God’s Judgment on the Greedy

How should we think about money and wealth?

Is it good, or is it bad?

Like so many other things (power, sex, food, etc.), money is a gift from God that can be held properly and used for good, or it can corrupt and distort us.

There is a risk here of taking responding wrongly to this passage in two possible ways: (1) To see it as an attack on rich people outright, and (2) to fail to appreciate the recurring warnings through the Bible against greed and the love of money.

The Kind of Rich Person that God Judges.

They hoarded wealth & were self-indulgent.

In vs. 3b, James describes the person that God judges as one who has been greedy, hoarding wealth for himself. He says, “You have heaped up treasure in the last days.” Then in vs. 5, James says, goes on to describe the person as being self-indulgent. He says, “You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.” The problem here is that wealth has been this person’s god. He’s loved money and lived for it.

Mark 10:17-22—The Young Rich Ruler. “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

Luke 16:19-25—The Wealthy Land Owner. “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.”

I Timothy 6:6-10. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Thus, the problem with these rich people is that money was their god.

They defrauded their workers.

In vs. 4a, James goes on to show how these people robbed their workers and took advantage of people for personal gain. He says, “Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out.” Throughout the Old Testament, the Bible condemns such abuse.

Leviticus 19:13. “You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.”

Deuteronomy 24:14-15. “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.”

Thus, their love of money drove them to criminal activity of defrauding others.

They oppress the righteous.

In vs. 6, James goes even further by noting how their love of money drove them to oppress the righteous. He says, “You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.” As James notes, they abused the people of God and even murdered them. Scholars tend to think that James has a particular murder in mind here (Jesus or perhaps even James himself). But the point is that their greed drove them to abuse righteous people. And to make matters worse, the people that the rich oppressed, abused, and even murdered, were people that weren’t hurting anyone. He says, “he does not resist you.”

Amos 2:6. “Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals.”

And numerous other passages:

• Amos 5:12
• Micah 2:1-9
• Micah 3:1-12
• Micah 6:9-16
• Psalm 10:8-9
• Psalm 37:32
• James 2:5-7

Thus, the judged here are judged because their greed caused them to hurt other people.

• A good reminder here that “innocent sins” that “don’t hurt other people” always eventually hurt other people.

The Kind of Judgement that God Brings.

He turns fortune into sorrow & calamity.

In vs. 1-3, James shows us that in judgment, what is valuable in this life is often turned to sorrow and calamity in the next. He says, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded.” We are reminded here that in God’s economy, what the world loves and counts as valuable is worthless and even detrimental in the next life.

As we saw above with I Timothy 6:7-9, “we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. . . 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.”

Oranges and Diamonds on the Titanic. Hours before the iceberg strike, diamonds were worth everything, and oranges worth almost nothing. But as they fled the boat and grasped at life, diamonds were pushed aside, and oranges were held onto for sustenance.

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, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In the end, God will demonstrate how worthless much of we seek really is.

He brings our fortune against us.

In vs. 3, James goes on to say that in judgment, our greed will come as a testimony against us. He says. “Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you.” Interestingly, he personifies our wealth and suggests that it will speak against us on the day of judgment.

Ezekiel 7:19. “They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the Lord; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.”

This reminds us that we will give an account to God for the works of our hands, and the pursuits of our lives.