James 4:13 - 5:6 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”

James 4:13 - 5:6 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:13 - 5:6 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

James 4:13 - 5:6 1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

James 4:13 - 5:6 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

James 4:13 - 5:6 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

James 4:13 - 5:6 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Larry Cline - Hardin Valley Church of Christ - 3/30/2014

A prevalent blindness… We need to pray for the vision of Elisha instead of the eyes of Gehazi. In spite of walking in the dust of Jesus’ sandals for a couple of years, Judah the son of Simon was blind.

Are We?

The first human couple was given the whole world to enjoy making it obvious that possessions are not wrong in themselves. The Bible nowhere condemns wealth. “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (I Timothy 6:10 )

A.Insensitivity (v. 2-3 ) Wealth in those days consisted of food, garments and money. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. (James 5:2-3 a )

‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ (Luke 12:19 ) “FOOL!” Don’t hoard wealth, use it! Time and disuse cause rotting, rusting and ruin.

B.Injustice (v. 4 a, 6 ) Deuteronomy 24:12, “If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.” 15 “You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the L ORD and it become sin in you.”

The Jewish writings say… He that takes away his neighbor's living slays him; and he that defrauds the laborer of his hire is a murderer. (Ecclesiasticus 34:22 )

Injustice was something Jesus understood. The preacher never stopped talking about money. The congregation clutched their billfolds and squirmed. He told them not to worry so much about stuff that’ll rot. He told them that the folding stuff was not the currency to buy meaning and happiness.

He singled out one man and told him to sell everything and then give the proceeds to the poor. He had them shaking their heads when he said, ‘Happy are the poor.’ Some of the best-dressed stomped out, their noses in the air. A few of the wealthy and powerful slipped quietly into a backroom and had a contract put out on the young preacher’s life.

And it only cost them thirty pieces of silver

C.Indulgence (v. 5 ) Character + Wealth = Great Good Self Indulgence + Wealth = Sin Those James addressed fed themselves on their riches while they starved to death. They were like pigs that eat themselves into the slaughterhouse. They were not aware of the hands of the hopeless except to step on them.

Witnesses against the unjust: Rotten grain Tarnished money Moth-eaten garments Unpaid wages Mistreated workmen

One Final Story Revelations 3:17 b “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” WHY? Revelations 3:17 a ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.”’

With His grace, we can have the vision of Elisha instead of the eyes of Gehazi.