Living Ready: Faith That Works to the Finish
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING RICH
James 5:1–6
Big Idea: Wealth is not evil. But when money becomes our security, our pride, or our excuse to ignore others, it quietly prepares the soul for judgment.
Intro: James 5:1–6 is one of the most uncomfortable passages in the New Testament. And it is supposed to be. Because money talks. Money speaks to us every day. It whispers things into our ears. It tells us that we are secure. Important. Successful. Safe. It tells us that bigger means better and newer means happier. It tells us that if we just had a little more in savings, a little more margin, a little more income, then finally we could relax. And James walks into the room and says, “Be careful. Your money may be saying something very different than you think.” In this passage, money testifies. Wages cry out. Corroded gold becomes evidence in God’s courtroom. Wealth does not just sit there quietly. It preaches sermons about the condition of our hearts. And James is not primarily speaking to faithful believers who happen to have money. He is speaking about the unrighteous rich. The proud rich. The oppressive rich. The self-indulgent rich. You can feel the shift in the language. Earlier in the letter James keeps saying, “My brethren.” But here he says: James 5:1 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.” This sounds more like Amos or Isaiah than a NT devotional. James is sounding like an Old Testament prophet standing in the street announcing judgment. Why? Because God wants His people to stop envying others whose lives are headed toward destruction.
John Calvin – “James denounces the rich like this because he is really looking to the man of faith, that they may attend to the sad ruin of the wealthy and not be envious of their prosperity.”
And isn’t that true? We sometimes look at ungodly people with money and think: “Must be nice. I wish I had that. I wish I could live like that. No financial stress. No worries. No pressure.”
James says, “Don’t envy people whose money is preparing evidence against them.”
Money talks. But some people cannot hear what it is saying.
Money Says: “Don’t Hoard Me”
James 5:2–3 “Your riches are corrupted, and your garments 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 heaped up treasure in the last days.”
James paints a shocking picture: Grain rotting in storage bins. Clothes decaying in closets. Gold and silver corroding in vaults.
Everything these people trusted in is collapsing.
Does gold and silver really rust like iron? No. James knows that. He is making a spiritual point.
Their wealth is already rotting in the eyes of God because judgment is certain. The future is so sure that James speaks about it as if it has already happened.
And notice this phrase: “You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”
In other words, “You are stockpiling earthly treasure while standing on the edge of eternity.” That is insanity. It would be like a man obsessively decorating a hotel room while his house burns down somewhere else.
Jesus said the same thing.
Matt 6:19–21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
We live in a culture of accumulation.
Storage buildings are everywhere because our houses are no longer big enough for all our stuff. Closets overflow. Garages overflow. Online carts are full.
And sometimes our hearts overflow with greed while our souls starve.
James says your money is talking to you. And one of the things it is saying is: “Don’t hoard me.”
You cannot store up earthly treasure without your heart slowly attaching itself to it.
Money makes a terrible god because it always demands more sacrifice and never gives peace in return.
You can pile up money without ever laying up treasure. You can become financially secure while becoming spiritually hollow.
You can build a massive portfolio while your heart drifts away from God.
The issue is not whether someone has wealth. Abraham had wealth. Job had wealth. Lydia had wealth. The issue is whether wealth has them.
Is God against believers making money? No. But He is against money making believers proud, selfish, cold, or spiritually asleep.
If the Lord blesses you financially, praise God! Earn honestly. Work hard. Build wisely.
But remember why God gives resources.
God did not appoint gold to waste away in vaults or clothes to be eaten by moths. He intended resources to sustain human life and advance His kingdom.
So if you can get rich, then get rich for the glory of God and give big.
Help people. Fund ministry. Feed families. Send missionaries. Plant churches. Lift burdens. Invest in eternity.
Because your money and your heart travel together.
Money Says: “Don’t Use Me to Hurt People”
James 5:4 “Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”
This verse is terrifying. James says the unpaid wages are crying out. The money itself is testifying.
Like Abel’s blood crying out from the ground, defrauded paychecks cry out to heaven.
“We don’t belong to you anymore. Pay the workers.” And then the laborers cry out too.
The ungodly rich cannot hear the cries of the money in their own pockets. But God hears the cries of the people they are hurting.
And James says those cries have reached the ears of “the Lord of Sabaoth.” That title means “the Lord of Hosts.” The Commander-in-Chief of heaven’s armies.
Can you feel the force of that?
The wealthy landowner may look untouchable on earth. But the poor worker has the ear of the God of angel armies.
That woman working herself to exhaustion may look invisible to society, but heaven hears her voice.
God takes injustice personally.
In the Old Testament, workers had to be paid by sunset because many laborers depended on daily wages just to eat.
Lev 19:13 “The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.”
Deut 24:15 “Each day you shall give him his wages… lest he cry out against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.”
God says when powerful people exploit weaker people, heaven notices.
This passage warns anyone with authority: Bosses. Business owners. Managers. Supervisors. Church leaders. Parents. (Anyone with power over others).
Money buys influence. Influence creates power. And power without humility becomes dangerous very quickly.
The love of money often becomes the love of power. And the love of power usually leads to the abuse of people.
James says God hears every cry. Every manipulated employee. Every underpaid worker. Every person crushed by somebody else’s greed. God hears it all.
Money Says: “Don’t Worship Comfort”
James 5:5 “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.”
This may be the sharpest image in the whole passage.
Money naturally turns the human heart inward. It makes us self-obsessed.
illus: Consider the story of Carl Lagerfeld, the famous fashion designer for Chanel. When he died, he left enormous wealth to his cat, Choupette. That cat now has maids, jewelry, and an Instagram account. That would be hilarious if it were not so tragic. It reveals a life curved inward on itself.
James says these people have fattened themselves for slaughter. Like cattle being overfed before butcher day.
They think they are winning. They think comfort equals blessing. They think luxury equals life. But they are blindly preparing themselves for judgment.
illus: It reminds me of a turkey farm. Walk past the fence in August and the turkeys are gobbling happily. September comes and they are still eating. October arrives and life seems wonderful. More food. More comfort. More abundance. But the turkeys do not know what time it is. November comes. Then suddenly they are gone.
James says that is what selfish luxury can do to a human soul. It can make someone spiritually sleepy.
Comfort is dangerous when it becomes the main goal of life.
Jesus told a story in Luke 16 about a rich man who feasted every day while Lazarus suffered outside his gate. Then everything reversed.
Luke 16:25 “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things… but now he is comforted and you are tormented.”
James is warning us that this world is not the final scoreboard. The unbelieving rich may have their day in the sun now. But…
Luke 6:24–25 “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.”
The Christian life always involves reversal.
The humble are lifted up. The meek inherit the earth. The poor in spirit receive the kingdom. Those who weep now will laugh later.
James is saying: “Don’t build your whole life around temporary comfort.”
Don’t let luxury make you spiritually numb. Don’t let convenience replace compassion. Don’t let pleasure slowly become your god.
Money Says: “You Don’t Know What Time It Is”
James says: “You have heaped up treasure in the last days.” And: “You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.”
James is measuring time in days.
The unbelieving rich do not understand what time it is. They think life just keeps rolling forward forever. But James says these are “the last days.”
When Jesus died, rose again, and ascended to heaven, the countdown toward final judgment began.
Christ came once to save. He will come again to judge.
And James says the spiritually ignorant wealthy are living extravagantly while standing on the edge of eternity.
The prophets warned people like this for generations. Isaiah warned. Jeremiah warned. Amos warned. But most of the people never looked up from their idols long enough to listen.
Then judgment came exactly like God said it would.
One day every sermon will end. Every pulpit will fall silent. Every Bible will close for the final time. And every person will stand before God. Money will not matter then. Titles will not matter then. Cars and houses and portfolios will not matter then.
Only how we have responded to Christ and His gospel will matter then.
Conclusion: James 5 is not against wealth. It is against trusting wealth. Worshiping wealth. Using wealth to hurt people. Hoarding wealth while ignoring eternity.
Money is a tool. Jesus is Savior. And money makes a terrible savior. So, hear what money is saying before it is too late:
- Don’t hoard me.
- Don’t use me unjustly
- Don’t worship comfort
- Don’t forget eternity
Use what God gives you to bless people and glorify Christ. Because one day every earthly account will close. And only eternal treasure will remain.
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