James 5:1–6 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. (ESV)
I. When we become hoarders: v 1–3
A. Supplies become rotted. v 2
B. Stuff falling apart from lack of use. v 3
C. We should be storing up eternal treasures instead.
Matt 6:19–20 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
II. When we defraud others v 4
A. Are we defrauding others?
1. Never owe what you cannot pay.
2. Always pay what you owe.
B. Are we defrauding God?
Malachi 3:8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In your tithes and contributions.
III. When we become self-indulgent v 5
A. Self-indulgence feeds the flesh.
Eph 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
B. Self-indulgence is never satisfied.
Rom 16:18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
IV. When we become oppressive: v 6
A. Does our wealth hurt others?
B. Does our wealth bless others?
Application:
1. God desires us to be in control of our money.
2. We need to ask ourselves how can we bless others.
