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The book of James is all about the practical application of faith in every area of life, where the rubber meets the road ! And, the first few verses of the fifth chapter, may on the surface of it appear to be, a rather harsh indictment against people who are financially and materially rich in this world, as it declares, 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, and their corrosion will be a witness against you, and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. [James 5:1–3]
But, it also very true that any single verse of the bible ought not to be taken in isolation, to build a doctrine upon it. Rather, what needs to be studied is how a passage or a verse fits into that particular chapter, and in the particular book, and in the message of the new or old testament as a whole, to ultimately fit in with the truth of the scriptures in its entirety. Thus, when it comes to the above passage, you also need to consider that the nature of God is itself, one of abundance and wealth. For, He has declared all the silver and gold to be His [Haggai 2:8] ; that riches and honor come from Him [1 Chronicles 29:12], and that, wealth and riches are in the house of the righteous, who are blessed by Him. [Psalms 112:3] God has also declared that He Himself will bless the work of your hands, and give you the power to get wealth. [Deuteronomy 8:18] And, it is all only a little of the truth concerning riches that are in God’s word. And in fact, the Bible records Job and Solomon to be very wealthy, and does not hold it against them, but counts it all as a blessing from God, from whom every good and perfect gift comes.
But, where can it all go wrong ?
The truth that needs to be learnt and understood through the written word of God is that, the presence of wealth needs also to be complemented, by a right relationship with God. For, it is in the absence of it, that everything can go very wrong, and even what is good can become very problematic in your life. The example of it would be Solomon himself, who was blessed by God with wealth that he had not even asked for because God was so pleased with his request for wisdom, to govern his people. But in his latter days, when Solomon’s heart strayed away from God, he found it all to be nothing but an empty and meaningless vanity. And, the passage above therefore, refers to the rich who are unable to trust in God, for their provision that comes with a divine purpose.
Even when it comes to tithing of your income and wealth, it is not the amount that counts in the sight of God ; what matters to Him, is your attitude in giving to Him. It was by faith that Abel was able to bring an offering that was pleasing to God. God loves to be trusted by you. He is not against you saving money wisely, either. In fact, the book of proverbs points you to look at the ant, that stores food so wisely, and not be lazy and sluggish. But, when God is not in the economy of things, it will lead to a hoarding of your finances out of fear, and God’s purposes for your life would remain unfulfilled. It is this sad destiny that God wants you to avoid ; one that comes to the rich who hoard wealth out of fear, and lack of faith in the knowledge and purposes of God.
God’s prosperity comes for God’s purposes :
This is the key concerning anything that comes to you from God. Nothing at all is meaningless, useless or wasted with Him. And, it is this truth that will keep you humble when God blesses you with riches in life; since the human tendency, that stems from the fleshly or carnal nature in a person will lead to arrogance and pride when riches increase, to bring with it, worldly pomp, position and power. And then, you will find that even godly things, when used in ungodly ways, will only end up causing trouble and strife in your life. Thus, the basic precept that underlies God’s riches that come to you by His grace and truth is that there is always a godly purpose to it, that needs to be accomplished through it ; that God may be glorified, others may be benefited, and you are blessed by it. And, in the new covenant it all happens by grace and through faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. It is how God wants you to become rich and be rich, to be blessed and be a channel of blessing.
CROSS – the gracious unlimitedness of God :
For, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, so that you through His poverty may become rich. [2 Corinthians 8:9] In the new covenant of the Cross of Calvary, one that is now no longer a prophecy, but a very present reality, everything from God comes to you in Christ and through Christ. And a relationship of grace and faith that you have with Christ, as your Risen Lord and Savior, becomes very vitally important, in order to receive anything from God, to be used for His glorious purposes.
The apostle Paul addresses the issue of finances in the verse above, and continues to do it in the next chapter also. The divine exchange that was accomplished on the Cross, was where the Lord took upon Himself, everything that was wrong in you, having been born with a fallen nature, to give you all that is right in Him, through His Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. You were made rich, through His poverty on the Cross of Calvary. It was where His unlimited abundance became yours, not just in your finances, but in every area of your life, and all for a purpose.
His grace abounds toward you :
And God is able to make all grace, abound toward you, so that you having all sufficiency in all things and at all times, will abound in every good work. [2 Corinthians 8:9] His grace abounds, that you may be made rich ; and it is for a purpose ; one that Paul sets forth in the same chapter.
Made rich – that you may be generous :
Made rich to be generous on every occasion ! It is the purpose of God’s blessing of riches in your life. Hoarding it for the last days is not what the Lord prescribes here in His word ! You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. [2 Corinthians 9:11]
Abundance of grace – for every good work :
His abounding grace is given to you for the purpose of every good work that you endeavor to accomplish in life. [2 Corinthians 9:8 ] There is a purpose attached to what God gives to you ; and good work, in the scriptural sense is established very clearly to be not some random works of charity, as the world may understand it to be. For, you are God’s workmanship ! For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2:10] As a new creation in Christ, you have a purposeful good work ; it lies in walking in the path that God has prepared for you, accomplishing the good works that He has specified and prepared very uniquely for you.
In short, it is in having the eyes of your heart enlightened by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and empowered by the Spirit to do the will of God. When you are a Christian, good work is doing God’s will, and it is the reason for which God’s abundance is given to you. There is a purpose, a reason for which God’s unlimited and gracious abundance comes to you. And, knowing what the good works are and fulfilling them, is what will bring peace and rest within you. Riches without a divine purpose, will find a person in a sorry situation, as he finds himself with plenty to live on, but nothing to live for ! And, God does not want you to just exist in a survival mode, scraping an existence, and just managing to go through each day. For, the righteous shall live by faith, is the mandate that He has spoken over you. And it comes to pass, as He reveals His purpose for your life, and provides you all that you need in abundance, for it to be accomplished by you, that He may be glorified.
And, you will find that His will for your life is something far higher and greater than you can ever imagine ; and it would also be something that would be good, pleasurable and perfect to surrender and align yourself with.King David experienced it in his life through the good work that he accomplished, even as he received from God, everything that was required for building the temple in Jerusalem. And as a free will offering, he and his people were able to give in abundance all that was needed, as they acknowledged that it had all come to them, from the hand of God. Even this day, the unchanging and Almighty God is able to make all grace abound toward you, for ,The good work , He has already prepared.
And, grace in abundance to do it ,He gives you. Thus, abundance, grace and good work are all connected, leading to God’s purpose for your life being accomplished. And, the grace of God gives you the right perspective, to know that it was only through Christ becoming poor on the Cross, that you were made rich. It also enables you, gives you the power to abound in every good work, in doing God’s will and purpose for your life. And, riches involves far more than money and possessions. The book of proverbs, describes what true riches is, in words of wisdom, to speak truth into your heart. [Proverbs 8:18-21]
True riches :
The highest level of wealth, the true riches that you experience here on earth is salvation. But, very often a person finds it easier to trust his own soul with God, than with his finances, and tends to glorify the material riches that may come as a result of it. It is then, that the danger of what the apostle James describes becomes a very real possibility in a rich man’s life. For, ultimately it all boils down to a trust issue. And, when worked out in practical terms, it means that, while you can have money, money should not have you ! Therefore, there is always the need for your finances to be governed by faith, or wealth to be governed by the word of God. In short, everything in your life needs to be connected to God.
And, how is your connection with God made possible ?
It is by faith , by putting your complete trust and dependence upon God in a relationship with Him. By grace and through faith, is how you need to live in the freedom and liberty of the Cross that is available to you now. But then again, either of it, when taken to the extreme, can lead you into error, and cause you to fall. It is like an Indian road that has ditches on either side, and it is by not going too far on either side, that you avoid any pitfall to reach your destination safely !
Faith, when taken to the extreme, will lead you into legalism that made the Pharisees in the time of Lord Jesus, nothing but hypocrites ; and the Lord saw through them, and their phony acts of holiness ! [Mathew 23:23] Grace, when taken out of proportion, on the other hand, can lead you to abuse it, to make you think that you can keep on sinning, because by the grace of God, you are forgiven. But, it is for freedom that Christ has set you free ; freedom that gives you the power to say ‘no’ to sin. Grace empowers you now to walk in victory over sin. And above all, grace and truth is found in a person, in relationship with him.
Grace and truth – through Jesus Christ :
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, are the words of the gospel writer John, as he describes the personhood of Lord Jesus. [John 1:17] Grace and truth is found in the person of Jesus Christ, in a relationship with Him. It is not a philosophy or a concept. ‘Come to Me, and find rest’, is the Lord’s invitation to the weary and the heavy burdened. Faith connects you with God, through a relationship with Him. It is why the Lord refers to the person who has it all, without a relationship with God as a ‘rich fool’ ! [Luke 12:16-21] ‘Fool’, for he would be foolish and ignorant concerning the purposes of God. And, a rich man such as him, is whom James describes in his epistle, in rather harsh and condemning terms.
And, whether it is saving or giving, it is all about trusting God, and being in a relationship with Him, as His word continually guides you. It is illustrated in the life of the Israelites in the manner in which they were fed with manna, by God, day after day, for forty years in the wilderness. It underscores the need for hearing from God continually, to receive His mercies that are new every morning.
God’s precepts concerning manna :
The sixteenth chapter of the book of Exodus describes the counsel of God concerning the gathering of manna by the people. God prescribed to them very specifically, how much of it they were to gather each day, according to the needs of each person and each family. [Exodus 16:16–20] Then the children of Israel did so, some more and some less. But they found that every man had gathered according to his own specific need, for there was no lack, and neither was anything left over ! But, when some of them disobeyed the word that came through Moses, and kept back some of it through the night, it bred worms and stank !
And, why did it happen ?
It was manna that came from God, but what they did with it was contrary to His word. They were unable to put their trust in Him, for the next day’s provision of manna. ‘What if it does not come ?’, must have been the question of doubt in them, as it can happen in your mind and mine. Translated in today’s context, it could be your inability to trust God’s word to you that says, ‘Do not worry about tomorrow’! Therefore, what you save or keep back, needs to be governed by His word to you concerning it. For, on the day before the Sabbath, it was the same manna, that the Lord God instructed the people to collect twice as much as they usually did in order to keep some for the day of the Sabbath, when there would be none.
And, when the people went ahead and did so, to keep back some for the Sabbath, the manna was perfectly good, and did not breed worms or stink. [Exodus 16:22-30] On the day of the Sabbath they rested and did not have to gather, according to God’s word to them. But, there were some who went looking for manna even on the Sabbath, and did not find any ! It all illustrates how the handling of your finances, and the riches that come to you from God, needs to be governed by His word, in a relationship of trusting faith.
Faith is reasonable and wise :
There is absolutely no need to spend all the money that you earn, the moment it comes to your hand, and rationalize it by saying, ‘God does not want me to keep anything back’. When His word to you is to save some of it in the bank, and you go ahead and do it, you will find out sooner or later, that God has a beautiful purpose for it ; one that will glorify Him, benefit others and be a blessing to you. It is when you go against His word to you concerning it, that it becomes not a blessing, but a problem, and not fit to be used for kingdom purposes. It is then that it becomes hoarding and not a saving of your wealth. To be governed by God’s word that comes to you, as a word in season, is always the key criteria. For, faith is never foolish. It is reasonable, for it comes through a mind renewed to be in line with the revelation of God’s word. And, when you have an All Wise God, He will indeed make you wise.
Christ – our Sabbath :
On the Sabbath day, the people were counseled to rest, and not go out to gather manna. But still, some went ahead to look for it, only to find nothing ! It is an important teaching concerning the Sabbath rest of God, for when you trust in God, you rest in Him. And today, Christ who is greater than the Sabbath is here ; and in Him every day becomes a Sabbath rest. It is not a rest from work, but a rest in work, as you trust and find your rest in Christ. It is also true concerning any issue that you face in life. And, you deal with it according to God’s leading, His guidance through His word. It will find you blessed in your giving, in your giving up certain things for God, and in your saving, which will not then be a hoarding out of fear.
When God brings good things in your life, know also that He always has a purpose for it ; one that He will reveal to you, at the appropriate time. Therefore, do not rush ahead, for it will hinder the accomplishment of God’s purposes for it. And, do not be conformed to the pattern of the world, God’s word declares. [Romans 12:2] Therefore, being governed by His word, you will have the wisdom to know that the world system that promotes a culture of mortgages and over spending, to live way beyond your means, and sometimes indulging in it just to impress others, is what you need to stay away from.
To know that man shall not live by bread alone :
So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna that you did not know, nor your fathers knew, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone ; but that man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. [Deuteronomy 8:3] They are the words of Moses, narrating and recounting God’s dealings with them, as they stood on the threshold of entering the land promised to them by God. And, it stands as a teaching, timeless and true, even this day, in your life and mine ; and not just in handling finances, but in all of life ! God knows it all ; what is in your heart and mine. But, He wants you to know what is in your heart, when it comes to keeping His word. It is the lesson, that He wants you and I to learn through His giving of manna, the bread from heaven.
To live by His word :
To live by His word, is the one lesson that God wanted His chosen people to learn in their wilderness journey, and it took them forty years ! It was the purpose behind God feeding them with manna, to learn to save or spend, according to His word. For, the righteous live by faith. And therefore, you need to use what He gives you, for good works that bring glory to His Name, depending on His grace that falls afresh on you each morning, through His precious word. The prayer of Moses says it all. And, though you may have seen much trouble in your past, today it can inspire hope within you, to see good days in life, in the coming days and years, Oh satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days ! [Psalms 90:14]
He has been your Ebenezer, carried you thus far, and will continue to do so, as you live by His word, save and spend according to His word, and use all that He has blessed you with, to live for Him and bear fruit for His glory. Grace teaches you, that out of what God has blessed you with you may give to Him, be generous with others, save and not hoard, and learn to spend and live on the rest. And, in the all sufficiency of His grace, you will find it to be not impossible ! May you be filled an abundance of God’s grace, that you may have all sufficiency, at all times for every good work, so that His will and purpose may prosper and abound in your life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
