Living a Faith that Can be Seen - James 5:1-12

WOES, “WHOAS,” AND WARNINGS CONCERNING THE WEALTHY

 

James has been a challenging book to study as a church. We have often found ourselves convicted by the straightforward tone of his message as it cuts straight to the heart. Faith, he has taught us, is not a mere confession, but a way of life. Faith in God ought to change how we speak, how we evaluate others, how we measure vibrant faith. 

            Though his style is blunt, James has been practical and wise, helping us to see ourselves in the mirror of the Word. In our text today, 5:1-12, James turns on the “harsh” as he tackles a fiery subject: the oppression of the wealthy. 

            Our impression of these words may lead us to conclude that its wrong for Christians to be wealthy. A careful study of the text will reveal that this is not the case. The problem that the believers in James’ churches were facing was oppressive working conditions under the power and influence of wealthy unbelievers. In other words, these are their bosses, and they are creating unjust working conditions for people who love Jesus.

            What is a believer to do when your employer treats you unfairly because of your faith? Christians suffering under such oppression would be tempted to despair, to retaliate in some way, or to simply become bitter about the unfairness of life. 

            James counsels the oppressed worker to approach this situation more radically. How does he do that? It’s a bit foreign to our current grasp of justice in the workplace. But he directs the believer to remember the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. James wants to reorient our thinking, to submit our desire for fairness, so that we fix our minds instead on the return of the Lord. This, he says, requires patience. 

            I must admit that when I hear my daughter speak of the inconsistencies and unfairness of her office in Steinbach, my first thought is not to say, “Remember, Jesus is coming soon.” But let’s consider what James has to say to the wealthy and to the oppressed in his day and see if we can apply it to us.

 

Woe to the Wealthy Oppressor (5:1-6)

 

 James has some difficult words for those who have chased after wealth. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you,” (1). What makes this especially stark is that whereas James has called upon his readers to change their ways in other instances, he does not call for change here, he just warns them of disaster. 

            James calls on his readers to change, but these wealthy unbelievers are not his readers. That’s the reason he merely tells them something bad is coming. 

            When he says, “Come now,” he uses an apostrophe. That means, he speaks to people who are not present for the benefit of those who are. In that way, James is not trying to warn the wealthy per se, but to comfort the believers who are being oppressed. 

            This way of speaking works in two ways. In one sense, James is warning the rich that a terrible ordeal is coming. But there is also a warning for believers not to fall into the trap of the wealthy. 

            James may not have quoted Jesus directly, but there are obvious influences from Jesus’ teaching in his writing. For instance, Jesus spoke to the wealthy in like manner saying, “…woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep,” (Luke 6:24-25). Much like the businessmen in the previous passage who operated without a thought of God, the attitude of the wealthy in this text probably viewed wealth as a way to avoid pain and suffering. But James tells them plainly that their wealth will not save them ultimately. 

            The bottom line is that great wealth has incredible challenges for those who want to follow Jesus. Much of that challenge is how to use wealth without being used by it. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters, for either will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money,”(Luke 16:13). What does “serving money” look like? And what were these wealthy people doing that provoked judgment? The answers to these questions are one and the same.

            First, they were guilty of hoarding. Mario Puzzo, a character in The Godfather said, “Behind every successful fortune there is a crime.” The crime was hoarding more things than they could use. Why do the wealthy hoard? It may be a fear of the future rooted in a lack of faith in God to provide. It may be a means of impressing others with how much they possess. In any case, it is self-centered and shows a lack of concern for others. James condemns their hoarding saying, “Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you…” Gold doesn’t actually rust, but the implication is that their wealth will go bad; gold will actually be useless; it certainly won’t save them. 

            Second, they withheld pay from their workers. The Bible speaks against withholding wages in Lev. 19:13 calling it robbery. James personifies the money in the wallet of the rich man and pictures it as crying out against them (4). And the cries of the harvesters, the unpaid laborers, are heard by God as well. 

            Third, they were self-indulgent. While holding back the pay of their workers, the wealthy have gone on to live the high life (5). Think of the sweatshops and child labor factories of the developing world where pay is low, but the product is sold for a hefty sum in America. James says “live it up now” because what’s coming isn’t pretty. “You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter,” (5b). Those who live off the sweat of others and deprive them of what is owed are going to be like a cow fattened up to cut into steaks. 

            Fourth, they oppressed the righteous person (6). Because of their status as wealthy leaders in the community, they felt that they had the right to judge whomever they chose. Was the person too outspoken? Asking for rights? Or just a victim of unjust profiling? James says these victims are innocent. Some writers have connected this verse with the crucifixion of Jesus since it was the religious elite who sentenced him to death. They just happened to be the ones with the most to lose financially if Jesus’ movement took hold on the population. They would lose their status. James may not have intended this connection, but there is a threat to the status quo in the workplace if gospel values are introduced.

            James is not condemning the possession of wealth. We must not conclude that it’s evil to be rich. What James is teaching us is that some wealthy people oppress others in pursuit of more wealth and power. James condemns hoarding and wastefulness; he condemns withholding wages and self-indulgence; and he opposes those who take advantage of the innocent who are “murdered” by their business ethics.

 

“Whoa” to the Oppressed Believer (5:7-12)

 

What is a believer to do when they suffer workplace mistreatment or are treated unjustly by an employer? The 21^stcentury approach would be to call a labor board and report the infraction. Unions were established to protect the worker’s rights. But that’s not what James tells his churches. 

            There are two words repeated four times in this next section. The first word I want to highlight is “brothers.” I call your attention to this term (it could be brothers and sisters) because when James was speaking to the wealthy, he never used this term. This implies that the wealthy were not believers. Now he addresses believers with his response to injustice. 

            The second word is “patience.” “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord,” (7a). The Christians must have been frustrated with how they had been treated. The normal human response is to retaliate, to seek justice in the courts, or to take what’s owed to them by force (perhaps). 

            James says “whoa.” Be patient. Do you know what it means when you say “whoa” to a horse? Nothing. When I was learning to ride at a friend’s riding circle and I said “whoa” to my horse, my trainer said, “it doesn’t do anything.” I was further enlightened when my brother-in-law, a riding instructor, told me that when I wanted to stop the horse I should sit firmly down on the saddle. I didn’t realize it, but as I rode, I was half-standing. I needed to sit to signal the horse to stop. Whoa is a posture. Patience is sitting fully down and saying, “Okay, I’m going to wait for the Lord to act.” 

            This is counterintuitive to how we think and act in our workplaces. What James is counseling us to do though, is to leave vengeance to Jesus. He is coming and he will make right the wrongs even of your workplace. Be patient and wait.

            James illustrates the waiting with a picture of the farmer. He says, “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains,” (7bc). Just as the farmer can do nothing to force God’s hand in the sending of the rain or the process of growth, so we cannot compel Christ to return according to any timetable except God’s. The question for us in the waiting is this: Can we trust our Lord to bring justice to our present conflicts when he returns (whenever that is)? 

            A contractor friend of mine did some work for a neighbor in our community some years ago. The neighbor was not satisfied with the work and so withheld the payment due to my friend. The work had been completed, however, and cost my friend 10 grand or more. As a Christian he wanted to show grace, but as a businessman he needed to be paid. Can you imagine giving this to God in patient expectation and saying, “Wait till the Second Coming”? 

            James actually intends that we think that way. Be patient. He says again, “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand,” (8). This is called active waiting. Lazy waiting is passive and does not prepare oneself for what is to come. Active waiting is like the farmer who waits for the crop to ripen and does something to ensure that a healthy harvest will emerge. That kind of patience nurtures the heart with a proper attitude towards life as we experience it. 

             We fix our hope on the return of the Lord in our daily existence. That means that we see life differently than the average person who must fight and claw for respect and dignity in the working world. For many people, gaining wealth is a way of rising above their circumstances. Promotion is a way of building self-respect. When those things are withheld or are out of reach, dreams are shattered, and disappointment becomes depression. But if we fix our hope on the Lord, we see our world through a different lens; we have a real hope for a better existence that is a gift from God. (See Col. 3:1-3 for the lens). 

            To take this perspective is costly. I will be honest with you, if you are looking for justice at work in this present time, you may suffer instead. James does not give an antidote for suffering, but he simply acknowledges that suffering will continue. 

            He does give two examples of patience in suffering, “…take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord,” and Job (10-11a). These examples do not give us a sense of relief in any shape or form. But they suffered and waited patiently – that’s the point. The example of the prophets is given as a model for us. What the prophets did was speak the truth of the Lord and they suffered for it. But they still sought the glory of God in what they did and said. Suffering injustice and trusting God to respond to that injustice is a testimony that we believe God is greater than the hurt that is done to us. 

            No person ever suffered more than Job, we often say. James said, “we consider those blessed who remained steadfast,” (11a). We are more than willing to call others blessed for enduring suffering, even though we have no interest in undergoing it ourselves. But Job is our model. He is the prime biblical illustration of patience in trials. He even spoke out against God’s justice, but he never stopped believing that God would redeem him. 

            

Elon Musk, once the richest man in the world, has now entered the Guinness World Record books. How did he do this? Some say that he lost over 200 billion dollars in 2022. That’s the most any person in the history of the world has ever lost. Musk’s losses are rooted in the devaluing of Tesla shares as other motor companies have gained in the development of electric cars. As of January 10, Musk’s net worth now sits at only 142 billion.

            How does a person achieve that level of wealth? Is it, as Puzzo says, “Behind every successful fortune there is a crime”? Jesus says it better, “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world, but forfeit their soul?” 

            James wrote to Christians under pressure. They were being mistreated by people who possessed money and means. We know what it feels like to be taken advantage of in one way or another. What is the proper attitude to injustice? Where is it resolved? I have to tell you – and this is a surprise to me too – we need to learn to fix our hope on the return of Jesus. 

            Due to crazy apocalyptic literature and false prophets trying to discern the times with dates and events, I think we have given up on thinking about the return of Christ. What change in our hearts would occur concerning our world, its politics, its wars, and its economic ups and downs, if we would focus on the things that are above? (Col. 3:2). 

            This is the challenge for the week: When faced with conflict and crises, fix your heart on Christ’s return. Long for it. Pray for it. Look to him for the justice we all long for.

 

                                                            AMEN