Luke 20:9-19

THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD

For the next eight Sundays we are going to be looking at the final days of Jesus’ life through the eyes of Luke. We want to prepare our hearts for the gospel event known as the crucifixion of Jesus by reviewing those days.

            Jesus did some outrageous things. Some would say “crazy” things. When he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, he received the peoples’ joy at the coming of their king; Jesus proceeded to the temple where he upset the tables of merchants selling shoddy products to poor worshipers, saying, “You have made my Father’s house a den of robbers.” Jesus then set up shop in the temple and began to teach people about his Father.

            These are outrageous acts of a madman, if you happen to be a devout Jew in first century Judea. A pauper accepts the title of “king”; he declares God to be his Father; and he teaches in the temple courts without invitation. Outrageous stuff. Where does he presume to possess such authority?

            That is the question the leading Jews ask him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. Who gave you this authority?”

            At first, Jesus doesn’t answer. He asks a question that the Jewish leaders can’t answer for fear of looking stupid. Jesus says he won’t answer them either about where he got his authority. But then he tells them a parable.

            Jesus told lots of parables. This one is different. It is the most allegorical of all his parables. John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory depicting life as a journey. In an allegory every element represents a reality. Parables don’t necessarily do that. But in this parable, the vineyard, the owner, the farmers, the servants and the son all stand for real persons.

            What we have in this parable is the ultimate explanation of Jesus’ death, before he died. Everyone listening to Jesus that day knew what it meant. And we also know that this parable is a lively picture of redemptive history of the whole Bible. It is a picture of the loving God who took the initiative in creating, permitting the fall, sending his prophets, and finally his Son. We have here the climactic claim of Christianity that this Jesus is actually God’s own beloved Son. And, after all the blessings and privileges of God had been given to people, this parable tells how they killed God’s Son and what will happen to them as a result.

1. God planted a vineyard

To what would you compare your life? A barren field of weeds, nettles and thorns? Is there nothing fruitful, fragrant or nourishing about your life? Hasn’t God been abundantly good to you, giving you great gifts – your intelligence, your years of peace and prosperity, loved ones and friends? How do you respond to this? God comes looking for fruit – what does he find?

            “A man planted a vineyard…” This is God. It is an old story – one every Jew knew. The most famous prophecy telling of this vineyard is Isaiah 5:1-7 (read). The vineyard God planted is the House of Israel, a spiritual people, a blessed people – but the harvest was disappointing. God had pruned and watered and fertilized the vines, but the grapes were small and bitter. You can’t make wine from bitter fruit.

            God is the planter and owner of the vineyard. He owns it. And he has the right to expect a return on his investment. If the vineyard represents the people of God, whom he has blessed and nourished with good things, should he not harvest what he has planted? Every spiritual and physical blessing we have is a gift from God.

            God comes to us and he looks for some fruit from his goodness to us, the fruit of acknowledging him as God, the fruit of worship, service, keeping ourselves holy, keeping our tongues from foul speech and your life pure and your marriage sacred. What does he find?

2. God sent his servants to look for fruit

According to Jesus’ parable, the owner entrusted the vineyard into the care of the farmer-tenants. The owner himself went away for a long time allowing the tenants to work the vines without supervision. They were their own bosses it seems.

            But at harvest time, the owner sent a servant to collect “some” of the fruit of the vineyard. God is not greedy or demanding, but he does want to share in the fruitfulness of the vineyard. He deserves to as the major investor, as the owner.

            What do the tenants do to the servant? They beat him and humiliated him and sent him away. He had to return to the owner, bloodied and bruised with torn clothes to report that the tenants refuse to give the owner what he deserves. In his great patience and forbearance, the owner sends two more servants, who are likewise beaten and humiliated. 

            These tenants are the Jewish leaders, the shepherds of Israel and this is what they did to God’s prophets. God entrusted the leaders of Israel with God’s people – with his covenants, his laws, the feasts and sacrifices – to teach God’s ways. But instead they led the people astray. They twisted the laws for their own benefit; they preached ‘peace’ when there was sin in their midst and hostility towards God. We see this in two places:

            When Elijah stood before the people on Mount Carmel alone against 850 prophets of Baal, he said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him,” (1 Kgs 18:21). But the people said nothing.

            And secondly, all you have to do is look at this chapter in Luke. The chief priests, elders and scribes who taught in the synagogues, the same men who were supposed to nurture faithfulness in Israel and prepare people for the Messiah, were plotting to kill that same Messiah.

            What do the prophets say these caretakers did? “Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland,” (Jer 12:10).

3. God sent his Son and they killed him

This is the answer to the question the Jewish elders and priests asked Jesus – “where did you get your authority?”

            The owner, thinking aloud, says, “What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.” Only one person comes to mind when we read our Bibles and see those words “my beloved Son.” The beloved Son, the only-begotten, is the most precious of all persons to everyone who believes. We know who this is!

            In this same gospel, chapter 3:22, at Jesus’ baptism, we read the words God spoke, “You are my Son, whom I love.” So Jesus tells a parable with a son who is loved – this is Jesus. If you want to know the most elementary truth about who Jesus is, then this is it: he is the beloved Son of God. Here too is his authority – he is sent from the Father God.

            The owner of the vineyard sends his son, his beloved son, and here the tenants make a grave error. Since the owner has been gone so long, they assume he is dead. Under Jewish law, property not claimed within a specific time could be claimed by the first party to do so. Here comes the son – if we kill him, they think, they get the inheritance. Fools! People are fools if they think they can ignore God all their lives and then when they die they think they’ve won.

            Friedrich Nietzsche is largely responsible for the “God is dead” theology of the last century. He figured that humankind had killed God with reason and enlightenment so that there was no more place for God in our world. People go on with their lives today as though God doesn’t matter. Some might acknowledge a higher power but ultimately refuse to have a relationship with Christ, God’s Son. In a sense, they kill the Savior since he is of no consequence to their lives.

            The tenants took the Son and butchered him. Jesus is telling a story about what will happen to himself in a few short days. Jesus knew that he was the end of the line – the prophets had come, largely ignored and some killed – and he was the Father’s last and best Word to the people. That’s why he had the authority to say the things he said and do the things he did. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” (Heb 1:1-2).

            As we read this parable we see what is going to happen. We know that the son will be killed and we want to say to the owner of the vineyard “stop!” God replies, “I know. I know what they will do to my precious Son, Jesus. But that’s why I have sent him.” The Father knows. The Son knows. They knew before the creation of the world

            Do you believe in God? Do you believe in the God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe that the Cross of Christ was planned out of love for you so that Christ would be an offering for your sins?

4. God condemns those who hate his Son

Jesus asks, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” Will he shrug and say, “I don’t judge.” God is love, so he won’t condemn?

            What would you do if someone took your dearly beloved child and murdered him? Wouldn’t you want to see justice done? I am not saying you should seek vengeance and gut the killer yourself. No, you would have to trust the authorities to bring about justice. You have to do the right thing. But you wouldn’t ignore the crime.

            Are we more loving than Jesus? No. So what did the loving Man say of his Father’s response to those who killed his Son? “He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Jesus wept over Jerusalem when he entered it; he wept for the people who were blind to his coming; he would have then said this sadly. But he would say the wages of sin is death. Since we live in a moral universe with a holy God, we know that a person reaps what he sows. The Creator who blesses us richly with vineyards also expects us to keep the terms of agreement of living and moving and having our being in him.

            What Jesus said – God giving the vineyard to others – struck the Jews directly. They knew he meant that God would give his vineyard to the Gentiles. “God forbid,” they replied.

            So Jesus looks them square in the eyes and asks, “What do you make of this prophecy? ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?’” A Jewish proverb put it like this, “If the stone falls on the pot, alas for the pot; if the pot falls on the stone, alas for the pot!” (Midrash Esther 3:6). Either way, the pot loses and the stone wins.

            Jesus is that stone. He said, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” (John 3:18).

            The masons overlooked this strangely shaped stone; it didn’t fit their plans for the great building. Then one day they needed a capstone on their fine artifice and this stone was perfect. Christ does not fit most people’s design for living. He is loving and righteous, merciful and kind, yet full of hard sayings and talk of judgment and eternal punishment. But he can order demons to be quiet and still storms; he is the Rock of Ages, the chief cornerstone. He will either trip you up while you are trying to avoid him, or he will be the chief piece of your life that you have been missing for so long. That’s how Jesus ends this parable.

What do you think of this parable? Does it stir you to thought? Or does it offend you? These are the words of Jesus. And I would think that the words of the greatest man who ever lived, the man who died and rose again, would cause us all to stop and pay attention.

            Jesus was killed by the people who were supposed to receive him. In the next eight weeks we are going to visit the scenes of the murder again, as we tend to do at this time of the year. We are casual observers of this crime scene, as though we were watching an episode of Crime Scene Investigation or Law and Order. What we may be surprised to learn is that when the criminals are caught we will find that they are “us.”

            We helped put Jesus to death. The strange thing is, we will not be held to account for the murder of the Son of God if we put our faith in him alone. It is only those who refuse him who are left with this condemnation of hating God’s Son. The really peculiar thing about this Jesus is that he wants to shower us with forgiveness and grace. The real crime is in not accepting his love which he so freely gives. He is so loving and kind it makes no sense to refuse him.

            Will the Lord find good fruit in his vineyard? Yahweh has been singing the Song of the Vineyard for millennia. It is near to harvest time and we must get ready.

            Amazing grace to sinners who repent for killing the Son of God.

                                                            AMEN

             

Show me your faith #16

AN INVITATION TO COMMON PRAYER…

AND AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE

Stories of answered prayer can be both encouraging and discouraging. On the one hand, we are inspired by the prayer warriors who risked it all and prayed for the big stuff…and got it. On the other hand, we look back at our own prayers and find it hard to point out the successes. And we feel guilty.

            George Mueller (1805-1898) is one of those people whose stories have this dual effect. Muller was an evangelist and the director of an orphanage that cared for over 10,000 orphans during his life. Muller was the kind of person who spent hours a day praying.

            One evening he became aware that there would be no breakfast for them the next morning. Mueller called his workers together and explained the situation. Two or three prayed. "Now that is sufficient," he said. "Let us rise and praise God for prayer answered!" The next morning they could not push open the great front door. So they went out the back door and around the building to see what was keeping it shut. Stacked up against the front door were boxes filled with food. One of the workers later remarked, "We know Who sent the baskets, but we do not know who brought them!"

            These are hard stories to take. They make us feel like we should pray for hours on our knees but when we try, three minutes feels like an hour and we find we have run out of things to pray. Frustration sets in and we allow defeat to steal even our short prayer times from us.

            The Anglicans and Episcopalians have what is called a Common Book of Prayer. In it are prayers for every occasion and time of the day and season of the church. It is called Common because it is regular as opposed to mundane. I am not suggesting that we go out and buy one of these books for ourselves. What I am suggesting is that we adopt the attitude of Common prayer and pray about everything no matter how small.

            And rather than fret over the time spent in prayer or the success stories of the Muellers, we receive the invitation from God to common prayer to pray to him about everything. If we do this we will find that short, frequent prayers to God will make life extraordinary.

            James concludes his letter with this invitation.

1. Pray in all circumstances

Christians are invited to pray about all situations. James makes this very clear with two questions and answers. “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise,” (13).

            What other conditions are there in life? When you boil life down to the basics you are either happy or sad. So in short, pray in troubled times and pray in good times. The word in Greek for “songs of praise” is where we get the word “Psalms” from. So if you don’t know how to express your joy, read a Psalm out loud that rejoices in God’s goodness.

            Prayer is simply talking to God. What happens when we pray day by day is that in various ways we feel helpless. We are moved to pray every time the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of prayer, emphasizes to us anew our helplessness, and we realize how impotent we are to believe, to hope, to serve, to sacrifice, to suffer, to read the Bible, to pray, and to struggle against our sinful desires.[i]

            Helplessness is not a bad thing, though in our pride we recoil from the idea of being dependent. Where God is concerned, He who is the great source of all things, why would we not depend on his goodness for daily needs?

            So to pray when we are in trouble is to admit our helplessness. To praise God in good times is to celebrate his faithfulness to the helpless, giving us good times as a reprieve from the troubled times.

            Pray about the big things and the little things. One writer said to pray like this: “If it will glorify thy name, then grant my prayer and help me. But if it will not glorify thy name, then let me remain in my predicament. And give me power to glorify thy name in the situation in which I find myself.”

2. Pray when you are sick

Christians are especially invited to pray to God when they are sick. James gets more specific in this element of prayer. The availability of doctors or medicines in the first century was pretty slim. When Christians got sick they could expect to lose wages and daily food, not to mention the possibility of death. Perhaps they were in a context where prayer was the only recourse.

            There were four parts to this occasion of prayer:

-          The elders were called to the sick person. Family or friends would have called on the leaders of the church to come and visit the person who may have too sick to come to them.

-          The elders do all the praying. It is not expected that the sick person will pray; his or her task is to let them pray.

-          The faith is that of the elders. Prayer offered in faith refers to the elders’ faith. Note that the sick person is not required to express any kind of faith, so that “faith healing” is not about the patient but about the elders.

-          The elders pray over the person. This could refer to the fact that the person is so sick they can’t get up. More likely it means that the elders lay hands on the person after anointing them with oil. The oil represents the Holy Spirit and the setting apart of the person for healing by God.

            This is the only place in the Bible where we find this kind of instruction. It is a limited reference to the act of believers praying for healing. Does that mean we should disregard it? Not at all. Why wouldn’t we pray to God in our sickness? Yes, go to the doctor. Yes, take your meds. But commit also this illness to the Lord who cares for you. We have anointed several people with oil in this church and we invite you to call on us as pastors and deacons to pray for you.

3. Pray when you sin

Christians will be most effective in prayer when they confess their sins to each other. James wrote, “If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed,” (15b-16a).

            Extremists will go all the way and say that sickness is the result of sin, hands down. But note the “if” in this verse: if they have sinned. Where confession of sin is required is in cases where the illness is a direct result of sin. However, there is no indication here that you have to go and search your past memories for a forgotten or secret sin. The idea here is that the sick believer would know full well what the nature of his or her sin is and should confess it. And some illnesses are simply the consequence of living in a sinful world.

            Confession appears to have been a regular part of Christian worship in the early church. Corporately, the church would confess that together they stray from God; personally, it was encouraged to go to the person you hurt and confess your sin.

            In any case, I have often wondered what confession would look like in a Sunday morning service. Some of your sins and my sins are best not shared and only confessed to God, for the sake of the body. But where we have sinned against the body there may be a place for admitting this.

            Confession is the key to effective prayer. John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” (1 Jn 1:19). He also said that if we claim that we have no sin, we make God out to be a liar. If you were God and someone called you a liar, would you answer his request? Sin is like our helpless condition – in fact, it is the cause for it – in that as we confess our helplessness, we are really confessing that sin prevents us from doing good and we need God’s help.

4. Pray when the land is dry

God listens to the prayers of the righteous person. That’s what James wrote, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective…” (16b). Many of us, including me, would say that this leaves us out. But then James points to Elijah as an example. Great (sarcasm), the hero of the OT. But wait, let’s look at Elijah for a moment.

            Elijah was a legend by the time of James. The stories of his exploits are amazing. In 1 Kings we read how he marched right into king Ahab’s court and announced that it would only rain when Elijah said it would. And there was a drought for 3 ½ years. During that drought he was fed by ravens; he then moved into the widow of Zarephath’s house and the flour never ran out; he raised her son from the dead; he called down fire from heaven to consume a water-logged (remember the drought) sacrifice in front of 400 prophets of Baal.

            And then James makes a remarkable statement: “Elijah was a human being, even as we are,” (17a). The truth is, as you read the story of Elijah, you find that in spite of seeing God’s miraculous intervention, Elijah was fearful, he doubted at times, and was depressed. He was just a man. He had ups and downs, but he prayed and God answered.

            The other detail we must recognize in the Elijah story is the spiritual low of the nation under Ahab. The physical drought symbolized the spiritual drought in the land. Ahab and Jezebel worshiped other gods and provoked God by sinning overtly.

            Baal was supposed to be in charge of the rains, so people wondered why Baal did not answer their prayers. It caused the people to evaluate the power of their god and the choice to go their own way.

            Then Elijah prayed. James wrote, “He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops,” (17b-18).

            A wooden translation of the Greek would be “he prayed with a prayer.” What that means is that Elijah prayed earnestly. And if you go to 1 Kings 18:41-46, you will find that he had to pray seven times for a cloud the size of a fist to appear. But then the rains came.

            We live in a dry and thirsty land, a land spiritually impoverished because of its ignorance of God. The land of our nation is dry. Christians are invited to pray specifically when others do not. Elijah was just a man. George Mueller was just a man. But they were people who prayed and prayed earnestly.

5. Pray when others sin

Finally, Christians are invited to pray for the straying brother or sister who has fallen into sin.

            These last two verses are not really about prayer, but I think they could be. This is really about going after the sinning brother or sister and bringing them back to the truth of the gospel. The motivation is simple: “Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins,” (20). First, what we tend to pass over is the fact that some people are going to hell for resisting God and his forgiveness; Second, we can help them to know the truth that all their sins can be forgiven.

            I believe that to go forth and approach a person in this state requires prayer. We must pray that our own hearts are covered by the grace of Christ and that this same grace will help us find the words to speak to the person.

            George Mueller spoke of his own prayers in this regard. He said, “I never give up. I have been praying every day for 52 years for two men, sons of a friend of my youth. They are not converted yet, but they will be. How can it be otherwise when we have the unchanging promises of God?”

            Mueller was an anomaly in the Christian faith, I think. At the same time, why couldn’t we rise up to the challenge of prayer? He was just a human being, as we are. And you know people who need the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I invite you right now to name them in your heart as a prayer to God.

Show me your faith

John Newton, author of Amazing Grace, had received from the Lord some almost unbelievable answers to his petitions, and so he often engaged in "large asking." In support of this practice he would frequently tell the story of a man who asked Alexander the Great to give him a huge sum of money in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage. The ruler consented and told him to request of his treasurer whatever he wanted. So he went and asked for an enormous amount. The keeper of the funds was startled and said he couldn't give him that much without a direct order. Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose. "No," replied Alexander, "let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous." Newton concluded the story by saying, "In the same way, we should go to the throne of God's grace and present petitions that express honorable views of the love, riches, and bounty of our King!" We do honor to God by asking him.

            One further thought about your prayers is needed. John in Revelation 8 had a vision of our prayers (read Rev 8:1-5). Charles Spurgeon responded to this passage saying, “At this moment I believe that God’s Church might have inconceivable blessings if she were but ready, now, to pray. It would silence heaven to hear our prayers. And the impact is far beyond your imagination. Bring your prayers to God that he might set them on fire with Christ’s work – Then we will see the Lord at work.

                                                            AMEN

           

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[i] O. Hallesby

Show me your Faith #14

PURSUING PROSPERITY:                                                                                                                               CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM TO DEATH

Who here would like to be rich? How about well-off or prosperous enough to be comfortable? Who believes that hard work can accomplish almost all of our goals in life?

            If you sheepishly answered “yes” to any of these questions (because you’re not sure where I’m going) then you are chasing the American Dream. Even though we are Canadians, the True North Strong and Free, we have adopted the same pursuit as our Southern cousins.

            What is the American Dream? It is a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success. It also includes the opportunity for upward social mobility through hard work. James Truslow Adams, in 1931, defined the American Dream this way: “Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.”

            The American Dream finds its foundation in the US Declaration of Independence which says, “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights” including “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Sounds pretty good, actually.

            But like all ideals, reality tends to spoil the pretty picture. Sin finds a way to take our human ideals and make them about us. So “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” become a pursuit of my life’s ambitions, my freedoms, and my happiness. The American Dream has become a pursuit of material goods, wealth, comforts and personal satisfaction. And at what cost?

            James sounds like an OT prophet as he comes down hard on the wealthy unbelievers in 5:1-6. In the previous passage he took a hard line with the Christian businessmen who made plans without a thought of God. Now James takes aim at the rich who are oppressing the poor believers.

            Why would James write to unbelievers who would never read his words in a letter to Christians? Some say James is using a rhetorical device known as an “apostrophe” to speak to people who are not present for the benefit of those who are.[i] Why would he do this? Two reasons: One is to assure the oppressed believers that God is going to do something about the wealthy who ignore God; and Two, don’t be like them.

            The thrust of our study this morning is this: Since wealth can be a dangerous trap we should be careful not to use it in an ungodly way.

1. How choosing prosperity over God leads to judgment

a) The short-sighted vision of the rich unbeliever – In the pursuit of wealth there are bound to be some circumstances that will test your ethics. Decisions will be made that affect a lot of people. In James’ day that meant that the rich took advantage of the poor. His response to them was this, “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you,” (5:1).

            It must be said that, ‘there is no sin in merely being rich; where sin exists among the rich, it arises from the manner in which wealth is acquired, the spirit in which it tends to engender in the heart, and the way in which it is used.’[ii] This is insightful. Wealth is not sinful. How it is gained, how it makes you feel towards others, and how you use it are the measures of its power for sin.

            Those who have fallen under the spell of wealth and have pursued it at all costs have not considered the consequences of their actions. James tells them to weep and howl for the misery coming upon them. They have been blinded by the allure of more.

            Paul warned Timothy, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs,” (1 Ti 6:9-10).

b) The fleeting nature of one’s wealth – One of the traps of wealth is its temporary nature. Wealth doesn’t last. To pursue temporary wealth over the eternal God as a solution to your deepest needs is foolish.

            At the time this letter was written there were three main indicators of wealth. James points to the temporary nature of each:

            “Your wealth has rotted.” The first indicator was grain or food. If you had a lot of food you were well off. But food that was stored away could easily rot and become useless. I read a report this week that said we thrown away 20% of our food at a cost of nearly 2 billion dollars a year…while people in other parts of the world starve.

            “Moths have eaten your clothes.” The second indicator of wealth was clothing. In a world where most of the poor had only the clothes on their backs, having several sets of clothes made you a rich person.

            “Your gold and silver are corroded.” Just to be clear: gold doesn’t rust. But this third indicator is said to spoil because when God brings judgment on them it won’t save them. We all know that money can’t save you and it certainly doesn’t raise your status before God.

c) Wealth comes back to bite you – The second trap of wealth is its treasonous nature: it will betray you. “Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire,” (5:3a). Wealth will stand as a witness against the rich on the Day of Judgment when God takes account of how they used his gifts. If they have gained it unscrupulously; if they have used it for our own betterment; if they use it as a mark of pride, then it will clearly tell God that they have chosen it over Him.
            Jesus said very plainly, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money,” (Lk 16:13).

            Weep and howl, James told the wealthy unbelievers, for their misery is mounting. What was the misery in store for these people? The imminent misery was ten years future for them when in 70 AD Jerusalem was under siege by the Romans. A million people died in this two year siege. And the first targets of the violence of the soldiers were the rich. But it was the eternal misery that had universal application: Divine judgment. God knows when our hearts turn to prosperity for deliverance instead of calling on his name. If people put their hope in money for this world alone, they will be miserable without God in eternity.

2. How to recognize the sins of Prosperity

James does not direct these words of judgment on the believers. We can assume that they were the poor and the oppressed. They were believers who may have been suffering because of their faith. To be a Christian in those days may have meant being kicked out of trade guilds so that a believer could not do business. James wanted to assure them that God knew their situation. In verse 4 he says that the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. God had not forgotten their oppression and he would act on their behalf.

            At the same time that James does not direct any exhortations at the believers, his harsh words to the ungodly rich provide an application for us who follow Christ. He gives four signs that help us to recognize the sins of prosperity:

a) Are you hoarding your money? (5:3c). Is there a difference between hoarding and saving? I believe so, though the definition may be slight. We need to save money to provide for our families and for some unforeseen eventualities. We save money for our children’s education; we save for retirement; we save for vacations. These are not sinful things.

            What James emphasizes is that we are living in the last days. We have been living in the last days since Pentecost. The question he asks is: Where is your treasure? Are we storing it up on earth so that we can live in comfort, planning for a long life here? Jesus tells a story about a man who had a good crop, built bigger barns and was going to take life easy – that night he died (Lk 12:13-21). Then Jesus says, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God,” (21). John Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world in the early 20^th century was asked, “How much wealth is enough?” He replied, “Just a little more.”

            The point is not that owning wealth or saving money is sin per se. Rather it is the act of hoarding it rather than using it for kingdom purposes. Hoarding is an act of doubt that God will not provide for you if you invest it in the kingdom.

            Instead, Jesus says, “…use your worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings,” (Lk 16:9).

b) Are you cheating your employees? (5:4). If you are like me you have to say, “I don’t have any employees.” James was speaking to wealthy landowners who were cheating their laborers out of daily wages. In those days a worker was paid at the end of each shift. If wages were withheld the worker literally had nothing to live on. It was hand-to-mouth living.

            God sees this evil. James writes that “the wages you failed to pay the workers” are testifying against the oppressor. How intimately is God involved that he knows when you are not being paid your full due? Is that not amazing? If you are underpaid, God notes it. If we are doing the underpaying he notes it.

            The point is that we must be fair and pay those we owe what we owe them. To be generous, even beyond what is fair, is to be like God. He gives us far more blessing than we deserve. So it makes sense for us to be generous with others in the same way.

c) Are you over-indulging yourself? (5:5ab). The imagery of this sign is not very nice. “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter,” (5:5). This is a picture of a cow separated from the herd and placed in a stall to be fed the best grain. As far as the cow is concerned this is the life. What the cow is unaware of is she is being fattened for slaughter and to be cut into steaks.

            The rich were living a life of ease, a soft life, a life with no wants or needs. They have no cause for sacrificing or labor. But the rich person’s selfish indulgence and lack of compassion for the poor reflected his godless focus of life.

            When is it okay to indulge in a winter vacation?  As I asked someone this question recently the answer popped into my head. When we have given to God the firstfruits of our income (tithes & offerings), given to those in need, taken care of our family needs and debts, and don’t need to take out a loan to get away, then we can travel with a clear conscience. That’s my understanding.

d) Are you hurting others to get ahead? (5:6). Was James thinking of literal murder when he wrote, “You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you”? Probably not. But this may refer to a practical outcome of the failure of the rich to share their possessions and pay their workers. To take away a worker’s pay was to take the food out of his and his family’s mouth.

            If getting ahead in social standing, if getting a promotion at work, or if going into debt to appear affluent means hurting others to prosper, we break the Royal Law mentioned earlier in this letter: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Workaholics are not remembered for being good parents. Ambitious people tend to be lonely because they are always in competition with others. And going into debt to enjoy the good life does not make you any friends on earth.

            In our unavoidable pursuit of the American Dream, these are the dangers and traps of prosperity.

Show me your faith

Consider this loose paraphrase of James 5:1-6: “You think it’s good to be rich? Well, you’re wrong. Riches are a mess. It’s you poor who are fortunate. You think it’s good to be well fed now? You’re wrong. You’d be better off hungry. You think you should pursue laughter? That’s a mistake. Those who weep are ahead. You want to be respected and admired by everyone in sight? Well you’ve got it upside down. Respect is a problem. You’re fortunate if people despise you and won’t even let you into their churches and clubs. What Jesus is telling us is that we have it all backwards. The direction we’re headed does not lead home. What we need to do is to turn completely around and go the opposite way."[iii]

            The way up is down. Followers of Jesus live in the Upside-Down Kingdom of Christ. That means that the way to the top of the kingdom is to humble yourself and consider others as better than yourself. To be rich in this world is to be poor in the kingdom, because, as Scripture says, where your treasure is, there is your heart (Mt 6:21).

            In reaction to the pursuit of the first century “American Dream,” Paul urged Timothy, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses,” (1 Ti. 6:11-12).

            We have been given a great gift in North America: the power to earn. What we do with it reveals whether it is our god or a tool to use for God.

                                                                        AMEN

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[i] Craig Blomberg & Mariam J. Kamell. James: Exegetical Commentary on the NT, 220.

[ii] A. Barnes quoted in Alec Motyer’s The Message of James BST, p. 169.

[iii] John Alexander