNV translates this psalm. A righteous person doesn’t give respect to people who aren’t following the Lord, instead they honor those who deeply respect God. And, a righteous person is someone who keeps a promise “even when it hurts to do so.” I really like that. Instead of changing our minds and going back on our word, we need to follow through, even when it hurts to do so.

Since the whole psalm is very short, I want to read the whole thing, but this time back in the CSB translation. It says, “Lord, who can dwell in your tent? Who can live on your holy mountain? The one who lives blamelessly, practices righteousness, and acknowledges the truth in his heart—who does not slander with his tongue, who does not harm his friend or discredit his neighbor, who despises the one rejected by the Lord but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his word whatever the cost, who does not lend his silver at interest or take a bribe against the innocent—the one who does these things will never be shaken” (Psalm 15:1-5).

This psalm is a very succinct description of a righteous person; the kind of person James has been urging his readers to be throughout his whole letter. Whatever the cost, no matter if it hurts us, we must be people who keep our word.

We must be people of integrity, meaning our words must be trustworthy. As James 4:11 said: “Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer defames and judges the law.” Instead of slandering someone, let it be said about us: “No one can offer them enough to tell false stories about those who have done nothing wrong.”  

By the way, this also goes directly along with the 9th Commandment: “Do not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Our words must not contradict our confession of faith. If they do, do we really believe what we claim to believe?

All of this is why some Christians have a hard time accepting the book of James. They prefer an “easier” Christianity that says we are saved by grace through faith, and no works are needed. But it’s clear that James is simply restating and expanding on the exact same message that Jesus preached before him. To be saved by grace, we must have faith, and in order for faith to be real, it must produce good works. This lines up with all of Scripture. After all, as Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

Obviously, none of us are perfect. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We must make every effort not to live as hypocrites. We must strive to live with integrity, being consistent in our faith and actions. That’s exactly what James has been urging us toward. Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us to do this on our own. He strengthens us and helps us by His Holy Spirit—and forgives us when we stumble.

James isn’t finished yet, though. We still have one small section to get through next week. We will see how he wraps it up. In the meantime, there is that mirror of God’s Word being held up for us to see ourselves in. What do you see? Do you identify with the rich people who are oppressing their workers? Are you the farmer waiting for your crops to grow? Are you frustrated by the world and wanting God to bring justice? Or are you patiently waiting for Christ’s return, knowing your reward will come then? What we do next is up to us. Will we walk away unchanged? Or will we let the truth shape us into people who live what we believe?

Let’s not trust in riches. Let’s not grumble about one another and try to take matters into our own hands. Let’s be people of our word; trustworthy and honest. Let’s wait patiently for the Lord, for He will be faithful.

Pray: Heavenly Father, we confess that we have often failed to follow You. Please forgive us for the times when we have trusted in riches or envied the wicked. Please help us by Your Holy Spirit to wait patiently for You and trust in Your justice. We want to live with integrity. May our words and actions align with the truth of Your Word. Help us to be better ambassadors for You. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.